I found this great webpage that has collected a bunch of free plans for building bat houses. I built a birdhouse over the weekend, when that’s finished a bat house is next. I like this one.
Author: JP
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Fowl Pox – Avipoxvirus, not chicken pox
About a week ago I noticed some black crud on the comb of one of our ISA browns. At first it just looked like some dirt, but then I saw it the next day and the next. I’ve read that people new to chicken keeping can get caught up in the excitement and novelty of their flock and overlook the health of the birds. I’ve been trying to avoid that mistake by routinely checking each bird and noting any apparent changes. After doing some online research and finding photographic examples of different diseases, I went out this morning to photograph the sick chicken for comparison.
The black crud went away and now there are small white lesions on both sides of her comb. This tells me that she has fowl pox, a very common viral infection in poultry around the world. From what I’ve read online there is no treatment for fowl pox and it usually runs its course in 3-5 weeks. [USDA info page] I’m going to make a call into the local Extensions office on Monday to seek advice and see if she should be quarantined form the rest of the flock. My inclination is yes, but I don’t where we’d put her at this point. Prevention through vaccination seems to be the only way to deal with fowl pox, which makes me wonder which if any of our birds were vaccinated.
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JAR band at the IMC
The JAR band opened a show at the Independent Media Center yesterday.
My poor excuse for a camera was there to insufficiently document the moment. -
A gift in the mail – fire salt
I received a letter this morning from a longtime friend, Chris Juby.
I was hungry…
In general we are a low-sodium house, but I always put a bit of salt on my personal meals. Of course he was correct: the fire salt goes great with fresh eggs. Made of: chiles, habanero, citrus, garlic, shallots, cumin, salt, allspice, and vinegar, good on popcorn, potatoes, and eggs. Someone’s getting eggs for easter, thanks jubes! -
Bee Hives Arrive
Harvest House resident Robby Nagel brought his beehives over today. Robby inherited the hives from his grandpa who retired from beekeeping a few years ago.
Robby has been going to beekeeping classes offered by the Central Eastern Illinois Beekeepers Association and approached us a few months ago about keeping bees in our big yard. We’re not only glad to share in the honey but the bees will function as excellent pollinators to our trees and crops. In the photo above, Robby is showing me how the different pieces of equipment work. -
weekend update, permaculturist, beds, holes, lots of talk, and eggplant parmesan
There’s a lot going around the house these days. Here’s a quick recap of the weekend.
Andrew and Ronna transplanted some of the sod that was leftover from new garden beds to a bare spot in the front yard. Sophie supervised.
Rob brought over a friend and longtime permaculture expert, Peter Bane, for a chat in the garden. It turns out the Peter grew up in Urbana and had lots of stories about home-scale food production in the area.
Gretchen brought over some eggplants and whipped up a two stellar pans of eggplant parmesan, one vegan. It was incredibly delicious.There were many hours spent outside, digging, thinking, and moving. Plans for the pond that we’re digging have taken off. Now we’re thinking about ducks, fish, and waterfalls, although lots of research needs to be done still. Garden excavations have continued, and Mac, Kannan, and JohnE have improved their beds with compost and more topsoil. Ronna has been ‘potting-up’ some of the seedlings as its not yet time to move them outside. All in all a good weekend.
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Jacob Bounces Layup Off Shed on 8th Hole at Lohmann, Animated Gif
My housemate Jacob threw his first round of disc golf today at Lohmann Park in Urbana, IL. He impressed us on the 8th hole with an awesome bounce shot off the shed that earned him his first duece. I’ve been making photographs at Lohmann Park for several years, but I’ve never made an animated gif, until now.
Jacob bounces his second throw off the shed and nicely lays up for a duece Thanks for making it out to play Jacob 😉
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rigadoo – old time acoustic music
I spent the evening reading Lawrence Lessig and learning new songs with my string band. We’ve been having practice sessions where we take turns introducing new songs to the group. For the sake of confusion I’m going to share two songs in different file 
formats so there’s a good chance you can’t listen to one of them. Charlie showed us how to play Joshua Fit De Battle Ob Jericho (WMA) and Pig Ankle Rag (mp3) is a song that Erin and Charlie taught to Kendra and I tonight. All the files hosted on the internet archive CC. -
chicken anatomy – the nictitating membrane
I was out snapping photos of the chickens again yesterday. I zoomed in close and used a fast shutter speed to try to capture the moment they peck at food. I captured this image:
Do you see that white thing covering her eye? It turns out that when the chickens peck at the something they actually blink too. Birds have a third eyelid called the nictitating membrane which both lubricates and protects their eyes.This nictitating membrane is between the other two eyelids and the cornea and has its own lubricating duct equivalent to our tear duct. (from here)
I feel like I learn something new about the chickens almost every day.
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garden progress, weekend recap
There were several changes made to the garden landscape this weekend.
Ronna sowed a bed of peas and lettuce
Rob, Rob, and members of the Catholic Worker House turned the old compost pile.
Mac, Kannan, and JohnE pulled up some sod to make a vegetable bed for the members of their house.
We began digging a hole at the end of the canal system that runs through the garden. We spent a lot of energy and the pond that forms will probably get really gross. We did use the topsoil to raise a few vegetable beds in order to alleviate the Sping flood that we’re expecting.
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chicken behaviors – dust bathing
Our chickens love a good dust bath. While it looks dirty and gross, its actually an important part of their natural hygiene.
On nice sunny days the chickens will spend all afternoon showering themselves with dirt. They’ve found a few spots in the yard with suitable soil, but their favorite is over by the garage in the full sun.
The fine soil is sifted down through their feathers and helps by rubbing dry skin off their bodies. It also helps by clogging the breathing holes of lice and other parasites.
A quick shake and she’s as clean as ever.
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bicycle rack – new location, what does everyone think?
Drew and I moved the rusted bed frame bike rack out from the house a bit. Is everyone happy with the new location? Please reply with a comment 😉
