Goodbye to another Hen

I posted a few weeks ago about one of our 3 hens, Hazel, dying.  She was over 3 years of age and since she hadn't seemed ill, I thought it was just a fluke.  The next day in my usual fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants mode, I bought those 4 baby chicks I have been photographing like mad.  Everything seemed great until 2 days later I noted another of the Hens appeared ill.
I was completely panicked.  I had sick hens and although we were keeping the chicks separate, they were in the same yard just separated by chicken cloth.  I was sure the whole flock would be wiped out because of my stupidity. Lucy died within the day.

Then I noted Ruby our last hen had diarrhea and next my youngest son complained of stomach cramps and within a few minutes was having diarrhea.  Oh my god!  I was typhoid Mary and had transmitted this illness to humans.  I tried to recall the countless friends and neighbors who had stopped by to see and hold the chicks since we had purchased them just a few days before.  People we didn't even know stopped by because they heard from a friend who heard from a friend....
What if all of them became ill?  What if my dream of neighborhoods full of backyard chickens came to a screeching halt because of my flock?   I imagined widespread fowl-borne illness and the government putting a ban on all backyard chickens.  Not just Denver or Colorado but world wide.  The CDC issuing warnings against all fowl...
Luckily my son was fine by noon and as  far as I know, no one else has been ill. I am not allowing anyone touch the chicks.  They can watch from gate and go no further.  I spoke with a Vet in Fort Collins about Ruby, she recommend seeing the chicken and would probably prescribe antibiotics.  In my other life I am a Physician Assistant and have been for more than 20 years.  The longer I practice medicine, the more suspicious of modern medicine I become.  
There are many things that can give a chicken diarrhea, only a handful are caused by bacteria.  Antibiotics only work against bacteria, not viruses and even in the event it was a bacterial causing her illness, it isn't always easy to determine which antibiotic to use.  Antibiotics kill off good bacteria, our so called "normal flora" in our bowels and they run the risk of causing a whole new type of diarrhea.   Since Ruby seemed very perky I decided to try some home remedies for a day and see how she did.
I am happy to report the Ruby and the 4 chicks seems to be doing well!  
I have been giving her whole milk organic yogurt. I read about this on Backyard chickens and several other sites, and did it only sporadically but now will be faithful.  Ruby loves it, although the chicks seem a little stymied about any food that isn't their chick starter. As they get older I am sure they will love it too. 

Strwaberry Rhubarb Pie

Rhubarb is such an easy plant to grow.  It can tolerate full sun or partial shade, and I have 2 plants, one in the back garden and one I snuck in my flower bed in the front yard .  
This one above gets about 6 hours of sun a day,  I don't do anything to it but toss a heap of compost on top of it in the spring. I do notice that if I am not careful the bottom leaves start to get mushy from being wet and on the ground.  My boys look under the Rhubarb first when they are hunting for slugs to put in  their slug house.  Yes, I did say slug house.  My kids think slugs are terrific and keep them as pet during the summer.  If I go so far as to remove a slug from a plant and bring it the back alley (where it is very dry most of the time and slugs probably wont survive) my kids scream and run to it's rescue.  Hence the slug house.

  
 Here is the Rhubarb in my front yard,  There is broccoli as well, and not too noticeable from the street.  The Rhubarb doesn't look too great up here, I'm not sure why,
Yesterday was time to make make my favorite, strawberry rhubarb pie. I gathered the supplies,

 I bought these organic strawberries at the store the day before and awoke to find most of them mush.  I called Whole Foods who said they would be happy to refund my money, but between grocery shopping, gardening, pets and kids, I had no time, so I forged ahead,


To pick rhubarb you gently twist the stalk close to the base of the plant,

Although I love the look of ruby red stalks, but my plant is mixed red and green.  There varieties that are all green, the green taste a little more tangy, which I love.  The green is also heartier.  I would make just a plain rhubarb pie, but unfortunately, the mostly green stalks don't look very palatable when cooked alone.

 I used Martha Stewart's recipe.  Her Pate Brisee (http://www.marthastewart.com/284104/pate-brisee) is hands down my favorite pie dough recipe and it is pretty easy. I am not a perfectionist (as you might have gleaned from my photos) so this may be a bit sloppy but it tastes wonderful!  Served warm with vanilla ice cream, yummm.  

Wonderberry

A few years ago, while shopping in my one of my favorite yarn stores in Denver, The Fancy Tiger, I came across a display of Baker Creek seed
http://rareseeds.com/wonderberry.htm
Such a pretty old fashion package.  I have a hard enough time resisting yarns, but I never meet a seed I didn't like.  I found a packet called Wonderberry, an heirloom berry that was supposedly easy to grow and could be used in cooking in place of blueberries.
Now I have heard it rumored that there are people who can grow blueberries here in Denver at over 5000 feet of elevation with just slightly more rain then the Sahara desert, but I am not one of those people.  I was willing to try a blueberry substitute. And I love the romantic idea of heirlooms.
The instructions said to start the seeds like tomatoes, so I did, and they were very easy.  Because of my limited space, I planted only 2 plants, squeezed in between tomatoes.  Those babies took off, they grew enormously, they had a small white flower the bees went nuts for and a dark shiny berry.  While the fruit couldn't compare to a blueberry, it was pleasant enough and I love having fruit that we can pick and eat right from the vine, or in this case, plant.
I found some recipes for jams, syrups, and pies.  I think they're a little runny for jam, but I liked this recipe for a Wonderberry ginger syrup, great over pancakes, I even served it over pork loin.
Since I had only a small batch I made it as a refrigerator syrup.


1 cup of Wonderberries
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger
1 teaspoon of lemon
dash of salt 


Cool the berries, sugar, salt and ginger over medium heat for 10-12 minutes.  Let cool, add lemon and place into sterilized jar.


