Late Winter Post

It's been a warmer than usual winter for us on the Western Slope of Colorado.  This has been a nice break for us since we've previously experienced bitter cold inversions that lasted for weeks with grey sky, no snow, but arctic temperatures.  This winter though, especially for January and early part of February, we've been enjoying daily highs in the 60s and 70s.  Maybe too good to be true...

Nothing like warm sunny days to inspire us into gardening and spring cleaning around the house, is there?  I decided to start by cleaning my 3 fish tanks - 29G, 39G, and 72G.  Two of the smaller ones are on the ground floor, while the 72 gallon one sits downstairs in our basement (and I don't own those suction/vacuum device with a long hose...).  It's good workout carrying my 2 gallon bucket up and down the stairs for water change! :D  It's a pain in the rear when I have anything like foot injury. :(

Anyhow, the fish tanks needed serious cleaning on the inside glass as algae had obscured the view while I was too busy/too lazy to take care of them during the months leading up to the holidays.  I did regular water changes, and these tanks are almost 10 years (fully mature), so things are stable and no fish died or even came down with any sign of illness.  Just got unsightly. ^^;

It's kind of funny how I can be OK with green algae on the front glass for months, but once I got one tank cleaned, I just had to get the other two equally clean ... all in one day! :D  It just looks so nice when they're clean.  What really kicked me into action, though, was the busted pump downstairs.  It started making noises and it got louder and so annoying that I was ready to dish out $70 to 80 for a new one.  Once at the LFS (local fish store - in our case, an old friend of ours), the owner showed us I only needed to buy a replacement part for it for a fraction of the cost of a brand new unit. :D  For less than $15, I was able to get it fixed and running like brand new.

With the downstairs tank getting plenty of air (I used to keep goldfish, but I only keep small tropicals.), I decided to replace the old sorry pump upstairs with the same model I have downstairs the next day.  While getting a new pump, I had to go check out the fish tank area of the shop.  Saw some healthy Emperor Tetras, so I got four for my 29 G, since it had all but 3 little fish living in it after most of my Diamond Tetras had died over the last few years (From what I can find, their longevity is about 5 years, so mine lived a full life.).

My camera was set on auto-flash when I took the pic above. ^^;  But you can see the Emperor Tetras.  Although I now have a lot more in this tank. 

After adding the fish, I had to add some plants (I have both fake and live plants along with a marimo.).  This tank was looking pretty sorry after not seeing much action for so long.  I also picked up a nice Malaysian driftwood and put it in there as well.  It was fun when hubby walked into the kitchen one day while I was boiling the driftwood.  "What the heck are you cooking in here?" LOL

I've bought a marino last year on Etsy, and that one lives happily in my 39 G tank with 6 angel fish I bought from my LSF when they were 1/2 inch long.  After a little over a year, they are all about 2.5 inches in body length (not counting the tail).  Marimo was bought at about 2 and a 1/4 inch, and it's now about 2.5 inches across.  Decided to buy 3 2.3 inchers from a seller on eBay.  You can see one of them in the pic above.

I put the remaining two in the 72 G tank, but after looking at them for a while, it just seemed weird to have two green balls of the same size side by side.  I took one of them that looked rather oblong out, along with some aquarium water, and cut away about a 1/3.  Then trimmed the two large pieces to achieve a roundish shape, and gently rolled the trimmings into nano marino balls.  Now instead of 1 large marimo, I have 1 largish, 1 medium, and 15 little ones ranging from 5 mm to 1 cm. :D  I leave these guys under my desk lamp, and they start to photosynthesize, tiny pearls of bubbles appear on surface, and they float to the top of the water. :D  Cute little moss balls.  I might bring one of my unused tanks into action and use it as a marimo propagation tank.  ^_^

So I buy the stuff I can't find at my LFS online.  I like looking at stuff on eBay.  Live stuff, I tend to stay away, but I've been looking to add Java Moss, and since my LFS does not stock it, I decided to buy online. This is what I received from the seller in Montana.  I guess I should have looked more closely, especially about the location.  It's been warm here in Colorado this winter, but in many parts of the US, it's bitter cold.  It's winter after all.  So my guess is that the moss started the trip in the USPS system, looking green and healthy.  After 6 days in the mail, with no light, they just kind of lost their color.  I gently took them out of the bag in a bucket of conditioned water and gently untangled them.  Some bits of vibrant green are in there, but good 95% is dark green/almost brown. ^^;  I keep seeing everywhere that these suckers are almost impossible to kill, so I'll give them some time to bounce back and see what happens.  

