Snoskred – Life in the Country

Today is my nephews 16th Birthday.

I sent him a Happy Birthday SMS, as you do.

I just got a SMS back.

“I just got my L’s”

You’ll find me in the corner, rocking back and forth with my hands over my ears, quietly chanting NOES NOES NOES..

The ground finally dried out enough to raise the chicken free ranging tent again. I went off to the gym and the other half got creative while I was gone.

It took ages to tempt the girls out. Greens which usually incite a chicken riot were gazed at from the doorway where they felt safe. Finally the other half helped them out with the scary rake from behind trick. Once they were out, they started digging and scratching.

This was the first free range outing for Nugget (AKA Rosecomb) and she had no clue what to do. She doesn’t know how to scratch like a regular chicken or how to create a hole in the ground to dustbathe in. After watching the other girls for a bit, she tried dustbathing without any dust, just on the grass.

Light Sussex (still nameless) is the best at creating a hole to dustbathe in. She made several and eventually Nugget found her way into one of them. As well as one of the game hens. Lucky Light Sussex makes a big hole in the ground, big enough for everyone to enjoy.

They got to stay out there for several hours while I weeded the garden. Getting them back into the coop was just as difficult as getting them out of it in the first place. They wanted to stay out but a thunderstorm was on the way, so the other half herded them back into the coop.

I have a few updates – lets start with the garden.

It once looked like this.

It now looks like this.

A lot of weeds had sprung up, so I have been slowly weeding and mulching. This is the half of the garden I have completed. I’ve put down sawdust formerly from the chook laying boxes, and also Zeolite and rice husks formerly from the run and coop.

A slightly closer view – you can see how much the seedlings have grown. What you can’t see is that my zucchini plant has flowers and a baby zucchini on it! I spotted that while out there today but couldn’t get good photos.

Strawberry flowers!

The chooks have been enjoying greens from the garden for a few months now. When they see me get in there, they go nuts bagerk-ing and took took-ing, hoping that greens will come to them as a surprise.

As you can see, there is still some work to do.

Unfortunately the weather has now turned to shyte, so it may not be done as soon as I would like.

Yes, that is a storage box full of weeds which I removed from the garden.

There is also a chook free ranging tent. That will be the next update.