New Chicken Feeder

Being a new chicken owner, I've learned quite a few things. One, they stink. Two, they can be very mean to each other. And three, they are messy eaters...which leads me to this post.

I’ve gone through a few different feeders, trying to limit the amount of wastage, while also trying to ensure that all 5 of the chooks get an opportunity to eat. This has proven to be very difficult because one dumb-dumb always seems to step in the container, and/or spills food everywhere (meaning in their poo).
This is a photo of the last ghetto creation. Notice the fashionable clips holding the fast food (takeaway) containers to the wood..... nice.
After doing a bit of internet shopping and gathering ideas, Holming got to work! This is what we came up with. It cost $7 to build.
Notice the thin wood bar on top. This is to keep them from scooping out the food while searching for their favourite treats (hence wasting all the expensive pellets), and it keeps them from stepping in the feeder. Great idea honey! Holming also made that bar removable so that I can put plastic containers in it when I feed the girls mash (which is a wet food). They don’t all like mash so this gives them a choice. The feeder is also pretty long to allow the little ones to eat safely away from the pecking mean older ladies. Ha! Problem solved.

Another garden to kitchen joy

Have I mentioned how much I love to garden and cook? If not, let me tell you... I love to garden and cook! One of our favorite salads to eat is tabouli, which is a salad with herbs, veggies and cracked wheat (you can also make it with couscous). See photo below.

Everything in this salad besides the bulgur wheat came from my garden. What a treat! The cucumber, tomatoes (yellow and green), green onions, parsley and mint. Yummy! I kinda feel like a fisherman eating the fish he caught for dinner. It is such a great feeling of accomplishment. That's why I love to garden. For six months out of the year, I get to grow and provide nutritious veggies for my husband and myself.

On top of that, we have saved a lot of money this summer. The price of food here(well, actually everything!) is ridiculous. So, If I can save money while doing something I truly enjoy... Fantastic! I only wish I could share with you all.

Hording for Winter

One of my favourite things about Winter is my tomatoes from Summer. Ahhh... Just heavenly! We have just jarred our first two jars of tomatoes. I hope we will have plenty more. There is nothing like making a Winter stew or chowder and using home grown tomatoes.... yummy!

Chickens in the tree

We were hit by two tropical storms coming from two different directions, earlier this week. We were promised lots of rain and strong gale force winds. Well, the weather man was right... for once. When we woke on Wednesday morning, this is what we woke to....

It doesn't look too bad until we got closer....

The tree branch ended up on top of the chicken run and completely in the free-range area!

I've always worried about that tree branch and hoped this storm wouldn't be the one that brought it down. I've always envisioned the whole thing coming down and flattening the chicken coop and run. So, I'm grateful that the chickens were inside their coop and sleeping while this happened. I am even more grateful for the well-designed chicken coop and run not caving in (thanks again to my handy hubby!).

Later on that afternoon, I stopped to buy a tree saw and got started on clearing what I could as I don't do heights so don't get on the ladder.

I had to wait for Holming to get home to help lift the branch off the roof. You should have seen us out there pulling and tugging with ropes to get the branch off the tree so that it wouldn't fall on the neighbour's fence and or/ us.



On the positive side of all this, I don't have to worry about that branch during the Winter storms. Happy ending... and happy hens!

Being Resourceful

My husband always seems to amaze me. I never take him for granted and am forever grateful he found me (I say he found me because I was sooo not looking, but anyway...)
Back in July he bought me the last seashell serving platter that I "needed" (OK... wanted) to complete my set. Unfortunately, he didn't buy a stand so that I could display it so, it's been sitting in the storage room since then. Over the last month, I went on a mission to find the right stand without success. Either it was too small, not strong enough or the wrong material (ie., plastic or metal). I finally came across one that I liked but it wasn't for sale. Bummer! I did happen to take a photo of it and........ Holming made it for me in just 30 minutes and for $4!!! The ones I've come across have been well over $25.

Now the purpose of this post isn't to go on and on about how wonderful Holming is (there I said it again!) but it's to say how cost effective it is to have him as a hubby. While at the hardware store we were looking for a firewood stand (which is a stupid thing to look for in the middle of Summer!) and couldn't find one....surprise. So, Holming decided to just make one! It cost 20 BUCKS to make when it would have cost us heaps more to buy one. I feel like we have been very resourceful this weekend. Not only did we (I mean he) build a plate stand and firewood stand BUT, we ( I mean he) chopped up enough firewood to last through winter. Yippeee to Holming!

Of note, this is only a quarter of the wood we still need to bring up. I'm gonna be nice and toasty this Winter.