Juniper Zen

I use an old raised bed, with a painter’s canvas drop cloth lining it, as a sandbox. The hens slowly toss all the sand out, so I refill it as needed. It seems to keep the mite populations down. They used to get clumps of mite eggs at the bases of their feathers, but I haven’t seen that in a long time now. Our soil is heavy clay, so they weren’t able to do adequate dust bathing before I created the sandbox.

On a side note, I use a litter box scoop to remove chicken poop from the sandbox as needed.

Here’s a video of my hens using their sandbox:  

Thanks, Mark. Sounds like cottonwood would not be a good fit - no stream or creek, and we have clay soils with crappy drainage, and that is too big for me! (Probably should have mentioned the clay in the first post.) I can provide some irrigation, but I'm not looking to plant trees that would require an extensive amount after their first few years.

This is just a fun idea, anyway. There are plenty of more important projects that need attending to first. :)

Hi Mark. I have municipal water that I can use as needed, especially as trees are getting established. It's 24" of rain falling from the sky, primarily during winter, and the rest during spring. No rain to speak of in the summer. I'm east of the Coast Ranges. Hope that helps.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions! I am unfamiliar with quince, but will look it up. I will also look more into mulberries and apple trees. I do have one apple tree that is growing well, but it gets regular irrigation in my little row of fruit trees. :)

I’ve seen photos of willows grown with the branches bent to make beautiful shapes, like domes to hide under. I live in zone 9b and we get an average of 24” of rain, most of it in the winter and none over the hottest months. Are there any similar fast growing trees that would be suitable for this climate?

I dunked my five (thought it was four, but actually five!) broody hens into a bucket of cold water, up to their shoulders, yesterday in the late afternoon and again this morning. This evening all five were back on the nesting boxes.

They’ve gotten more tolerant of me reaching under them to pull out eggs over time, because I usually don’t bother them much. I don’t want to risk making them aggressive because now I keep dunking them every time I open the nest boxes. I’m going to stop doing that, and try to find time to build a nestless, eggless broody-breaking pen.

They’re not laying eggs and all they do is sit on the nest… how much energy are they expending? 🤔

I currently have 4 hens that are broody and I’m missing getting more eggs, so I plan to try to break them out of it. I have heard of 2 suggestions on this front: put them into a separate area with no eggs or nesting boxes, or dunking them in cold water to lower their temperature. I don’t currently have a separate area; it’s on my to-do list. Dunking them seems “mean” but on the other hand it’s over 100 degrees this week so maybe it’s time to try it!

I’ve previously always let the hens do whatever they want, but 4 broodies at once, for a long time, has hit my limit!

A lot of wool sock yarns these days are made from “superwash” yarn, which can be machine washed. The nylon is added as it adds strength to the wool.

Knitting at a tight gauge will also make the sock last longer, even without nylon. I use 2 mm (US 0) needles and get 9.5 stitches per inch. Some people do 10+ stitches per inch.

I live in an area that had a devastating fire come through in 2020. There were some people who ignored orders to evacuate and saved their houses with garden hoses.

The firescaping recommendations are having wide fire breaks, clearing underbrush near trees so that fires can’t climb, and having a fuel-free zone directly around the house. In extreme conditions, embers can travel significant distances on the wind, so even those may not be enough.