Backyard Chickens & Bees

Exciting! We are getting the bees tomorrow. Ruhl Bee Supply is getting all the bee packages in today, but we’re unable to get there until tomorrow. I’ll have to take a half day of vacation to get down there early and avoid the rush-hour traffic along I-205. Still, we’re are all getting ready for the [...]

The blog is back up (not that you probably noticed it was down)! I host it on my PC at home, and the power supply, mother board, and CPU all signed and then carried out a suicide pact a couple of days ago. They have been replaced. As was the RAM, who was probably complicit. [...]

We heard a bit of a commotion from the hens late tonight and looked out the window to see that the murderous black-and-white dog was back and trying to get into the coop! I chased him off and put on the egg-laying light inside the roost to be able to see and maybe make the [...]

Not quite penned yet, but soon! My friend William was over this weekend helping Veronica and I build a massive chicken pen that will keep the chickens in a safe, enclosed area where dogs and raccoons will not be able to get them easily. At least, not until they have opposable thumbs. (Granted, opossums have [...]

Well, the bee packages should be showing up in about two weeks, so I’ve been brushing up on the installation procedure and getting the final hive preparations completed. These last few tasks include any final paint coats that need to be applied and building up the base that the hive will reside upon. According to [...]

An e-mail that came in this morning from Matt provides a key to which chick is which. Apparently Claire and Samuel named all eleven of the new chicks, and took photos to aid in identifying them all. The images are below:

I planted my hops last night. Three rhizomes of Willamette hops were put along the south side of the house and three and two rhizomes of Mt Hood and Sterling, respectively, were planted along the west edge of the deck. The three along the south side will grow along the Coir fiber twine that I [...]

The chickens seem to be settling in to the new coop quite nicely! The neighbors have had a light on in the coop for egg maximization, so it’s easy to see them pretty much all the time. They like the roost and are constantly battling for the prime spot right next to the light. I [...]

We worked on the hen house again today, this time installing a few bells and whistles and putting up all of the chicken wire to keep out the raccoons and other varmints. And, in typical Pacific Northwest weather, it was pouring the entire time. At least I got in a hot shower afterwards, and don’t [...]

I am ready for Official Spring. Only another week. I can make it… We keep having frosts every morning and, even though I have my cold frames set up and the soil is mostly warm enough, there is always a risk that the lettuces and onions will suffer. In fact, I am surprised they are [...]