mxbarbie, if you have three weeks of spring weather before planting, that should be long enough for the soil organisms to incorporate the chicken manure, I would think. But maybe you don't, in PNW BC? Here it sometimes goes from winter straight into summer; planting early greens like spinach into chicken-manured soil might not be a good thing then, we'll see... It's nice to see somebody else admit to spoiling their hens. Every week or so when it's been very cold I've put a pot of quick oats on the wood stove, added a handful of flax seed (=> omega 3 eggs!) and a bit of bacon fat maybe, and given them that. It is amusing to see them wipe their beaks afterwards. I attribute the hens' productivity through darkest winter to this diet, but their age and the amount of light in the coop are other factors. (Look at the rash of question marks and exclamation points on this forum lately! Punctuation: use it or lose it, I always say.) Patrick, about the lady in Halifax, she just went ahead and kept chickens. The controversy flared up when a neighbour found out and complained to the authorities - he was afraid the chicken feed would attract rats. That lady effectively started a very necessary public debate about urban gardening, food security, etc. Smart chick! The city stuck to its guns re: livestock, ordering her to get rid of them - they've gone to an urban farm/museum - but delayed the actual date by two months to allow for debate. Research is being carried out, a decision will be made next summer. Are Kathleen and Cecelia bi-polar is a very interesting question ann, or annp or annpat (not sure what to call you any more). I don't think so. They're a year older than Gladys and Trex. Kathleen was mean and dominant toward them until Cecelia put her in her place. Typical behaviour. When we go into the coop, though, something inside Gladys winds up - she struggles to resist it - then gives in, comes flying at us and gives us a sharp peck on the sleeve, hard enough to pull a thread from a wool winter jacket. Maybe she thinks we're food? Maybe we are? But we can also pick her up and hold her for minutes on end. Does this sound bi-polar? And is grabbing somebody by the feet and carrying them around upside down a recommended treatment for bi-polarism, as I've seen suggested for chickens who behave like Gladys? I don't expect answers to all these questions.

If that sawdust will create any problem will depend on the thickness of the sawdust. A couple of inches might be a problem while a 1/4 inch would not and may, if they are present, get your earthworms active moving that dust into your soil. I have mulch mowed 8 inches of Oak leaves (tough to do) into a layer less than an inch on the lawn and have seen the earthworms move them into the soil in under two weeks and have seen the grass grow on thicker, greener, faster then in areas that I did not do that. As long as your grass has access to sunlight it should grow. Whether that sawdust would affect your soil pH depends on many factors although some good studies indicate that large amounts of organic matter in soils do not significantly change the soils pH.

I buy ten cubic yards of compost every year for my 45 foot by 60 foot garden that is almost pure clay. Its made from horse manure and wood shavings, and is fine screened and has no garbage like broken glass or soda cans or plastic bag scraps that you find in some commercial compost. They charge ten dollars a cubic yard for new customers, but old customers like me can get it for eight dollars a cubic yard, plus $35 to deliver it a distance of about 20 miles to my house. So for $115 I get a full 10 cubic yard truck load delivered to my driveway, plus they usually put about 11 cubic yards on the truck, don't try to short you like some companies. The company is also a licensed compost maker and must meet all regulations, including measuring the temperature of their piles several times a day to make sure the temperature is high enough that any weed seeds or pathogens are killed. The compost is actually a sideline, their main business is a 280 horse stable and ranch so they know exactly what went into their compost. Over the course of the years I have probably put 60 or 70 cubic yards of compost on my garden and lawn, plus countless bags of store bought potting soil, mulch, and bark, plus over a ton of gypsum, and hundreds of pounds of chemical and organic fertilizer. My soil is so rich that weeds just explode out of it if we ever get any rain, which is quite rare.

Not carpenter bees. You'd likely see the "sawdust" around the holes if that's what you have. I have one that made a hole in the bottom of a wood bench on our carport...I could actually "hear" it boring out its little hole, and I saw the wood bits falling from under the bench. Plus, it is recognizable as a fair-sized bee....wouldn't fit in a hole the size of a nailhead. RENEE