Tonks in Time-Out

I'm so tired of chicken drama. 

As you know, a couple of months ago, Ginny the chicken somehow got injured. Chickens can be very cruel, and our chicken Tonks is especially not nice. Once she sensed that Ginny was crippled, she went in for the kill. Tonks would hold Ginny down and peck repeatedly at her neck and comb, and poor Ginny was bloodied, weak, and getting stuck under things trying to hide from Tonks. So I made the decision to remove Ginny from the flock and let her heal in peace. She has been free-ranging now for several weeks, and she has gotten much better, still with a tiny limp but ok (though not laying eggs at all, so frankly, I need to think further about that). The last week or so, Ginny has been sneakily scooting into the coop every time I open the door. She just wants to be with her mates!

Meanwhile, we have the two new chickens in a big dog cage inside the coop, so that everyone can get used to them without beating them up. It's been a bit of a stressful time. Tonks has been trying to peck them through the cage, and of course she can't get to them, which is good, but makes me worried for this weekend, when I'm hoping to integrate the new chickens into the flock. {By the way, the new chickens (Golden Sexlinks) don't have names yet. Our original six chickens all had "Order of the Phoenix" names, from Harry Potter. Hermione, Minerva (both Plymouth Barred Rocks), Ginny, Molly (both Rhode Island Reds), Tonks, and Luna (both Easter Eggers). Minerva died the summer after we got her.) There are only so many Order of the Phoenix girl characters. So we either start using boy names or we go on to a different group of names. Or we don't name them at all.}

This morning, I decided to try to integrate Ginny back into the flock before we let the new chickens out, since she clearly wanted to be a part of the group again. So I carried her down from the hen house, but instead of putting her outside, I put her down inside. And she loved it! She was scratching and talking and enjoying herself! For a bit Tonks ignored her and I thought all was going to be well. But soon, the abuse began again and poor Ginny had stuffed herself under the feeding shelf and was trembling. So I grabbed Tonks by the tail (a major achievement! I can rarely catch her) and threw her outside the coop. A reader, Laura, suggested this a long time ago, and I decided it was a great idea and acted impulsively on it today. Tonks is now on time out in the yard. Let's see how she likes being the outsider for a change.

As for the new chickens, I want to be around when they are integrated, so I can watch them and see how it goes. So the plan is this: Friday night, I'll take them out of the big dog cage and put them up on the roosts with the other chickens. I'll remove the cage from the coop. And Saturday morning, they'll all come down and hopefully be friends. The smaller of the two is very, very shy, and I worry about her in particular. I'm thinking of putting a bunch of boxes in the coop so that she can get away from the other chickens if she needs to. We already have several big branches as daytime roosts all around the coop, so that's another place a chicken can go for relief. Doesn't work for Ginny, though, since I think she is having trouble hopping/flying.

Chicken drama! Argh. 

If any of you have successfully integrated new chickens into an existing flock, I'd love to hear about it. And if you've had a bully like Tonks, I'd like to hear about that, too. I know that the pecking order exists for a reason, and that it is better for them in the long run to know where everyone stands, but holding one down and repeatedly beating up on her is not something I want in my flock. 

Eight Things I'm Looking Forward To

Sorry about ending that title with a preposition. It looks awful, but I couldn't title this post "Things to which I am looking forward!" That just sounded so snooty. So please overlook my grammar and come along with me on a walk 'round the garden, where I am seeing eight things that I'm really excited about.

1) Blueberries, as seen above. We have eight bushes; one is quite large, but the other seven are still either young (two years old), or recovering from being Joe-the-dog's-sleeping-place. This year, for some strange reason (all the rain? deeper layers of sawdust?), the bushes, both large and small, are simply covered with blueberries. I'm deeply, deeply pleased. We'll have plenty to eat out of hand, and plenty to freeze or can, as well.

2) Hollyhocks. Three years ago, I planted at least twenty packets of hollyhock seeds. I had gotten the packets free, and they were slightly old, but I planted them with high hopes. I don't have a lot of tall flowers in the garden, and I think tall flowers add a lot of interest to our very flat yard. So I planted these hollyhocks, all kinds and all colors, with the wish that they would eventually bring towers of blooms to our garden horizon. Three years later, they are finally blooming. Hooray, I can't wait to see them.

