Some people near me are worried that their chickens cannot handle the frigid cold we are experiencing at the moment. For starters, it only got down to 0.9F here last night and there was no wind. Chickens can handle this just fine as long as they have shelter from the wind, unfrozen water and dry bedding.
I have kept chickens since 1974 and we did not have electricity back then. The chickens insisted on sleeping on what amounted to a windowless window sill in our tiny goat barn. The only time they had issues was when it went down to minus 25 for three days. Some of them got frostbite on their combs. They healed quickly and got on with being chickens.
These days, my chickens have a fort Knox kind of coop to protect them from our marauding foxes, coons, possums, weasels and coyotes. There are three rooms. The inner roosting and laying room has windows to the south and a partial concrete floor, the adjoining wired and roofed coop has a skylight and is open on the east side and joins the horse stall on the south side. The third room is inside the horse barn and is where I raise chicks, when we have them. It is kind of dark unless the brood lamps are on and the hens don’t spend much time there.
When we got the (Polar Vortex!) wind advisory, I stapled plastic on the open east side of the chicken coop and the horse stall, which snugged things up. I have heated water buckets for the chickens and the horse, so they have water. I also scattered dry hay in the chicken pen and the horse stall. I use the deep litter method in my barn, meaning that as the manure piles up, more bedding goes on and it sits there, fairly dry and composting all winter. It is warmer than bare ground and the chickens love to scratch around in it. I turn them into the horse stall every couple of weeks to clean up and they help to break down the horse manure. The second horse stall, where I feed and keep the water, is kept as dry hard ground.
My 26 chickens and horse were all fine this morning. Animals get used to cold. Chickens have built in down jackets. Even if their combs freeze, they will be fine. Mara had ice in her whiskers, the same way I had my nose hairs freeze on the way out to the barn. We are all OK.
Maybe if we were to get an extended spell of minus zero temps, I would break down and plug in a couple of brooder lamps. I certainly would if we had young chicks, but the older hens are hardy and seem just fine without supplemental heat.
I have collected dryer lint for many years. For 8 years I worked at a USDA plant disease research facility where we had to shower out of the containment greenhouses. I washed loads and loads of white fluffy towels every day and a lot of lint gets trapped on the screen. I figured I might as well save it to make paper out of someday. That day has arrived.
I initially thought to make fancy craft paper but that project has never made it to the top of my list. Then I began setting up my grow bench in the garage to grow fresh spinach during the winter. I am also starting other salad greens and assorted veggies and flowers for spring planting. I already grow wheat fodder in the basement for the chickens and it seemed a natural progression to grow microgreens for us under my lighted, heated set up in the garage.
I researched microgreen growing on the internet, wading painfully through some way-too-long You Tube videos and digging around on seed and supply sites. I decided, as with most projects, I would rather come up with my own cheaper version of what they are selling out there. I collect all kinds of useful junk, horticultural and otherwise, and a look around my sheds, closet and garage can usually provide the goods I need.
I grow wheat fodder, which is sprouts allowed to grow into small lawns, in plastic kitchen dish pans with drain holes drilled in the bottoms. Wheat is a big seed and only a few sometimes get stuck in the holes.
Chicken Fodder Bins
Kale, radish, amaranth, lettuce and broccoli are much smaller seeds and need a way to stay moist while not falling through their drainage tray.
Seed quilts, absorbent cellulose mats, can be purchased, but they are expensive and the seeds already cost plenty. I decided to make my own seed quilts using the dryer lint stockpile.
Making paper seed quilts is easy and you can use just about anything that is compost-able, which is where it will finally end up. Newspaper, leaves, dried chopped grass, dryer lint, etc. can all be used to make and these absorbent paper mats, which are much thicker than papertowels. I am thinking that using some dried horse manure might work and it would add some built-in fertilizer. This would require a dedicated blender, and not my kitchen tools.
How to Make Seed Quilts
You will need: One wooden frame to staple window screen onto and an optional second frame to keep edges cleaner, and a plastic washtub big enough to immerse the screen with a little spare room for jiggling. I found some cheap picture frames that worked. Ideally, the frame size will match up with the tray size you will plant in.
