Lone berry

I was up early feeding the chickens, and as I passed by the mulberry sapling I saw this single berry hanging in there... It is getting cold so I am not sure why this one decided to come out.

It looks pretty pathetic, not juicy at all...

Should I be worried?

The lilac sapling isn't looking super energetic... since it was planted recently the poor thing has gone through a typhoon, torrent rains and god know what else. But maybe it is just resting. Hope hope.

The feijoa saplings in the back were planted at the same time as the lilac  

Here is a close up view. Still a few tiny green leaves on top. Ganbatte lilac!

The cover broccoli sprouts are thriving at least

Run reforms

As usual the weekend weather was against me. We had almost constant rain, varying from drizzle to buckets of water thrown down (Yes, really that intense. Got me soaked down to my underpants through jacket and layers of clothing in under a minute, and my boots were full too).
As always I ignored it and went out in the garden to fix the run. I had planned to fix it this weekend and I didn't care if the rain gods agreed or not.
Rain wasn't that bad when I started cutting down the trees. I didn't climb them though but instead used a short two step ladder, which was dangerous enough as it was both slippery and kept tilting because of the slope. I was going to used my chainsaw but actually got away using only a handsaw.
There were 3 tops to be cut, and I started from the smallest and moved up in size. My method was to secure the branch with ropes to the fence post, and used another rope higher up to pull the branch outwards as I cut it, thereby forcing it to lean outward and as soon as it got severed it would fall outside of the fence and hang there from the securing ropes. I could then pull it in and put it away. The first two branches worked perfectly, but the third was just too heavy for unbalanced me to pull in (it was still raining and I was barely holding myself on top of the ladder while trying to reach over and pull the branch in) so I left it outside. Figured its dense and sharp twigs would serve better as a cat obstacle on the other side of the fence.
Then, I went further down along the fence, to its shortest point (only 1,5 meters tall) and jumped over a gate to get to the other side. Positioned the branches and other obstacles properly outside of the run, and installed metal netting on the lower part of the outside as well. Now there is netting on both sides so even if a cat would try pushing its way in, it would get stuck on the second layer. After making sure the fence is completely cat-safe, I made my way back to the run, and dug in the post for roof net support.
By this time the rain had gotten much worse and everything was a muddy mess. I took a break, and a few hours later when the rain was normal I started with the roof netting. While I was doing this the rain keep getting worse plus the chickens somehow found it extremely interesting to come out despite the rain and play with me and the net while I tried to focus so I decided to give it a rest after the first two sections were done. At least I covered the trees and the coop, and did almost all parts of my plan.

Stupid rain

The trees are shorter now (still pretty tall) and manageable. At the same time they still provide cover for the birds. The chickens don't seem to be interested in the bush (on the right side) leaves, so maybe I will replace it with something else. I will also try planting quick growing vegetables/weeds all over the run so the chickens can have some green to eat. Still have not found a good tree to put in the run.

Of course, on Monday when it was time to go to work, the weather cleared up and sun came out. Nice, I bet this weekend will be rainy again.

Can Tora has birds?

Lucky for the birds I keep Tora on leash when he is out. He is extremely interested in the chickens.

White power

With the white baby chick gone, I am still determined to have at least a white chicken. So I got a few more... here is the entire population on the first night, Friday night:

I don't think they like the light shining on them while they try to sleep

The three original chicks (3-4 months old) are on the roost, the new 6 months old chicken is kind of half white, sleeping alone under them, and the two new 2 months old chicks sleep together on the poop board.
The night after that, big momma had also moved up to the roost to sleep. But I guess the two youngest ones are still not comfortable up there, as they keep sleeping next to each other on the poop board.

The poop board works very well, so it gets almost covered after 2-3 days. I take it out and give it a rinse as often as I can, optimally every morning.

On Sunday morning, I found an egg in the coop. Not in the nest though but almost next to the nest entrance.

Hello!

My chickens being araucana, the eggs are supposed to be blue/green. Big momma just started laying eggs and I just got her so I am not sure what kind of diet she has been on. So I was not expecting any super eggs. It was nice enough on toast. Here is a color and size comparison to eggs we bought at the supermarket:

We always buy LL size, so big momma's first egg looks real tiny.

Tall order

Line up!

We got lots of evergreen trees protecting the view on the south side. Almost all of them are either still young or just well behaved, so yet I am not in desperate need of trimming them.

However, this one guy is just too big for its own good. I have postponed dealing with it many times, but now I have to do it.

It's a giant. The fences around it are 2 meter high.

This morning I saw one of the chickens had climbed up inside it to the same height as the fence, and if it had the brains or the will, it would have easily jumped out of the run. Plus I am going to cover the whole run with net roof so that the chickies can fly without getting out. I am not going to cut the whole tree down, because it provides good shade and protection for the chickens, and they like gathering under it. Plus it keeps the ground together I guess. But at least I need to shorten it to 2-2,5 meters. That way it can go under the net roof.
Also!!!! As I approached the run, the chickens seemed a bit alarmed (nowadays they get excited when I get close to the run because they know they are getting treats) instead of happy, and ran away in different directions, and among the things running I saw glimpse of a white thing running along the south fence. First I though it was a chicken but then I remembered the white one was R.I.P. A second later I knew it was the neighbor cat who was outside of the run, and saw me and ran away into the bushes.
So, my weekend work is cut out for me.
1- Put net roof over half the run (The half including the coop) so that the chickens have somewhere to cuddle/hide/panic while I am doing the other steps.
2- Tie the upper half of the big tree, and cut it down (Hopefully it will land outside of the fence)
3- Put cat protection just outside of the southern fence (Actually not only along the run but all the way on the south side of the property)
4- Put net roof over the rest of the run (I probably will need to put a post in to support the net)

Step 2 is gonna be difficult. I could climb up the tree and cut it down in steps, or I could just cut it in one go and split it up later on the ground. Either way, I am going to need a helmet.
For step 3, either a sharp nail strip pointing upward, or plastic bottles full of water, or just bricks. Let's see what I have.
And for step 4, I have actually been thinking of planting a fruit tree right in the middle of the empty space in the run, but not yet decided what. So in the meantime, a post should do.

Learning to fly

I guess it was just a matter of time... the chicks have started to use their wings and I think they like it. So I probably need to put a net roof over the whole run to keep them from accidentally flying over the fences. Will do it this weekend.

The poop board seems to work:

Feast your eyes on the perfect aim

Once a week I take it out, give it a rinse and voila!, we're back in business. I rinse it with rain water from my tank, and do so near the vegetable garden. Maybe I should put it in compost instead...

After the typhoon most of the vegetables seemed dead but now a couple of days later it seems, maybe thanks to half of them dying, the rest are coming back with even more vigor. Bigger leaves and look real healthy. Maybe it is just a coincidence and now is just the timing for their extra growth, maybe the typhoon thinned out the crowded patch allowing the remaining plants the opportunity to expand...

Farming bugs

I have now started keeping meal worms. The chickens love them and I think they are the insect correspondents of weed so they should be easy to maintain.

Here is a picture of the chicks right before I closed their coop door for the day. Sleep tight.

The brown stains in the back wall are paint, not water leak.