Happiness is a..

I just had to share a happy photo with you all!

Marty - thrilled with his Ukulele. :)

It looks like I never did update you with pictures from the roof in the loungeroom - or the painted fence! How slack am I?

The loungeroom is waiting on our good electrician friend to hook up the light and a power point, but is looking much more habitable now. Ross and I painted the roof and arcs a lovely shade of .. white. Ok, not very exciting, but that's what the other rooms look like as well.

Painting the picket fence was painfully slow. I wouldn't recommend pickets to anyone! (Well, unless they never needed painting or replacing.) On the plus side, they look great now!! I'll get a photo tomorrow. No, really, I will. :)

The chooks are just finishing up their annual moult. Just one left to feather-up and they'll be set for winter. We've been getting 0 eggs per day lately - and since we didn't produce any chicks this year, we'll not expect any eggs this winter either.

Otherwise, we've been enjoying expanding our food choices recently. We're still gluten free, but we're eating onions, garlic and different fruits and vegetables that were on the "avoid" list on our previous diet. The previous diet worked wonders for all kinds of health issues I was experiencing, but I felt it was time we moved-on, since it felt like we'd be restricted long enough (and my health wasn't quite perfect still, despite the restrictions). I'm happy to report that we're all feeling great and everyone in the household is happy and feeling more healthy every day.

Infact, it's been so much fun making sauerkraut and pickles and big lots of stock/broth. Ross has been making milk and water kefir and cooking up new and different foods for dinner. We tend to avoid too many starches and grains, and I'm especially avoiding sugar (except a little honey). I'd call it a relaxed version of the GAPS diet I suppose.

Anyway, everyone's gone to bed, and the fire has well and truly gone out for the evening. Have a good night and I'll update again tomorrow!

Renovating with Roosters

Victor is a funny rooster. He loves to come and check out the happenings, even in OUR side of the yard! Especially if there's a bucket involved.

The fireplace surround is almost ready for painting. It took a lot to take the grey paint off it, then some black paint, and under that we discovered it originally had a marble-look. How interesting!

Sadly it's only being painted black tomorrow. Nothing so fancy as marble! Hopefully we'll get to put it back on the wall as well. We'll both be glad to get that little job done.

Until next time!

Pictures!

My little laptop arrived in the mail on Friday and I've had all weekend to play with it. It's amazing just how long computer things take, setting up mail, calendars, settings etc. Not to mention installing Linux alongside the Windows 7 that it came with. This time Ubuntu is my Linux flavour of choice. Very nice it is too.

It does use less power than the old laptop, and is quite a lot smaller, but it does everything I need, and what more can I ask for? Perhaps it being red? Yep, it's red too. :)

Good news about my camera. It started working again, so I'm quite pleased I can show off the chooks today.

Left to right: Female chick, adult hen, a young cockerel(front), "Tee", and 3 more young cockerels

The chicks are 14 weeks old and have been free-ranging with the adults for a few weeks now. Everyone gets along pretty well. Victor the rooster keeps an eye on a couple of the biggest boys, but otherwise all is well. Tee is in this photo. Her condition is amazing since she recovered from being sick (the sick one from the auction), but after she moulted, she's come out in white spots. Hmm..

Marty lets Victor the rooster back into the chook side of the gate

Things are getting a little squishy in the chick house, so we're considering merging the two groups pretty soon. They already spend every day together, the young ones have worked out how to use the treadle feeders already - so it's just the night accommodations really. Then we'll have to start dealing with all the young cockerels, and I'm sorry to say, that means lots of chicken dinners. Honestly, though, they've had much longer and happier lives than supermarket chickens do.. which helps, but it's still kinda sad.

Our next goal is getting the little wood heater installed. We took it off the ute and brought it inside and (as with everything we bring home) suddenly it looks bigger than it did in the shop. It's getting quite cold quite quickly, so we need to get a move on!

Until next time.

