How does your garden grow, January 2017

I've had the most glorious gentle beginning to the new year. It's been a very slow pace, and very unstructured. There has been lots of catching up with family, lots of feasting and festivities, and lots of cheer. There has also been plenty of time to potter around the house and garden doing all the little things I always put off during the busy-ness of the year.

I regularly sign up to do courses online as I hate feeling like I'm stagnant and not learning anything new. My most recent course is called Science of Gardening, it's actually a HECS scholarship unit offered by the University of Tasmania, which means that domestic students don't incur any tuition fee or debt for the unit. It actually counts toward the UTAS Bachelor of General Studies, but I'm just taking it for the fun of it (nerd alert!). UTAS often do HECS scholarship units and I find it a good way to keep my brain ticking away.

I'll just steal the explanation about the course and leave it here:

Important and interesting questions for gardeners include why are plants arranged into families, and what features do they share? What are plants made of, and how do they grow? How do seeds know when to germinate, and how does the environment shape the way they grow? What are the crucial factors determining when plants flower and set seed? Why does soil type and nutrients affect plant health? Answers to all these questions and more when you study Science of Gardening.

It's actually a really interesting learning curve for me. It's completely online which is fine, but although it's called the science of gardening, I didn't really think I'd be delving into the chemical composition of soil, admiring the biological cross sections of plants, or re-learning the periodic table and how to recognise deficiencies or toxicities of soil and then diagnose how to correct them.

It's made me look at my garden in a whole new light and consider how I might tweak my gardening practices to make my plants more productive and happy. I appreciate just how much effort these little clumps of cells go to just to end up on my plate!

All that said, here's a peek into my garden right now.

I grew a tiny pineapple and it was delicious, if extremely small (dirty looking Sophie the Giraffe for comparison). It was so sweet and the acid was barely there at all. It was just enough for a morning tea for the smalls and me.

My eggplants are producing prolifically, as they usually do. My soil must be appreciated by eggplants. Although these two are different sizes, the right time to harvest eggplants are when they are plump and glossy. I have taken a batch over to my mother in law's house so that she can use them for Chinese New Year dishes. Yum.

Here is a picture of my sad looking lemon tree. I had an assignment where I had to diagnose citrus deficiencies, which was interesting. As my tree has healthy new growth, and the yellowing is mainly on the older leaves, I suspect magnesium deficiency, which is easily adjusted by watering in some epsom salt. I think there may also be a minor zinc deficiency also, which could be adjusted with a kelp solution spray. It's a sad tree, there is also some leaf miner activity, but it has improved of late, so there is still hope.

The chilli, eggplant, and what I'm 90% sure is a pumpkin are doing well, despite the recent heat. Mr Fork has been putting the water from his fish tank onto my garden when he does water changes, and they seem to appreciate all the fish poo.

One of my assignments also involved testing the ph of my soil. It's something I never really gave much thought to, but now I know that my soil is definitely on the acidic side. I suppose that means I should stop dumping my coffee grounds directly onto the soil and compost them instead. I also need to get some dolomite lime and see if I can raise the ph a bit for happier plants.

Our girls went rogue and built a secret nest under the house where it's lovely and cool. They were sneaky about it, continuing to lay in the regular box too, so I just thought they were slacking off in this heat. It's such a pretty nest, lined with bits of purloined sugar cane from the garden and dried grass. Sneaky things. These will be the last of our eggs as Mr Fork has gotten sick of cleaning chicken poo from the deck and has promised the chickens to a friend who has a large garden, doesn't care about chicken poo and swears not to eat them. I think perhaps it's an unlucky move, especially so close to the Chinese New Year when it switches over to the year of the Rooster, but who am I to come between a man and his BBQ-ing space. Especially when I don't eat eggs myself!

How is your garden growing?

Review: The Swag reuseable produce bags

Recently I've been using something new to keep my fruit and vegetables in. We've never been a family that produces lots of waste, and even if we do, I'm very eco conscious and odds are it will end up being eaten by the dogs or the chickens, or the compost heap will get it. However, I am also conscious of the amount of plastic that is used these days too. It particularly irks me when I see fruit and vegetables pre-wrapped or portioned into plastic containers, and I will deliberately go out of my way to choose to fill my own (reusable) bag with the portion I want to buy.

The Swag is an Australian product for storing produce. It's made of three layers of natural unbleached cotton - the outer layer protects the fruit and veg and stops the water in the middle layer drying up. The middle later absorbs and holds water, but draws moisture away from the inside produce, therefore increasing the storage life. The inner layer is a dry barrier which sits against the produce but allows them to absorb the water and air through the fabric too.

I have them in a few different sizes - the green one is a longer size which is great for things like celery and spring onions. The white one is the large size, and pretty much anything fits in there. The red and blue ones are small bags, and I love that they're colour coded so I can identify individual bags in the fridge.

