To date we've not had much of any winter weather other than one, or was it two?, mornings of a light snow covering on exposed planting areas. The green grass (which is still in evidence) hasn't even had a coating. But today is foggy, damp and supposedly, in short order, turning into a few days of rain/snow mix so it should be interesting to see what that actually brings.
We're in fairly good shape for the coming winter months which really feels very good to say.
The chicken house and the chicken's solarium have been cleaned which will make the chickens (and humans) happy.
The poultry flock will have ample room in the solarium which is attached to the chicken house proper. It's remarkable how much the temperature heats up in there on even the coldest winter days.
You can see on the right where a ramp and door connects to the inside of the chicken house and then there's the door opening to their outside pasture straight ahead in the photo. For most of the winter, we won't open the little door that gives them access to the outside as they've never been fond of traipsing around in more than an inch of snow.
The rack on the north side of the chicken house was built specifically as a place to store some of our bales of straw and hay for quick and easy access in the winter time. An extra wide overhang was put on the roof in that area to protect the bales.
Thinking the strawberry beds might get covered with freezing rain and/or snow by the weekend, I decided to spread their blanket of winter mulch over them yesterday. The above is a photo of the new plot planted this past spring. The straw is held down with cattle panels just in case we get a big wind before a snow cover. I also spread mulch on the three rows of old strawberries on the west side of the field garden. Papa Pea talked me into keeping them going for one more year until the new ones were well established. I've got to admit that the old strawberry plants look as good this fall as they ever have. I'm crossing my fingers that the berries we get from them next season will be worth the time and effort of caring for them which is no small task.
We continue to get pictures of our resident timber wolf population that seems to like traversing through the open area in the back by our wood working area. They will most likely be around all winter. Our black bears are still showing up on the camera, also, but we haven't had a good picture of them lately to share. Unlike the wolves, they really should be heading into winter hibernation especially if we get the predicted cold weather and snow soon. Time for them to get ready for winter, too.
22 comments:
I am trying to get the garden ready for winter here too..not easy as it is so wet! The beans are just not drying!!
So nice to see your chickens for a change! And what wonderful quarters they have.
gz - I've always had trouble growing beans like black beans, pinto beans, navy beans, etc. because our season is never long enough for them to mature and then dry. Have tried pulling the plants and hanging inside but that just doesn't work for any quantity. So I do know how frustrated you must be with your wet season!
Michelle - Must remember to take more pics of da birds! :o)
It looks like you are well prepared for winter. We have one more day of warm weather and then we are going to be in the 20s(F) for a while. I do not like the cold at all. Love seeing the chickens. It is amazing how brave those wolves can become. xo Diana
NanaDiana - Ah ha, another chicken lover! I can see I'm going to have post more pictures of them. ;o) Get out your down jacket in preparation for your 20° weather! We don't often see the wolves in the daylight although my husband was upstairs in his office/den/hide-out a few days ago and saw two of them at the bend of our driveway during the day. :o\
What lucky chickens! I want a chicken solarium LOL! today is supposed to be our last day of unusually high temperatures. It has been warm and sunny since Mid-May and it doesn't seem possible that tomorrow will be cold and rainy. I've forgotten what that's like.
Wow, those chickens have a very nice living space. Lucky birds!!
SmartAlex - The good ol' month of November seems to give us nasty weather no matter where we live. It probably won't be too long until you remember what cold, ishy weather is like. ;o) I do like the month of November because it really signals the start of slow time for us, but it's not very pretty especially where we live. When it starts to snow things take on a much brighter luster. At least I think so!
Retired Knitter - We are (jokingly) threatening to boot them all outside for the winter if they don't start giving us more eggs! They should have recovered from their long molt by now but seem to have forgotten we take such good care of them in return for a good supply of eggs. :o(
That is a beautiful chicken solarium! They must be very happy birds! Would it be protected enough in there to grow winter greens, like kale?
The cold and snow is moving our way...finally. Great shot of the big wolf.
Rosalea - I'm not sure if winter greens could be grown in there or not, but summer before last we grew four different varieties of heirloom tomatoes with much success in the solarium. (In the summer we have another chicken door that bypasses the solarium so the chickens can't access it.) I'm sure the chickens would love it if we experimented growing winter greens in there though. ;o)
Did you build the solarium yourselves? It looks like a great setup.
