Diatomaceous earth camo

Joan is pretty well camouflaged after dusting the run with diatomaceous earth. It's our new anti-fly strategy. Apparently food-grade diatomaceous earth (basically the dust of ground up diatoms -- who knew this even existed!?) will kill grubs & larva of flies by both cutting them & desiccating them. Not so lovely - but it seems better than those poison traps we used last year. I'd love to dust the compost but I have a hunch it'd kill the worms, too. Does anybody know?

Chicken-ready house for rent

Have you always dreamed of owning your own chickens?  Now your most fervent dream can come true.  We're renting our house in South Bexley which boasts a secure chicken run and chicken-friendly zoning.  We'll even throw in a rabbit hutch that we used as an auxiliary coop.
Oh, and the house isn't too shabby either: https://sites.google.com/site/havenwoodhouse/

Springtime!

The chickens are loving the spring weather. All this dampness makes me think we may have to get the fly traps up early this year - for our own sake and that of good neighbor relations.

Which one of these is not like the others?

Somebody laid a gigantic egg!

And there goes the coop!

Thanks, Dad, for your truck & your brawn.

Chickens are packed up and headed to the new house!!

Poop, Here! Get'yer chicken poo here.

In preparation for moving, we did some digging out yesterday.  If any Columbusite Composters are looking for some "gardening gold" for their compost heaps, let me know!  It's all bagged up and ready to go.  I'd say it's about half-way composted at this point (poop + pine shavings + leaves).  The bags are liftable...maybe 30 lbs?
Feb 7th is moving day for the humans.  We'll see about those chickens.  They might have to wait for the weekend.

(I bagged the chicken poop in the Layena bags -- which makes it seem like a simple factory line: Layena = eggs + poop (dorky stats joke: would the hens be a mediator or a moderator?)