Geese!

I'm very lucky to have a friend who happens to run North America's favorite duck and goose hatchery. Metzer Farms is family owned and operated here in California. They have a huge selection of ducks and geese. I have a tendency to get my wonderful mom live animals for her Mother's day gifts so I decided this year to get her.... GEESE! 

Geese are ordered online - or by texting your friend Marc - and then arrive in the mail the next day thanks to our friends at the US Postal Service. So these little stud muffins arrived on Thursday. 

Hello world!

There were a hit from the moment I opened the box. They are packed with some hay bedding, a gel nutrition thing and a heating pad. They arrived healthy and active. 

My kiddo enjoying one gosling on the grass.

The kiddo found them pretty entertaining right away. The biggest surprise to me has been how incredibly friendly they are. You can set them down and pick them back up - not like most chicks.

Preschoolers enjoying the geese

Since they were healthy and so darn friendly we took them on a field trip to preschool. The kids were, of course, thrilled to see geese. They all got to pet them and many held them. 

Introduction to water and salad greens

These are Sebastopol Geese which will grow up to be pure white and have beautiful curly feathers. I've always wanted one and now I kinda get one, just at my Mom's (the hubs is not a fan of Geese).

On Saturday we decided to let them experience the water. It was a big hit. Note that goslings shouldn't have too much time in the water until they are bigger and the start producing the oil that protects their feathers and keeps them warm (so says the internet anyway).

Swimming geese

So Sunday we got out the kiddie pool and let them do some more swimming. They don't swim for long but sure have a blast doing it. 

Geese are not wildly different than chicks to raise. They eat the same food for the most part but seem to need some added greens. They don't need to be as hot as chicks. But they do need a deeper waterer so that they can get their whole bill in the waterer. And that waterer gets crazy messy. 

Another cool benefit of geese (and ducks) is that (I'm guessing since they don't have to be as warm) you can order them in just pairs and have them shipped. So if you just want a pair of one particular breed, you can order them. 

These beauties will be heading to my Mom's house on Tuesday so we are enjoying a few more days of fun with them. 

So if you are ever in the market for ducks or geese check out Metzer Farms. They have a ton of great videos about raising them too. There may even be some added *cough* health benefits to eating duck eggs. But you have to watch the videos to learn more. :)

Chick update

It has been a few weeks now since we brought our chicks home from the feedstore. They are already looking more like chickens and less like cute chicks. 

They were small enough for the brooder set up for about 2 weeks. But those Buff Orpingtons are giants and we had to move them out faster than we expected. To accommodate their need for more space we decided to build their hen house a bit early. My fantastic hubs found the plans online and built the plywood house you see below. It was pretty simple and only used a sheet of plywood so it was very inexpensive. 

While the chicks still needed heat we kept it in the garage with the hen door closed. The heat lamp clamped on the the side easily and gave them much more space but still kept them cozy. When they could be away from the heat we moved the box outside and took the floor off. This let them start scratching and start getting used the the weather. We moved it daily in our home orchard so they always had fresh grass - and we didn't have to clean anything.

Then this morning we put together a temporary yard for them so they can start going outside and getting used to the dogs. The younger dog really needs to get used to the chickens. This yard we put up with materials we had around the house. With the warmer weather arriving, they need more space yet again. 

Note- dogs love the chase and kill chickens. Usually once they start killing chickens, they don't stop. It is fun for the dog. The difference between a dog killing a chicken and a predator (like wild animal) is that the dog will leave the dead chicken but other animals will eat it. So if you find a dead (and mangled) chicken, odds are a dog got it. Once you find one you need to act quickly to predator/dog proof the pen or you will keep finding dead chickens.

There are several reasons why this is just a temporary pen.
1- after a week or two there would be no more grass left. That is fine but we would prefer to have them move around and help mow the orchard grass.
2- this pen would need to be taller or have a top. Chickens can't fly well or far but they can get up high to roost. Within a few weeks the chickens will be about to escape this top. You can trim their wing feathers to prevent this. It works very well but you would then need a taller pen to keep predators out.

