Tonight we treated our chickens for scaly leg mites. The general procedure is to dip their legs in oil to smother the mites, but I had the bright thought that a solid oil, like coconut, would be even better because it would form a thick layer on their legs that would last for a while. And while we're at it, why not throw in a little essential oil to soothe the scales and irritate the mites?
This is how I came to be massaging lavender/tea tree scented coconut oil into the feet of 15 nervous chickens.
It went pretty well. We came by night, when the chickens were all asleep and docile, and manflesh pulled them down one by one. It was interesting, because they all started off anxious and pulled their feet away from my touch, but as soon as I started really massaging the oil into their scales they all stopped fighting and even seemed to enjoy it. I really felt like I was giving them a bit of a luxury treatment, which, maybe I was. The mites live under their scales and make everything kind of inflamed and icky, so a gentle oil massage probably felt pretty good.
We'll need to do it a few more times, so I'm interested to see if they remember that it's a good thing and are a little more receptive when we do it again. We'll also be dusting the whole coop with diatomaceous earth to knock the buggers out in the bedding and on the perches.
---
Earlier today, one of our cats was super interested in a cardboard box near the front door. I thought he was just being a weird cat until Babby said, "What's that on the ground?" I looked closer, and a sad, hard done by alligator lizard was desperately trying to limp away from the cat. He was already missing his tail and sporting some other wounds, but his drive to keep running away gave me hope that he might make it. We threw him into a terrarium we had sitting vacant, filled with soil and leaves from the woods. He sat really still for a while, but has now disappeared, so maybe that's a good sign? Ooooor he's slunk off to die. I suppose we'll find out soon.
We do like our little native lizards, so I'm hoping he makes it and goes on to eat bugs out of our garden for many years.
Showing posts with label country living. Show all posts
Showing posts with label country living. Show all posts
Monday, April 13, 2015
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Lost Chicken
We've been missing one of the Rhode Island reds since we got home from an overnight visit almost two weeks ago. After quite a bit of searching, we'd more or less given her up as a lost cause, assuming she jumped the fence and fell victim to one of the many predators out in the woods.
Yesterday, though, manflesh noticed one of the little ornamental trees twitching. On further investigation, he found a chicken inside, with her clutch of 17 eggs. Someone else must have been helping her by laying there as well, because she hasn't been gone long enough to lay 17 eggs by herself.
We've moved the fence to include her little nesting area in the general chicken enclosure, and the extra traffic seems to have cured her of her broodiness... at least for the moment.
Yesterday, though, manflesh noticed one of the little ornamental trees twitching. On further investigation, he found a chicken inside, with her clutch of 17 eggs. Someone else must have been helping her by laying there as well, because she hasn't been gone long enough to lay 17 eggs by herself.
We've moved the fence to include her little nesting area in the general chicken enclosure, and the extra traffic seems to have cured her of her broodiness... at least for the moment.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Saturday, March 1, 2014
We might be getting some cows!
Okay, so they wouldn't be ours, they would just come visit us for a while.
A guy showed up at the door today because our neighbor across the creek suggested that we might be willing to let some of his cows come graze our unloved pasture. Apparently he's got 16 cows ready to calve, and not enough acreage at his house, so he's a little desperate. We'd love to get all that manure and have some grazers down there getting the land into shape, so it would be a win-win.
No promises yet, but he seems motivated and we're definitely open to it, so my hopes are high. I'd love to have some cattle down there without having to put in the work myself. Rest assured, if this pans out, cow pictures are in your future.
A guy showed up at the door today because our neighbor across the creek suggested that we might be willing to let some of his cows come graze our unloved pasture. Apparently he's got 16 cows ready to calve, and not enough acreage at his house, so he's a little desperate. We'd love to get all that manure and have some grazers down there getting the land into shape, so it would be a win-win.
No promises yet, but he seems motivated and we're definitely open to it, so my hopes are high. I'd love to have some cattle down there without having to put in the work myself. Rest assured, if this pans out, cow pictures are in your future.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
There's a chicken in my bathroom
Manflesh came in from his nightly chicken rounds with a friend. One of the Barred Rocks had been hiding in a nest box instead of roosting with the rest of the flock. When he opened it up to check on her, she stayed put instead of flapping away in usual chicken fashion, which was not a good sign.
