Topic Ideas

This is a list of ideas for topics to cover in more detail in future blog posts.  Feel free to comment with questions or suggested posts.

Chickens

We got 15 hens and 1 rooster our first year.  We did fence-shifting for a couple months before giving up and free-ranging them.  They've provided all of the eggs we could eat (at least until the 2nd winter when their production dropped by 2/3).  We've used them to clean up the annual garden beds (gleaning produce and eating eggs of pest insects).  They'll also eat seedlings and spread mulch everywhere you don't want it, if you let them.  They eat lots of ticks and poop everywhere.
No losses to predators in 2 years (but 4 hens lost to indigestion, disease, or stupidity).

Bees

We got bees in our 2nd year - mostly for their pollination work, but the honey is nice too.  I'm motorizing a honey extractor borrowed from a friend.

Birds

We've noticed a sizable increase in the number of wild birds in the area since we moved in and started planting things.  We see bluejays, crows, hawks, cardinals, wild turkeys (22!), humming birds, woodpeckers, orioles and many small birds.

Pond

We didn't have enough clay in our soil for the pond to seal, so I knew we'd need a liner.  I reshaped the smaller, deeper pond to fit a 30x50' liner and have a large shallow area for aquatic plants to filter the water for swimming.  I will definitely take pictures when we put the liner in (which we haven't done yet).