A Better Mousetrap

This past weekend we woke up to find two dead field mice floating in the chicken's water bowl which was left out overnight. The water level was low so we assume the mice came to drink, fell in, and couldn't get out. Not the most humane way to kill mice, but no pesticides either. We tossed the mouse corpses into the woods but then remorse turned to hilarity as a chicken chase ensued with the hens competing with each other for the novelty prize (don't worry, they didn't eat the mice). In case you'd like to try this yourself, the bucket wasn't anything special...something like this:

A Sick Chick

This morning when we let out the chickens, Chewhair (an Araucana) stayed silently on her roost*, looking rather sleepy and weak. Dionne had to actually place her on the ground, and then help her back up into a nesting box when she continued her lethargic behavior. Dionne's mom provided us with some worming medicine (which means we have to take her out of production and discard her eggs), but this is worth the small price to pay to possibly save her life. We really don't know what's wrong with her at this point, so we've put Chewhair into quarantine just in case. The rest of the flock is being treated with Diatomaceous Earth and Apple Cider Vinegar as a precaution. We were planning on building a separate area for the broody hens this 4th of July weekend anyway, guess now we have a head start!

*I just thought of something while writing this post. Does the word "rooster" mean something that roosts?

Google Street View

Google Maps recently introduced "Street View" to its array of handy directional features and it's truly fun (even if a bit creepy) to see what locations look like. Google has apparently contracted drivers with special cameras to take panoramic photos from the road. While some may see this as an invasion of privacy, I don't believe we'll have to worry about this on our new property since we have a very long private driveway. The above image is the apartment we rented in Charlotte for several years. Our Suburban is circled in red and indicates that the photo is at least 8 months old since Dionne has had the truck in Columbus at the cottage for some time.

Assassinated!

I've been assassinated! No I'm not dead and I'm not communicating from the beyond, but I was assassinated today! While trying set up new accommodations for our broody hen, Beach Bunny, I was moving a wire cage and felt a sharp pain on my hand. At first I thought I had poked myself with one of the sharp points of the chicken wire, but I did not see a cut or any blood. So after about 10 seconds and the pain becoming quite a bit worse, closer inspection revealed a red spot beginning to appear. YEOW!!! Now it's really hurting... Stinging, burning, numb-tingly sensation radiating from the red site. MAMA MIA!!!! OOCHY OUWY!!!

Still not knowing exactly what happened I began to look around where my hands were placed on the wire cage and sure enough, there was a strange bug I'd never seen before. At this point the paint was getting worse and I needed relief, so I ran inside, rinsed the site and applied Benadryl. The area near the site had become red and blotchy and was spreading, so I started to become concerned that what ever it was that bit me might be dangerous! So I ran outside with my camera, took pictures of the assailant and sent them via e-mail to my mom, stepdad and Dean in an effort to identify and determine its threat.

Dean was the first to respond, "Don't panic, but it's called an Assassin Bug!!!".



WHAT?!! IS IT DANGEROUS? My heart began to race. He said it's also called a wheel bug (Arilus cristatus) and as long as I do not have any reaction to its bite (more like a puncture!) I should not require medical treatment, but to be on the safe side taking an antihistamine probably wouldn't hurt (in case I have an adverse reaction or break out in hives or something). EEK!!!

The site he read me stated that its sting was way worse than a bad bee or wasp sting, and boy were they right! Even now it feels as it there is a needle poking in my hand and from my wrist to the tip of my pinky feels all strange and tingly. Luckily I have a pretty high tolerance for pain or I'd be balling at this point and the kids would be panicking. So at the urging of my mom, Harrison and Dean, and in an effort to avoid any other reactions, I decided to go ahead and take an antihistamine. Benadryl knocks me out, so instead I took some liquid Zyrtec that Maya had been given for a seasonal allergy attack last Spring.

About this time my mom shows up to help me get lunch on the table for the kids, YEA! I was glad to have her come over because at this point I didn't feel up to doing much more.

Now I'm feel groggy and tingly, but the redness has stopped spreading and the pain has started to subside, after about an hour!!! Hopefully I'll have no other reactions and the site will heal quickly... several sites said it could take up to half a year to heal! The heck with that! I applied a good dose of Tea Tree oil, it always does wonders.