Screen Frame and Edge Frame and Wet Paper
Soak about a cubic foot of dryer lint in a bucket and soak an hour
Scoop 3-4 handfuls of soggy lint into a blender and add water to fill line
Blend on medium for 1-2 minutes
Blender Full of Lint
Dump into the washtub and repeat until it has all been blended
Stir the soggy mess
Hold the edge frame on top of the screen frame
Slide the screen down under the surface of the mush and lift, keeping screen level
Pressing Water Out Through Screen
Clean up edges with your fingers and press palm down on screen to expel water
Turn upside down onto fabric covered towel
Seed Quilt On Drying Towel/Fabric
Refill screen and repeat
For thick, absorbent paper, lay flat and air dry
For thinner paper, cover with fabric and towel and press with rolling pin
To speed drying, lay flat on racks near heat source. I laid them in open grid type seedling flats on a heat mat to dry
Drying Seed Quilts on Open Grid Flats Set on Bottom Heat
When ready to plant, lay the quilt on an elevated grid in the seed tray. The store bought kits use a plastic grid about a half inch tall. Maybe a paint roller grid would work. I will use the open grid tray inside of a 1020 hole less plant tray. You want to lift the quilt above the water in the tray and be able to water the bottom, not the greens.
Saturate the quilt and sow seeds evenly on top. I will be measuring to see what the right amount is and will be planting Kale for my first crop. Too thick and they will grow mold. Cover loosely with a dome or plastic sheet until you see sprouting.
Set trays on planting heat pad set at 68F. Heat depends on particular seeds needs, as does light. Once they germinate, turn the lights on with a timer for 12 -16 hours per day. I use T-12 fluorescent fixtures that I have recycled. Hang them about 8 inches above the tiny plants. You can use LED lights but you will need the blue and red spectrum, which my eyes cannot stand to be around.
I was listening to National Public Radio yesterday and an interview with a big mid-western farmer. This guy grows the same rotation of crops as many of our local, much smaller farmers do. Soybeans in the spring, wheat in the fall, corn the next spring. Over and over and over again. No deviation. Sure, they might have some fields in permanent pasture or hay, but that is basically it. Not much diversity there.
The farmer they were talking with plants 5000 acres using the soy, wheat, corn rotation and as usual, ordered next seasons seed last year, to the tune of a million and a half dollars. He is locked in to planting those soybeans this spring. The problem is that China, the largest buyer of United States soybeans, will not be buying our soybeans next year. This is in retaliation of the tariffs Trump has put on steel and many other imported Chinese goods. We are in the midst of a trade war which will probably be getting much worse. China has been smart and working on just this scenario for many, many years. They plan long term, unlike our country. Where have all the steel mills gone that we used to have in this country? China. What are all our cars and trucks and SUV’s made of? Chinese steel. Poor quality Chinese steel. Toyota recently had, yet another recall of SUV’s and Pickup trucks, assembled in America, but made of Chinese steel, because the frames had rusted clear through and were seriously dangerous.
If we get into an actual military war with the Chinese, what will we make our war machines with? Chinese steel? Think again. They have us right where they want us, dependent on them for goods we used to make ourselves. Cheap labor in China lured most of our manufacturing over to them and now we depend on China, and other countries, for many indispensable things. We cannot easily rebuild our steel mills and return to supplying our own high quality steel. How will we repair our bridges without U.S. steel? This has nothing to do with the unions, it has to do with the greed of the companies who moved out of our country, who do not want to pay taxes to help our country, who do not care if our own countrymen even have jobs. Our corporate tax laws and loopholes have enabled this to happen. Our banking industry has enabled this to happen. We are at the mercy of greedy corporations and now we are at the mercy of China and other foreign powers.
Back to the farmers who are locked in to growing soybeans for a non-existent market. The price of soybeans is bound to fall drastically with a glut of unsold beans waiting in silos. Russia has already announced that they will gladly supply China with their soybeans next year, so we can forget about getting that buyer back, even if the trade war were to end.
American farmers have become the latest business that is too big to fail. Just like the banks back in 2008. Are we now going to bail them out with our tax dollars? The farmer being interviewed did not seem to have any creative ways of dealing with his problem. He is so big, and so used to relying on the government telling him what to plant, insuring him against crop failures, subsidizing lime and fertilizers and farm improvements, that he no longer plans for himself. Every decision he makes is tied to cost sharing and the futures market and whatever the big agro seed and chemical companies are pushing. This is no way to farm.