Autumn happenings

Converted dog kennel in use!

Only a little news, and it's all about little chooks.

At 5 weeks old, the 8 dorking chicks were desperate. The brooder that had seemed so big only a few weeks before was fast becomming too small! That's how it seemed to the chicks, but I knew where all that chick starter feed was going..

So Marty and I invested some time and money in a dog kennel. The largest that the pet store could provide. We took the floor out and replaced it with a frame with a wire bottom. It's removable (with a little effort) to aid cleaning. There are a couple of perches inside which are also removable, and the feeder is in there at the moment as well. Thankfully the sparrows havn't discovered it yet.

The painting was lots of fun. Infact, I think the paint cost us more money than any of the other improvements we did, but it was worth it. :) Marty found a piece of galvanised iron for the roof and the last of our Air-Cell insulation fit perfectly under the roof!

We fenced off a small area of the main chook yard and moved the chicks in. The next day it rained all day, which fascinated the chicks, as they had never experienced rain before. More than a couple of them became soaking wet, but were smart enough to go inside to warm up and dry off before venturing out again.

Today they are enjoying the sunshine and scratching around in the fallen leaves. They're having the time of their little lives. :)

----

As for the rest of the flock, they're all moulting. There are feathers everywhere and we're only getting a couple of eggs a week. We recently reduced our numbers, you see, so there are fewer chooks too. (Don't worry, they were rehomed, not dinners!)

So we now have just 4 dorkings, a roo called Victor, and a couple of large black hens - one of which is doing a great job of bringing up another two dorking chicks. I also brought home a couple of dorking hens from an auction - mostly because I felt sorry for them! Both are missing feathers and one is coughing, sneezing and gurgling. They're currently in quarantine in the A frame coop for now, getting some TLC and growing new feathers.

This is the day I brought them home. I'm a softie really!

Consider this a "before" shot!

Marty and I are doing ok. I recently started working part-time, and we're both looking forward to doing more renovations around Easter. At least, that's the plan!

Until next time.

Chicken New Year!

For my first post of the year, I'd like to introduce you to the new loves of my life..

Here's one..

..and here's the rest!

There are 8 little fluff balls all up, our best incubation result ever (of the 14 eggs I put in the incubator, 8 were fertile. Since all 8 hatched, we couldn't be happier!)

We were intending to hand their care over to a broody hen, who was sitting on some golf balls. She decided at the last minute that chicks weren't such a good idea after all, which meant we had to come up with a solution for their housing pretty fast.

Marty and I work best under pressure.. so we came up with a quick plan.

Yes, well.. technical drawings complete, we got down to work.

Aaah 12mm ply board. What can't it do?

We changed the design as we went along, so the end result doesn't look much like the technical drawings - a good thing!!

The 8 little dorking chicks have a lot more room now! The top door is open to let some heat out.. only until the thermostat I ordered arrives in the mail. It will turn the light off once the temperature is perfect, and turn it on again if it strays. It should save some electricity and a little worry.

I have some chick-watching to do..
Until next time!

They grow up so fast

Andrew Jackson and a barnevelder buddy

They've moved into a larger box in the loungeroom, and they're growing up fast. Feathers are already on the wings and growing on the tails. Andrew Jackson has a bald patch on the top of his head where fluff is being replaced.

I just love his punk rock eye-liner. :)

The Barnevelder is 4 weeks old, and Andrew Jackson (a Houdan) is 3 weeks old. Given the hot and cold weather we're experiencing lately, I thought we'd give them at least another week indoors, but without a heat lamp because it's quite steady in here.

The other Barnevelder chicks are outside, but they have a big warm broody chook to keep them warm still.

Until next time!

Finally, a successful feeder!

Oh, I wish I had a picture of what Marty and I saw today!

