pg vs mottle

five months

5 months old, they are beautiful, the PG gene has really come out and not a lot of mossiness. I've had 2 birds taken and now everybody's in the same coop. I just had a tree fall on the big coop so now everybody's has to be in the new coop.. They're about getting to the age where they're going to start laying eggs. So that means I have to make sure that I have my egg laying containers firmly attached. And I need to make sure that I have enough perches.

four months 🥰😍

might sky

Beautiful mottle

almost two months old.

2023A

Almost two months old. They look just like their mothers.

^^^

Beautiful wild type e+ gal.

I hatched out 9 but I'm down to 8. 

2 of them have. Come down with some sort of skin condition where they're losing feathers around their face. I have seen this before only once and normally it means the chickens going to die. Some people have said it's a yeast infection or fungal infection. I just feel bad because I do not know how to treat it.

But i've isolated those two sick ones out. 

In the coop I have put fresh bedding down with some diatomacious earth. They instantly fluffed and cleaned themselves in it so that's a great sign. 

You can see how happy they are with the fresh bedding in the below pic. 

They are very friendly they come up to me they walk all over my feet they eat out of my hands. Their colorations very beautiful the pg genes. Is this playing very nicely just like their mother. Only two have the blue Dilution gene. One Wild type one big e.

mama moves into the new coop

beautiful spring

The chicks are now going outside with Mama and it's going very well. The male has reintroduced himself and she has allowed him around he is Being good to them. So far so good!

2023A

raised bed building

Relatively easy process if you have the metal bed to start. This bed was bought from overstock on discount.. and I know why. My original one I put together. The length made it weak on the sides. The metal would just bulge under the weight of the soil. I took this second one and only made it half the size, and much stronger now. 

Ever hear of Hulgelkultur? It's a way to give your garden years of nutrition in one go.  

building a bed

Hulgelkultur

I started by just picking my spot by lining the long edge with the southern sky. 

Then I went around the yard and found logs size of my arm or larger. And i placed them on the bottom.

Then I found twigs of smaller size and filled in the gaps.  I broke down some of last year's sunflower stalks and stuffed them in. And looks like there's some old broken bamboo in there. And all on top of those are last years dead golden grass weeds. 

I stomped all over it. Compressing it. Then started adding top soil.

 This top soil is three years old it is actually a mixture of native dirt, aged chicken manure and mushroom soil. It's had 3 years to break down..how to make manure 

And produce this beautiful color

 . 

I think it took me about an hour. Start to finish it was. So nice to sit in the march sunshine and listen to the birds and the neighbors. Spring is coming.

wild onion. Ive cultivated them for almost a decade now. 

Read more on permaculture.

Spot on farm

Downey woodpecker pair

Ever since I got this squirrel proof feeder ., I'm able to feed just the birds. 

This morning at 8am this downy wood pecker visited.

This is the adult female! 

early wild crocus