They're super simple to use, and in fact, the instructions are sewn onto the bag! All you have to do is make sure the swag is a little bit wet, but not dripping. Put the produce in and then store it in your fridge. Make sure the Swag is a bit damp and there you have it! I need to sprinkle them with water every few days but that's not a big deal for me at all.

I don't even have to separate different types of veggies and fruits, in fact, I find it convenient to store all my veggies together, all my fruits together etc. I even use one of the bags to store my potatoes in (but that one lives in the cupboard, not the pantry, and isn't kept damp at all).

I've been using my Swags for a little while now and I love them. Here's some carrots stored in one of the small bags. They're just loose in there, but they're perfectly happy and still crispy and good. I definitely think that these bags are helping to prolong the life of my fresh produce - and actually, my mushrooms are quite happy to be stored in a Swag as well (although like potatoes I don't wet their bag).

I'm very happy to be cutting down on plastic storage bags, saving money by not having to discard food (although the chickens might not agree!). I think it's a great product.

Note that this review is not sponsored, I just love the bags and wanted to show how I keep my fruit and vegetables fresh for longer.
 

How does your garden grow, November 2016

This season I've taken a different approach to my kitchen garden. Instead of planting things out in neat rows and sections, I've decided on more of a laissez-faire strategy. By that, I mean that I'm letting seeds fall where they may. I'm letting things from the compost grow and revelling in the mystery of what comes up. Yes, it's a bit of a lazy approach, but it seems to be working pretty well.

I've got a new crop of chillies fruiting. The original plant was grown from a chilli Mr Fork's father gave me. They've got a great amount of heat, so I love these chillies. The plant is a prolific producer, so I've always got a well stocked freezer supply too. The kids don't tolerate heat as well as their parents do, so spiciness is always something we add at the end of the cooking process to individual portions. It doesn't taste as good in my mind as cooking the heat in, but what can you do? I hope to gradually build their tolerance up so we don't have to prepare quite so many separate meals. You can also see a small section of my chicken proof fence.

Part of my natural approach includes letting my plants with good properties go to seed so that I can save them for later planting (and let some fall where they may as well!). Coriander flowers are so pretty. I have this herb constantly growing as the Queensland heat makes them go to seed so quickly. I like the contrast of white coriander blossoms with purple eggplant flowers.

Speaking of eggplants, my sad plant has perked up with the recent rainy weather. I've got a bumper crop of eggplants. I'm never quite sure when the ideal time to pick them is, but they're a welcome addition to my cooking - such a versatile ingredient.

The weather has made my basil plant very happy. It's started to grow at a very rapid rate and keeps me busy pinching off the flowers so it doesn't go to seed.

I *think* this is some sort of purple basil. Mr Fork's aunt gave me a cutting. I thought I'd killed it but it seems to have come back with a vengeance. We use the leaves when we are making Vietnamese rice paper rolls. I'm not sure what else people use it in, but apparently it's quite hard to grow. It definitely smells and tastes delicious. You can also see my clumping sweet potato in the background. I grow it not for the tubers, but for the leaves which are great in stir fries and similar.

I found a few organic corn seeds left from last year so popped them in garden bed too. They're about six inches high now and looking very happy. There's also some tomato seedlings coming up, I think some lettuce seedlings, and I admit I have no idea at all yet what that round leafed plant in the top left corner underneath the corn is.

The rough leafed pineapple I planted from a leftover top some years ago is fruiting again. I'm quite glad as the chickens ate all the other pineapples I had planted in the garden so this is the last one left. It probably only survived because it was in a pot and it has the most delicious fruit, so I'm looking forward to that, and also having a second top to plant out too. Waste not, want not!

Finally, here are Vanessa and Jemima, greedily eyeing my vegetable patch. Chickens are much messier and destructive than I ever imagined, but they're so useful. They eat my scraps and leftover plants, they do fabulous things for the lawn and give me a great source of fertiliser. My family and neighbours are also grateful for their eggs as well. While not technically in my edible garden, Mr Fork has recently put lots of effort into the lawn and it's lovely to see it looking so lush.

How is your garden growing lately? I'd love to hear tips about when to harvest the perfect eggplant.

Mornings

Mornings are like...

Sweet milky breaths

Small arms with hidden strength

Homemade sourdough, slathered with nuttelex and vegemite

Coffee, brewed fresh and hot, steaming nicely

Triumphant hens clucking to herald fresh eggs

Early morning light

All before 6:30am!

****

What do your mornings look like?

Loving right now...

Netflix

I don't know why it took me so long to get on board with this, but I wish I'd done it sooner (especially in those early days when Jimmy was feeding 2-hourly-around-the-clock and wasn't so mobile!)

Orange Is the New Black
Related to my first item; I decided to pop my Netflix cherry with OITNB, and it's pretty good. I probably should have paid attention when everyone was recommending it to me when it came out years ago, but on the plus side, I now have three seasons to binge my way through. Yay.

