Megan Styles

I've planted some apples from seeds about 6 years ago. Both that survived bore fruit. Small, very crisp, and tart/sweet. One tree almost all fruit were eaten by possom. The other tree was left completely alone. Not sure if this is down to the different genetics of the 2 trees, but I was glad that we didn't loose both!

I've just asked to join the FB group. I definitely would prefer to go in for land with a like-minded group. I'm really worried about buying land with no community around me.

Luke Perkins wrote:

We are now selling the seed from our purple tree collards and rooted cuttings of the dinosaur tree collards on our website. projecttreecollard.org

Thanks Luke! I bought some of your seed last year (year before? Can't remember), and now have some mighty purple and mericollard trees in a shady spot in my garden! The purple are taller than me and have many stems. The mericollard are keeping one stem or sprouting off the trunk or base. One mericollard flowered in the first year then fell over, but there is a new sprout from it's base, and a lot of seedlings, a few of which I replanted to where I wanted.
I found that the stems of the mericollard were tasty and sweet enough to snack on raw in the garden. My chickens love the leaves of both!
This is in Auck, NZ! Seeds got through customs! Yay!

M.K. Dorje Jr. wrote:

I also grow Purple-Sprouting Broccoli as a perennial. I just pinch off the flowers and bend the stems over so the plants can re-root along the stem. These guys can go for years like this without much care. Some of new ones survived the recent deep freeze without problems- these guys are tough! Plant them in a spot where they'll get afternoon shade in the summer and they'll do fine.

That's really cool! I would like to try perennial broccoli! Does it flower every year? My mini cabbages (an F1 hybrid I bought from a conventional seed catalogue) perennialized where I live. We rarely get temperatures below 5C (Auckland, NZ). I'll have to try to post a photo of them. If I cut off a cabbage they produce branches and re-root. Sounds similar to your broccoli. This is their 3rd summer and most of them have 7-5 heads now and multiple rooting points. They produce extremely small cabbages (partially due to my shady garden, partially due to the breed) the size of a fist (means I can put one or two in the dinner and don't need to store cut open cabbage in the fridge!). All of them have flowered once last spring. I'm wondering if they will flower again this spring or if they will flower biennially like normal cabbage.
I have to say it is extremely handy not having to plant every cabbage my garden produces!
I planted some larger purple cabbages, to see if they will also perennialize in this climate. I can't quite remember how I got the first plants to do it. I think I just left a lot of leaf and stem after I harvested and nature did the rest.
I've been looking for cases of this on the internet and this is the first time I have seen someone else with a brassica behaving this way!

Thanks Guys! That's really helpful advice.
I wonder if it could be a deficiency? Maybe one that is subclinical and symptoms only become apparent after a stressful experience?
All my chickens eat layer pellets, soaked wheat, and as many greens as I have time to bring them from my vege garden.
They also have access to my compost bin so they have all the food scraps etc. The food scraps are probably the only food source that varies by location (and thus soil profile).
So is the best bet for ensuring they get enough minerals.
They have eaten fish though! Whenever our landlord gives us an extra snapper. And that should have all the minerals in the sea. Hmmm, interesting!
I could try collecting fresh seaweed for them (if I find the time!) and see if they eat some.

I work full time so spending time on my chooks is my main limitation at the moment. Also, I rent in the suburbs which means rotating their pasture and getting a rooster are sadly out.
For now! One day I will have enough money to get a place!

The injured chook doesn't have any visible injuries. But I haven't really checked her over. I'm too worried about hurting her. I was at work when the dog got in and another tenant on the property got the dog off her.
This is day 3 after the attack (that sounds like the start of a bad sci-fi), and she is walking around the run now!
She is still not eating or drinking very well. She tries to eat perpetual spinach out of my hand if I offer it. But she is very feeble and often misses the leaf or drops the piece she pecks off.
She seems unable to peck at grain. And I have only observed her next to the water, not actually drinking it. I also spotted her having a really good stretch of one leg today, which is a good sign!

One of her eyes is a little squinty, and she holds her head on a weird angle a lot of the time. I have a feeling the dog got her by the head or neck and gave her a shake.
But a lot of improvement! Day one she just stood with her tail down and her feathers fluffed all day. The only time she moved was to have a gulp of water the I dipped her beak in.
And yesterday seemed worse because she actually tried to escape if I put food or water in front of her face. Like she would turn around and put her face in the corner.
Which in any language says fcuk off and let me die in my opinion, so I was pretty sure we were going to lose her.

But yes! walking around and eating greens, no matter how little is an improvement, and if she is improving there is hope! If she recovers I won't get another chook.
I'll keep you all posted

I've had 4 chickens for a little less than a year now. Recently one was attacked by a dog
We are not sure she is going to live. She is avoiding her food and water. And for some reason seems blind in one eye.
No visible injuries but she is limping. She has improved a little over the last 3 days and can walk around now. But yeah, I haven't seen her drink or eat anything.
Any advice on that weird blindness thing would be good. Has any one had that before?
We had a accidental 5th chicken for a short time when they were pullets. And that one was a different breed and from a different flock and was rejected by the original 4.
She got the same blindness thing and we had to put her out of her missery after hand feeding for a week.
She just got more and more blind until you had to dip her beak to get her to find the water you were holding right in front of her.
Really weird and I can't find anything online about chickens loosing their vision due to stress.

My second question is about adding a new pullet to the flock if my chicken does die.
I don't want a repeat of the first accidental bird. I've read some stuff about keeping them separate but so they can see each other for a few days.
And I will try and get the same breed so that they look similar to the older birds. I've read that these birds (brown shavers) tend to be a bit "racist", ha! (chicken breedist?).

But other than that I was just going to let the pullet loose after a few days and hope for the best.

Looking forward to all your advice!