The animal enclosure at the back of our Spiral Garden was finished six months ago and intended for chickens but the Universe put a hold on that plan, seeing to it that we started out with rabbits instead.
I struggled initially to see the value of rabbits but it turns out they do in fact have a very important one for those of us looking to grow healthier plants and i will explain later in this post exactly what that is.
The man from whom we are getting all these animals has a farm which overlooks one of our gardens, a small part of it visible here. Michka the sheep knows me well as she loves rocket & kale.
In April i told you how the acquisition of two rabbits led us neatly to an incubator in this farmer's back room and the promise of natural unvaccinated chickens coming soon from our neighbour had me very excited. It turned out however that his first batch didn't hatch at all (entirely the machine's fault of course) and from the second batch only three hatched. Two females and a male. He assures me that his third batch will be fully successful and before the end of the year we will be able to take as many chickens as we want but for now there is only one female available.
Acknowledging the way in which Universal influences are forcing us to go slowly on the chicken project i thanked him for this great opportunity and agreed to take one female chicken in exchange for a few home made goodies from our homestead with an equivalent value of β¬10. One pot of fig & ginger jam, one pot of sweet kale chips, one pot of pesto and a small bundle of honey baked sesame snaps.
We transported our new chicken friend in a cardboard box and she was very calm while we walked the short distance from his land to ours. She was released directly into the enclosure and seemed immediately at ease.
I have personally not had any experience with chickens so was quite surprised at how friendly she was, permitting us even to pick her up and pose for photos.
Knowing she might be scared on her own that first evening we had our dinner in the garden and kept her company.
She explored the area outside her new enclosure while we ate.
Esteban was flapping like a chicken in excitement.
When it was time to leave we locked her up in the wooden house and let her know we would be returning in the morning.
The following day i went at first light to let her out but she seemed quite hesitant to move from her perch, while the rabbits on the other hand were keen to say hello.
Eventually she made her way to the door but still didn't want to leave.
Once the white rabbit (Marshmallow) jumped on her house however...
...she didn't hesitate to exit and have a little munch on her seeds.
Esteban's rabbit (Tummy) was very curious about the chicken and kept trying to smell her. This was met with a gentle tap on the nose, as if to say "don't get too close please".
Marshmallow tried next and was met with the same tap on the nose.
Very quickly it was established by the rabbits this creature was not to be messed with, so they just watched her from a distance...
...before descending into their extensive underground labyrinth which begins under the chicken house.
There are five holes like this one now but while they stay within the confines of the enclosure i really don't mind.
Occasionally they will dig in the correct direction, twice yesterday!
Sometimes they even make it through to the other side but are always met by the metal grill, put there to keep foxes and other rodents from digging their way in.
All tunnels going the 'wrong' way are filled with stones and it won't be long before all possible exit routes around the edge are blocked. Sorry rabbits.
Marshmallow is constantly exhausted & dirty as a result of all the digging.
Must be great down there! I took this shot with my arm fully extended down the hole.
I have a small concern about their relationship however because sometimes it appears as if they have been fighting.
Will stay observant and see how this plays out.
Wonderful soft fur they have, probably good for lots of things.
Let me take this opportunity while we are focused on the rabbits to tell you about why they are so beneficial to us homesteaders.
Rabbit manure
The poop from these fluffy burrowers is basically the best all round provider of essential nutrients for your plants.
While swine manure scores higher on the nitrogen and sheep manure scores higher on the potassium, neither of these score high on the phosphorus, unlike the rabbits who score high on all. Making them extremely worthwhile animals to have around.
Rabbit manure is easily manageable, coming in small pellets of a uniform size. Plus rabbits always poop in the same area, making the collection process simple.
A few days in the sun to dry them out and they will store well for future use.
We don't use the pellets directly on the soil but rather we make a 'tea' with them, leaving the pellets in water for a week (stirring daily) before filtering out the remains, diluting with water and applying directly to the soil around any plants which need a boost.
Any excess pellets are put in the compost which is unquestionably more healthy this year than in previous years, producing decent looking soil from raw materials in less than two months.
The effect of the tea has been visible almost instantly, seen here in these amaranth (also known as elephant head) which have boomed into life since we started feeding them.
The cucumbers too appear to be getting a second wind of production since we started feeding them.
Rosita bonds with the family
Chickens are great not only due to their egg production (which we can expect to begin in the next few months), but also because they eat the undesirable bugs on our kale & tomato plants.
In addition to this they will follow you around the garden, keeping you company while you do your work, waiting for the good moments to jump in and eat some unsuspecting bugs.
I get the feeling they don't like to be alone, always staying near enough to know where we are and what we are up to.
Sabrina & i chose the name Rosita for her as this just felt good to us.
Here she is being introduced to the xylophone which has been waiting on that wall since April and she did seem very interested but i suppose it will be a while before she is cracking out the tunes.
Esteban in particular is infatuated by her, offering up a kiss here.
She will really respond to a person if they are calm and just hold her gently.
Feels weird to say this but she has quickly become a part of the family.
