Again, not much to report other than those darn chickens have learned destruction!!!

Let me elaborate.  I’ve been working in my beds, adding compost and rabbit manure.  Apparently, chickens are too lazy to scratch into dirt that is flat and compacted but not so lazy as to scratch into dirt that’s been turned over with delicious manure added.

Last week I planted out my seedlings I had been nurturing since 7/15.  They didn’t even last one evening.  Well, 70% of them were dug up.  The chickens didn’t even eat the plant, just dug up the bed around it and I didn’t notice until the next day when they were dead.  I was totally bummed out.

Here’s the breakdown of what’s been going on in September on the ole farmstead.

Eggs:  60
Okra:  14lbs-pulled up 9/26
Turnip greens 4lbs
Cayenne peppers:  .5lbs
Banana Peppers:  2lbs

We lost one hen early in the month.  We were going to be at a football game.  I arranged a ladder for the hens to jump the fence and go into the coop.  Well, when got home around 9pm, the big hens were not in the coop.  I couldn’t find them anywhere, so we had to hope for the best.  The next morning, I saw one hen coming out of our bamboo thicket and I heard another one in a crepe mrytle by my rabbit hutches (which, btw, the dumb chicken had to climb a pallet ladder, exactly like the one I had arranged over by the coop, to get into that tree).  We never did find the third one.  I hope she found some other chickens to roost with and found a new family.  Yeah, right.

On 9/13 I planted into the ground 2 broccoli, 2 cauliflowers, 2 cabbages, 2 bright lights swiss chard, 2 ruby red swiss chard, 3 russian blue kale and 20 turnips.  Of this, only 2 ruby red swiss chard remain, the 3 kales, and one broccoli.  Most didn’t germinate, but the chickens got some of them too.

9/27 planted some romaine lettuce, some more kale, and a bed of mizuna.  I also planted in the ground some more cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli.  These are covered with fencing and have germinated.

In the works are a collapsible fencing that I can move around depending on what beds are planted and what’s fallow and where I want the chickens.  I am also getting some garden soil this weekend and we’ll be building my new beds in which during the spring I will plant corn and melons.

If those crazy chickens don’t stay out of my garden, it might be gumbo time.  Their laying has slowed down, we’re getting maybe 1 every day rather than 2.  I really can’t wait for the chicks to start laying, though it won’t be till next spring.  The chicks are fully feathered out now, looking like a miniature version of a chicken.  The roosters are beginning to fight with each other and I’ve been letting them out of the run to roam the yard.  They stay pretty close to the coop and they are very skittish for every noise that scares them.  I have a feeling they’ll be jaded when the hawks come in as the blue jays screech just like a hawk and now they have figured out a jay isn’t going to hurt them.  My cat who we let inside and outside has been having to stay inside all day long because I caught him in the run not once, not twice, but three times chasing the chicks.  The last time he had one in his paws.  Rhys shot the .22 at him to scare him, but it still didn’t deter him.  The black cat stray that had been eyeing the chicks got shot the other night.  He ran off and appeared uninjured, but we haven’t seen him since.  Maybe he got the fear of God put in him and he’ll stay away.  As soon as the rooster we’re going to keep is full grown, he’ll be able to handle the cats.  It’s just right now they are very vulnerable as they are the size of mourning doves, but they can’t fly away.  We’ve been lucky and haven’t lost a chick yet.  I’m sure I’m jinxing myself, but we’ll see.

What’s your harvest tally for September?