Friday 31/01/2014
Weather:
- Description: Hot and humid. Slight breeze
- Temperature: 16°C to 39°C
- Rain: nil Total for this week: 0 mm
Harvest:
- Eggs: 3 Total for this week: 20
- From garden for chooks: nettle, lemon balm, comfrey, sage
General Notes on day's activities:
- Caspa went into the broody cage
- Made up a mix for all the chickens comprising eggs, garlic, yoghurt, nettle, comfrey, lemon balm, sage and sprouted wheat. Partic. good for Caspa.
- Help DS with his room and new "toys"
- Made a batch of mayonnaise (Sally Wise book "From My Kitchen to Yours"). Perhaps a bit too much vinegar; not enough mustard (also made from her book).
Thursday 30/01/2014
Weather:
- Description: Very warm, but made bearable by a lovely breeze
- Temperature: 15°C to 35°C
- Rain: nil Total for this week: 0 mm
Harvest:
- Eggs: 5 Total for this week: 17
- From garden for our immediate use: capsicum
General Notes on day's activities:
- Spent morning at the Environment Centre forward planning meeting with The Friends group. Lots of brainstorming ideas.
- Rest of day spent on maintenance tasks (chooks, washing, pool, housework)
- The Colonel continues to improve and is getting a bit more feisty. Gaining confidence with crowing - mostly a whisper, but every now and again hitting a note.
Wednesday 29/01/2014
Weather:
- Description: Hot and humid.
- Temperature:16°C to 39°C
- Rain: nil Total for this week: 0 mm
Harvest:
- Eggs: 5 Total for this week: 12
- From garden for chooks: Soldier fly maggots, worms
- From garden for our immediate use : chives, garlic chives, capsicum
General Notes on day's activities:
- The Colonel is looking better. Slightly better colour to his comb and you can actually hear him when he crows. Still a long way to go, though.
Tuesday 28/01/2014
Weather:
- Description:
- Temperature: 14°C to 33°C
- Rain: nil Total for this week: 0 mm
Harvest:
- Eggs: 3 Total for this week: 7
- From garden for our immediate use: red shallots
General Notes on day's activities:
- No antibiotic for The Colonel last night. His breathing was rasping and laboured this morning, and his comb was a very dark red. Made sure he had some garlic/herb mix today. He seemed much better by evening. Hopefully he has turned the corner.
Monday 27/01/2014
Weather:
- Description: Cool morning. Mostly sunny day.
- Temperature: 11°C to 29°C
- Rain: nil. Total for this week: 0 mm
Harvest:
- Eggs: 4 Total for this week: 4
General Notes on day's activities:
- Collect the third trailer load of horse manure for the weekend and spread it on the south west section of fruit tree grove.
- Put another 2 /3 wheelbarrow load of fresh horse manure in deep litter area in the chook shed.
- Collect the forth trailer load of horse manure for the weekend.
- Picked up 200L drum and 5 assorted buckets from side of road (Council clean up)
- The rhubarb we thought was dead is starting to sprout after a repot and submersion in Seasol (See 18/01/14)
Sunday 26/01/2014 - AUSTRALIA DAY!
Blog Admin:
- I have set up this new Daily Diary page for the mundane whatever and removed the daily weather and harvest info from past posts.
Weather:
- Description: Overcast with occasional very light showers
- Temperature: 15°C to 23°C
- Rain: < 0.3 mm Total for this week: 9+mm
Harvest:
- Eggs: 3 Total for this week: 22
- From garden for chooks:
- assorted green veg
- banana egg mix for baby chicks
General Notes on day's activities:
- Put some (~1/2 wheelbarrow) fresh horse manure in deep litter area in the chook shed - just to see how it goes. The chooks scratch through it and turn it in within minutes.
- Spread the second trailer load of horse manure on southern east section of fruit tree grove
- Make up a general rich fertiliser mix for blue bin (utility area). Compost/coco peat/soil/horse manure in equal measure plus 1/7th measure Dynamic Lifter and Blood&Bone.
- We gave the Colonel a third (and final) dose of over the counter bird antibiotic. He was up on the perch, which we took as a good sign. We left him there for the night.
Saturday 25/01/2014
Weather:
- Description:
- Temperature: 16°C to 26°C
- Rain: nil Total for this week: 9 mm
Harvest:
- Eggs: 5 Total for this week: 19
- From garden for our immediate use: savory (herb)
- From garden for storage / preserving etc: figs (Black Genoa) / 800g collected over last few days
- UPDATE: I thought I'd be able to make some fig jam, but a certain DD decided that they were too good to keep, and demolished them over a few lunches!
General Notes on day's activities:
- Collect the first trailer load of horse manure for the weekend and spread it on the north east section of fruit tree grove.
- Collect the second trailer load of horse manure.
- We gave the Colonel another dose of over the counter bird antibiotic. His condition has not changed much.
- DD makes homemade pasta (Fettuccine). Took a long time to make, but oh so delicious
Friday 24/01/2014
Weather:
- Description: overcast most of day. Light showers only after 6pm.
- Temperature: 18°C to 31°C
- Rain: 3 mm Total for this week: 9 mm
Harvest:
- Eggs: 3 Total for this week: 14
General Notes on day's activities:
- Mick spent day working on wheelchairs while I pottered around with chooks, washing, clearing up. Put gardening books on display cabinet to see how they look. Think they may be more accessible there and make the unit more functional/useful.
