A good idea.....FAIL!

The motion camera!!!

Hi everyone. Yes I know that the few of you that read this will be glad to know I am back. It has been a long summer for many reasons. And as you all know, when you are busy, some things fall to the way side. My blog was one of them. Sorry about that for you and for me. I missed sharing a few thing.

So in light of that thought, I thought it would be funny to tell you about a FAIL to and idea.Many people in the world love to follow others in hopes that they mess up and are then forced to admit it -  I know that this makes many feel better about themselves. Well here is one of those times for me. I thought I had a great idea and it so far has totally backfired.

I was very certain that if I put up a trail sensor triggered camera, I would see what is visiting the coop day and night. I have seen possums, raccoons, squirrels, mice etc at random times.Would it not be great to have some proof photos to answer many questions as to what goes on in my absents? With that in mind, I researched the web, looking for a camera that was cheap but rated high to get started. I did not want to spend too much in case it did not work out. I reviewed for weeks the merits of certain models, actions shots, photos etc. I read hundreds of reviews. This action was the smartest and most successful  part of the plan. The rest was not so good.

As you will see below, my camera works very well. However, the only images it has managed to capture is ME going out to check on the coop. BTW, I carefully selected the photos. Some of the pictures were so unflattering I have now vowed to never eat again. It is a diet for me.

So have and look and be the judge. It was a FAIL in my book but funny.

 

 This is the first shot I retrieved. It is me checking that the camera is working. Well it is.

Here is me again a few days later, going out to check on the girls. Yes I am a fan of the band "Chicken Foot". Great band and great hat.

Here is me the next day again, on the way back from checking the girls. Ho hum....

This is the picture I got about 1003 times. It is of the coop and garden with absolutely nothing happening. What is triggering the camera?? I think it is the branch movement.

Oups - I managed to capture 2 of the girls looking out wondering where I was. I am sure they are awaiting a snack.

Updates from Chicken Scott

For this update I will cover -

Broody hen success  - chicken feeding good/bad - chicken treats you bake at home and save $$$$$ - last tidbits. 

Hi everyone! Our summer is really going fast. I have been so busy and have not had much time to blog. Isn't it the way it works, when you have time, it is winter and nothing much is going on. SUMMER time= so busy that you cant even take pictures or update the blog.

Oh well, now that I have ranted a bit - on with some updates.

The broody chicken, Bonnie - I am happy to report that we broke the brood. I did not have time (see above) to build a small "jail" pen or coop to hold her in. So I did the next best thing, I put her in the side "chicken yard" which is all gravel and no comfort. She like to peck around in the gravel but did not like sitting on it very much. The idea I got from my reading is that you have to remove the warmth and comfort of sitting on eggs. If you give no nest, no bedding for a few days, they stop brooding. Some folks plunge the chicken  in cold water and others add a fan to blow on the bottom of the chicken while in the cage coop.I just had to remove her from the nest as often as I could and stuck with it. She would flare up, peck,get very mad and even growl a bit.  I would don thick leather work gloves and she could not hurt me. Not that the brooding is over, she is just the same shy, sweet little hen. She has even started laying eggs again. 

Bonnie (this is a stock photo) but she looks just like this......

Do Not Feed Info - So I have had a lot of questions on feeding chicken. Everyone has their opinions but I stick to what I have read over and over. I have looked at many different sites on this subject. I also have read lots of bolgs and discussion boards on this subject. I complied a small list with the DO NOT FEED -

Raw green potato peels -- Toxic substance called Solanine.
Anything real salty -- Can cause salt poisoning in small bodies such as chickens.
Citrus
Dried or undercooked Beans --- Raw, or dry beans, contain a poison called hemaglutin which is toxic to birds.
Avocado Skin and Pit --Skin and pit have low levels of toxicity.
Raw eggs -- You don't want to introduce your chickens to the tastiness of eggs which may be waiting to be collected in the nest boxes.
Candy, Chocolate, Sugar --Their teeth will rot... No, it's just bad for their systems, and chocolate can be poisonous to most pets.
Moldy or rotten veggies and fruit - If it is bad - compost it - don't feed to your hens.

