Chicken Coop and Frost

So I got the chicken coop done toady. I put some braces in the upper corners of the coop to help make it sturdier and attached a tarp door flap that can be easily dropped down to stop drafts and give the ladies privacy when needed. This coop is obviously not suitable for hens being kept outdoors as it offers no real security, but as my ladies are in the garage its all good. 

Chickens do not require a fancy place to sleep, all they need is a perch to sleep on (I use a large branch) a nesting box to lay in (I use a large wooden box filled with hay), and protection from predators and the elements (the garage does that). In the winter, I'll throw a blanket over the coop and add some extra hay to help keep out drafts and keep the ladies warmer.

On a bad note, we've had frost the last two nights, and despite covering the seedlings in the garden with hay, I lost almost all my tomato plants and cherry tomato plants. :( Obviously I should have waited longer to plant. Lesson learned. 

New chicken Coop

Well, I finally got the new chicken coop underway. I had a couple of friends over yesterday and we put together the new coop.

Putting the frame together

Today, I have to add some supports to the coop and I'm putting a tarp flap door on the front. As my coop is in the garage, I don't have to worry about predators so don't have to worry about the coop being secure. 

The ladies now have lots of room for perching at night and their nesting box in in the back of the coop. Best of all, I have room for a couple more hens now! I'm hoping to get two Silkie hens, but I'm having a problem finding some in my area.

Very happy, I have radishes, cucumbers and pole beans peaking their heads out of the ground now :)

Radishes

Cucumbers

Pole beans

Vegetable Garden In

I'm overjoyed to say my vegetable garden is officially all in! The last two years it has literally taken me weeks to get my vegetable garden in as I had to dig up the whole garden by hand, but this year I got a piece of the farmer's field so it was wonderfully tilled for me! So much easier!

This year I planted carrots, green onions, yellow onions, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, two types of hot peppers, three types of lettuce, cabbage, potatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, two types of squash, corn, cucumbers, radishes, peas, yellow and green beans, pumpkin and a couple of other things.

My son helping me water the garden

Unfortunately, my two garden hoses are not long enough to reach the garden so we had to water it by bucket, not a lot of fun. I'll have to head out shopping and buy at least another fifty feet of hose. (A problem city dwellers don't usually have to deal with!) 

Internet Blues

One of the few things that I don't like about living in the country is the internet. When I first moved in, I got stuck with dial up, which isn't horrible, but is not good for someone who works online. Dial up is also rather expensive, as I was paying $35 a month for the dial up and another $35 per month for a phone that was basically unusable. ($70 per month for extremely slow internet rather sucks).I got rid of the dial up, cause Bell totally pissed me off. I had high speed internet before moving to the country and so had a contract with Bell. Before moving to the country I confirmed with Bell that they could give me high speed there, which they of course said yes they could. When the Bell guy showed up to hook up the internet he of course couldn't give me high speed as the phone lines were too old, and than Bell tried to charge me $200 for not fulfilling my high speed contract! Seriously?! Bell broke the contract not me, they told me they could give me high speed and than couldn't produce it.

After ditching Bell, I got a Telus wireless stick. It worked good, but was stupid expensive. Telus charges $60 for 5GB and than $60 per GB you go over, so I had $200 -$400 bills every single month, not cool.

Finally, EBTech came to my area and I got wireless from them. Their internet comes from a radio tower so is not extremely fast or reliable, but it generally works good and is unlimited for only $64 per month. EBTech internet worked solid all winter, but for the last two weeks it has been horrible - thanks to a huge chestnut tree beside the house blocking the signal.

The photo shows the chestnut tree directly blocking the antenna on the roof of the house

So, what to do? Cutting down the tree is not an option (in my books, it would be downright horrible to cut down a 100 plus year old tree for internet) and moving the antenna wasn't an option as the tree blocked it no matter where on the roof it got moved. So, we gave the tree a serious trimming instead and voila! it works! Its still moving a little slower than normal, but it's at least working solidly! Thank Fortuna! 

New Foster Dog and Lots of Planting

Its been very busy around my house lately. The Shih Tzu we have been fostering for the last year went off to a new home and a new rescue was dropped off just a couple of days later. We now have a cute little Pug cross that is about five years old and has never been in a house before. She is very affectionate and has an excellent temperament, but she needs to be house trained and caught some basic commands. She gets along with all the boys well and is doing well with the cats

This is Layla

We have also been busy getting the garden ready for planting. I have started hardening off the seedlings

Today, I am planting tons of seeds, I have two types of squash, radishes, two types of hot peppers, green peppers, spinach, green onions, yellow onions, lots of tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, leeks, carrots, 4 types of lettuce, cabbage, swiss chard, lots of peas and yellow and green beans, pumpkin, watermelon, cantaloupe, corn, cucumbers and potatoes

The Chicken Breed Selector

This is a great site to get lots of information of the different chickens breeds ...

Chicken Breed Selector

Working on the garden

I spent a couple hours today digging up one of the vegetable gardens. I'm told by friends I'm late getting in some of my veggies, so I guess I better get my butt in gear! Taco, the Chihuahua, did an excellent job supervising today and the chickens did a great job at eating all the worms they could find and getting in my way. :) 

Seedlings for Fundraiser

I am helping out with a local festival and grew a bunch of seedlings for a fundraising event. I separated them into individual containers yesterday and have started "hardening' them off. It's about a month until the fundraising event so hopefully they'll be big, strong and healthy by then!