So here's to surviving an assassination attempt and to bugs with cool names! Next time I'll be more careful where I place my hands!

Broody Time

Since we have lost (sometimes quite literally) a few hens over the past year, we decided to let some hens go broody in hopes of baby chicks this summer. We left some eggs in the coop for a few days and several hens took turns sitting during the day, until Beach Bunny, a buff orpington, was the first to commit to an overnight stay (they normally all go up on their wooden branches in the coop to roost). Beach Bunny is currently sitting on about six eggs of various breeds, and we have marked them in case other hens decide to squeeze in and lay new ones. If the 21-day cycle is accurate, and the eggs were fertilized by one of our roosters, then we should have some new additions to the family around Friday, July 18th. While Beach Bunny squawks in defense of her nest, and has puffed herself up practically filling an entire 5 gallon nesting box, we still need to move her away from the rest of the flock so that the other hens won't go broody (which means egg production slows or even stops!) and so that the newly hatched chicks won't be subject to harm from other chickens. She seems to get off the nest periodically for food and water, but we've been bringing her water and fresh greens which she seems to appreciate.

Nobuko-san MIA

On Friday the 13th we lost another hen. This time it was an Araucana named Nobuko-san who did not return at dusk after a day of free-ranging. Predation or simply on vacation? Frankly, we're still surprised we haven't lost more chickens after a year's time. We are considering adding a few new chicks to the flock to make sure egg production remains steady.

Spur of the Moment

We've noticed that many of our hens are getting scratched during mating, so we decided sand down lead rooster Fluffy's spurs a little bit. Although you would think that chickens could use their beaks for self-defense, they really just rely on their spurs to fight off predators. Once we caught Fluffy, we put a towel over his head to reduce the stress and I went to work with a sanding bit on my Dremel tool while Dionne held him steady. I was surprised that there was some bleeding almost immediately after I began sanding (I thought the spurs were solid bone or keratin), but it stopped quickly. We ended up just rounding the spurs a little bit in the end.

Hooray! Tick Season Is Here!

I was petting our dog Mo this morning and felt a relatively large lump on his back. Upon closer inspection, this was no blister. A rather an engorged tick had been feasting on Mo's blood all night long as he slept (in our son's bed!) and was about the size of a large blueberry. Where the tick was attached, we found a second tick who was apparently waiting his turn. We removed both of them with tweezers, being careful to grab them by the head to avoid leaving any parts under the skin. We've photographed Dermacentor variabilis (The American Dog Tick) here just for your viewing pleasure. It's flabbergasting how big they can get after sucking their fill! After breakfast I spotted two more ticks on Mo's face near the edge of his mouth (thank goodness for his white fur). Later in the evening as we were bathing the kids, we found another tick attached to Foster's ribs. He was very brave about the whole thing even though the tick took a big bite of skin as we removed it. Needless to say, now every little dark spot in the house looks like a tick and it is very unnerving indeed. Both dogs got a bath and will get their flea and tick protection tomorrow without fail. Ticks can be disease carriers so we'll be watching for any unusual symptoms in the next week or two. Why so many ticks? The locals will tell you it's because we had a mild winter which didn't kill off as many of the bugs as a harsh winter normally would.

We've Been Framed!

Well, technically it's the garage that has been framed. Dionne stands where the garage doors will be and you can see a future window in the back wall behind her, which will be the laundry/utility room below the staircase.

From the view above, you can see what looks like double doors in the northeast corner. Both of these doors will open to a covered breezeway which leads to the main house, but the far door leads to the stairwell going up to the living area, the other to the garage. True, you will not be able to pull into the garage, park, and walk upstairs without first going back out of the garage...but the concept is to ensure that the parking area on the first floor is sealed against fumes that might make their way up into the apartment. You will also notice three holes dug into the gravel. These will be filled with concrete and will serve as the footers for three main columns to support the main floor beam for the second floor. It certainly seems the traditional stick-built work goes much faster than the ICFs and cinderblocks. On an unrelated note, the well-drilling company did hit water this afternoon, but it had a poor flow rate so they are going to go to 700 feet now. Should've hired a dowser.

Anything But Boring

Today, with all the appropriate paperwork in order, the well-drilling company (Pittman Well Boring) came early at 7:30 am and began drilling to tap into our water source. The lava-like substance (which we thought was silt from the earth below) is actually a chlorine and detergent mixture that periodically flushes the equipment. This strange foam is supposed to neutralize itself quickly, and we had a good rain that helped.

