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Got the chicken locked in the coop later that day. She’s laying an egg every day and will probably start setting on them soon and I’ll start sneaking some fertilized eggs in there. With any luck, she’ll hatch them out in a few weeks after that and hopefully raise them up to be like her. She’s survived since the rest got picked off by hawks two years ago and kept on laying eggs after I quit feeding her, also two years ago. Can’t beat totally free eggs from a zero input hen who has good survival instincts.

My single untouched pea plant that I set a circle of chicken wire around remains untouched. The ones that only had the leaves chewed off of are growing new leaves and I’m working on fence to put around the front yard garden. Got half the old dog pen taken down yesterday and will finish that and use the materials for the front yard garden today. I do have voles/moles so it could have been that. My field fence actually does have smaller openings at the bottom and should prevent rabbits from going through so I’m just going to use that. When/if I run across my big roll of chicken wire, I’ll add it around the bottom. I’ve grown peas, maters and taters in this spot before with no fence and didn’t have a problem.

1st piece of field fence pulled from old dog pen is 42 ft long. 2nd piece is 63’

Assuming a square which is more efficient than a rectangle as far as maximum sq ft and a square fits the area pretty well, I threw a tape measure around a potential final area for the front yard garden and it was approx 56’ perimeter aka 14x14 aka 196 sq ft and 56’ perimeter ft minus 7’ gate is 49’ of fence required but my fence pieces are 42’ and 63’, not 49’.

Could either go a little bigger and use longer piece or a little smaller and use shorter piece

42 fence + 7 gate = 49 perimeter divide 4 sides = 12.15 (12.25 by 12.25 = 150 sq ft) (for a square)
63 fence + 7 gate = 70 perimeter divide 4 sides = 17.5 (17.5 by 17.5 = 306.25 sq ft) (for a square)

Guess I’m going with the 63’ fence plus 7’ gate for double the sq ft. Amazing how much sq ft you gain with a little extra perimeter.

A circle has the most sq ft for a given perimeter but kind of hard to do with fence. LOL

I’m probably not going to end up with a perfect square due to a couple of stumps. It will be pretty close to a square but likely with one side being angled.

Gotta take a break and go to the woods to cut down some dead trees to get us through this next cold front coming in. Gonna rain tonight too as it always does here in the Spring when either a cold or warm front comes in.

"Sneaking a fertilized egg in there"

Good poltery technique! Hope you get your survival chicken and that your peas grow back. I know that chipmunks and squirrels can be controlled with chewing gum, but not sure if it works for voles!

Links to prepper type poultry articles:

Article regarding 11 best Meat Chickens

(Buckeye)

45 Heritage Chicken breeds (Nice pictures!)

(American Dominique)

(One Missouri Source for poultry and game birds)

Cacklehatchery, Lebanon MO

They have some very nice pictures of their breeds! They also sell duck, Geese, Quail, Pheasant and Partridge.

Specialty poultry like quail might be a good way for a homesteader to generate income if they can develop a local market. Quail may not take up as much space.

Keeping Backyard Quails home grown protein(Quails on their deep litter)