If you want a big list of the "good snacks" send me a email and I will send you the doc. It is the "A - Z on treats.


Treats to make & bake -

The other day I decided to make some treats I had read about on some blogs. My girls deserve the best, right?  Most treats you buy are costly and I wanted something easy and cheap. I was mixing up the batch and my dad called. I answered the "hey what are you doing" question by telling him I was baking chicken snacks. He sort of stuttered, what the ???? It was funny.

Ingredients -

3 cups finely ground corn (their scratch)
1 1/2 cup wild bird seed - or their feed or a mix of anything - black sunflower seeds, bird feed, some cracked corn etc. I use up what I got. Some people add dried fruit too (apples, berries).
1 cup of oatmeal

Add enough water to moisten the mixture, but not make it soupy - someone also said to add an egg -good for binding the product. Hey it works for cakes and cookies, why not for this?

Mix up well in a bowl and pack firmly into a greased shallow baking dish (form a round or square cookie - or put in paper muffin cups (not full about half full) **** Note - one guy made a hole in the center by inserting a piece of foil (in a small ball or tube. The idea is to have a hole in the center of the treat to be able to hang it up. If you try and put a hole in later, you could break the "cookie"

Baked at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours until the edges were brown - low and slow on the temp and time.

Remove and let cool completely before serving. I keep the extras in a zip lock bag in fridge to keep fresh for a long time.  Be sure to mark the bag - Do Not Eat - Chicken treats ONLY!!!! I do not think my kids would eat them much after one bite.


Let me how it turns out for you and how your hens like it. I would be interested any and all changes and varieties.

Best to you - ChickenScott

Broody Hen Trouble

So I noticed my "bonnie girl" was not getting out of the nest. Next day, same situation. Broody hens sit on the nest and refuse to get up. They got it in there head that they are sitting on eggs to hatch them. They will not eat or drink. I have read up and there is a few things to do to "break" them.
When I tried to pick her up off the nest and she puffed up, pecked and even growled some. Real mean for sure. I read one cure is to dunk them in cold water which is supposed to shock them and cool them off. I am not to keen on that method. Another method is to put them in a cage with food, water and no bedding material. The idea is to "cool" them off. Some folks even put a fan on them to cool them off. I guess their body temperature is higher during this time. Some people say that after a couple of days they snap out of the trance they go into.

Here she is all settled down and not moving.

Look how she puffs up and is giving me the mean eye.

I had to wear gloves because she was pecking me so hard. I took her out and put her in the outside pen. Gave her food and water. She had not eaten I bet for a few days. It is a cooler day and there is a light mist of rain. That should help to cool her down and hopefully break this broody attitude.

Bringing in the Bee's....

So it was time to remove the Mason Bee tubes today. I collected them from the two houses. I was very cool to see about 43 full tubes and about 14 half or partly filled tubes. I put them in a nice burlap bag I saved from an event. I will take the tubes apart in the fall and then store them in the fridge like last time until spring. My family thinks I am nuts for storing bee's in the fridge. But they are very clean and just need to be stored in a constant temperature of about 40 degrees.

About less then half of the 100+ tubes I had out were empty. I will use them next season.

 Here are some of  the full and part full tubes. The full ones are the ones that have mud all the way to the ends. The rest are part full. Each full tube could have between 5-8 cocoons in it. So over all I could have from 200 to 280 bees for next year.

In process - all houses are not cleared out. I ordered some new bees (Leaf Cutter) for the summer. I bought some smaller tubes for them too. I will post on them once they arrive.

A sad note - while cleaning out the house and tubes I found this female. She is perfect but alas thier life cycle is very short. Sorry to see her go. I will care for her off spring next season.