Earlier, one of the Barreds had been very insistent on breaking out of the portable fence where the flock was supposed to be foraging to return to the permanent hen house, to the point that she spent most of the day out in the pouring rain rather than hanging out in the shelter. Manflesh thought this might be the same chicken, and maybe she was just chilled from getting so wet. He cuddled her on his lap for a while and offered a little lukewarm water and feed. She perked up a bit, maybe, but her breathing was really labored, with her whole body rocking with each breath.
Frantic Googling was inconclusive, so we agreed to let her spend the night in the warm and dry and re-evaluate in the morning. I fitted out a cardboard box with some cozy towels and little dishes of water and feed, and our invalid chicken took up residence in the bath tub.
The next morning, she was still with us, but didn't seem much improved. Our chickens aren't very tame, so the very fact that she stayed in her box and didn't flutter when we walked around her seemed like a pretty bad sign. Still, she was awake and alert, so we thought we'd just give her as much peace and quiet as we could muster and hope for recovery.
This went on for a couple of days, until this morning I woke up to the distinct sound of pecking on and around the bathroom door. She was out of the box!
Breathing was still a little labored, but we agreed that if she felt well enough to be up and about, she would probably be more comfortable with the rest of the flock rather than isolated in the house, so manflesh took her out.
So far, so good, but only time will tell. It's so hard to know what to do in these situations, when the animal can't tell you what she needs, and there's not a lot you can do anyway beyond providing some comfort and hoping for the best.
Earlier, one of the Barreds had been very insistent on breaking out of the portable fence where the flock was supposed to be foraging to return to the permanent hen house, to the point that she spent most of the day out in the pouring rain rather than hanging out in the shelter. Manflesh thought this might be the same chicken, and maybe she was just chilled from getting so wet. He cuddled her on his lap for a while and offered a little lukewarm water and feed. She perked up a bit, maybe, but her breathing was really labored, with her whole body rocking with each breath.
Frantic Googling was inconclusive, so we agreed to let her spend the night in the warm and dry and re-evaluate in the morning. I fitted out a cardboard box with some cozy towels and little dishes of water and feed, and our invalid chicken took up residence in the bath tub.
The next morning, she was still with us, but didn't seem much improved. Our chickens aren't very tame, so the very fact that she stayed in her box and didn't flutter when we walked around her seemed like a pretty bad sign. Still, she was awake and alert, so we thought we'd just give her as much peace and quiet as we could muster and hope for recovery.
This went on for a couple of days, until this morning I woke up to the distinct sound of pecking on and around the bathroom door. She was out of the box!
 | ||
| Our glamorous master bath. |
So far, so good, but only time will tell. It's so hard to know what to do in these situations, when the animal can't tell you what she needs, and there's not a lot you can do anyway beyond providing some comfort and hoping for the best.
Friday, January 31, 2014
We're Baaaaaaack!
I'm going to pretend that I have a wide and devoted audience of regular readers, and apologize to all of you for my absence over the last couple of weeks. You see, we went on vacation with my family, and there was very little in the way of homestead hijinks going on in our resort condo.
We did try to set up a visit with John of Rancho Relaxzo, but our timing was bad and we got rained out. He turned us on to a cute little farmer's market though, where a few brave souls sat in the downpour to peddle their wares. There were only about seven booths, but we bought from four of them, so the concentration of good stuff was high. We came away with some black raspberries, green beans, dehydrated banana/cacao snacks, homemade chili vinegar, and a couple of nifty found-object pendants.
Anyway, we're home now, and have commenced the work of checking on everything that's happened while we were gone and getting back into the swing of things.
Manflesh was very excited to get back to his chickens, since our house sitters had reported that production was up since we left. It's hard to find someone who wants to live in the middle of nowhere for two weeks, so they were only coming out here every few days. As a result, we knew there should be a sizable haul waiting for us.