We had budgeted for 400 feet of drilling, but they ended up going to 485 feet until a thunderstorm threatened (big metal drill makes a good lightning rod) and they called it quits until Thursday. If they don't hit water by 600 feet, they will stop and "re-evaluate" which might mean a new spot to drill and, of course, more expense. The well will be located on the South side of the house and we'll want to build a little structure to cover the pump for aesthetic reasons and to protect it from the elements (insulation during winter, etc.). Just say "no" to cheesy plastic boulders!


Today was also the day that cement trucks came to pour concrete into the ICFs. An inspector and our structural engineer came by and required additional vertical rebar (6 inches apart) in the west wall to adequately support the force of the backfilled earth behind it. Other walls that are not fully subterranean have the vertical rebar at various increments tapering off to up to about 3 feet apart. The ICFs had been sured up on all sides (with Dionne's "supervision") and a hole for the basement wood-burning stove was cut and framed prior to filling the walls with cement. The trucks will come again another day to pour the basement and garage slab. Lastly, the initial moisture barrier coating was applied to the outer wall of the basement...

And some framework was started on the garage apartment...

Garage Plans

I thought that we had posted the garage plans before, but I guess not. The official description is "New England Gambrel 2 Bay Garage With Apartment Over" and we will be making some modifications to maximize the upstairs living space which includes a full kitchen since we'll be living here for a few months until the main house is completed. One of the considerations we had was to ensure the garage was deep enough to fit our 2001 Suburban (affectionately known as "Jewel"). There will be a laundry/utility space on the bottom floor and the side door will lead to the main house via a covered breezeway. Click here for a link to the plans by CADSmith Studio LLC, based out of New Hampshire.

One of These Things is Not Like the Others...

One of our customers sent us this comparison shot while making breakfast this past week. Two of the three yolks in this shot are from grocery store-bought hormone-free, antibiotic-free (but still caged) chickens. Can you tell which one is a Blue Harvest Farm egg? (Hint: the one with the rich marigold color). What a difference free range makes! Thanks for the pic, Lorenzo.

Clownie Has Gone AWOL

As of last Monday, May 12, one of our Black Star hens has disappeared. We do a nightly count and came up one short at dusk just before closing up the coop. We weren't sure which hen it was, so we called 8-year-old Maya to do a chicken-check (she's the only one who can identify all 26 simply by looks). The verdict was that Clownie did not come in for the night and she has been missing since. While we are worried that she might be a casualty of predation, we have seen no signs of a stuggle nor carcass, and remain hopeful that Clownie is hiding out somewhere on the property sitting on some eggs. The typical gestation period for a chicken egg is 21 days, so we'll be keeping an eye out for Clownie and chicks around June 2 just in case. I suppose that situations like this are simply a part of the free range practice.

It Huffed and It Puffed...

Some surprise weather came through the southeast this past weekend and a lot of the preliminary arrangement of our basement ICF panels was undone by the winds of Mother Nature.




We were luckier, however, than other areas of North Carolina that were stricken by full-blown tornadoes and even fatalities. By Tuesday, Chris and Richard were able to rebuild the basement walls and reinforce them with the wood planks across the top edges. Note: The only wall that remained after the strong winds was the one that was already braced. All windows in the basement have been temporarily framed and next up is the pouring of cement into the ICFs starting at the corners since the 90-degree angle can be a problem for adequate concrete flow.

Like Building with LEGOs

The rebar was set in the footers of the main house and the ICF assembly has begun. Each ICF panel is essentially styrofoam (which accounts for their high efficiency rating) with some plastic, so they are very lightweight. The edges are modular and they connect to each other like LEGO bricks, and then they are easily cut for doorways and windows. A rebar framework reinforces the panels and holds them in the correct position while concrete is poured into them resulting in a solid concrete wall.



Now you can really see the home taking shape as the walls are put into place. The wide opening you see in the photo above is the french doors that open to the back patio. With the ICFs to help us envision the layout, we've begun to think about furniture placement and where to put the wood-burning stove and 52" plasma TV (I wish!). One problem we ran into with the basement is that the ceilings need to be taller than we expected due to the steep grade of the hillside where we placed the main house. We are now expecting 10' ceilings in the basement to accommodate any Wookiee visitors.