Meanwhile, I've tucked some on the driftwood in the 29G tank.  This pic was taken without the flash (on the same day as the previous aquarium pic at the top of this post), so you can see the brownish Java Moss sitting on the wood.  You can also spot a little brownish spots on the marimo - I believe that is from getting blasted by direct sunlight the first morning after being put in the tank.  Owner error.  Not worried about it too much.  As I write this (Day 2 of Java Moss), it looks maybe, just slightly, greener, but it could be my wishful thinking. XD

On the other hand, my African root driftwood purchase on eBay was exactly as expected.  I'll take a pic of my 72 G tank in the coming weeks to show.  It's a beautiful piece of wood with LOTS of character, but now I feel I need to buy more! ^_^  I also bought a Mopani wood (for my 39 G) on eBay from a seller that had a WYSIWYG listing.  There are so many Mopani wood listings with stock photos where you don't get to pick nor get to see what you're getting.  I think I'd go to Petco before I'd buy blind (for the fear of getting a totally boring wood by chance).  Anyhow, the fish tank nerd is back in action! :D

The other news around the backyard.  All five chickens are now laying!! :D

Since the winter was milder this season, I didn't use the heat lamp in the coop at all.  Last year, though, we had it on once it got brutally cold - it's not fair to have temp lower than Alaska in Western Colorado! From what I've learned, chickens need 14 hours of daylight to produce eggs.  Warmer temperature also helps.  So no wonder our girls didn't lay much for the past 3 1/2 months or so!  They went through molting in fall, which is also the time they stop egg production because generating feathers requires so much protein.  Then the shorter days and colder temperature came, so no eggs!  Vanilla, our young Easter Egger, kept laying light pink eggs pretty much all winter.  I've noticed she's also the one that's up and out of the coop first - way before the rest of the ladies.

Now that all five are laying eggs, we know who lays what color of eggs. :D  We knew that Fiona laid olive green eggs and Dorito laid brown eggs.  And we also new Vanilla laid pink eggs.  I'd also seen small light brown eggs from Sage.  Imagine my excitement when I saw the blue green egg in the coop!  Mocha, whose feathers are very similar to Fiona, but with more black, lays this beautiful color of eggs.  That's got to be my favorite egg shell color. :D

We had to supplement by buying eggs at the grocery store during later fall and winter when girls weren't laying regularly.  It looks like we'll be able to start sharing with neighbors again soon!  Love spring~!!

Chicks Are Two Weeks Old

Time flies!  Our babies are already 2 weeks old (Today is Day 15 to be precise.).  They are starting to have more feathers coming in with downy fluff disappearing little by little. T_T  But they're still so fun to watch.  This past week, the weather has warmed up considerably (above seasonal average), so we have decided to let them try the run by opening the access to the ramp.

This pic was taken on Thursday, May 15, 2014.  They would only take a few steps onto the ramp, so Jr. helped the chicks out of the coop and into the run for the first time.  They had so much fun with more space!

They forage quite well, scratching with their legs and picking stuff up.  Their eyes are quite keen, and ants and other small insects don't stand a chance.

At first, they stayed close to one another while they explored the run.

This crossbar posed a bit of a challenge at first.  It's interesting to see the different styles of problem solving among the chicks.  Sage (black and light yellow) hopped right over the obstacle like no big deal.  She is the smallest of the group, but by far, the most agile.  The other two walked under the crossbar limbo-style.  They did that for a day, then started hopping right over on Friday.

Mocha: "I'm getting the hang of this ramp thing!  Why walk all the way down when you can fly off?"

Vanilla - light yellow with light brown and grey markings.

They didn't figure out how to get back into the coop until Saturday, which was also the first time they came down the ramp on their own.  Sometimes two chicks would be in the coop while one got left behind in the run.  Whenever that happened, the one that got lonely would chirp quite loudly, calling for help.  (But the other two were usually quite oblivious...)  So we did a little bit of intervening whenever this happened.

Fiona, one of our mature hens, seemed to like the chicks right away.  She would come by the little ones' run and check them out without causing a stir or making any threatening gesture.  Dorito, on the other hand, studied the chicks on Thursday, while they were still in the coop at the top of the ramp, and started squawking like mad and wouldn't stop until I gave her treat to eat to distract her.  This lasted for 2 1/2 days.  I've never heard her vocalize quite this loudly - ever!  She finally calmed down about the little ones on Saturday afternoon.  Complained just slightly on Sunday, and finally settled down on Monday.  *sigh of relief*  Now both Fiona and Dorito would walk around the younguns' run calmly without the drama.

This afternoon, I found Vanilla (light yellow and brown) taking a dust bath... right next to the water bowl. LOL  I had to move the water bowl away from the hole she had made for herself for dust bath.  It's so fun to watch the chicks do this.  Some start this a lot earlier than the others.  They look completely dirty with dry dirt all over their feathers, but they seem utterly content.  Our older girls do this all over the backyard side by side.  Some of the holes get rather deep. ^^;

We have our Square Foot Garden boxes sectioned off with chicken wire fencing to keep the girls out.  They're quite destructive with their strong feet (and their appetite for greens).  Some of the new purchases I made yesterday at the garden center includes this gorgeous delphinium plant.  :D  The sky blue gets deeper as the blooms mature.  Just gorgeous!  I'm going to be planting this in the front flower bed along with irises and roses.

