Welcome to The Cherry On Top.
In a previous blog, I promised I'd share my planting experience in regards to my girls and here it is. I'll be showing off my successes and failures and give ya all kinds of tips, tricks and plant suggestions that just might work with your girls. As usual, I've got a free goodie for ya and an important announcement at the end.
I'm so super thrilled you're here!
If you've been following me the last decade, you know how much I love my girls. I've had cats for the past 30 years and just one dog who's still around and I will always prefer chickens. Chickens have been in our garden for 20 years and they are a real treat. Let me tell ya some plus and minus points.
Take a look at my recent picture, above. These are three of my four girls. From left to right, Kato, Ginger and Cinnamon. The other one Daisy, is out of range. They follow me everywhere even when I'm in the house! They follow me outside the windows. Insert laughing emoji! Hehehe...The girls often start preening when I'm around. They totally relax and often come over and preen me, too. Isn't that the sweetest?!
Chickens lay eggs. Did you know that? Hehehe... That's why I bought them to start off with. Actually, my in-laws go to Spain for several months and we would chicken sit. I had several experiences sitting them and I named them much to the chagrin of my in-laws.
You might also know that I try to grow my own food and I often share my experiences from the garden and in the kitchen. Both my boys have Autism and I found that a healthy diet totally helps with their symptoms. I've got a separate blog full of tips to minimize the symptoms of Autism and for that matter, several diseases. Having our own girls and feeding them right would supply us with more pets, help with pest control, weed control, keep the lawn mown and of course, provide healthy eggs.
This is my new blackberry bush. I caged it in so the girls wouldn't pick at it. They did not seem interested in it at all, unlike the raspberry bush.
I'll start off with the down side of chickens.
They can be noisy at times. I give mine most of the yard, keep them busy with fun distractions and try to keep them in the center of our property so they don't bother the neighbors, too much. They have rather extensive communication and usually make nice, quieter sounds, but they rarely shut up entirely. Like me!
Chickens scratch! Good Lord do they scratch! This last batch of girls is by far the worst. As you'll see, through my photos, they tore up our entire back and side yard this winter, but it was a very wet winter, here in Belgium.
When you plant your new plants you have to protect them in the beginning and for some plants, all of the time, but it's super simple. Just stack heavy rocks around them. You could put up temporary or permanent cages to keep the girls away. Once my plants were established, I could remove the cages. The rocks prevent them from scratching around the base of your plants.
We have butterfly bushes all over. They don't bother with them, but they do like digging around them. They bask in the summer shade and jump at the bugs that visit the lovely smelling flowers.
I look at it as a positive thing, but that could be debated. Chickens are curious and they will roam. Every now and then, we get some girls that escape and some do so regularly. We lost one to a neighbor's dog when he too, escaped. Ugh! You have to have a good enclosure and if you've got predators in the area, you'll have to provide even more reinforcement.
Birds poop, a lot. Chickens are by no means an exception. If they are in a small, enclosed space, you'll have to clean it out often. My ladies have quite a lot of room to roam. I rake the poop to the sides of the yard, under the bushes and I shovel out the poop from the area where they sleep every week or so and spread it around my yard. Chicken poop is seriously acidic. So don't put too much of it, just anywhere.
This is a Christmas Rose. It flowers in the winter and it's super pretty. I did have to enclose it with a cage in the beginning, but the girls lost interest and I could remove the cage after a while. It looks super!
I honestly can't think of anything else. Maybe disease? Once we found a great source to buy our girls, we've had zero problems with disease. They may get lice in the summer from in the egg house, but you can treat them for it by sprinkling diatomaceous earth in the nest/house area and their bathing area. Put a few drops of apple cider vinegar and some crushed garlic in their water and or food on occasion. It's good for the girls and for us. Typically, the lice hasn't been an issue at all. Keep on top of it!
This is sage. They are not at all interested in it. Make sage oil and tea for all kinds of health issues.