3) A second and possibly third harvest of artichokes. We've already had one harvest from our three plants, but an amazing thing is happening - all the bushes have numerous side shoots and dozens of artichokes coming on. We'll get several more meals out of these plants. Yum.

4) This Echium wildpretii, or Tower of Jewels, that is in its second year of growth, which means it's going to bloom this summer. See this picture for what it will hopefully look like. Isn't that incredible? I'm thrilled to bits that this might actually work in our yard!!! If it doesn't bloom this year, it definitely will next!

5) Celery! I have babied these five plants from seed - they are the s-l-o-w-e-s-t vegetable I've ever grown, and they are incredibly high maintenance! But I think, if I keep them shady and cool enough, and wet enough, we'll have some celery!!! And may I say - never again!

6) Verbascum 'Southern Charm' - I planted four of these in the woodland garden, and I was particularly excited to have a verbascum that flowers for months on new spikes. See this picture for how it may look in another week or two. Another tall spiky flower plant, which will add some vertical interest, as well as beautiful blossoms for the pollinators and for us to enjoy! Especially in the woodland garden, which can be a bit shy!

7) My boss gave me a very generous gift certificate when I left my job, and with it I bought this navel orange, hoping that I could share the fruit with her someday. Looks like I'll get a chance this coming winter! And oh, do these blossoms smell amazing!

8) This Comfrey is finally blooming. I've wanted this plant in my garden for a long time, because it is a great compost plant - meaning when you chop the leaves off and add them to your compost, or directly to the earth under the plants, it returns a lot of nutrients to the soil. And it grows so big, so quickly, that you can chop it back a lot and it just keeps going. And the flowers attract a lot of pollinators. But if you try to buy comfrey plants, it's a little difficult - no one seems to sell them, at least around here. However I did notice that our neighbor has one in their front yard, and about a year ago (I think), I asked them if I could take a root cutting, and they said yes, so I did, and I planted it! And it did fine, though it never bloomed, but then over the frosty winter it died. And I thought I had lost it. But it came back! And it's blooming! Hooray!

There's so much to look forward to that I didn't include here, but these are the things that I'm anticipating right now, today! What are you looking forward to, in your garden? I'd love to know!

Weekly Walkthrough: The Transition

April is that month for us, the one where every weekend is just a blur of activity. This week, we get two new chickens, open the bee hive, get the tomatoes and peppers in the ground, get the stakes and trellising up, and check all the drip lines. Thanks for watching!

A Little of This, a Little of That

That's the way my life has been this week. A little homework, a little time in the garden. A little class, a little walking. A little shuttling of kids around, a little cooking. Not enough time on any one thing. A little of this, a little of that.

I've managed to get two new chickens ordered, and they'll be arriving Sunday. I decided on Golden Sexlinks, as they seem to do well with extreme temperatures, have a fairly calm demeanor, and are excellent layers of large brown eggs. We could use some more large brown eggs around here, that's for sure - we are noticing the effects of keeping an aging flock. Some young hens should help us out.

I've managed to transplant the cucumber starts into the fire rings, which are full of that good dirt we got last weekend. 

I've managed to prop up the blueberry bushes (more like vines at this point, really) since they are getting heavy with fruit.

I've managed to move a few perennials around the garden, after noting that they'd do much better elsewhere. The more experience I get with flower gardening, the more I realize how important it is to plant by community. A section for dry shade, a section for full hot sun, a section for rich moist soil, etc. And as the garden trees change and grow, the communities change also. 

Lots to do this coming weekend: Transplanting the rest of the summer veg, putting in stakes for the tomatoes, getting ready for the new chickens and getting them settled, and a bee hive check. 80 degrees predicted for tomorrow. 

Western Fence Lizard catching some rays on the row cover

Weekly Walkthrough: Good Soil

Tom and I filled the raised beds with a top-dressing of 'veggie mix' soil from our local Sloat garden center in Danville, in preparation for summer planting. 

We watch the drones come home - every day they go out to a 'drone congregation area,' which is a in a secret location, in the hopes of meeting and mating with a queen. They come home about 4 pm, bumbling and loud. It's fun to watch them.

I also visit Annie's Annuals in Richmond, thanks to an unexpected gift card. I was able to get some plants for the shady porch, the pollinator garden where Ginny the chicken eats any seeds I put out, and for the pallet planter which has up until now housed strawberries (they simply need better nutrition than what I can give them in that pallet). 

Thanks for watching!