Waiting our turn in the nest

Everyone thinks chickens are stupid and have no feelings. Well I found this scene this weekend. Joan is sitting in the nest and Bonnie is waiting her turn. In comes Annie and she talks to them for a bit - it  is a sort of cooing sound. All three interact and just softly cluck during the egg laying is in session. It was a site to see. All being quiet, patient with each other and in total cooperation. The coop does have a rhythm.

 Joan in the nest, Bonnie on the right waiting her turn.

Annie arrives to see what is going on in the coop.

Annie has come to lend some encouragement.

Dirt Bath's for all!

I have a gravel area around the shed. The girls like to scratch around in it. Today it was sunny and the girls decided that it was bath time. I crept around the shed and found them. They had torn up the weed block so they can get to the dirt. How did they did so deep so fast?

It is just us here having a dirt bath in the cool soil!

We are working on the tunnel under the fence soon!

Summers evening view

I managed to capture a double rainbow the other evening. Not too much else I can say.....

The gardens are growing.....

Hi everyone! Wow what a month. We have been working very hard to get the gardens in shape and it is all paying off. Have a look at our hill side plants and our new chairs that my father made and my wife painted. Too cool. This is one of our "garden spots" to sit in an afternoon or evening. We have a bite of lunch or some wine and chill out. It is funny, but it seems every time we are here nature comes to us.... a humming bird comes along to feed, or a woodpecker climbs around the tree we are sitting under. My bees are everywhere, it is peaceful. We will pull out the fire pit soon and sit in the evening with friends after some BBQ and roast smores...that is the best. Simple life, simple pleasures that is as good as it gets.

Our neighbor rebuild the fence...great job Jeff!

I am back!!!

Hey all...if you did not know I have been gone for a few weeks. The family went to Cancun for some sun and fun. It was (of course) a blast. We did a lot of reading, snoozing, swimming, beach walking etc.  I could go on and on about the place we stay. So relaxing and peaceful. I can not wait to go back next year!

 Here is a trip we took to a place that is a huge natural lagoon water park. We snorkeled with schools of fish over natural reefs. We saw clown fish, grouper, manta rays and many, many other reef fish. This is a group photo of the family with my sons new go-cam.

I was very interested in the gardening. There was lots of different plants see. This is one of my favorites. Unfortunately, growing this in the Pacific NW would not work too well.

Fact *** Birds of Paradise or Strelitzia Reginae, is a dramatic plant with a distinctive appearance. The flowers are iridescent orange and midnight blue in color and look like a tropical bird peeking through leaves. Despite its tropical appearance, it is native to South Africa. Bird of paradise has been exported throughout the United States, though, and florists use it as a cut flower in arrangements.

I grilled out several nights too - I made steak and chicken Fajitas, fresh Grouper fish,  I caught the same day on a fishing trip. It made the best fish tacos.

 

Mason Bee's Breeding

The Stalker....

It was such I nice morning that I went out early and took a look the the bee houses. I noticed in front of me a "couple" mating. It was quite a site and I have not ever seen a picture of this event. Thinking I was witness to a rare sight, I grabbed my camera and snapped a couple of pictures. Now don't get me wrong, I am not a stalker or wacko, I just was happy to see nature at work and to know I would have some more cocoons for next year.

I also got a couple of pictures of some females flying in and out of the tubes. I was fun to sit there and have them buzz past me and not really pay any mind to me.

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 Note the female in the upper right hand corner of the house. After a few hours, this tube was full! That means she laid 5 -8 cocoons. I am so happy. 

The girls love to dig in the sunshine

Some new pictures of the girls in the garden. They love to dig in the garden and have the warm sun on their backs.

Joan.....

Bonnie girl....

Annie.....

Cocoons hatching!!!

Two new Mason Bees emerge!

I had some cocoons that had not hatched out from my order. I took them out and left them in the sun. Within 20 minutes of sunning them,  I noted they were moving and two of the female eggs started to emerge. It took about 10 minutes and we had 2 more females in the yard. What a site!