Still, we weren't quite prepared for this:
But then, there was also this:
And a couple of jokers opted for something like this:
Final tally: Four dozen eggs! And Manflesh brought in another seven throughout the day today. I guess the ladies are feeling the effects of our slowly increasing daylight.
We did try to set up a visit with John of Rancho Relaxzo, but our timing was bad and we got rained out. He turned us on to a cute little farmer's market though, where a few brave souls sat in the downpour to peddle their wares. There were only about seven booths, but we bought from four of them, so the concentration of good stuff was high. We came away with some black raspberries, green beans, dehydrated banana/cacao snacks, homemade chili vinegar, and a couple of nifty found-object pendants.
Anyway, we're home now, and have commenced the work of checking on everything that's happened while we were gone and getting back into the swing of things.
Manflesh was very excited to get back to his chickens, since our house sitters had reported that production was up since we left. It's hard to find someone who wants to live in the middle of nowhere for two weeks, so they were only coming out here every few days. As a result, we knew there should be a sizable haul waiting for us.
Still, we weren't quite prepared for this:
 | |||
| That's 32 eggs. I'll tell you so you don't have to count. |
But then, there was also this:
 |
| 7 more... |
And a couple of jokers opted for something like this:
 |
| Sure... just put that anywhere. |
Final tally: Four dozen eggs! And Manflesh brought in another seven throughout the day today. I guess the ladies are feeling the effects of our slowly increasing daylight.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Chicken Tree
We keep our chickens in a portable electric fence so that they can be moved around the property to get access to fresh forage. Manflesh moved them up the hill the other day, but they've decided they like it
better at the bottom of the hill, so they keep busting out.
We ran errands yesterday and came home to find about half the flock roosted in the little cedar:
We ran errands yesterday and came home to find about half the flock roosted in the little cedar:
After taking the picture, he dragged the ladder out there in the dark and lovingly took each one down and put them to bed on their proper roost.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Welcome to Bigleaf Hill, home of innovative real food cooking with occasional doses of country hijinks.
I work from home on our 15 acre homestead (it's a work in progress) with the Manflesh, a stay-at-home dad/farmhand/handyman, and our offspring, baby Tippytoe.
We've always preferred to eat healthy, whole foods, but adding Tippytoe to our family has strengthened our resolve to cut refined flours and sugars out of our diet. We don't want to feed that stuff to him, and you can't really eat anything in front of a toddler that you don't want to share, so I've become a bit of an expert at revamping our favorite recipes to meet our dietary aspirations.
At the same time, as our homestead becomes more and more productive, I have a wealth of produce to work with. We're starting to explore new methods of storing our bounty for use throughout the year. So far, we mostly freeze things, but we're working on adding dehydrating and root cellaring to our bag of tricks, which will open up even more culinary options.
In the coming months, I'll be posting some of my tried and true recipes - all whole grain with no refined sugar, as well as experiments: both the successes and the failures. I'll also be posting periodic glimpses into our country life, whenever it seems like there's something worth sharing. If any of that sounds interesting to you, please subscribe, so you'll never miss a post.
I work from home on our 15 acre homestead (it's a work in progress) with the Manflesh, a stay-at-home dad/farmhand/handyman, and our offspring, baby Tippytoe.
We've always preferred to eat healthy, whole foods, but adding Tippytoe to our family has strengthened our resolve to cut refined flours and sugars out of our diet. We don't want to feed that stuff to him, and you can't really eat anything in front of a toddler that you don't want to share, so I've become a bit of an expert at revamping our favorite recipes to meet our dietary aspirations.
At the same time, as our homestead becomes more and more productive, I have a wealth of produce to work with. We're starting to explore new methods of storing our bounty for use throughout the year. So far, we mostly freeze things, but we're working on adding dehydrating and root cellaring to our bag of tricks, which will open up even more culinary options.
In the coming months, I'll be posting some of my tried and true recipes - all whole grain with no refined sugar, as well as experiments: both the successes and the failures. I'll also be posting periodic glimpses into our country life, whenever it seems like there's something worth sharing. If any of that sounds interesting to you, please subscribe, so you'll never miss a post.
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