Matt McSpadden

I have heard good things about the motion activated sprinklers... between the noise and the water it tends to scare away quite a few different animals.

Just sayin'...

Nicole hit several things that can affect egg laying. The amount of food, weather, and age.

Given the poopy butt issues... I'm going to wonder if there is something causing stress. Poopy butt is most common in chicks due to stress from any number of sources but can also affect adults.

Possible reasons for poopy butt (which would also affect egg laying)
- Sickness / infection, keep in mind chickens will hide sicknesses very well
- Parasites, worms, mites, etc, these can be harder to determine, but I would recommend pumkin, zuchini, cucumber, or similar seeds. The seeds are said to help get rid of internal parasites. Diotomachious earth (I know I spelled that wrong) can help if it's mites.
- Too rich of food, this one surprised me... but given your list of foods, could be a possibility. If the food is out of balance it can actually cause stress and poopy butt and then affect egg laying.

Hi Abigail,
Personally, I want a feisty rooster to protect my flock... but I want him feisty with critters that are trying to eat them, not me. So I do give them some leeway, and I also try to understand the circumstances.

I agree with Jay on seeing if anything had changed. I had a rooster who was generally fine. But one day I had let a friend of my children in to see the chickens, and he chased them around and scared the hens, which the rooster did not like. The rooster started attacking the boy. The boy was wearing one of those poofy coats that makes a certain sound. Ever after, if my kids were wearing a coat that made that sound, the rooster would try to attack them... other coats were fine. So they do have memories of things that scared their hens.

My rooster only attacked me once (beyond a little sideways dancing on occasion), and I let him live, because I had backed him into a corner accidentally. If I saw it as a pattern (I like three strikes your out idea), I would definitely turn him into stew. I did not hold the attacks on people with those coats against him. To me that was very different than suddenly they attack with no reason.

What sort of growing medium did you start with? I would start my tomato seedlings in a compost mix that could feed them just fine for 6-8 weeks with just water. I did not need any extra "food".

As for how to know if they need more feeding... I'm not an expert, but I would look out for things like discolored leaves (signs of stress or deficiency), withered leaves, lack of any growth over a week or two, and things like that.

Thanks to Anne and Christopher for guessing! Green leafy herbs are REALLY hard to identify after they are in little pieces, without smelling them. If anyone reads this later, try taking a guess first, and then see how you do.








Here is the answer.

In order from left to right Oregano, Garlic Powder, Blueberry Powder, Garlic Granules, Cayenne Pepper, Cilantro, and my attempt at a Mirepoix mix (2 parts onion granules, 1 part carrot granules, 1 part celery leaf). I say "my attempt" because while it tastes delicious added to a roast or gravy... gravity means the celery leaves don't mix evenly.

Christopher Weeks wrote:Given that the colors might be a little off, I'm going to say #2 is maple sugar, #3 is sumac (except, why wouldn't it be in the same category?), and #5 is chile flakes. No idea about the greens.

Another one guessed! #5 is cayenne pepper... something. It was supposed to be flakes, but there are a lot of small pieces making it closer to a cayenne pepper powder.

Anne Miller wrote:Left to right:

Parsley, onion powder, beet powder, garlic powder, carrots, Kale, and the last one is a blend of 1,2 ,4 and 5 going left to right.

You correctly guessed #4, granulated garlic. While the rest are not correct, I'm giving you an apple for being the first to take a stab at it. I do notice the lighting is a little off making the colors slightly different. That can make it harder.

I have been bottling some new stuff lately, and wondered if anyone can identify them without labels? Give it a try. My one hint is that #3 from the left, is not usually in the same category as the rest.