- Picked up huge (70kg/>140lb)) sheet of aluminium from Rob's for wheelchair mods.
- Gave the Colonel a dose of antibiotic to hopefully help his throat/voice.
Thursday 23/01/2014
Weather:
- Description: Overcast all day, very light showers
- Temperature: 16°C to 24°C
- Rain: 1 mm Total for this week: 6 mm
Harvest:
- Eggs: 3 Total for this week: 11
General Notes on day's activities:
- Due to the weather, spent most of the day inside.
- Used some of Money Penny's 10 eggs to make an omelette for the chooks, using all the veg and herbs from the garden I thought would be good for them (and rooster) plus some garlic and apple cider vinegar (bought). They loved it.
Wednesday 22/01/2014
Weather:
- Description: Cloudy, cool. Occasional very light drizzle.
- Temperature: 18°C to 22°C
- Rain: <0.3 mm Total for this week: 5 mm
Harvest:
- Eggs: 3 Total for this week: 8
- From garden for chooks: Bananas, lemon balm, nettle, comfrey, parsley, spinach, sage
- From garden for our immediate use: Kale, lemon grass, coriander
General Notes on day's activities:
- Hand weed front garden at fence and NE section of citrus grove. Mainly exotic clumping grasses and weak-rooted weeds.
- Rooster has laryngitis of some sort - very weak crow. Still looks good though - no obvious secretions. Se blog post dated Thurs 23rd January
Tuesday 21/01/2014
Weather:
- Description: Cloudy, humid. Very light drizzle throughout the day.
- Temperature: 16°C to 24°C
- Rain: 2 mm Total for this week: 5 mm
Harvest:
- Eggs: 3 Total for this week: 5
General Notes on day's activities:
- AMAZING!! The hybrid pullet appeared in the morning around 7.30am. There was no clue as to what could have happened to her or where she stayed overnight. We had a bit of drizzle overnight, but she was quite dry.
- A couple of hours later Money Penny appeared as if nothing had happened. So pleased.
- After all the excitement, I kept all the chooks in the shed all day. Money Penny bolted out between my legs when I opened the door late in the afternoon. I followed her - to her nest of 10 eggs! So that's where she was yesterday! It also explains the recent low egg count. She doesn't seem broody, she's just collecting eggs. Surprised it's taken this long for me to cotton on to her tricks. That explains Money Penny's disappearance, but still no clue re the pullet's.
Monday 20/01/2014
Weather:
- Description: Humid and warm. A late change with light showers through the night.
- Temperature: 20°C to 28°C
- Rain: 3 mm Total for this week: 3 mm
Harvest:
- Eggs: 2 Total for this week: 2
General Notes on day's activities:
- The chick from last night woke up fine, ready and raring to go. She joined in with the rest of the pack as if nothing had happened.
- Sometime around 3pm I noticed that Money Penny (one of our hybrids) was not with the rest of the 'elder' chickens in the front garden. Later, I realised that the black chick from last night was also not with her usual group. I suddenly worried that maybe they had both been taken by a fox, or even our resident goanna. We looked everywhere for them and found no trace - no feathers, nothing. We have to accept that they are gone.
Sunday 19/01/2014
Weather:
- Description: Cooler than yesterday, but still warm and humid
- Temperature: 20°C to 31°C
- Rain: nil Total for this week: 0 mm
Harvest:
- Eggs: 3 Total for this week: 21
General Notes on day's activities:
- The 3 baby chicks and Princess are let out twice - early and late - to scratch around in the dirt. The 2 paler chicks are growing much quicker than Cinders, the dark brown chick. Cinders is certainly just as active, eating well etc, but the other two are longer in the body. We think that Cinders is female, the other two male. That would explain the difference in colouring, too.
- When I did the chook count at sunset, I realised that one was missing - a small black pullet. After a quick search I found it down near the fire pit, shivering with a wet back, and with ragged feathers. I suspect it was exploring and the ever-attentive Zoe tried to get it back to the shed with the others, giving up when the chicken wasn't as compliant as she expected. It was shaken, but otherwise seemed ok, so I brought it up to the house and put it in a box with some sawdust and left it on the back patio for the night.
Saturday 18/01/2014
Weather:
- Description: Hot and sunny
- Temperature: 18°C to 41°C
- Rain: nil Total for this week: 0 mm
Harvest:
- Eggs: 3 Total for this week: 18
General Notes on day's activities:
- Rhubarb
- Pot up 'dead' rhubarb into larger pot, taking care not to disturb the roots. It has been watered regularly, and sits in the shade, but has no leaves. Bulb looks plump, though. Water all 3pots and 2 ground plantings of rhubarb with Seasol.
- Weed the couch grass out of the citrus grove where we want to plant the rhubarb. Mix up leftover soils we have in drums in cement mixer for planting into (1 part soil,1 part horse poo, 1 part compost, 1 part coir peat, sprinkle of blood&bone and dynamic lifter). Cut stakes and put one wire circle down, and cut up 3 squares from remnant strips of shadecloth.
- Spend time with chicks to get them used to being touched/picked up.
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