Guinea Eggs
When I got my new guineas, we also picked up two for our neighbor. A few days later, she mentioned that they had found a guinea egg in their coop. I headed out and checked in the guinea room, sure enough, there were a few eggs.
They’re tiny, about half the size of chicken eggs. We’ve been finding two or three every day since.
I’ve never met an egg I didn’t like and guinea eggs are no different. I’m wondering if they’d hatch a clutch if I left the eggs in the coop. They’re not laying them in one dedicated area yet, so maybe I’ll set up a little nesting area to see if they’ll hatch a few.
Have you ever tried eggs other than the ones from a chicken?
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Friday Favorite: Boxwood
If you remember, two year ago I finally realized my garden dream of planting a boxwood hedge. Fast forward 8 months and we started looking to move to Maine. Lucky for us, the new owners of our house in Ohio told me I could take whatever plants I wanted. I spent an hour digging up all the boxwood and loaded them on our moving truck.
They were nestled snuggly in our main garden in early December and crossed my fingers hoping them survive.
They all survived the winter beautifully, though they did get a little wind burn (this means I need to plant wind breaks to protect that garden space). Now that it’s time to plant the main garden, I need to figure out where these beauties will wend up. Most likely, they’ll be put in a nursery area and be moved to their final resting place this fall or next spring.
Even though boxwood doesn’t bloom and isn’t show, there’s a definite classic beauty about it. There’s something so traditional and grounding in a long row of these beautiful shrubs.
What’s your favorite shrub?
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Keeping Track
I’ve never really had a real rain gauge in the garden. One was purchased a long time ago, but it broke quickly. Typically a straight sided bowl was how I kept track (usually the dog bowl). I really wanted to buy a beautiful Jeffersonian rain gauge, but they’re rather pricey and I’d rather spend my garden funds on compost.
Last time I ordered from Johnny’s, I added a three dollar rain gauge to my order. Now I can tell how much rain we’ve gotten. It’s been a dry spring here, so I’ve only been able to read and empty it twice. Nonetheless, I’m looking forwarding to monitoring how much rain we get this year.
Do you have a rain gauge in your garden?
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Building a Timberframe Raised Bed
This is the third installment in the 5×5 Garden Challenge Series. Every Wednesday I’ll be posting about the challenge, covering topics that will help all the new gardeners get started. If you haven’t heard about the challenge head on over to the 5×5 Challenge Website, we’ll also be putting up a page here that pulls in all the 5×5 Challenge posts.
This past weekend, Mr Chiots built a raised bed for my 5×5 Challenge garden. Since I’m starting the garden on sod, I figured it would be best to build up and add soil on top. We debated making a simple raised bed from lumber yard pine, but then Mr Chiots got involved. Since he took a timberframing class a few weeks ago, he decided to use the techniques he learned to make the raised bed a little more decorative.
While we were on a hike last week, we found a downed pine in the woods. Instead of heading out to the lumberyard to buy lumber, he decided to use his Alaskan Mill to mill the lumber for the raised bed. This way he could make them nice and sturdy.
We have to put a few pegs in it to hold it all together, we’re thinking of using some small sapling instead of wooden dowels. Building a raised bed doesn’t have to be this complicated, it can be as simple as connecting four boards. You can even have the friendly people at your home improvement store cut it for you.
Have you ever gardened in a raised bed? Do you have any advice for newbies doing so?
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Cheep, Cheep, Cheep
That’s what we hear on our back porch right now. On Sunday evening, we picked up 17 chicks from our neighbor who incubated them. They’re a mix of Delwares and barnyard mixes from his other layers. These birds are mostly being raised to be broilers, but some of the females may be kept as part of our laying flock.
How’s that for a bucket of chicken?
My seedling heating mat comes in handy when it comes to brooding tiny animals, if you put it under the brooder it helps keep the floor warm for them.
I love how they dart around and then the next second they’re passed out sleeping on the floor. They’re entertaining to watch.
It should be interesting to watch these little guys grow up, I’ve never had chicks before. In a few weeks we should also be getting ducklings and goslings.
Have you ever raised birds from chicks?