Remember the leghorn (the Prius chicken)? Check out how big she is and notice that she is the brave one venturing outside already. She is actually one of the smaller of the chickens by weight, but a very efficient gal.

These other chickens are too chicken to go outside. The two yellows are the Buffs and in the middle is one of the Barred Rocks. They were not cooperating for pictures. 

We have to fill up their 1 gallon water can daily and have used about 25 lbs of feed already. They are not totally adjusted to the toddler yet, which is part of the goal of this pen too. The kiddo really likes inspecting them: looking at their eyes and feet and feathers.

Eventually we will use the house to attach to a mobile pen to move around our little orchard. The orchard will provide shade, grass and bugs. The chickens will leave behind fertilizer and hopefully help control the grass and bugs. And of course we will get eggs. 

Milk Jug Greenhouses

This spring with my introductory plant science class, we tested out milk jug greenhouses. We are still getting the data analysis completed, but I'm very pleased with the results. While I can't confirm that the results were statistically significant, I can tell you that the germination rates with our milk jug greenhouses were about equal to the germination rates in the commercial greenhouse. These cheap little greenhouses work! 

The idea with the milk jug greenhouses is that they are a very cheap and easy way to get your seeds started earlier than you might be able to start them in the ground. I've seen some people make the milk jugs into a sort of plant cover to protect the plant. But by using the whole milk jug, if you have a cold snap, you can bring the whole thing inside. It is cheap, easy and effective in starting your own seeds and hopefully getting an extended growing season with your garden.

Here is how to do it. 

Step 1:

Save a milk jug, clean it out. You won't need the cap so that can be recycled immediately. 

Step 2:

Make drainage holes in the bottom. My husband used a knife but in class we were safer and used a drill. Four drainage holes worked great for our class project.

Step 3:

Cut the jug horizontally almost all the way around. Where the handle is, leave a couple inches un cut. The end result should be the top half of the jug being 'hinged' to the bottom half.

Step 4:

Add potting soil and start your seeds. We have started beans, peas, tomatoes, squash and cucumbers all with good success. For each we have just planted four seeds per jug. 

Step 5:

Close the hinge and tape the jug to seal the cut. We have the best luck with duct tape, shipping tape was a bit too flimsy. Make sure the cap is removed and do not seal where the cap had been. The open cap allows for ventilation.

Step 6:

Set out in the sun and enjoy! We did water them as needed, but if you get enough rainfall you may not need to water much at all. If there is risk of frost or you have a cold snap, bring them inside. You could set them in front of a window and take the back out when the conditions improve.

Step 7:

In 2-4 weeks when your starts are looking great, un-tape the jug and transplant! 

I was very pleased with how successful the germination was in the jugs when compared to a commerical greenhouse. It was very inexpensive to try out and you could reuse the milk jugs year after year. We will be repeating this experiment in class with different seeds next spring and I will be using this in my personal garden as well. 

Note: This was not an idea I came up with, but one that I came across online. Whomever originated this idea is brilliant.

I'll update you when the data is complete!

Wordless Wednesday - fence project

The fence in our backyard is literally falling down - it has been since we bought the house and we have been patching and supporting the fence for the past two years.  We never really got around to talking to the neighbors about replacing it.  A few weeks ago the neighbors were replacing a small section of their fence, so I asked them about replacing the fence between our houses.  We could do the work ourselves and split the cost of the materials.  They agreed and we started on Friday after work. 

This is what the fence looked like on Friday afternoon.

We tore the fence down and put in galvanized metal posts (that way they will last and not rot like the wood posts had). This is how we left it on Friday night (actually this picture was the next morning because we didn't stop working until it got dark).

Then Saturday we worked and worked and now our fence looks like this.  It is so nice!  Now we just have the rest of the fence to do!

And just for fun here is my nephew - he is the cutest little guy ever!!  I watched him in the morning while we were putting up the fence. 

Happy Wednesday!  If this blogger cooperates this will publish as I am enjoying the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom Conference in San Francisco.  I am so excited about it and can't wait to tell you all about it!!