The chooks have been using the treadle feeder for a while now.. and they have the hang of it just fine. They jump on the treadle, see the food and eat like there's nothing more natural in the world. Even Chicken, at the bottom of the pecking order, proudly shows off her treadle expertise now days. Infact, lazier chooks wait for her to open it up for them!

Anyway, today Marty and I spied a pidgen in the chook yard. It was unusual only because most of the birds have given up by now. We watched it for a little bit as it pecked around the treadle feeder. I thought "No way, it can't be that smart." and sure enough, it hopped on the treadle!

Thankfully it wasn't nearly heavy enough to open the lid, and it was soon gone again.

The chooks no longer have to put up with mice scuttling around the roof in the evenings.. they're all but gone! Little european finches aren't hanging around in flocks eating the feed (making a mess and giving chooks lice). As an added bonus (as if saving money and sanity wasn't enough), the treadle feeders hold plenty of food, so the chooks never run out or carry-on at me in the mornings for their breakfast.

Makes for a healthier, happier chook pen all round.

Diggin' holes

We have progress! We have done half the hole digging in the loungeroom and bedroom.



The ute is ready to be picked up tomorrow morning (delayed due to busy schedules), and hopefully getting registered this week. Cross fingers, because we have booked it in to get the transmission looked at on Thursday in Horsham (which is about 45 minutes away), and we might have to cancel if we aren't legal by then.

The weather has alternated between lovely warm days and wet cold ones. Checking on the chooks this evening, they were all wet on the perches.. even so, I collected 8 eggs!

Chooks and Utes!

Well, I've finished the second feeder for the chooks! (I did get some help from Marty in the end - it was either that, or walk away in frustration a few more times.) Haha. It's a new improved version of the last, and boy am I glad it's done.



The chooks are using it just fine, although they still need the lid to be opened a just a little to remind them of what's in there (and that it's worth the effort of standing on the treadle). Infact, even Chicken (the araucana) is using it! She's the smallest chook in the pen, and quite flighty.

I made a new set of nest boxes so there is room enough to put the feeder inside the house. I just couldn't bear to leave it outside like the other one. We need to make a little under-cover area just for the feeders.. but that might be a little way off. The chooks like their new nest boxes at least! See?



There's an odd egg in that bunch. Laid by a Dorking by the looks of it. Ouch!

In the meantime the Ute is coming along fine! We have replaced the aerial, put in a battery tray and holder.. we've replaced a gasket, fixed and painted a little rust, replaced a burnt out bulb, fixed the horn (that was a tricky one!!).. and the bench seat is at the upholsters getting repaired as I type. I have to get some shock absorbers today and hopefully everything will come together for a grand finale with Friday's final roadworthy. Well, here's hoping! The Ute still needs tyres, and the steering wheel needs a little fixing too.

The first job the Ute will be employed for is getting some redbark chips for the chook pen. I hear that woodchips help to keep down the mud. We've been having so much rain lately that the chooks have nowhere dry left to sit - so they end up all muddy. Yuck!

More eggs!

So many eggs! I've given away one dozen to the neighbour, and we'll give another dozen to some friends tomorrow.. and there are another two dozen spare in the fridge. Notice the green eggs?? One of the araucana pullets has started laying, we call her Funky. Perhaps you'll see why in the next picture?



Funky is the black chook. :)

The feeder in the picture is something Marty and I made over a couple of weeks. It's designed to open only when the chooks stand on the platform. Hopefully, once the chooks get use to it, it'll help keep the mice and wild birds from eating all their food!

Otherwise, life has been quiet here. This winter had been fairly dry up until a couple of days ago. The Baker's Oven has been keeping us warm on the few nights that we've really needed it. Believe it or not, we've actually been camping a couple of times and didn't freeze to death!

Until next time!

Plodding along..

Can you spot the commercial egg?



We've started getting a few eggs from the girls. The little ones are the first ones from a dorking pullet who has started laying far earlier than the others! These last few days both the australorp / black chooks have started laying again, too. They're very reliable layers, laying almost every day, where the dorkings usually lay every other day.

