Country Lore Readers' tips to live by
Judy August builds Mother's portable chicken coop; Elizabeth Hardesty uses borax to repel fleas; peppermint repels mice according to Susan Womersley; Roy Shepard tells how to plant morel mushrooms; poultry pest patrol tips from Andy Tomsevics, Kathleen Callahan-Jordan, Kenny Liles, Robin Bucking and Susan Jarrett; buying chicks from Allen Thompson and the joys of Barred Rock chickens by Joyce Lawrence.
June/July 2003
By the Mother Earth News editors
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Steve Maxwell
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Enjoy Extra Eggs
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This portable mini-coop lets your chickens enjoy fresh pasture while keeping them safe from predators—and out of your garden.
We live in the country and have kept hens or more than seven years, so I was delighted to read your series of articles on these comic critters ("Eggstravaganza") in the February/March 2003 issue.
Your portable coop (shown at left) is a great idea and has the added advantage of keeping the eggs where they can be found easily (unless a daily egg hunt is considered a fun family activity).
Two tips for the novice: As the winter solstice approaches, days grow shorter and egg production naturally declines. A single, 100-watt lightbulb, plugged into an inexpensive timer and set to come on about 3 a.m. and go off at dawn, will simulate dose to the 14 hours of daylight chickens seem to prefer for daily egg-laying. (One note of caution: Hens are curious creatures and will peck at almost anything, so the lightbulb should he mounted well out of their reach)
Also, hens are drawn to the rich soil of flower beds and veggie plots, but their scratching for hugs can be incredibly destructive. Under their busy feet, carefully laid mulch will go flying, along with newly planted annuals and tender, young seedlings! Keeping them in the portable coop allows you to control where they scratch for hugs, too, helping protect your garden.
JUDY AUGUST
Wilderville, Oregon
Foil the Fleas
As a reader with pets, I was interested in your August/September 2002 article on flea control and surprised it didn't include the best remedy I've ever encountered: borax.
Sprinkling borax onto clean, well-vacuumed carpet, bedding, chairs and sofas works perfectly, although not immediately. In about six weeks, the fleas disappear from the house. This method interrupts their life cycle at the larvae stage, and this is why it takes time to be effective. One good treatment lasts at least a year.
Borax (sold in the laundry-soap section in supermarkets) is a fine, white powder. After pushing it through a strainer to get out the lumps, broadcast it by hand, a yard or so above the floor/chair level. If the carpet is a dark color, a light sweeping sends the little grains into the nap, where they disappear from view.
Because it's inexpensive and effective (after six weeks), this method may be the best flea control of all.
ELIZABETH HARDISTY
Mercer Island, Washington
Borax is relatively nontoxic to humans, but we would not recommend letting young children play on the treated carpets. Also, do not apply borax or other boron-containing products to the soil; excess boron will permanently damage your soil.
- MOTHER
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