As is evident from the photos, the kids are loving the construction site and refer to it as their "playground." What is somewhat less evident is that the children no longer have any clean white socks.

Garage Gravel and Main House Footers

It rained last weekend, but we managed to get our temporary house numbers up to make it easier for future construction deliveries to find us, and it was dry enough for Chris and Richard to continue construction. Concrete blocks were built up atop the poured concrete footers for the garage.


While there are some gaps and cracks in the foundation cinder blocks, we are told that they will self-seal once more concrete is poured into them.

The interior space was then filled with gravel.


The dumpster was also delivered so trash now has a proper home. (Note: the intent is to recycle or burn as much as possible on-site since hauling the trash off the property and dumping it can be quite expensive.)


The remaining earth below the future main house was also cleared and, much like the garage, channels were dug with the excavator and filled with concrete to form what is essentially the footprint of the house. It may look small, but remember that there are really 3 levels (basement, main floor, and second floor) plus a porch on front and back. As always, you can click any of the above photos for enlargements and the full construction gallery.

Not Your Typical Bucket o' Chicken

In an effort to make more use of the limited space inside our wire-hoop chicken coop, we've replaced the deteriorating waxed cardboard boxes (which can't be recycled) with eight 5-gallon plastic buckets. We modified the buckets by removing the handles and cutting the lids a little less than half-way across to keep bedding material from falling out, yet still allowing enough space for the hen ingress and egress. We then nailed a small strip of wood to the cut edge of each lid to eliminate the sharp edge and provide a comfortable step. The base of each bucket was then screwed to a wide plank of plywood in two rows of four which stack neatly and are surprisingly stable considering they aren't tied down. We then filled each bucket with pine shavings to complete this modular-style nesting box that can be easily moved and/or cleaned. We'll let you know if the chickens like it. Click here for more photos of the bucket chicken condo.

Moving Right Along

Today saw the pouring of concrete footings for the garage, more of the future basement for the main house was excavated, and the all-important Port-O-Let was delivered.

Our contractor also did some grading of the driveway so that a semi full of ICFs (Insulated Concrete Forms) could be delivered. The modular ICFs are stacked then filled with concrete for an amazingly durable and energy-efficient structure. Click here for a step-by-step on ICF installation. Click on the photo to link to our construction shots photo album.

Back at Rose Cottage, our landlord's handyman finally got around to mowing the rest of the yard which I had started last weekend since it was so overgrown. Chickens were let free at 2:30 in the afternoon after producing a baker's dozen eggs. We are keeping them in their run during the first part of the day now since we were suffering from low egg count by letting them free range first thing in the morning (we suspect they are laying eggs in undisclosed locations about the property... sneaky hens!).

A Groundbreaking Day

24 hours later than we hoped, but yesterday was a momentous day as the excavator finally dug into red earth where our future home will stand. Dionne called me early in the morning so I could hear the sounds of the diesel engine and machinery...it was truly music to my ears. Here you can see where they dug out the perimeter of the outer walls and placed rebar for the footings.


I've also added a countdown until the completion of the detached garage. Why the garage and not the home? We're moving into the garage first to coincide with the end of our current lease at Rose Cottage---no need to sign for another 6 months!

Contract Signed!

This was a busy 3-day weekend (I took a vacation day from the office), but it was well worth it as we finally got the actual construction contract with Jessica from Oakley Custom Homes squared away. Initial estimates show the completion of the garage by September 15th with completion of the main house around December 21st. We also spent some time on the property measuring and staking the future location and orientation of the house and the detached garage while Mema's dogs and the kids ran wild on our future backyard. Settling on the four corners of the house was more difficult than one would expect as slight changes of the front porch view drastically altered views from the back and side. We finally realized that this is because we chose to place the home at the mid-point of our "California-shaped" lot (think dogleg for golfers). From a bird's eye view you can see that it's impossible to have the front of the house face the main road and yet have the backyard view line up with our open meadow. We had to settle for facing a bit more toward Tom Black's house rather than Collinsville Road. Anyhow, several signatures and a few notary stamps later and we are set to break ground as early as tomorrow (Tuesday, April 22nd)!