Also bought yesterday was this "German Queen" tomato (heirloom).  Supposed to grow quite tall and bushy so I'm thinking of taking her out into the far back and giving her a plenty of room to grow with staking.  I've never tried growing this variety before.  In 2012, another heirloom was planted, but did poorly in the box, so I'm going to take her out back to my old gardening plot with plenty of room.

"Indigo Rose" hybrid tomato.  Fruits go from 'purple and green' to 'purple and red'.  Something I have never seen at the local garden center before, so I thought I'd give it a try. :D  I'm excited about this one.

"White Eggplant".  I've always grown the slender Japanese "Ichiban", but been bitten by the 'try something new' bug this season. ^_^

Zebra Iris from our back yard near our tiny 'goldfish pond'.  The girls were eating the leaves when they were first coming up about a month ago, so these poor plants were delayed somewhat.   Still blooming beautifully now.  (And the pond area has been sectioned off with chicken wire fencing once again.)

Strawberry patch (One of our SFG boxes is dedicated entirely to strawberries.) is looking strong after an application of blood meal and bone meal earlier in the season.  Look at these tiny fruits already! :D

I found this yesterday.  After a disappointing late frost killed all the tender flower clusters in April (We've been denied a full show for the 3 seasons in a row... T_T ), I saw these two clusters blooming beautifully.  You can see the remains of the dead flower clusters all over in the background.  It would have been quite a show had all of these survived.  Better luck next year!

Found this yesterday in the front yard, also.  A luscious pink peony~!!  Love the ruffles of petals.  Just so pretty!!  We have deep burgundy, pink, and white peonies.  The pink ones are my favorite. ^_^

I'm still behind with the planting project around the house.  Hopefully, I'll get it all done eventually, and get to take photos of pretty flowers and robust vegetables all season long.  

Now All Five Are Laying Eggs

Our first egg was spotted on January 18, 2013.  The girls were 19 weeks and 3 days old, so not quite 5 months old.  Whoever the first layer was, I don't know, but was a regular producer.  She has been giving us 6 eggs every week.

The first egg that I found in the coop.  When I picked it up, it was still warm.  It was so exciting to get a little "present" from one of the girls. :D  The egg was perfectly formed, but when I placed it in the egg holder in my fridge, it looked dwarfed against the store-bought XL eggs. XD

A couple of weeks later, I've collected enough to make some boiled eggs to be turned into Deviled Eggs.  Little did I know...  farm-fresh eggs are hard to peel when boiled!  I found out on the internet.  Generally speaking, older eggs peel more easily. ^^;  I ended up spending 45 minutes trying to peel these guys and was still unsuccessful.  The eggs were looking pretty sad by the time I was done peeling. T_T

Fast forward to Feb. 12, 2013.  My daughter and I went out to the coop where she spotted a weird egg (See the one of the left, middle row, in the pic.).   I was doing something else for the girls, when she yelled out, "There's a deformed egg!".  I didn't quite understand what she meant by 'deformed'.  It turns out that the egg only had a membrane in place of a hard shell...  Weird stuff we had not expected nor was prepared to see.  She said it was like jelly and creepy and refused to touch it. XD  I picked it up carefully.  Surprisingly, it held without falling apart.  I put it against the sun and I could spot a yolk inside.  So, aside from the freakish appearance, it's a 'normal' egg. XD  Later, I looked things up on the internet to find out that when young hens first start laying eggs, sometimes the first few are not quite fully formed and shell-less eggs can result.  Also, if the hens get too much treats and not enough calcium in the form of oyster shells, they can lay weird shell-less eggs as well.  Considering that other hens were laying perfectly normal eggs, we figured that this was one of the other ones just starting to lay. ^^  Sure enough, we did not see any more like this.

Coco, our Easter Egger (Ameraucana), was expected to lay greenish/bluish eggs, so we have been waiting to see the first egg from her eagerly.  She has had two previous 'attempts' where the shells were so flimsy the eggs were crushed either by being stepped on or sat on.  On the third try on Feb. 18, 2013, she successfully laid a pastel green egg with a perfect hard shell. :D  It was still warm when I picked it up.  It's so pretty!  Here in the photo above, you can see the various shades of brown eggs we get from our girls.  Some are darker and larger and rounder than the others.  But they are all from healthy, happy chickens. :D  I think it's now safe to say that we've bought our last carton of eggs from the grocery store.  We are now getting 3 to 4 eggs a day.  Plenty for a family of three.