March is off to a running start. The bitter weather that held us most of the winter finally broke about a week ago. Who knew I’d be doing back flips for 40-degree weather?! It’s been windy, but everyone is happy it’s above freezing.
Seeding started early this year, but the results are good so far. The peppers look really nice. I transplanted over 60 of the red, sweet ‘Carmens’ and 40 of the Hungarian medium-hot block peppers. As far as tomatoes go, so far I have a half-dozen of the ‘Stupice’ slated for the garden, as well as 10 ‘Old World Paste’ romas that a lady on the Hobby Farms Forum gave me this spring. I grafted a half-dozen ‘Brandywines’ on the ‘Maxifort’ rootstock. (I will write about that process a little later this week. ) The greenhouse is half-full, and I still have a lot of seeding to do!
We also decided to give chickens another try. I think the hens our neighbor gave us were well into the elderly catagory, which explains why we never had consistent eggs. One would lay for awhile – and we’d be thrilled – but soon she’s stop and we’d be eggless for weeks. I can use the molting excuse only so long! Since our neighbor is very attached to his birds, Grant talked to him about giving them back (since dispatching them to the soup pot would probably break his heart). He told us to bring them back over; they will die of old age just like all of the other birds he has.
To replace them we succumbed to the call of the peeps at Big R. Last Sunday we bought 2 barred rocks, 1 leghorn, 1 Rhode Island red and 1 black star. We’ll try the different varieties to see how they do. The tricky part is the chicks need to stay indoors for nearly a month. Our house isn’t very big so they took their spot in a large metal trough pushed half-way under the kitchen table. We have pine shavings to give them comfy bedding and an infrared lamp so they stay toasty warm. They need to be around 95 degrees for the first week, then we’ll step it down 5 degrees each week until they’re ready to go outside. (I turned off the lamp briefly yesterday, and they protested loudly. The girls like it hot.)
The chicks were pretty quiet the first day. They’d eat, drink, poop then zonk out as if someone hit their ‘off’ switch. Each day they are more active, and this morning were noisy enough to wake me up. Obviously, they’re morning creatures. The boys love to watch them, too, although it’s a big temptation for them to smack the side of the metal trough just to watch them scatter. Then John was spitting at them this afternoon. Sam was horrified. I don’t know about that boy. 
Tags: brooder, chickens, hobby farms forum, peppers, seedlings
I LOVE barred rocks. Truly, they’re the sweetest kind of hen you can get.
I don’t envy you your weather, but just reading about all of the seeds you’ve started, I’m jealous of your planting space. I’m having to relearn how to garden in a very tight space!
One of the former hens was a barred rock, and she was the most interesting of the bunch. (I named her Lilith.) Pretty, too! How much space do you have to garden? What do you grow (outside of spectacular avocados!)?
We’re on just a quarter of an acre, and much of the lot is steep. We’re in the process of terracing and creating some usable garden space, but we’re having to get clever to squeeze it all in. So far I’m only growing snap peas, but have seedlings of tomatoes, lettuce, asparagus, broccoli, and tomatillo going. Tomatoes and zucchini, believe it or not, are hard to grow here.