I got the most of the frame of the coop set up. I’m leaving the door off until I get the henhouse built inside of the chicken run. Having the sides of run open will make putting the little hen house together easier. I can flip the the run on it’s side to put the chicken wire over the roof and make sure it is nice and taut. I’ll add the tarp after the wire and that will give me a roof to work under while I build the hen house. After the henhouse is built I’ll add the wire to the sides of the chicken run.
I’m taking it slow and being methodical putting the run together so everything is neat and the best I can make it. Things I really hate about chicken wire is the cut ends can cause scratches and the wire can sag badly if you don’t get it nice and tight when you put the wire on the frame. I have some corner bracing that I need to drill the holes in the poles. It is always a joy to try and drill a hole into a round metal pole. 😉
I have bought the layer pellets, scratch but I still need to get some Oyster shell and grit as my Mom reminded me. I have the metal barrels to store the feed and most of the 1st aid items the chickens might need for minor issues. I need to add a handle to the lids of the metal feed barrels but that should cost about $5.00 and take about 5 minutes of work to add to the barrel lid. Last but not least I want to use some of my metal fencing to make a compost ring in the chicken run so the birds can do a lot of the work breaking down garden, yard and kitchen waste. My hope is I can let the chickens free range in the backyard but it might take some time for my pets to get used to the birds so the compost ring will help me and I’m sure the birds will love having all of that compost stuff to dig through.
I have started using some firewood from the kennel wood pile. I bought 2 cords of the Red fir last summer and this is the first time I used any of this wood. I wanted to see how dry the Red fir was and how well it burned, plus I needed to cut some wood for starting the fire and did not want to fuss with poplar and other big chunks in the “old” wood pile. The fir was easy to split with a light axe and is burning great. It is still a little chilly overnight and I’m starting a fire once a day or every other day as the house holds the heat if it does not get to cold. I was I little surprised how far I got stacking wood from the wood delivery once I started breaking down the time. I stacked almost a cord of wood in 2 hours of work. Not to bad for disabled gal in her 50’s. Of course I needed some recovery time but overall I’m pleased with my progress on the wood pile. This next week I should clear a path to the alley as I stack the wood. I have a large tarp to cover the wood but I’m not sure how to place the tarp to cover the wood and not get in the way of stacking the wood. I may elevate/brace the tarp with a couple of 2x4s and once the wood is stacked drop the tarp.
I let the front porch wood rack get empty as there was a lot of dirt and chunks of wood/bark underneath it. I got all of that wood mess cleaned up and got the indoor/outdoor carpet place it a better position so I can clean up all that debris that gathers under the rack. It seems that a clean floor makes the porch a lot cleaner though it is still a bit cluttered with stuff transitioning from winter to spring.
It is time to start getting some seeds into the ground and starting the hot weather loving plants started indoors. The cabbage and cauliflower seeds are up and putting on some growth. In about a week I’ll move all of the cole crops off the heat mat and have them under some grow lights. I hope this will prevent the new plants from becoming leggy. My herb pots are starting to show a few green leaves but I am adding more water as the dirt seems to dry out faster than I anticipated. The toilet paper roll peas also seem to need more water than I had anticipated. The potato eyes seem to be bulking up and adding growth but not getting stringy. At the end of the 1st week of April I can plant the seed potatoes. I’ll need to cut some of the larger seed potatoes and let the cut sections dry out a bit before planting. Overall I looking forward to see how planting the potatoes do planting them in rows and not growing them in containers. In my area you can start planting onion set about the first week of April but I have onions in some raised beds that overwintered and show little to no damage to the above ground greenery. It was a fairly mild winter but it did get below 0 degrees F. on several nights this winter. I may have some celery coming up in a bed though I just to a quick glance at the raised be and thought that looks like celery starts. If it is celery (I think it is) it must be a Utah Tall or Victoria variety that reseeded it self. So far I have better luck with celery that reseeds it self or buying starting celery plants from a garden center. I have not had much luck starting celery seeds indoors.
I can start planting Spinach and some of the loose leaf lettuce out doors. It might be a little early on the lettuce but I am planting both plants in the 3 pot stackable planters I got from the Dollar store. So I can bring the lettuce indoors if it is a hard frost but the Spinach should be okay as the pots are going to be placed in a protected spot outside. While it is still cool at night it is not freezing cold.
This is the first year I got the trees treat with dormant spray, though what I used was a water can and not a sprayer. I got the Crab grass/weed preventer on the front lawn spread on the yard before all the weeds start to take off.. I have a couple of bare spots that need some grass seed and I need to add some bug killer to the lawn but overall the front yard is looking a lot better after this TLC.
I will add a few more plant boxes this year to the front yard but I’m still working out the plan in my head.
My Adventures in selfreliance 