Spooky

Remember The Ring, where you knew who would die next because their faces would be distorted in pictures?

B4... Before?

Well, take a look at this then

Next day the white chick was dead

I'm just sayin'....

Post Ugly

Saved a couple of years waiting for lilacs to pop up

I started cutting all the bush and crap that had grown out in the front of the house. While digging out the roots and rhizomes which had gone pretty deep I unearthed lots of grubs which I gave to the chicks who happily devoured them. Also at the beginning while digging around the woody roots of the big big bush with the shovel I accidentally cut a couple of lizards into half, so those also went to the chicks. Pulling out the roots revealed 7-8 more lizards which I let go to find new homes. After all they do eat the insect larva hidden deep in the ground.
Little by little rain started and got more and more intense and by the time I was almost done, it was pouring down, and I was standing in slippery mud. But it was all clean at least.
In the back part I planted two pineapple guavas (fruits are supposed to look like small kiwis and delicious, and the flowers are also beautiful), and in the middle part I put a lilac sapling, as it sends out runners I think and should fill out that part eventually.
The tiny small part I left as it was with a bush... also I think I need to leave a path clear for the gas/water/electric company guy for checking the meters, so that is the track on the left in the picture, still a bit muddy.
The plot looks pretty bare so I distributed some sprouts seeds which should germinate within a week, to cover and make it difficult for weeds and rhizomes to take over again. Let's see if it works as planned.

And then there were three

Rest in peace white chick, we hardly knew ye

Sad sad news, the white chick disappeared during the night. Late at night we checked on them and she was in, and first thing in the morning she was not.
It was raining constantly so I could not tell what had happened, but I guess one of the neighbor cats managed to sneak in through the fence bottom part and caught and ran away with her.  Either that or she found a small hole and escaped in which case I assume it is just a matter of time before she gets either eaten by a predator or hit by train. So very unfortunate...
Any blood trace was washed away by the rain, but I saw quite a few white feathers outside the back of the coop and also a few on the other side of the JR fence. The track of feathers led into the thick grass and bushes. I didn't find evidence of struggle inside the coop so if there was any predator it must have caught the white chick while she was outside...
I bought some wire fencing for the bottom part of the run fence and attached it. Now it is really tough to get in or out. (In the remote chance of the white chick still being alive and somehow coming back, there are still openings outside of the run leading to the garden)
Also I had left the coop door open all night but from now on I will close the coop door during the night time when they are sleeping anyway.
The remaining 3 seemed a bit scared at first but now after I fed them lots of treats and bugs they are out and have really gotten used to me. They come close to me even when I have no treats for them.
I feel very sad for the white one though, I should have been more careful. Sorry girl...

Patient I am not

I got tired of the lilac seeds not germinating. I tried all suggested variations (in freezer, in zip bag, in the fridge, just outside, in room temperature, in moist paper, in dirt) but they all seem dead.. Of course I will keep trying but even if they do germinate I have to wait a couple more years for them to start blooming. So I just ordered a seedling today.
I plan to put it near the new gate, of course for that I have to get rid of the ugly bush. I also went ahead and ordered pineapple guava trees. 2 variations to replace the ugly.

I have a pineapple, I have a guava.... Uh! Feijoa.

R.I.P. melons

I guess it was just a question of time as it was not season for them to grow big. But now the rogue melon seeds from the compost have officially died.

At least I know when to start next year

Mourning for them was a spider sitting across the garden in his net.

Can you spot him?

I got to meet the lady who has the next door field/orchard. She was there to harvest some fruits and I said hello and had a small chat. I told her a little about what I am doing etc. Did NOT ask if she wants to sell the land... thought it would be more tactful to get to know them first...

Finished!

Here I listed the things that are finished.
The gate is ready

gate

I shall plant something sensible on both sides and probably also arrange with fencing... The ugly can be seen on the left side. All the logs and our bicycles now live in the carport.

The coop is ready

coop

It took its sweet time, but finally I made it. Everyone who sees it says the heart is the best part. Not sure if I should take that as an insult or a praise.

The run is ready

chicken run

It only took a day and a half. I burrowed the poles a meter into the ground. Hopefully they will hold...

The chickens are ready

chooks

The four girls arrived on Monday. 2-3 months old and still too shy to come out of the coop. I gave them some grasshoppers which they took immediately. I will try to spend some time with them to get them accustomed to being near people...
The waterer I bought as short term solution, and the feeder is also put together as a short time thing, just a bucket on tray. I will monitor and decide what works well for them.
They are not interested in the roost or the nests it seems... oh well, I will give them time.
I haven't given them names yet.

The eggs are NOT ready

no eggs

Either they are too young or they are still stressed from moving so of course no eggs.

Run run run ngngng

After a bit of thinking I decided to expand my run plans. Here is a map of the big run (HAhahah)

Traditionally extracted from THE MAP!

The coop is that brown thing on top right side, and the run limits shall be along the dotted blue line. South is already fenced by JR. The round brown thing north of coop is the tree trunk, and the green round thing is the bush...
The arrows show where I took a couple of pictures to make it easier to understand.
First, the white arrow:

panorama

Turning a bit to the left and right gives us the following two pictures:

On the left side, is my old discarded fence from the previous apartment we lived in. I guess I could move it to the back, to the big drop.
On the right side, is the discarded wooden fence from the ugly part near front of the house where I am now cleaning up. Behind the fence has gathered a lot of branches and stuff which I shall remove too.
Maybe I can reuse the wooden fence as door to the run...

Back to the map, the picture corresponding with the orange arrow is below:

Messy messy

The tree trunk is right behind the bush. Once chickens move in I think things will become tidier as insects and small animals will no longer be living there.

And finally the pictures corresponding to the pink arrow:

That hairy thing by the way is not a spider leg, it is my arm

 Yep, the green net is where the drop happens. Behind it, "protecting" things from falling/rolling over to my neighbor are a couple of bamboos I stuck in there. And lots of branches on both sides...
The ground is solid enough on my side but it is small and may erode easily.