pretty chicken coop in the garden
A Clever Automatic Coop Door – No Electricity or Battery Needed

A Clever Automatic Coop Door – No Electricity or Battery Needed

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I feel a automatic coop door opener is a must have for every urban chicken keeper, especially if your spouse, like mine, is not too keen about being woken up at dawn everyday by hens anxious about getting on with their business for the day. However, getting power to a coop can be a challenge and some of the battery powered or solar powered automatic door openers can be very expensive. I stumbled on to this nifty automatic coop door…

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Potted Plant Shipping

Potted Plant Shipping

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I have been getting a number of inquires from other gardeners around the country asking where to buy Bababerry plants.  In addition, I am often asked about shipping the potted Baba berry plants I propagate each year from my own Baba Berry patch.  Up until recently, I have limited my sales to local gardeners.  I really haven’t had a need to ship, since I barely keep up with requests for Babas from Southern California gardeners.  But last month, I finally…

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Is sand okay for bedding in a chicken coop
A bad experience with sand in the chicken run

A bad experience with sand in the chicken run

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Sand vs. Shavings is one of those things, each chicken keeper has their own personal preference, based on their run situation and location of their coop. In 2008 when I was in the planning stages of building my chicken coop, a few individuals in the online chicken community were heavily promoting the use of sand in a chicken run. They made it sound like the best thing since sliced bread. None of my chicken keeping resource books mentioned using it as…

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how to get rid of burrs in grass
The Ongoing Battle with Burclover: Organic vs. Chemical Control

The Ongoing Battle with Burclover: Organic vs. Chemical Control

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Burclover is a commonly used name for two prickly invasive clovers, Black Medic Medicago lupulina  and California Burclover Medicago polymorpha.  Since the beginning of the last drought we had, probably around 2007, my neighborhood has slowly been overtaken by burclover.  It is the tiny clover looking plant with yellow flowers and then prickly spiral shaped seed pods that stick to beach towels, picnic blankets, and dog fur.  I have been hand pulling it from the beginning, not wanting to resort…

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The New Gray Water Diverter [2012 Update]

The New Gray Water Diverter [2012 Update]

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Now that our wet season is pretty much over, it is time to switch back to gray watering in the in the back yard garden. For a little over 5 years we have been using some of the water from our washer machine to irrigate part of the backyard.  During most of that time, the washer machine water was just sent out through a hole I haphazardly made in the laundry room window and into a homemade surge tank.   I…

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Homemade Ice Cream

Homemade Ice Cream

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Ever since I was a kid, my mom has made the some of the world’s best homemade ice cream.  I am not just saying that because she is my mom.  Ask any kid on my block, my family, friends, or any of the many neighbors on my block and they will all attest “Leanne’s mom makes the best ice cream.”  She makes about 4 gallons of it for our 4th of July block party.  The next day, I pass out…

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Joint Custody

Joint Custody

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My two broody hens stared at each other in their separate nests for the last 4 weeks, on fake eggs and then on the fertile Cochin eggs I bought on ebay.  I had been thinking about the possibility of letting them sit with their chicks together, too.  However, most of the expert chicken sources recommend separating broody hens from the rest of the flock and from each other.  I have read a few horror stories on backyardchickens.com where two broody…

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Loud Ducks

Loud Ducks

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How loud are ducks? At 6AM, when I am trying to enjoy a few extra minutes of sleep, they seem really loud. The quaking started shortly after dawn this morning.  At first is was a soft quacking. Then all 3 joined in. The snails and slugs are in plague like proportions right now and at one point, the ducks must have been celebrating when they discovered the bounty within the agapanthus. As a urban homesteader, this would not be that…

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A Visit from the Hawk

A Visit from the Hawk

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Coopers Hawk sitting in our backyard Chinese Elm tree, trying to decide which chicken it wants for lunch. Hawks are a serious concern for free ranging chickens, even for flocks living in urban areas, like ours. Since I spend a lot of time outside and love watching birds, I have noticed we get plenty of fly overs from Coopers Hawks, Prairie Falcons, American Kestrals, and Red Tail Hawks.  With 3 chicken keepers on the block and a big park that…

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Not Breaking My Broody Hen

Not Breaking My Broody Hen

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Just recently my buff bantam Cochin, Daisy, decided it was time try to start another brood of chicks.  Crazy moody hen!  Her chicks from the last batch are only 11 weeks old this week.  She had only been back to laying for about 3 weeks when she started talking broody and staked out her territory in the nest area again.  Lucky for her, my son’s white Cochin, THX1138, also went broody within a day or two of her.  The poor…

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