Monday, March 16, 2009

Problems with the Chickens

The big winds we were getting yesterday blew off the roof of the chicken pen. I had three sheets of 3/8" plywood blown off of the coop, one of them ended up in the neighbours yard.

This morning the chicken pen was a soupy muddy hell. Without the roof, all that downpour of rain flooded the chicken run. I suspect the coop will need all new hay today as the old stuff is going to be very wet. The chicken feed also all got wet, the bin was knocked over by the plywood sheets.

The wind was strong enough to rip out the screws I had used to put in the roof.

When it feels dry enough I need to go out and work on the roof. I am actually thinking of completely rebuilding the enclosure. Something with more shelter from the weather and keep the ground drier.

I am also wondering how to create a system to collect the chicken poop for my garden. Raking up the ground?

A quick non-chicken thing, my rhubarb is not growing well. I planted bunch of it last year and was expecting to see more of it budding up above the ground. Any ideas on how to make them grow better? I thought they were indestructible.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

re. your rhubarb, it is probably just slow coming on. it's been so cold that mine is just starting to come up as well -- it started to peek thru in early feb, and then kind of got stuck with the cold snap. i usually top-dress mine with about 1 inch of seasoil or good compost in the fall and spring, other than that i leave it alone. the only thing that will bother it is damp roots.