Farmers need to be flexible, basing their decisions on weather, markets, soil health and the peoples needs, not blindly planting the same old crops every year because that is what they have always done. A good farmer looks at all the variables and weighs the cost of seed and planting and harvesting against what the market will buy. These big farmers seem to have lost their natural insight. Smaller farmers live somewhat closer to local market changes and have to scramble year to year to make their crops pay for them to stay in business. They have to be creative and come up with specialty crops that might bring in more money, even though there is more risk. Organic farmers practice this way of life and change their plantings based on what people want to buy each year, a market that is constantly changing. They work on improving the soil and therefore the health of their crops without having to rely so much on government subsidies. They also supply us with healthier food, not chemically laden food that endangers our health. We need to learn the true cost of raising healthy food and be willing to pay accordingly.
Our government agricultural programs have gotten so large and powerful that many farmers do not even try to plan for themselves anymore. They rely on the government to insure they do not go under, even if they make bad business decisions. They plant the latest genetically modified Round Up Ready seeds, then spray Glyphosate on our food crops, and pretend it is all healthy and good for us. It is dangerous to give up your individual power and allow the government and agro corporations to decide what you should plant and what the best management practices are. We will all be paying the price with our health down the road. Multi-thousand acre farming operations, heavily in debt, and dependent on bureaucratic subsidy programs, are not run with an understanding of the connections between soil health, plant health and human health. They are run as a big business. People need to return to thoughtful planning and being responsible for their own destiny.
Wendy lee, writing at Edgewise Woods, Gardens and Critters
In Bed with the Dog
Sofie is a misfit designer dog, a cross between a Bassett Hound and some kind of wire haired terrier. She has the short legs and big feet, the knock kneed Plie (ballet) stance and can howl and bay if she really feels the need, which is thankfully, not very often. She got shortchanged in the ear department though. Her ears are the only smooth haired part of her and they droop but they are not very long. We chose her at the local shelter to keep Raster, our now deceased, border collie mix company while I was away at work all day. The pair of them were supposed to guard the chickens and keep the deer out of the yard but they tended to wait patiently on the porch when we were here waiting for us to yell,
“Get ‘em! Get the deer. “ or
“Chickens! Get the fox!”
It is possible they chased critters away while we were gone but I kind of doubt it. Still, they were good dogs. They spent good weather days wandering around outside on about 4 fenced acres and were always glad to see us. That is the best thing about dogs. They love you no matter what you might say to them. Our dogs always come inside with us and they’ve claimed their space on the floor near the woodstove or right up on the couch. Never on the human bed though. Well, only when the grandkids sleep over. We banned them from our room long ago because they snored worse than we did.
Sofie is lonely now that Raster is gone and gets way too excited when we have company. She loves kids and never gives up hope that everyone she sees will love her back. Being so short makes her have to jump up to get attention though and no one likes that.
This weekend we are hosting a couple of musicians from Canada with their year old son and a friend to help with babysitting. They are teaching at the 14th annual Fiddlers Retreat, put on by Shepherdstown Music and Dance, and last night they helped kick it off with a great concert. The baby slept through their act bundled on his mama’s back while she stood tall and fiddled numerous tunes for us. It was pretty impressive. They all stayed late jamming and did not arrive at our house until about midnight.
I stayed up reading so I could greet them and as soon as Sofie heard their car doors, she was wide awake. So was the baby. Sofie has a terrible habit of jumping on people for attention and it was difficult to calm her down. She loves kids, or anyone who will pet her. No one really wanted to deal with her though so I locked her upstairs in our bedroom in an attempt to restore calm. We really needed to get some sleep but it took about an hour and a half for everyone to settle in for the night.
Meanwhile, Sofie had persuaded Jeff to allow her on the bed- just to keep her from whining. She spent the whole night with us and will be doing the same tonight. She obviously does not mind at all and the only snoring I heard was from Jeff, who is fighting a cold and keeping himself away from our guests.
Once winter finally decides to arrive, and the woodstove is cranking again, the living room will be a much warmer place to sleep and she will have the whole couch to herself and probably won’t even want to sleep with us. Having a dog in my bed is not a long term thing for me. It is only for 2 nights. I would have to give her way more baths, for one thing, and it is crowded enough with two of us in there.
