WOW, Saturday morning and they look like they've grown significantly. From left to right: Sunny (Buff), Loa (Arcauna), Hoot (Arcauna), Kapalua (Arcauna), Scat (Buff) and Millie (RIR - she is already an old hen).
I am not into this... sometimes you need to draw line and turning my home into a poultry processing plant is not OK. Especially with kids naming the chickens - "Dad, this looks like Roxy!?" Or... "Dad, where is Roxy?" or worse, "Dad why is there a pile of Roxy's feathers in the garbage can?"... anyway someone may find this interesting.
I love the sun and so do chickens... purportedly chickens that run on the beach, frolick around pools and work out in the sun, produce healthier eggs. Amazing, you mean we shouldn't slather them up in SPF 150 and put a hat on them and send out for 10 minutes before herding them back into the coop for protection? I know, we can create a whole line Chick Sun Shirts - you know the ones that all the kids are wearing now for swimming. What a paranoid trend this is - these kids look utterly ridiculous running around a swimming pool with an outfit on.. a little swim blouse. You know the sun is our enemy and you will die - so go buy another 30 tubes of goo!!!
If I was smart I would figure out how to use iRobot vac to suck the manure up and deposit it in the compost heap. Wait that's what kids are for...
Chicken Manure
Poultry manure (chicken in particular) is the richest animal manure in N-P-K. Chicken manure is considered "hot" and must be composted before adding it to the garden. Otherwise, it will burn any plants it comes in contact with. It has been suggested to cut-it with dairy manure or allow it to mix with hay and other soil around the yard for six months prior to applying to your plants. And use it as a soil amendment, not a mulch to layed up next to the plants. So... mix it in, let it sit and then use it. Or, once your garden is wrapped up in the fall... spread the manure over it, to be turned under in 4-6 mos when you plant for spring.
Dairy Manure (this is not manure from milk but from the cow)
Dairy Manure may be the single most useful soil-builder around," says Ann Lovejoy, lifetime organic gardener and writer in Seattle, Washington. "Washed dairy manure from healthy cows is just about perfect for garden use; it can be used as a topdressing and for soil improvement," she adds. Dairy manure is preferable to steer manure, which has a higher salt and weed seed content. Though cow manure has low nutrient numbers, that's what makes ist safe to use in unlimited quantities.
Horse Manure
Horse manure is about half as rich as chicken manure, but richer in nitrogen than cow manure. And, like chicken droppings, it's considered "hot". Horse manure often contains a lot of weed seeds, which means it's a good idea to compost it using a hot composting method.
Steer Manure
Steer manure is one of the old standbys, but it's not the most beloved because it often contains unwanted salts and weed seeds.
Rabbit Manure
Rabbit manure is even higher in nitrogen than some poultry manures and it also contains a large amount of phosphorus--important for flower and fruit formation. I think this is much harder to come by unless of course you raise rabbits or live by someone who does. A friend happen to tell me his family made a handsome living on rabbit manure, both by selling it for fertilizer and by sifting out all the worms which crawled up into the manure and selling them to fishermen. Hmmm.... black gold!
The chicks were purchased at Alamo Hay and Grain in Alamo, California. By the way, what a cool place - kind of a time capsule of a farm store.
