Bringing Home The Chicks.

Thanks for all your comments regarding the title of my last post.

I wonder how many people were disappointed when they opened it.

So here they are, 200 one day old chickens.

The whites, Leghorn cross New Hampshires,

the blacks, Australorp cross New Hampshires,

and the browns, Gingerhams.

Once we have finished oohhing and aahhhing over them they go into their freshly fitted out house. 

We put the boxes under the lights and cut the boxes apart until they are flat.

Some of the chickens are adventurous straight away.

While others haven't even opened their eyes yet.

It's not long before all the colours begin to mix.

Better not forget to shut the door hey Pixie.

How To Pick Up Chicks.

We are off to Melbourne this afternoon to see some family, some friends, pick up my new computer and do some school holiday stuff.

But before we go there's some preparing to do for the 200 one day old chickens that will be coming home with us tomorrow afternoon.

We spread out a bale of straw to sit their house on.

We used to take the wheels off the house and park it on the ground but the straw acts as insulation.

Liam drives the house onto the straw where it will sit for the next few months.

The wire mesh is the floor of the house.

The heat lamps get hooked up.

These lamps have ceramic bulbs so they get hot but don't light up.

This is to keep them warm but not to keep them awake.

The lights are on pulleys that can be raised and lowered as the chicks get older and taller and hardier.

The corners of the house are rounded so they can't get stuck in them or squash their friends.

Next for the wood shavings.

We use wood shavings for bedding on the floor of the house as its virtually dust free and incredibly absorbant. The chicks will live on these shavings for the next few weeks and we wont have to change them at all.

The feeders and waterers are full, the cardboard is down, so they don't get buried in the wood shavings in the first few days.

See ya tomorrow!!

Mulching the garlic

This year we planted the garlic in between the rows of some of our younger apple trees.

The garlic shoots are about six weeks old.

They are shooting out of the ground now so it's time to mulch them.

The reason we mulch them is to stop the weeds from coming up and competing for water, nutrients and space.

We mulch them by covering the surrounding soil with a thick layer of certified organic oaten straw.

Oaten straw is the stalks left behind after the oats are removed.

That's Liam in his squirrel hunting hat.

He tells us it's warm.

That's how he gets it past the style police anyway!

I love how freshly mulched garlic looks, all snug and warm.

Now that tiny plant has to grow a long green stalk, some leaves, a flower and then the magical cloved bulb.

I can hardly wait til November.