shiukopuppy's Blog
shiukopuppy's posts about: silkie bantam
Sep 25, 2007 | 3:46 AM PST
Tags: chickens , eggs , coop , nest , silkie bantam
This is a view of the inside of the chicken coop. I've just realized
that they did not get named! Will need to chose them a name with our
neighbors who share them. These darling chookies are so tame and
affectionate. They're also very curious - more so than my previous
chickens. Their hairstyles are so puffy that I haven't seen their eyes!
Sep 15, 2007 | 4:54 AM PST
Tags: silkie bantam , chickens
Yesterday, I bought several types of flowers to add to the garden. I also fell in love with a young mandarin tree and another callistemon shrub which we added to our basket because they were so affordable! There were many varieties of vegetable and herb seedlings on sale for spring, but I couldn't allow myself any more of them after planting so many from seed.
Anyway, my neighbors who share our garden woke up excited by spring today and visited the same store. They built another vegetable bed and helped us with our chicken run. They planted seedlings of carrots, cauliflower, spinach and corn.
In the afternoon, we picked up the chickens from our friend's house and when they arrived at our house we opened a bottle of champagne with the neighbors and celebrated our new arrivals and the day's hard work.
Sep 5, 2007 | 12:34 AM PST
Tags: pesticide , DDT , DDD , Dieldrin , DDE , silkie bantam , soil test
We got garden soil test results back and it was depressing! We wanted some pet chickens but had read that pesticide residues in the soil can be toxic for chickens and also humans (because the pesticides will also collect in the eggs). A good friend of mine has some silkie bantams to spare that she was going to gift to us but we have to be very careful how we protect them - if we accept them at all. (Above is cute little silkie from a breeder's website who I must credit - http://www.chickedeefarm.com/)
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The results of the soil test found that we have:
0.24 mg/kg DDE
0.02 mg/kg Dieldrin
0.05 mg/kg DDD
0.18 mg/kg DDT
If I had moved in chickens without testing the soil, they would have been living in conditions 200 times the maximum amount of pesticide they should be allowed which would also have harmed me. And I know that pesticides can be absorbed by root vegetables as well, but I can't find any information about the safety of fruit and vegetables grown in soil like this. Is it any healthier than buying store-bought vegetables, or is growing them pointless. Any advice?
