Potting, preparing and planning

Harvest and storage is still going on. Potting plants is going steady, but we need decent containers for the plants in the living room.
So off to the market, but without result, they were all too small.
So until we get more containers, the potting is on pause until we find some.

Evening hours goes with planning.

If you are lazy, you just plant stuff here and there, when you find it.
The kitchen garden is just planted in the order, you drag the bag of seeds out of the bag.

The closed up henhouse

The fence is down, the doors are closed, and there's no chickens to light up the life in the garden. I have decided to wait until spring to get new chickens though.
Hopefully the uninvited guests has forgot everything about them at that point, and I'll have time to build an even stronger fence.

For life in the garden, and in the house as well, we "ordered" a puppy a year ago at a breeder.
So now we are fortunate to share our lives with 2 schipperkes, with all their fn an unconditional love.

Unwanted guests III

I'm so sad.
Despite all our effort, we lost all our chickens today. In The middle if the day, that's an odd time for a fox!
SO, after a whole afternoon searching, we found a loose dog with one of our hens in the mouth.
We confronted the owner, and we made a deal. We won't call the police if it never ever happens again, and he will contact his insurance.
We will get reimbursed, but it's not the same tame chickens, and I'm sad to loose them in such a violent way.
What to do with the dead hens(?)
Well, selfsufficiency is living with nature, so when stuff like this happens, we lay them in the field or in a forest. There's no reason for not giving them to the wild animals, at least they get a meal out of the tradegy.

Unwanted guests in the hen house

I didnt understand why our hens stopped laying eggs, they are not too old to go on retirement!
I've looked everywhere for a reason, and today I found it.
Something is stealing eggs and eating them.
So for tomorrow's to-do-list, I have to add security for the chicken poop.

August in the hen house

We asembled the first chicken house, that didn't make it through the storm. However it was never totally good, so we decided to get another. A henhouse is a "must have".
There's more pleasures with having hens, than just fresh eggs.
Besides eggs and fresh hens you get a huge amount of pleasure just to look at their colers and watch their every move.
It's exciting when a hen lays on her eggs. "When will they hatch, how many etc."
And when the chickens come, your heart just melts.
But it doesn't end there. Look at the picture... It's time to clean the whole ground now.
A lot of straw is covering the ground right outside the house, where the hens drag it.
They walk on it, nipple on it, digs a lot,  and when it's time to clean the outside area, you have the perfect fertiliser for your plants.
So I can only recommend that you get some chickens for your place.
In some areas, hens is not allowed at all, in some areas they won't allow a rooster because of the noise. I recommend you check the local regulations.
f you can't have a rooster, the hens will give you eggs anyway, but of course they won't be able to give you chickens.

Chicken House Destroyed In Storm

Approximately a month ago we got out hands on an old play house, which we quickly decided to use as chicken house. Not only would the chickens provide us with fresh eggs, meat and add to the farm life here - however...
We had a huge storm, and this is unfortunately the result... I'm just glad we didn't get the poultry yet but had decided to do that in the spring, since theres a lot of other projects here, that demands our attention.

Chicken House

We have picked up a playhouse for chickens today. We got it for free, as long at we picked it up ourselves, and to tell the truth, that was a hard job for the "boys".

We are very excited to start to prepare for poultry, but first we have to decorate the house and build the fence, so we have decided not to get chickens before next year. Theres a lot of other projects, that demands our attention before that.
But I can't wait until we are able to collect our own eggs, from poultry that have been living the good life.