Just for something different, we received an electricity bill in the mail! I'm serious, we havn't really had a real bill since we had the solar system installed. It's winter, so it's expected that the system won't produce as much power as usual.. but I think we can handle this bill. How much, you ask?

$1.44

Yep, they don't even want us to pay. :) I couldn't be happier.

Otherwise, everything is plodding along as usual. Looking forward to longer days and Spring just around the corner. :)

Pictures as promised.

I took the camera to the chook pen tonight while the girls were getting ready for bed. :)



There are leaves on the floor because (shamefully) we've ran out of straw! Once the youngest members of the flock roost in the main house, I'll be able to dismantle their temporary strawbale house and we'll have those 8 bales available again. We're hoping to do that starting tomorrow or Wednesday.



The nesting box is under the window, but not being used as yet. Our one laying lady didn't quite figure it out today, so I put some golf balls in there to give her a hint. :)



It's getting hard to tell the dorking pullets from the older girls at first glance, so we put identifying rings on the older 3. Since the rooster and the pullets are brother and sisters, we don't want to make any mistakes with breeding. I'm getting excited, it feels like that time of year is coming up fast already. We're just grateful that the neighbours havn't complained about the crowing as yet. Fingers crossed our luck holds out!

Until next time!

Eggs!

She was hiding them on me!



They were behind the nesting boxes. I only really noticed because she was trying to get back there to lay when I was in the chook house the other day. Funny girl!

Today we did a big renovate in the chook house (again). We took out the table, which worked great while there was only a few chooks, but isn't working so well now. We've put the roosts up by themselves and moved the nest boxes under the window.

I'll have to show you a picture tomorrow. I think it should make cleaning them out a little easier, since we'll be introducing the 3 araucana girls and 1 isa cross girl into the pen soon. They're 17 weeks old already! So that will make 13 chooks sharing sleeping quarters, and they certainly make a lot of fertiliser! I don't mind, but anything to make cleaning easier is more than welcome.

No news!

There isn't a lot happening here at the old miners cottage, but I thought I'd share an everyday event with you.



The chooks love being let out to free range. The Dorking rooster even shows off his crowing skills for the camera!

We have done a little more plastering since last time, too.



We've done one coat around the whole bottom of the loungeroom now. We have a little more digging and pointing/fixing to do around the window in the bedroom, then we really have no more excuses - it'll be time to start buying stumps and things!

There hasn't been a shortage of pumpkin either. :) We've been eating a little of the blue hubbard. They're HUGE. This one was 7.6kg (16.75 pounds). It tastes best roasted.



There is far more here than we can possibly eat in one sitting!



There are also lots of butternut pumpkins to choose from. We harvested most of them (although there are still at least a few more on the vine), and they're being stored in the trailer outside. :)



So, no eggs, but lots of pumpkin! I planted a few beetroot and broccoli for the winter just recently, so hopefully they'll grow big and strong. The compost is very rich with chook manure, so hopefully I didn't over-do it.

Otherwise, we've been trying to reduce the local mouse population lately. There's been quite a lot of them around (so much so, we see them during the day, crossing the roads, and making holes in the chook food bag - grrr), so we're trying every trick we can besides using chemicals and baits. The chooks even catch and dispatch them with skill now!

Until next time!

Lazy!

The weather is getting cooler, and the Baker's Oven is cooking a roast lamb as I type. Where did the time go? Marty has been busy working, I've been keeping things together around here. We did a little renovating!



The stone supporting wall needed a few gaps filling as the mortar had turned to sand long ago. Some of the stones needed replacing, too, because they just fell apart in our hands. Luckily we have a ready supply of those stones in the backyard. I know that sounds crazy, but that's how things were done back in the day. Local materials were used!