First there was one........

Then two........

Almost there........

She is out and ready to eat!

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Bee's in the trees

Wow - walked out the door over the weekend and heard the strangest sound. There was a low humming sound that I could not make out. I looked up into my tree and saw the greatest number of bee's I have ever seen enjoying the blossoms. It was quite a sight. I ran into the house and was lucky enough to get the video below. Speakers up and listen.

More Mason bee's

Adding more bees. I found a guy on Craigslist that was selling his Mason bee's in the log for $1 per mudd'ed hole. That is a great deal as each hole has 5-8 bees so that 95-150 bees at a cost of about $.16 per bee!

I set it next to my existing bee house and once they all hatch I will remove the log. I cant wait to see all the new bees. I need them to get to work in the gardens.

A new fire station - Buckley WA.

We were invited by the chief to attend the opening of the new fire station in Buckley WA. My son is a volunteer Firefighter / EMT and lives at the station. It was a big event as the last station was founded over 60 years ago! The mayor, several fire departments, the Buckley Police and many citizens attended. The station was dedicated to the citizens of Buckley and to everyone surprise the chief, Alan Predmore! You could see he was very surprised and honored. It was much deserved as he has worked tireless for many, many years to see this station through. Good on you Chief Predmore.

 There were some short speeches by the fire chief and the Mayor.

The "ribbon" cutting was a actually an uncoupling of a ceremonial hose.

That is it. Come on in and see the new station.

A busy weekend!

WOW - we just had one of those super sunny weekends that makes 5 months of rain worth it. I even got some sunburn...but most of all we got a huge jump on the garden and accomplished many tasks.

I worked on getting all the seedlings planted and ready to go into my new portable hot house.

Things got a bit messy but it got done!

My new hot house has so much room I am going to help the neighbors out and keep their starts too.

As you can see I am only using about half the space. This thing is sturdy and keeps a nice hot, humid environment for the seedlings. I hope to see some little plants cropping up in a week or so.

Sunny afternoon flowers

So there has been some sun here the PNW (Pacific North West) and my flowers are starting to pop out. I took some time to grab a few shots of some of them.

Mason Bee's for spring!

One of my spring "to do" is to add Mason Bee's to my garden. I have done a bunch of reading on the subject and it is quite easy to have and manage Mason bees. The orchard mason bee (Osmia lignaria) is a gentle beneficial insect that is a pollinator of apples, cherries, and other tree fruits. It is found throughout most of North America, particularly in wooded areas but often around homes in towns and cities. The orchard mason bee is usually slightly smaller than a honey bee and a shiny dark blue in color. You may have seen them and thought they were flies. Males are smaller than females, have longer antennae and an additional tuft of light colored hairs on the face. Females have hairs on the underside of the abdomen, called the "scopa", adapted for carrying pollen. The orchard mason bee is non-aggressive and will sting only if handled roughly.  Due to the dwindling population of the honey bee, we must support this important pollination bee. In the future, I hope to build a "Top Bar" hive for honey bees. But for now I will work on developing my Mason Bee for many future seasons.

Go to the site below. Crown Bees is located in Woodinville, WA. They are a super source for info and help. You can buy bees and all materials to get started. There is also a lot of free learning material to use.

 www.crownbees.com 

Here is the box of bees I received from Crown Bees - 10 males/10 females.The female cocoons are bigger than the males and hatch later in the season.

Here is the Mason bee house I built out of a left over piece of fence board. There are dozens of other styles including "bee blocks". If you have a garden, a sunny spot the faces SE (for morning sun) and plants, trees, flowers near by, get yourself some bees! I added in the purchased tubes for the females to make the cocoons in. That way I can harvest the cocoons in the fall and have my bees for next year. I added some straw/sticks for depth perception and a bee "scent" attractant. ** Note the box of bees in the chamber above. I have had them in the fridge for about 3 months. I hope they come out soon. More later on this.......come on out little friends and join my garden!