I always love refilling the pigeon water basin because they get so excited and all come down for a bath. Enjoy some cute pictures of pigeon bath-time!
Watering Your Bees
Bees need water! It’s not so much of an issue now in the spring, but in the heat of summer you don’t want them visiting your neighbors’ swimming pools and bird baths. Not everyone is fond of them!
It’s instinctual for us to want to provide clean, fresh water for our pets and livestock, but bees don’t like it that way. For whatever reason, they seem to prefer stagnant water full of debris that has been sitting around for as long as possible. Perhaps that makes it easier to smell?
We do know why they appreciate debris, it’s so they can get a drink without drowning. A perfect solution to your thirsty bee problem is a bowl full of pebbles, moss and leaves, woodchips, or a combination of the above. It’s a good idea to get it in place now so the bees can learn where it is by the time they really need it. If you leave it in a place where rainwater can replenish it, all the better.
Weeding the Easy Way – Let Chickens Do It
I do a lot of container gardening, and every year my containers sprout tons of annoying weeds before I have a chance to plant them up. I was looking at the mess in dismay until I remembered I had some girls who would be happy to weed for me. The chickens!
Now I just dump my containers in the pen and by the next day they are completely weed-free and have usually also been tilled quite nicely. Is there anything chickens can’t do?
3 Years, 1 Bucket – Fermented Grain for Chickens
So, how does my fermented grain bucket look after 3 years of being refilled and never completely cleaned out or changed? Great!
Above you can see my 5 gallon bucket ready to be restocked. There’s about a gallon of liquid left and a few inches of grains. I always refill it before it gets too depleted because I want the goodness of all that mature bacteria to get spread around as much as possible.
Every morning my ducks get one scoop and my chickens and pigeons get two heaping scoops from this bucket and believe me, it’s the highlight of their day. They know they’ve been bad if I make them wait for it (like when they try to wake me up early for it by screaming bloody murder) and I like that I can continue to feed it all winter long and provide them with at least some type of “living” food when the plants are dead and gone.
I add supplements every other time I refill the grains. I put in a good 2-3 TBSP each of kelp powder (the cheap stuff for gardens), garlic powder, cayenne powder and turmeric. I get these all for very cheap at a bulk store. Then they usually get two number 2 scoops of whole corn, two scoops of whole wheat, and a smaller scoop each of whole barley and black oil sunflower seeds. If I have other things lying around like wild bird seed that the wild birds don’t care for, I’ll dump that in too. The only thing I advise against using is pelleted or crumbled chicken feed. I tried that once and I got mold on top.
Everybody’s favorite is the (most expensive) corn and that gets gobbled up first. Least favorite and cheapest is the barley, but they eat it eventually. I always do my refill in the evening so the grains have a chance to absorb the liquid. I love the smell of the contents of the bucket, it reminds me of really good salad dressing!
Eggshells Instead of Bone Meal for the Garden
Plants need calcium, especially things like tomatoes which will suffer from blossom end-rot without sufficient amounts.
I save all my eggshells and my birds generate about 5 to 10 pounds worth per year. I dry them, crush them and every spring I spread them all over my gardens. Today was eggshell-spreading day! There are usually none left over, but when there are they get fed back to the birds who love them.
I really appreciate that I don’t have to purchase bone meal, which is a by-product of the beef industry. It’s nice using fertilizers that are generated right here on the property and it saves me money. I don’t bother crushing them to a powder, I just do the best I can and they decompose over time.
It’s a myth that eggshells will prevent slugs in your garden. Tests have shown that they actually attract them! If slugs are a concern for you, turn your eggshell into the soil so they’re covered. I don’t bother with this because my ducks eat most of the slugs around here and I like the way the shells brighten things up.
We Have Mason Bees!
This year we are adding mason bees to the homestead. A good friend has gifted me with four tubes of bees and their house is ready and waiting. Once daytime temperatures are stable at around 13 degrees Celcius (55 degrees F), I will place them outside to hatch. For now, they are hibernating in the fridge.
They will require nectar sources nearby as well as a mud source to lay the next generation of bees once they emerge. We definitely have the mud, but not a lot of flowers yet, so until conditions are perfect, we wait.
Yes, it’s Safe to Use Advantage on Chickens
This is a topic I’ve found it hard to find a straight answer on… Is Advantage topical flea treatment for dogs and cats safe for use on chickens?
The answer is yes. I have a Dorking hen who had been acting sluggish and had a scaly leg mite problem for quite awhile that wasn’t responding to natural treatments (diatomaceous earth and oil dips). I was worried about her and she hadn’t started laying yet this spring, so I decided to test out the treatment.
I wouldn’t recommend this treatment except as a last resort, but it does work! I gave her a 0.4ml dosage which is appropriate for her weight (0 -10lbs), administered to the back of her neck under her feathers. Within days, she had perked up and her sore legs began to heal. She even started laying! I did not eat her eggs for fear of contamination until a four week period had passed, but I have been giving them to my dogs and cats with no ill effects.
Meat Hybrid Bunnies for Sale
Our latest litter of adorable meat hybrid bunnies are now six weeks old and ready for new homes. They’re a triple F1 mix of 1/4 Creme d’Argent, 1/4 Standard Rex and 1/2 Champagne d’Argent.
These hybrids are part of a breeding program we’ve been working on for years now. They have better grow out rates, improved health, large litters and calm, friendly temperaments. If you’re tanning the pelts, they are easier to flesh and produce a better quality end product. Of course, they make great pet rabbits as well!
There are 11 kits available, with half of them being silvered black and the other half agouti which will likely also develop some silvering. Get in touch if interested!
Spring 2017 Cats and Garden
The long cold winter is finally giving way to warmer days and the garden is slowly coming back to life. Whenever I spend time out in the garden I have my little furry companions out to help me. They’re so cute!
The valerian near the chicken coop is going to be huge this year, I can tell. The lungwort is blooming, the lupines are pushing up with their star-shaped leaves and the rhubarb has definitely multiplied!
Here are a couple of pots of wild mint that I harvested down at the river last year, don’t know what kind exactly but glad they made it! It has a fresh, mild minty flavor.
Of course, not all the girls wanted to join me in the garden today, this little one was content to lounge inside on her heated cat bed until my photo-taking woke her up!
First Champagne d’Argent Litter
After almost two years of failure, first with a doe who just wouldn’t take and was later diagnosed with a very unusual amount of internal body fat despite a lean diet; then with our current doe who stubbornly refused to breed for nearly six months, we finally have our first purebred Champagne d’Argent litter!
I’m so relieved! This litter has been such a long time coming that I started to wonder if we would ever get any kits at all. In the meantime, our Champagne buck Gonzague has already sired at least half a dozen hybrid litters. I knew the issue definitely wasn’t with him.
Mathurine’s first litter went as smoothly as can be. Although she was a couple of days late, she pulled fur like a wild woman and gave birth to nine healthy kits, a very respectable first try. Champagne d’Argent kits are all black at birth and slowly develop their silvering with time. I’m looking forward to observing their progression!
If you’d like to reserve a Champagne d’Argent rabbit, please get in touch with us ASAP to get on the waiting list. They are purebred and pedigreed from an excellent lineage.
Abernathy's Rabbitry 