A batch of mortar mix was made for the job. It's made by mixing 1 part lime to 3 parts sand. Mixing is done in the cement mixer and we use some old mill balls from the gold mine to help squish the lime into the sand. The mixing can take an hour, but it's a lot easier than doing it by hand!

I repointed the bricks with my new pointing trowel (which is a thin trowel to force the lime inbetween the bricks easier), and filled all the little holes. It still took me around 2 hours to do this one section of wall!

The next day Marty was home and we made a plaster mix. (1 part lime to 2 parts sand.) It took us only an hour together to plaster this section of wall - you can see it's darker in colour because it's still wet. Much faster and more satisfying work. :) The hole you might be able to see, is where the ventilation grate is. It's not quite letting air through yet, but we know where it is now, so we can work on making it open again over time.

Other news here at the Old Miner's Cottage is we've gone and bought ourselves a ute.



It needs a little work, a roadworthy certificate, and registration - but it's all ours! :)

Otherwise, it's been pretty relaxed around here..



The chooks are all doing well - we had one dorking pullet hurt her beak somehow, but it's repairing nicely. I can't imagine how she did it, but I'm glad she's ok! The dorking who brought-up the aracuana chicks has decided she wants to do it again already! I'm not keen to start hatching quite yet. Perhaps after winter! At the moment we have 15 chooks, and we get 0 eggs per day. Can't get much more relaxed than that, can we? :)

We've also been casually looking into property. Don't fret though! Nothing's happening yet - we're still well in the dreaming stage of getting more land for even more chookies. :)

Until next time!

Chook auction

I have mentioned before that we do have a lot of chooks at the moment. At last count, it was something like 24. The dorking chicks aren't chicks any longer and are ready for the main pen, so we made the decision to sell some of our chooks at auction.

That auction was yesterday.



Our birds are on the bottom row, 6 cages with information cards on them and food and water in cups. :) We had the three wyandottes, the three isa brown crosses, two isa cross cockerels and an araucana cockerel. The chooks around us were mostly silkies and australorps.



It was very well attended, lots of people having a good time. Some just looking, others buying up big.



The bidding was in a different room with a small telly showing what bird was being auctioned.



All of ours except the aracuana cockerel sold, so we took him home again. Thankfully we didn't win anything else! The chooks at home would have been quite upset with me! haha.

So our chook numbers are at a more comfortable level again - 16 chooks, and around 2 eggs a day. :)

Until next time!

Growing fast and lots of eating!

It's been getting cold here, with some nice warm days mixed in. The chicks have been growing up fast, and as you can see, so has the grass. :)



As is our beautiful dorking cockerel. We're keeping him for a while, so I'm open to suggestions for names! He still has some brown in his wings, I'm hoping that will disappear as he gets older.



We had a brain-storm yesterday while searching the tip-shop for inspiration for the chook feeder. We already had a chook feeder that we'd all but given up on, because the chooks would make a mess all over the floor. This is what happened after bringing home this garbage bin lid.



I had to see if it'd work, so I asked the chooks what they thought..



Happy with that response, I hung it up in the house.



Really hoping this helps keep the food in, meaning less for the mice. (Although the chooks enjoy snacking on a mouse now and then, catching the live ones seems quite the challenge!)

Otherwise, we've been keeping busy, mostly with chook-related things! I'll give up saying "I hope we have something house-related to talk about soon!" and just say..

Until next time! :)

Renovations?

Firstly, a picture of the sweet bird. :)



Yes, she's as lovely and cheeky as she looks!

So.. renovations. Well.. we DID do renovations.. just not to the house. I present, the roost extension! haha.



We always intended to have two roosts up on that table, but Marty made it happen this weekend. The nesting boxes have changed, too.. I tacked those together a couple of weeks ago now, I think. There is 3 nests, partitioned off, and made more private with the hessian (burlap). Marty put down some squares of linoleum for the bottoms, so if when an egg breaks, it's now much easier to clean it up.