In the photo above, I've got a potted sage. It lasts all year and is a super rigid plant that the girls do not like at all. It's a very easy herb and has many health benefits. I'll be able to put this in my green house in the winter. I did have a huge pot with sage at our home in Germany where it stayed out all year and it never died. It flowers often and the insects love it!
I have no idea what the plant is named next to the sage. This one is growing back after being devoured in the winter. It's a kind of fatty plant with pretty pink flower clusters that the insects love. Read carefully. I used to have a ton of this plant all along our house, but for some reason, these girls ate them to the soil! All of these years our other chickens never ate them. It's really weird and they never got sick but, I might not recommend them. As you read, you'll learn that all chickens are different.
None of my chickens like lavender. It's such an easy herb to have and has so many gosh darn benefits.
I'll go in to a little tangent on lavender. It's mega hardy! It doesn't need a lot of water. It can handle a lot of sunshine. The pollenating insects love it and the pesky ones hate it. We hang out in the middle of our lavender bushes and the mosquitos and flies leave us alone. I have them outside of our bedroom window. It's great to deter mosquitos and helps the room smell nice when they are flowering. Ya don't have to replace them each year either. Whoo hoo! I love those kinds of plants. Especially, the ones that you can eat or use for health benefits.
There's Kato in front of the now, huge lavender bush. Our grass is slowly growing back after months and look how trim they keep it! We've not had to mow all spring and summer. I'll admit, that's the first time. Our other girls never tore up the yard so terrible as these little rascals.
My raspberry bush must have been delicious. I had to protect it and I still do. Once it is more established, I'll remove this shoddy, recycled protection.
We have some kind of box or buxus bushes maybe(?)that often die due to some kind of moth infestation. Not when you've got girls! They take care of any and all kinds of insect infestations. Isn't that awesome?!
I read that lavender helps with rats and mice. I did not experience this.
Chickens can be so darn sweet! They often sit on my lap when I sit and relax. They are constantly under my feet which makes gardening impossible. I have to lock them up if I want to get anything done in the garden. They can be mean to each other and I read roosters help with that, but we never had one. Roosters need like at least 6 ladies to be satisfied. (And I thought men were bad?!) Roosters can be nasty as well and of course the noise. If I ever get to have a big yard, I'll consider getting one.
Our chickens live outside all year long and have always done well and we live in Belgium where it can freeze for days.
So, let's wrap this up.
Chickens are amazing pets that provide love, laughter and food. They add so many benefits to our life and our yard.
Here's a list of plants I have that the girls ignore or lose interest in. Some may not be "safe" for chickens, but from my experience, they've never bothered my girls.
- fruit trees of all kinds
- rhubarb (could be dangerous?)
My plan is to design a small digital scrapbooking kit with chickens as the theme. We'll see how far I get. I did design this sassy bird. You can download the design and create something super cute. Leave me a comment if you download. When I get 10 comments, I'll release the first part of the free collection, pictured further below. Even if ya don't download, you can still comment to help the others. We're all a team!
I designed an entire collection so I can scrapbook our trip to the South of France. I'll be giving it away pack by pack. You'll have to stay tuned and ya just might have to go to the group for some of it as well. If you're not on FB (Good for you!), contact me and we'll see what we can do. It will be an "Unlock the Freebie" deal where participation is necessary to get the freebie. Comment and help get the ball rolling.
I'm in the middle of writing a book. I've been a writer ever since I could spell. It's been my passion for my entire life. I've written so, so many things over the last four decades. I very rarely share my writing, but when I do, I get a great response.
I found myself in a rather precarious situation when we were on vacation and it gave me a great idea for a story. The concept is really different than most books on the shelves at your local book store. I'll be using images with a vintage scrapbook flair. It's light. It's funny and if you've liked what I've done over the years, it may be perfect for you or a friend. Stay tuned!
This blog is FULL of FREEBIES. Click the image above for a tiny preview of some of the latest freebies or scroll through the entire blog and download until your heart is content. If you find something not working, mail me or hit us up in the group. You can always support The Cherry by visiting our shop at Design Bundles.
Thanks for checking out The Cherry!
