Raising Chickens

Raising chickens does not take a great deal of maintenance. Providing a shelter, food and room to range is about all that they need. One of our original reasons we have chickens is to manage the bug population here on our property. Since Bella Terra was in a deteriorated and overgrown state for many decades, the bugs moved in and stayed. Chickens and guinea hens do a natural job of pest control. To see read more about our home restoration process, click here.

Hen House Design

Initially our chickens and guinea hens would freely ambled around the yard. And then we got a dog…who liked licking the chickens in places I don’t want to mention. And he would chase the chickens, surely thinking they were his new toys. Coupled with birds of prey and coyotes, it was evident that we needed to secure our birds. So I designed our hen house, which sits between the garden and barn.

The interior of the hen house is a mirror image of itself. This symmetrical layout is to have the ability to utilize both sides independently-for an injured chicken, or baby chicks. There is definitely a pecking order, so it’s difficult to safely put chickens of different sizes and ages together.

Each side of the hen house has access to the nesting boxes where we gather eggs daily. The blue rolling tubs contain the chicken scratch and feed.

Fun themed handles add a bit of whimsy to the building.

At dusk, the chickens march their way inside the hen house, where they roost for the night. If we sense any predators finding their way into the screened-in area, we can secure the door for additional protection. Currently the 9′ x 12′ hen house can easily accommodate 25 – 30 chickens.

Outside Run

There is an outside run in the back so the chickens can free range safely. Here is where the food and water is located. The ground is dirt which allows the chickens to bury themselves during the heat of the day. Also these dust baths are a natural way the chickens get rid of any body bugs.

Today, we have 14 chickens (and one duck) and a variety of breeds-brown, white and blue/green egg layers.

Treats

Since our sweet chickens provide us with the best tasting, fresh eggs, we, in turn give them treats and high quality food.

Being located right next to my vegetable garden, often the chickens get Swiss chard and other greens. During the hot summer months, frozen corn, peas, squash and chilled watermelon are favorite snacks.

We also feed them black soldier fly larvae by Grubblies. These treats provide protein and calcium and the chickens LOVE them! And they are made in the USA and can be found here.

Bedding

I am experimenting with a mixture of dried flowers and herbs to add to the nesting boxes. Inspired by Lisa from Fresh Eggs Daily, this mixture is instrumental in keeping the hen house bug free. And who wouldn’t love laying eggs on rose petals?

To line the bedding boxes and flooring, we alternate between straw, hay and alfalfa. The straw is changed out weekly or as needed.

And by the way, we only have our chickens for the eggs, not meat.

Egg Laying

During the year, the chickens lay the most eggs in the Spring and Fall. The hot summers slow down the process. In the winter, a hen needs 14 hours of daylight in order to lay an egg daily. We do have a light to illuminate the hen house during the winter months.

Do all chickens lay eggs? The answer is no. Only hens (females) lay eggs and they do not need a rooster (male) to do so. When a rooster is introduced into the flock, then you can get baby chicks from a fertilized egg laid by the hen. Certain types of chickens lay more or less eggs than others.

If you are considering raising your own chickens, check with your local government to make sure you are allowed to do so. Here in Phoenix, you can have hens, but no roosters are allowed within the City limits.

Baby chicks can be sourced locally or online. Our latest batch of chicks are from McMurray Hatchery. Through this website you can choose different attributes like the type of chicken, egg color, and age. Seems a bit strange to get a box of live baby chickens in the mail, but that is how it is done.

I cannot say enough about fresh eggs. They taste better. Unlike the eggs you buy commercially, we retain the protective coating on the outside of the eggs and wash them prior to use. Ours are always fresh and delicious.

To read more about chickens, here is a post of frequently asked questions.

Happy Wednesday, my sweet friends! Tomorrow my son arrives home and I cannot wait. There is something about having the family together that just feels right.

Save

Save

Do you decorate for Halloween?