I'm only getting 2 eggs a day now. Makes me go hmmm.
tpals - Yes, we did build the solarium year before this summer just past. My husband would like to use it full-bore as a greenhouse for crops we can't grow outside like tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, squash, etc. (without the use of our "cold frames" that fit over the raised beds), but so far we've just raised tomatoes in big black pots in it. So far today (3 p.m.), we've gotten zero eggs. But it's been our coldest day so far. Just 28° and breezy and now the temp is falling. Ugh. Come on, Chickens!
Oh boy, did you do a post on the construction that I missed? It was 18 out when I took my morning walk, but the wind wasn't too bad, so bearable. I lost an older hen yesterday to sour crop. Hope it's not going to be a bad chicken winter.
tpals - No, I didn't do a post of the solarium construction. :o( We just kind of figured it out as we went with the main idea being an expanded space for the poultry in the winter where they could be warm and possibly using it as a greenhouse for our summer time "warm weather" crops as our growing season is so short here in northern Minnesota and, often, cool. Your morning temp of 18° was colder than our mid-20s!
Your sunroom looks great! Your flock is much bigger than ours but we put our sun room up last weekend and it definitely heats up more than the outside air! I love having a dry area to hang out in when it's really raining or snowy
Nancy - I saw your "sunroom" area for your chickens on your blog and was impressed by it. And I know the "girls" must appreciate it during these colder months. Gotta keep 'em happy so we keep getting those wonderful, fresh eggs, right? ;o)
Sorry I'm late to the game again, but Wow! I love that chicken solarium!!! Please please show us more. I need to do something like that for my next batch of hens. I'm 'hen less' right now because I have grown tired of feeding them to the predators. I need a high stakes maximum security prison for the girls to live in, and need ideas. Wow!
I think all of the chicken-people readers are longing to know more about the solarium. Like what panels were used and how were they attached? And anything that made it harder than it could have been to build?
Tim and tpals - We used 2x4s for framing with green-treated along the ground to retard rotting and spread a gravel base underneath outer (walls) foundation.
The walls are polycarbonate sheets of "Twin Wall" (Home Depot calls it) cut to size and screwed to the outside with large-head screws for the walls and doors. Clear corrugated sheeting attached with rubber-gasket screws for the roof.
The size is 8 x 16'. About 11' at the highest where the solarium is attached to the south side of the poultry house and about 6' at lowest of a simple shed roof.
Venting in the hot summer time is not ideal (would be better if some of the roof panels opened). We removed two of high side panels and replaced with hardware cloth to allow a little air flow. (Then put the panels back for winter time.) Not that the chickens spend much time in the solarium in the summer, but if they were shut in there we'd have roast chicken!
We've been leaving the little chicken door from the chicken house proper into the solarium open (will close it at night in the coldest part of winter) and usually find the birds going back and forth before morning chores and/or letting them out for the day.
Yesterday was our first day with snow on the ground and not one single bird ventured outside from the solarium even though the little door for them was open. Guess they knew when they had a good thing. Hope this gives you some ideas to ponder for your own egg layers!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I dropped a chunk of straw bale in the small coop yesterday and the girls spread it out in an even layer to all four corners. They can be amazing when not being stubborn and bird-brained.
tpals - You're very welcome! Our chickens once did the same thing with a black dirt pile we foolishly dumped (for later use) within their pasture. Spread it over half an acre. (Slight exaggeration . . . but not by much.)
Hello everyone my name Ximena Jimena from Cuba i want to use this medium to inform the world on how i got cured from Herpes at first when i had symptoms back in 2014 i went for test and it came out positive i lost hope of getting a better relationship or marriage, everything changed when i met Dr Itua i contacted explained everything to him and he said he has the cure so i decided to order it from him, so i actually did after 2 weeks i went for test and i was negative i'm forever grateful to him.he can also cure
hpv
Hiv/Aids
epilepsy
sickle cell anaemia
diabetes
copd
barrenness
cancer
wart
psoriasis
pityriasis rosea etc.
email: drituaherbalcenter@gmail.com www.drituaherbalcenter.com
Post a Comment