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Rather than till the entire garden space, this year we are seriously considering doing a low till planting. Given the high cost of gasoline we are thinking our wisest choice may be to till just where we plant and simply keep the areas between rows mulched. Plus I’ve read (somewhere) that the less you disturb the natural ecosystem of your garden area (prior to planting) the better, that tilling too much or to deep does more harm than good unless you allow adequate time between tilling and planting to allow natural restoration of the ecosystem.
Amidst garden planning and discussing we are also looking at chicken breeds and coop options. We definitely are considering a few laying hens and preferably heritage breeds that are brown egg layers. I am leaning towards a few buff orpington as well as barred Plymouth rock. Fortunately we have a hatchery not far from us and they have a variety of heritage breeds. Hubby Coop (not chicken coop, lol!) wants to build a chicken tractor which would be ideal. We’ve been kind of hooked on the idea for awhile. So, the real possibility of a whole new adventure awaits us…a chicken adventure.
I think a lot about chickens being the first farm-type creature I might want when it becomes time ... and I also think about the local coyotes eating the poor things. Have you had much trouble with interlopers? Depends on the area I guess. And the strength of your coop (chicken coop - not hubby Coop, LOL)! So many neat varieties of chickens. Never any shortage of things to learn about!
ReplyDeleteHi CM. We free range our ducks during the day. When we first got them, we lost one female duck to a raccoon. We also had trouble with coons stealing the eggs until we secured the duck house very, very well. Since we've had our dog Shadow we have had no trouble with predators. He leaves the ducks alone and just having him around deters any would be interloper.
ReplyDeletei adore my girls! from the first little chick, you will never look back!
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