I have such fond memories of Halloween as a child in Connecticut. Halloween night was always chilly with the leaves floating off the trees. We would make our own costumes and go Trick-or-Treating in the neighborhood. The scariest part was running by the dark graveyard that was across the street. I can remember “surviving” the harrowing experience.

Mom always painted faces on pumpkins and would outfit them with hats. The exterior of the house was decorated with cornstalks and pumpkins. I can still smell fall in my memories and going through the pillowcase of candy at the end of the night. So when Halloween comes around, I sense the little girl in me getting excited over this holiday. So, do you decorate for Halloween?

In the past, when the children lived here at home, we would always celebrate this spooky holiday. As a result, we have our own Halloween traditions. Meet Mr. Bones and the two mummies that still startle me when I walk into the front hall. And of course, the gravestones, dead rats and a motion-activated creepy butler happily comes out of the garage every October.

The messages on the faux headstones, still make me laugh as it reminds me of waiting in line at the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.

With multiple fireplaces and deep mantels at Bella Terra- decorating for the holidays is such fun!

Using a spider web black throw and orange lights as a base, the dining room mantel becomes a mad scientist’s laboratory. It is such fun to fill them with skulls, potion bottles, black birds and skeletons.

Thank you for letting me share this post with you again. I just love the autumn and all the fun it brings. Not sure if we will be going all out for Halloween this year. Do you think I should decorate with ghouls and goblins?

Save

Planting Vegetables and Herbs

My vegetable garden is comprised of 5 raised beds made from concrete blocks and edged with brick. I like raised beds because it’s easier on the back and you can control the condition of the soil. The PVC pipes are hooped over the beds to allow for bird netting or shade cloth to protect the plants. My garden is adjacent to the hen house where abundant crops can be fed to willing chickens.

When vegetable planting in the fall, I generally use a combination of plants and seeds. For example, I have never grown strawberries from seeds. Some of my herbs are perennial so they regenerate themselves year after year. I still haven’t figured out the right number of plants to produce the right amount of vegetables for my family. One year, I stopped counting after picking the 85th eggplant. You can only donate so many eggplants before your friends stop taking your phone calls. Another year, as an experiment for the children, we left the zucchini on the vine to grow and grow-one ending up with a final weight of 8 lbs. Big photo op.

Growing food is a bit hit and miss-all your good intentions can change based on the weather, critters, soil conditions and water. But the joy of picking something you have started is very rewarding….and it tastes so much better than store-bought produce.

Two weeks earlier, I amended my soil with our own compost made from recycled kitchen and yard waste. I do this to let the soil settle in. Composting adds a natural alternative to chemical fertilizers. It’s free, easy to make and good for the environment. Here is more information on composting.

I purchased the plants at Whitfill Nursery and was pleased to see a very large selection of non-GMO (non-genetically modified) plants. Here’s the list of vegetables I planted last weekend: Tomatoes- Roma, Sweet 100s, Early Girl; brussels sprouts, spinach, romaine lettuce, Boston lettuce, arugula, strawberries (Eversweet), radicchio. Herbs: garlic chives, Italian basil, cilantro, and dill. I already have an abundance of rosemary, marjoram and mint.

My kale, bell peppers and a few heirloom tomato plants survived the summer. We are a bit “kaled-out” so the chickens get to enjoy the balance.

Here is my planting bible, Vegetable Planting Guide for the Valley of the Sun. I have used it year after year and it’s the best summary of what vegetables to plant during the year. As well, here is the Herb Planting Guide for the Valley of the Sun. Hope you find these charts helpful!

Happy planting,

Save

Simple Pleasures

My husband and I made a very quick overnight trip to Bella Terra North, our cabin in the White Mountains of Arizona. We have never been that couple who gaze into each others eyes, sit face-to-face and have lengthy conversations. We are both very busy, but when we do talk, we are more of what I would call “side-by-side” communicators. You know what I mean, right? So long car trips provide the necessary space for us to catch up with each other.

