Chickens and gardening

 When you have chickens you have to get creative in order to have a successful garden. We put up a large screen that we recycled from my step daughters garden which will not only protect the pumpking patch from the chickens but will also give it some shading from our summer sun.

This is the other enclosed garden we built which keeps the chickens out.  I planted spaghetti squash in here a few days ago .

Happy Birthday means a new slate.

Yes today is my birthday and to celebrate I'm starting up my blog and hopefully this time I will be more consistent.

Busy Saturday

This morning I was able to get some things planted in our greenhouse.  I planted bush beans in the back, carrots, and two different types of lettuce on the left side and squash and broccoli on the right.  I will do some successive plantings of the beans and lettuce in a couple of weeks.

This is Dizzy one of our Speckled Sussex.  I love this breed for a couple of reasons.  One, they are so friendly and social and two each molt brings a different coloring.  She molted early this year and now she has a white collar.

My husband, Gary, built this coop 5 years ago and it's in the perfect spot because it is never touched by sun. The lime tree in the back and orange tree in front and the two houses completely shade it from any sun.  The windows are open now for summer but I close them up during the cooler winter months.

Finally a fun little video watching the girls run for bugs as I lift the waterer up for them.  This is a morning ritual for them.

Diego

Diego, our Rhodesian Ridgeback mix dog, loves to help around the backyard.  Everyday he watches and waits while I mix up the chicken feed and than patiently waits for me at the door.  Once outside he acts like he is protecting the chickens so they can eat their breakfast.  Maybe someday we will live on some land and he will actually be able to use his protective instincts instead of just pretending.

Hotter than Hot

I don't know if there is anyway to keep cool this time of year especially when it was 95 degrees at 4:30 am.  Now at 9:45 it is 104 so you can kinda guess what kind of day it will be around here.  Even so I try my best to keep the girls and boy cool.

Water bottles in the nesting boxes with a fan blowing on them works great while they are laying.

Nothing like wading in the water to keep cool.

I put open dishes out with water for drinking but they all seem to enjoy standing in them.  Pedicure anyone?

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Keeping cool

Living in Mesa can be challenging in the summer especially if you're a chicken.  The heat can be very hard on them if they don't have shade and lots of water.  I add frozen water bottles to their waterers and check on them throughout the day to make sure the water hasn't turned hot.  They love cold cantalope and ice wreaths with fruits and veggies hidden inside.

Working in the garden

Having chickens has many rewards and one of those is their ability to help you in the garden.  I cleaned the tomoatoes out and let the chickens in to do their thing by digging up and rototilling the dirt to prepare the garden for fall planting.

Those perfect little round holes were made by the chickens doing their dustbathing.  The added feathers from the molting hens will add lots of nourishment to my garden.