Here she is stepping directly on Luna's paint palate.
Walking blue paint across the table which was very amusing for everyone.
Even our garden cat (Tichat) was sitting in her seat that day, happy to watch the festivities without any attempts to chase the chicken.
Tichat has taken to sitting on the enclosure roof in recent days, watching the animals from above.
Not sure what i think about this but i'm letting it go for now.
So long as she doesn't make holes in the net with those claws of hers.
Whenever we are in the garden Rosita will be free to roam around as she pleases.
But when it is time to go she must be locked in the enclosure to keep her safe from foxes. Knowing she may spend a fair bit of time in here i put up an extra perch for her this morning.
She seemed really happy up high where she can survey her surroundings and I was able to caress her easily from here.
All in all am so excited for this little chicken and can't wait to get more!
Baby cats
We had intended to take our two adult females to the vet this year for neutering but Fifi surprised us by showing up a few days ago with four more! Three of them seen here.
This was odd for us because it means she was still feeding the previous litter when she became pregnant again. Didn't know this was possible till now and had assumed cats only produce one litter per year. With this in mind the vet appointment will have to be in the next month or two. Not something i like doing to cats but they leave me no choice as we are running out of people to give them to!
They are still a bit shy never having seen humans before but they are certainly not hesitating to make themselves at home in our courtyard.
It probably looks like a giant playground to them!
For now the plants are still looking intact but it won't be long before all the baby ones, less strong than this palm tree, will be getting squashed and chewed.
The physical value of cats can of course be found in their ability to catch rodents on your land which have the tendency to borrow holes everywhere, sometimes directly through the roots of a plant which will then 'mysteriously' die.
While this is a fairly good reason to keep cats on your land, the same cannot be said for keeping cats around your home. Unless of course you have a rodent problem. Like the rabbits they don't instantly reveal their most important qualities and it wasn't until just a few days ago that i realised why we've always had so many cats around us.
My wonderful friend in Romania said the following words to me:
"Dogs are physical protectors. Cats are spiritual protectors."
"Yes!" i said to myself. This feels right. When i think back to the months in which Sabriba & met in Thailand i remember how i lived at that time in a house of cats. There were 13 of them in total and Sabrina kindly helped me look after them all. This was such a definitive moment in my life and i cannot deny that i felt guided and protected at that time, not only to take the seat next to the beautiful French girl on the four hour bus ride between Chiang Mai & Pai, but also to cement my relationship with her, the future mother of our children.
Children who are for the most part blossoming into wonderful creative creatures, last night putting on a show for us in our living room.
The program and a selection of snacks were presented to us when we handed them our tickets.
It was a joy to watch them collaborating on this project rather than being in competition as so often is the case.
Without a doubt this show, which took them one week to prepare, has brought them closer together.
So i think that's it for now.
Am going to shoot a film in the next few days to give you a live tour around the gardens.
They are just looking so very beautiful at the moment and would like to share this with you.
Love & Light everyone π±
Fantastic report Sam. it looks like the chicken is really settling in and I wonder if it will be lonely on its own?! The little kittens look very cute, their ability to catch rodents cannot be underestimated, but I am allergic to them! lol
I have picked this post on behalf of the @OurPick project! Check out our Reading Suggestions posts!
Please consider voting for our Liotes HIVE Witness. Thank you!
She will be lonely on her own i think, which is why we must take her out of the enclosure as much as possible and let her hang out with us in the garden. Until the next batch of chickens arrives, hopefully in a month or two. We are thinking to get one chicken each ultimately. So if you don't look after your chicken properly you won't be getting your egg!
Shame you are allergic to cats. Have you ever chatted with @sebcam about this? I bet there is a natural solution as these things tend to relate to our diet.
Glad your hen settled in so well. Who knew the rabbits would be such excavators.
She seems great after a week. Though i do think we should get her some feathered friends asap...
As for the rabbits they never stop trying to expand their labyrinth, so i do have some concerns for how the floor in there will hold up over time! Very likely it will collapse in places.
The chicken, poo & Co. bonanza, what a fun read, Sam β€οΈ
I'll contribute a bit to the cats & kitten part as they are my favorite "above-water" animals. I subscribe to the "cats are spiritual protectors" nugget of wisdom. Yep, they have babies way more then once a year ... you're looking at them going wild approx. every 7-8 weeks especially when they are young: 1-5 age. I'll attach some pics of our youngsters and the newborn to the family π₯°
Aw! Thank you for the cat pictures. Love them all. They look like real cuties. And Tigri looks identical to one of ours!
I understand they go on heat every few months but when they are feeding their young still i assumed that nature put the baby making hormones on hold for a while, just to give the mother time to focus on the kittens until they are old enough to look after themselves. But no. Even now i am looking at Fifi the mother getting a little fat and i am wondering if she isn't pregnant again??? Surely not. Especially as we are coming into the winter it is not a natural time to make babies!