We arrived after dark and the chilly cabin called for a roaring fire. Curled up under a blanket, watching the flames and settling into the stillness of the night, I could feel the tension from the week melting away.

The next morning I woke up slightly after sunrise and got my first glimpse of the beautiful fall foliage. There is an aspen tree right outside our master bedroom and the way the sun highlighted the brilliant yellow against the cobalt blue sky was stunning. Even my old iPhone with its cracked screen was able to capture nature’s beauty.

aspen

Since this was a one night trip we had no food in the refrigerator and went out to breakfast at La Vie Marketplace and Cafe. It was a stunning morning and for some reason, I feel different up here. The mountain air seems to be much cleaner and sweeter to me. I felt very happy and then, being at this stylish, well-designed restaurant, elevated my spirits even more. I wanted to order nearly everything on the menu.

Look at those quiches! I selected the Greek quiche which was filled with creamy goat cheese, Roma tomatoes, spinach and artichoke hearts. My husband ordered the spinach and turkey one, plus we ordered their muesli which was chock full of shredded coconut, almonds and fresh berries. Thank goodness for To-Go boxes.

quiche

Even the flower arrangement on the table was adorable. Since this is also a marketplace, I was able to shop around as we waited for our food.

flowerslavie

Look at this sinful coffee-it’s a Mayan Mocha that my husband ordered which I just lusted over (it would take me a month to work off the calories).

mocha

This lovely place to gather and eat was filled with items that make my heart sing. Best of all, they carry my FAVORITE scented candle Capri Blue Volcano.

After a very civilized breakfast, we returned to the cabin to do the tasks at hand-loading up the numerous planters of geraniums to return them to the Valley before the frost set in. These are my “snowbird” geraniums-they spend the summer in the mountains and the winters in Phoenix. truck

Getting a change of scenery, just for one day was so restorative. The mountain air, quiet time with my husband, the beautiful fall foliage, enjoying fabulous food seemed to feed my soul. I was reminded that simple pleasures are all that we need. Slow down, be deliberate, and be thankful. At La Vie, they have this hanging on the wall. It was written by Maya Angelou, an American poet and I believe it captures what we all may need right now.

mayaangelou

May your day be filled with simple pleasures.

Save

Fall Planting

It was the perfect morning to go to my favorite nursery to select flowers for the planters and vegetables for the garden. We love to go to Whitfill Nursery, not only because it is close to our home, but it is family-owned and has operated in Phoenix for over six decades. It’s a delightful place to be this time of year. Once you enter their property you feel transformed to another place that inspires you with all things Fall!

pumpkindisplay

dsc_0585-e1476375023904-600x903

witchintruck Whitfill just received a shipment of new items this morning so it was busy with like-minded souls wanting to finally plant after our long, hot summer.

They had a gorgeous selection of geraniums in reds and corals and numerous selections of annuals and perennials in a variety of colors.

petunias

Our front planter,which has an eastern exposure, is in desperate need of color. In front of the raised planter, we have a row of Purple Heart plants (Setcreasea) which helped determine our color scheme of pink, lavender, crimson and white. We selected plants of varying heights to create interest and depth.

allflowers

For the back row, we picked Lavender Laceleaf (full sun to light shade) which will grow up to 3 feet.

Two different color snapdragons, Sonnet Carmine and Liberty Classic Crimson will go in front of the lavender. Both have a growing height of 18″to 24″.

snapdragons

The front two rows will be an assortment of petunias in a deep purple, white, bright pink and dark fuscia. Allysum in white and lavender will edge the borders.

prepbed

If you would like to know what flowers to plant now or over the course of a year, I always reference the Bedding Planting Guide for the Valley of the Sun. I don’t recall where I got this, but I use it every year and have made numerous copies for friends. Here it is: beddingplantingguide.

Happy Planting! Tomorrow I hope to start my vegetable garden!!

Save