 *You must make certain not to eat the green berries as they are poisonous.


The best part of this plant is that it has reseeded it self over the last few years,  although this year I see it is having a hard time competing with the raspberries that seem to be taking over everything.     


http://rareseeds.com/wonderberry.html

How to build a Bean teepee

We got the idea for a bean teepee a few years ago after reading Root, Shoots, Buckets and Boots, a magical book full of gardening projects to do with kids. Since we had had recently moved to Denver from Tucson Arizona, I was lamenting the lack of shade in the yard.  Perfect for growing vegetables, not perfect for growing boys. So instead of a tree house retreat for the boys we decided to seize what little grass we had remaining (I had already usurped most of the backyard lawn to make more room for my raised beds) and plant a bean teepee, or this case a gourd/bean teepee.

I had my doubts that these 8 poles and a handful of seeds would amount to much in the way of a shade structure, but I got out my pick ax and dug out a foot wide circle, about 12 inches deep, emptied a bag of compost and pushed in the seeds.  The north side is the entrance and you leave some space.  My friend Jill, who is somewhat of an expert on bean teepees and other creative things to do with kids, had suggested the gourds seeds for better coverage.

(That's Lancelot and Batman hiding out in a the bat cave in case you were wondering)

 
She wasn't kidding about the gourds. The beans got a little lost in those Little- Shop-of-Horrors-ish gourds, but we weren't really planting them for food.  You can see a few scarlet runner bean flowers struggling to get sun at the top.  There are some sunflower seeds thrown in for good measure. 
I would advise trimming back some.  In this last photo the kids can't even get through the tangled entrance and started joking that the gourds were trying to strangle them. 
We dried the gourds, painted them and made bird feeders,  The squirrels gnawed on them almost immediately but it was still a lot of fun.

4 little chicks

We have had the chicks for one week and thanks to the warm weather they have been outside most of the day and inside in a small box in our bathroom during the night,  This actually works well, they sleep all clumped up together anyway.
They really like being out in the chicken yard.  They are separated from our only remaining hen Ruby, by chicken fabric, but almost immediately they found a small opening, scurried under and it and then ran wild around a disapproving Ruby who clucked and occasionally lunged but did not do any real pecking.  She reminds me of some cartoon character, Big Mama, I can almost see her wearing an apron, running after the chicks.
They are about 4 1/2 weeks and haven't yet entered the awkward stage.  They are so cute and seem to think humans are their roosting posts and will jump on any available surface!  

Ruby takes a break from nannying those pesky chicks.

Don't forget the honey comb...

If the mere perfection of those tiny little hexagons doesn't blow you away, how about the hundreds of cool things you can do with it?  
Here is a list of just some:  
waxing string to make it stronger, or lubricate your fishing lines with it, make clean burning candles, use it to fix a stuck window, use it as a natural polish for wood, make lotions, salves and lip balms with it.  Place whole hunks of it your honey jars to make fabulous chunk honey (then chew it right out of the jar, mmm)
I saved my comb from last year (after rinsing it out well and placing it in a plastic bag) and this year after harvesting more, I have delved into the alchemy portion of beekeeping and I love it!  
I bought some essential oils for fragrance, coconut oil (used in most of the lotions and balms) and olive oil (just for lotion) and set to work.  I highly recommend purchasing an old pot or even used crock pot for melting the wax.  It is messy, though not as messy as processing the honey.  
Remember wax has a low flash point and can ignite of heated too enthusiastically.  I tried a few different methods but I think melting the wax in water and then letting it cool works best.  You just lift the hunk of wax off floating on top
 

I cut into this before taking a picture unfortunately.

Here are some photos of the products I've made so far.  This lotion that is amazing!

and a lip balm that keeps you lips soft for hours!

I got the cute little tins as well as the essential oils at Apothecary Tinctura here in Denver.

I will post the recipes tomorrow.

Another hive inspection

Yesterday before work, I did a quick inspection of the hive.  (who am I kidding, it wasn't quick, but at least I didn't kill hundreds of bees)
I try to go into the hive early, at around nine.  I am getting more comfortable with the whole thing but still have a smidgen of adrenaline while inspecting.  I took my time, use my new beehive tool (the best piece of equipment I could have bought).  I spent 25.00 on one initially and it is too wide to fit between the spacer of the top bar and the edge is not sharp enough to cut through the comb attachments. (The tool I love is the backyard hive tool  at http://www.backyardhive.com/General/General/BackYardHive_Beekeeping_Shop/)

I had a plan when I started, I was going to just harvest the last bar, but when I went in, I realized the last bar was a bar from up front that we had repositioned 2 weeks ago when I went in with my husband and we tried to straighten out all the crooked comb.  I don't like disrupting the bees, I don't use smoke and I firmly believe that my bees did so well last year because of my hands off approach.  That said, I do need to keep the bars straight at least.  They are better, but still crooked.  I have not gotten to the crux of the problem, the 2 bars next to the brood comb, so that is my goal by end of summer.


I saw brood, so I think I have a healthy queen, I harvested a small bit of comb that was very new with uncapped honey only because it seemed all the rest had brood mixed in at the bottom
 of the comb.  Corwin, the bee guru from Backyard Hives says if the brood is all down low on the combs, it can be a sign of the hive being hot so they are keeping brood down low, 

 



One of the bars close to then back (a bar which we moved 2 weeks ago) appeared to be old brood comb now with uncapped honey




Those are not larvae above, just the reflection form the camera flash!

 
 I am not sure I did the correct thing, but I want to make more room for brood, they seem pretty crowed and I found more queen cells.  I am hoping they don't swarm again, and by making room near (unfortunately I have not gotten next to) the brood comb they will hang around longer.