Alas, we begin house today so things are going to be rather hectic for a while, and we won't have time for vet trips. Our current house is being renovated for two months so we will move back when it is done and for the first winter ever we are going to be warm here! What a blessing this will be. Even better, we are paying for nothing as French landlords are obliged to make sure their houses meet a certain level, which ours didn't. So we are moving to a free replacement house which is no more than 1min walk from us and it couldn't be closer to the village church, which don't forget is an elelctroculture antenna.
Very much looking forward to enjoying the enhanced effects of this antenna!
I'm so glad you will finally have a warm home over the winter. Two months, that's manageable. By mid November you'll have your renovated home. That sounds fantastic!
And yes, I'm looking forward to your post on the effects of the village church. Despite religions trying to keep this info out of reach, I'm glad more and more people are waking up to the nature of this reality aka clown-world.
Cats go on heat even when they feed their little ones. We had the last batch in mid-October last year and the cat was "on fire" by Christmas again. It seems crazy to us, but hey, that's the cat realm π±
Ah I loved this post so much. I'm a big fan of chooks (as we call them here). Can I suggest ACV and garlic in her water - it's sworn by to keep them healthy. Rosita looks like a real character. She definitely needs some friends! And wait til you eat your first egg .. amazing.
I can't say I can deal with rabbits at all. They are like a plague here. Fun fact - I live on the land that used to belong to Austin, who first introduced rabbits to Australia in the 1800s as part of his idiotic plan to europify Australia. They became an utter blight on the landscape - many graziers had to walk off their land as their were so many that they would eat the grass as soon as it grew and there was no feed for livestock, only dust bowls. Trappers earnt a better wage than working on cattle stations and for 100 years, being a rabbito was a solid job. 14 rabbits were used to make an Akubra hat π€ which was in high demand for two world wars for soldiers. Rabbit meat was a thing (no one eats it here).
The introduction of miximotosis was a godsend, and now it's the kalci virus. Now immunity is developing and they need a new one. It's our responsibility to get rabbits off our own land yet warrens can also be just over the fence line and the council are hopeless. I walk round my garden checking for warrens every day to kick them in it putting the hose down small holes that does lay babies in, putting a brick over the entrance to prevent another ten rabbits growing up. Sounds insane but it really is an awful problem.
However, if I see piles of poo - they seem to be random - I now know I can take some small solace in the fact at least their shit might be useful π
Thank you so much for the ACV/garlic suggestion. When the canal isn't running (creating a stream through the enclosure) we will be sure to add these things in her water bowl. Or even when it is running! It will be interesting to see which water she prefers. My money is on the 2nd Oct for that first egg. This is mother's 80th birthday.
Chooks is such a perfect name for them! Much better than chickens. Chook chook chook.
Your fun facts about rabbits in Australia really got me thinking yesterday and i will do my best now to transmit my thoughts. So, i know it must be difficult when they basically eat everything. Have seen first hand how they behave around our gardens (they escaped a few times) so i do understand how much they eat and how they love certain things very much. Baby corn and baby sunflowers for example were eaten whole. Even tomatoes had their stalks bitten right through at their base, for no apparent reason as they didn't eat the plant itself. Which was very testing for me!
We have a similar issue here with the wild pigs and rather like in Australia, the current solution is to kill as many of them as possible. At this time of year the hunting parties in the mountains can be heard every morning. Guns firing, dogs barking. It seems to me however that it is our responsibility as humans not to kill them but to find ways to co-exist with them.
A Russian lady in our village was having problems with pigeons last year, sitting on her gutters and crapping into her courtyard. So she looked at solutions and decided on a small electrical device which constantly emits a high pitch frequency they don't like. And guess what? This year there are zero pigeons around her home. So my first thought for you was this. A frequency based solution.
Rabbits have extremely good hearing and will detect high pitch frequencies from a mile away, making them perfect for this kind of deterrent. A farmer with lots of land would only have to place devices at one mile intervals around the perimeter of their land.
I looked online yesterday and it would seem that devices of this nature do exist but no big surprise, google was very good at making sure i saw all the negative publicity these devices have received. Don't forget, the agenda is to starve us, so they don't want us knowing these simple solutions. In addition, if the world at large were to learn how one frequency is good for one thing, they might start to ask questions about what all the other frequencies do. And this would lead to a ton of people buying frequency machines to heal their ailments. So not for one moment do i trust the way in which google pushed me to those negative reviews. And i would personally be investigating exactly which frequencies rabbits don't like. Then i would test out this frequency on a specific part of my land and see if it works. And if it did, i would invest in a bunch of devices to set up a perimeter around my land.
In addition i would personally do my best to catch some of those wild rabbits and put them in an enclosure. Once they are in a small area like the one we have, they really do poop in the same place every day. And this poop really is amazing. Somehow those magical little balls are able to inject life of all kinds to our compost which, as i mentioned, is super fantastic this year. Have seen side by side comparisons of plants grown in regular soil and plants grown in rabbit assisted compost and the difference is HUGE. Perhaps next year i will look to make one of these comparisons myself as i think it might help people see rabbits in a different light.
Sending hugs π»
Many thanks!