We're also working on a new feeder idea. Something that will help reduce the waste that happens when certain chooks scrape away the boring stuff looking for the sunflower seeds! It'll also help keep mice away from the pen. We're still in prototype stage at the moment. The drinker on the left is a cup that holds a little water, and the chooks press on a tongue inside when they drink. More water comes out and everyone has a good supply of clean water. I'm very happy with those. We put one on this bucket, but they can be used in nearly any container. (There's a much bigger one with two cups attached just outside their house.)



So, in a nutshell, we spent another weekend doing chooky things. Sadly we didn't get a happy ending, as one of the Dorking chicks (they're 12 weeks old now) took ill and died on Sunday. It was surprising and very fast - she only showed symptoms of something wrong about 2pm. We took her from the pen and did everything we could. Being novices, we asked a chooky-minded neighbour for his help, and even so, we lost her around 10:30 last night.

We're hoping it was a one-off incident, but keeping a close eye on the other chooks, just to be sure.

Until next time.

Catch up!

So, what on earth have we been doing over the last MONTH!?

Sadly, the answer is, Not much!

We were full of good intentions of course. During the warm weather, the middle two rooms were sprayed down, cleaned out and ready for renovations again. We got a long drill bit and made a couple of holes in the wall where the air vent is. It had been covered over, but since wood floors will be put back in, we need the additional air flow once again.

..and that's where the renovations stopped. If it wasn't one thing, it was another, and every weekend saw either Marty or me sick or injured! Nothing major, (we're all better now) but enough to stop any good intentions in their tracks.

Except one weekend where we went to a chook auction! :)

We took home two lovely black chooks and they started laying right away. It's great to finally have some eggs! You'd think with 24 other chooks, we'd be getting eggs, but most are far too young to lay.

All the chooks are doing well. We put the Wyandottes in the main pen tonight and hopefully they'll all get along nicely in the morning! So there are 11 chooks in the main pen, 6 Dorkings growing up very fast in a temporary pen, and our broody Dorking is doing a fantastic job raising the 6 chicks she was given almost 6 weeks ago now! It's far too many chooks, and we're looking at ways of reducing their numbers quite soon, because we really want to be sure they all get enough attention and room to be happy.

Only one other bit of news really.. and that is we have a new friend here at the old cottage.. a little bird who flew into our yard and looked quite lost and lonely. We want to be sure she doesn't belong to anyone before we announce her too loudly, but she really is lovely! :)

We're really looking forward to this weekend, and finally, neither of us are sick, there are no chook auctions, and no excuses why we can't get at least some of the renovations started again!! Wish us luck! :)

A green February

The weather has sure been all over the place. It's feeling more like Queensland's hot humid weather than inland Victoria's typically dry summer heat.

First, an update of the chicks! They're all out with broody Dorking and loving life in the A frame chook tractor.



Remember how I said the heat wave killed the corn? Well, it doesn't mean the area isn't still productive! The beans are using the corn as poles, and the winter squash is starting to take over them all. There are a few volunteer plants as well, such as blackberry nightshade and sunflowers. So, not all is lost!



This is the winter squash I was talking about. Here in a different garden bed, it's fruit is growing nicely!



So, even despite the heat, most things are green and healthy because of the extra rain we've had. These are butternut pumpkin, there are lettuce in the freezer-bed, and the tomatoes are self-sown yellow pear.



Even the choko, normally grown further north, is starting to take over the chook pen fence. It'll be wonderful if the weather holds out long enough to get any choko fruit to grow!



The chooks have coped well with the heat, and we get around 4 eggs a day from the 6 girls left in the main pen. (One of the Dorking's is looking after chicks and won't lay during this time, one is a big rooster, and all the other chooks are too young still!)



So we're getting a few eggs, a few beans and as many herbs as we like.. but also this year we're lucky enough to get some of these..



The tree was so weighed down by apples, we lost a limb in the wind. You never know, perhaps next year we'll have pears as well? :)