What did you do in the garden today?

[Lazy Gardener]

Can you put a heavy rock in the duck's water bowl so she can't tip it over?

 

[Daisy]

Can you put a heavy rock in the duck's water bowl so she can't tip it over?

That is a great idea! I will do that, thanks I think mumma duck misses her pond, but the babies are just a little bit too small to venture that far yet.

a good garden hat will help!

Another good idea! I wear an akubra from my horse riding days but it is black and rabbit felt so quite hot! I might need to invest in one of those breezey straw types for summer

So far today all I have done is water the garden and feed the animals.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I added about two feet of fence to the top of the 4 ft. fence around the garden. I only needed to do it on the side that borders the outer pens that the chickens like to run around in. That ought to keep them from jumping over and invading my raised beds. Grrrr!

 

[Hinotori]

Until they learn that if they flap, they can pretty much walk up fences. I have a few miscreants that will do that even if I ignore the ones that can fly to the top of the 6 foot fence. I think that's just a know your breed.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

These are all heavy birds so I'm hoping they don't figure it out. They've never gone over the other fences that are that height - at least not yet!

 

[Daisy]

Until they learn that if they flap, they can pretty much walk up fences.

My chickens did the same thing. I made this great fenced paddock for them and the little buggers figured out they could scale the fence! (between 5-6 foot high) I lost a lot of seedlings that season. I wont replace the chickens once they all die off, I have enough ducks to take the space now and I quite enjoy duck eggs The ducks are far better at snail hunting too!

Goodluck with the fence @frustratedearthmother I hope it works, cos I know how frustrating it is when the chickens dig up your hard work.

 

[Hinotori]

I net the chicken run. The heavier breeds I used to have couldn't get over anything. I have Easter eggers and ameraucana only now for eggs. The silkies have their own place but are easy to block since they can't fly.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I keep my run covered b/c of hawk pressure. I did have a few brave souls fly over the electronet paddock last summer. i placed fence posts every 5 - 10' inside the e-net enclosure to thwart hawks, and also clutter up the space so the chickens weren't as apt to fly over. It worked pretty well.

 

[Daisy]

I saw my first ever hawk here yesterday! I had seen them on mountain hikes before but never IN town. It was eyeing off my hatchlings. It swooped down just as I rounded the corner. Not a big one to threaten the chooks (isa browns) but definitely big enough to take the ducklings. Mumma duck honked and all the babies took shelter under the hedge. Their pen has chicken wire and shade cloth over the top so they should be safe from aerial attack but I will have to move them to a bigger pen later in the week so its good to know a few other options for the top of their pen as they grow. I may just house them in the old woodshed for a while, it is covered but with enough sunlight and shade and is plenty big enough to fit them all.

It is 40C (104F?) by 10am here today. The roads melted and the trucks are dumping blue metal dust on them all around my house. Not a great day to be in the garden. I did a little bit of watering this morning. Yesterday I picked some limes from the tree and will probably trade them at the pub later. I dont need quite that many all to myself. I picked some herbs for the bunnies, picked a few dill seeds and planted a couple. I am not very good at looking after seedlings/baby things. There are so many species of plant here it has been a challenge to learn how to care for them all individually.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

No chickens in the raised beds today so I planted some seeds. Now that I've done that - I'm sure it'll finally freeze here, lol!