Beware of the Rooster

Not very often that I get to feed Bo’s chickens and ducks, I had to take care of them several weeks back. He feeds them twice a day, morning and afternoon so it was a busy weekend for me. The last time I feed them was during the winter when he had to go out of town for a funeral in Canada. The winter weather was harsh, I was sick but I certainly felt worse for the chickens and ducks having to stay outside in the cold. This time it’s in the Summer so it wasn’t so bad, I had to take care of them for 3 days. The first feed I got attacked by the rooster, it’s almost comical and I went out to get my camera and thought I would take some photos for Bo to see. When I got back he greeted me by the front gate, if looks could kill!

Then he proceeds to come toward me, I’m shaken in my boots at this time but determine to get some photos.

Then he attacked me, he is one mean fighting rooster. He pecked through my jeans and gave me 4 bruises and took out some skin. At this time I was extremely worried, not sure how I would go in and feed the chickens and ducks.

I kept my distance, and he kept his watchful eyes over me, certainly not in a good way.

I called Bo and he was hysterically laughing, he said that he should have warned me about the rooster. It is a fighting rooster bloodline from Thailand. He told me to bring in a net and he will leave me alone. My only weapon at this point is a fishing net, and sure enough he stayed away from me for the rest of the weekend.

The rest of the chickens and ducks are real nice

Even the mean looking ones are nice.

She is nesting, we have some hatched this week.

The rooster is the least of our worry right now, there is something that has been coming into the coop at night and eat the inside organ of the chickens and ducks. It has been killing 1 and sometimes 2 per night, and so far Bo has lost over 10 chickens and ducks and mostly females since they are weaker and couldn’t fight off the predator. The coop is secured, it’s fenced in and has net above so not sure how it got in. At this point, we thought it might be a weasel and have set a trap out for it.

Fruits of Labor

It’s certainly a beautiful sight to see the garden start taking off and “knock on wood” looking healthy.

The herb garden is doing exceptionally well, the bugs certainly don’t bother them since they have a strong aroma.

Lime basils

I have to say that this is the first year my tomato plants look decent and healthy.

My first ripe tomato, can’t wait to taste it.

The cucumbers and sugar snap peas cover the metal A-Frame trellis.

I have lots of tiny frogs in my garden, they are small enough to sit on the plant leaves.

Sugar snap peas.

The okras got a lot bigger, they certainly love the Summer hot weather.

The chili peppers.

My bell pepper seedlings are taking off, this is one of the plants that loves hot Summer weather also.

The Asian pole beans start to climb the fence trellis.

The Chayote squash is coming along.

The Kaffir Lime tree.

Between all the 4 persimmon trees I hope to be able to harvest at least 10 fruits in the Fall.

Early June Garden

It has been raining a lot in our area, the plus side is that I don’t have to water the garden and the downside is that the heavy storm damaged some of the young plants. The weeds also grow a lot faster than I could weed them. The lemongrass is doing well, they repel mosquitoes and I planted them next to the bench.

I have many tiny black and green frogs in the garden and have to be careful not to step on them.

I think growing tomatoes in pairs is too much for them trying to grow inside the cage, now I know that they need more room to grow. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

The sugar snap peas are doing well. The heavy rains this week snapped a few wines but I was able to tie them back to the trellis, so far they are doing okay.

I had to help the cucumbers climb the trellis last week, hope to be able to harvest in the next two weeks.

My herbs are growing faster than I could harvest them.

This year I had a hard time locating the Thai Basil, I looked everywhere even at the local nursery and had no luck. We stopped by the farmer’s market the past two weekends and found a vendor that sell them. I was so happy and it was only $2 per pot, I purchased two and wish that I had purchased more.

Some of my pepper seedlings didn’t survive the heavy rains and I had to purchase young pepper plants to replace them.

I still have a few seedlings that are thriving. The weather is hot now, and they should be taking off.

PaNoy gave me some Asian string bean seeds and they are doing well.

I absolutely love the blueberry and since they are not so fruitful this year, I have to make sure I pick them before the birds.

The Okras are coming along a lot slower than expected. I recently learned that they like warm weather, and I planted them too soon.

I’m looking forward to harvesting the persimmons in the Fall, I have a few fruits this year.

The 20+ year-old Kaffir lime tree that Bo’s mom gave me is growing new leaves. This tree goes through a lot, it has moved 3 times and hope that this garden is a permanent home.