Almonds
Odd inclusion I know. However, they're my snack of choice at the moment and I've always got a little container of them hidden away in my bag for when I get peckish. I go through food phases and I'm definitely loving almonds right now.

Fresh eggs
I don't eat them mind you, but there is something marvellous about collecting an egg that is still warm from being laid. I had thought the chickens had gone off the lay recently, but I was mistaken... when I was cleaning up the side garden, I found a secret nest and a hidden stash of eggs. Those hens had been holding out on us!!

Free things

I love it when something is unexpectedly free or cheaper than expected. This week I got a free bus ride because the machines weren't working, and yesterday at my local coffee shop I chose the correct colour playing card during happy hour and scored myself a free soy hot chocolate, which was exactly what I needed to get me through the afternoon. Winning!!

And just as a bonus... I'm totally not loving Apple iPhone earbuds. Despite having had my current iPhone for ages, I recently unpacked the earphones that came with it so that I could take advantage of the included microphone and volume control. The iPhone is so stylish and well designed, would it really have killed them to put a bit more effort into the earbuds? They are too big for my small person ears, and after a short phone conversation or a few songs, my ears are sore. Poor form Apple, poor form.

What are you loving on right now? Any recommendations for shows I should add to my Netflix queue?

What's in my kitchen, October 2015

October sort of snuck up on me this year. I was happily plodding through September, and before I knew it, it was a whole new month! Early September was my birthday, so there were celebrations for that, and then late September was Ellie's birthday, and that turned into a bit of a birthday extravaganza. We had a weekend away to go to see LahLah in concert (my favourite of all the children's performers!), lots of cake, and extended celebrations what with immediate family, extended family, friends and daycare. Then I blinked, and it was a whole new month!

October has brought an obvious change in weather, with lovely hot sunny days. Of course, it means early sunrises which means the children wake earlier, but it's easier to leave the bed when it's light and warm. It's also school holidays and while that doesn't affect me yet as my children are too young for school, it means parks are more crowded, parking is harder to find at shopping centres, and the sounds of children playing are everywhere through the neighbourhood. It's a lovely time of year.

In my kitchen is...

Fresh eggs! Yes, two of our four chickens have finally become productive members of the household. On Ellie's birthday, we got our second ever egg (the first was a few days prior) and since then we have regularly gotten one egg a day, recently increasing to two. They are averaging about 53g, so slightly smaller than regular eggs, but they certainly (I am informed) make up for it in flavour.

In my kitchen is...

Fresh made, rustic looking banana bread. Made with the first egg our chickens laid (a double yolker no less) and the black bananas I rescued from the fruit bowl at work. I loathe bananas and I don't eat egg, but Jimmy and Ellie loved this loaf. Half of it is still in the freezer, sliced up and ready for when I don't have any fresh baked goods to give them.

In my kitchen is...

Moon cakes! Not the traditional type though, instead these ones are handmade for me by my mother-in-law. They are vegan friendly, made on a seaweed (agar) jelly and filled with bean paste. No egg yolks in sight. When I regularly travelled for work there was a lady in Sydney who would make me the most delicious vegan moon cakes, with layers of flaky pastry surrounding a bean or taro paste. I can't find any commercial ones like that locally, so I've missed out for a few years. Not this year though!

In my kitchen is...

Birthday cakes! Ellie had two this year... one was a puppy cake that she'd insisted on ever since she saw them at Bread Top. I'm all for it if I don't have to make it for her! This was the cake we shared with family and friends.

She also insisted on taking a chocolate cake to daycare to share with her class (I think she just wanted to extend the birthday celebrations). A simple mud cake decorated with smarties. It was a bit of a hit with the other 2 and 3 year olds in her class I'm told. A friend of mine told me afterward her son asked her if he could bring a cake "with buttons" for his birthday. Ellie overheard him and apparently corrected him, with much attitude that, "those are not buttons, they are decorations". My three year old with attitude.

In my kitchen is...

Vegan meringues. Finally I jumped on the aquafaba bandwagon and tried some meringues. While they were a success, I'm not sure I'll make them often as I found them super sweet.

In my kitchen is...

Coconut yoghurt, by Nudie. I'm super chuffed with this find. It's quite new and only available in Woolworths at the moment, but it's very affordable (6.99 for 500g) compared to other brands. It's also not too sweet, so I can make savoury and sweet dishes with it. There are currently 3 flavours available (natural, vanilla and blueberry) but hidden in the vanilla and blueberry "natural flavourings" is honey, so only the natural flavour is vegan friendly. Nudie have said they will look into making the others vegan friendly, perhaps switching to rice malt syrup instead. Yay for companies that listen to their consumers!

I am linking this post in with Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial's monthly In My Kitchen event. Go have a peek through other kitchens around the globe!

What's in your kitchen this month?

How I keep the chickens off the balcony

I have spoken before about the annoyance of our chickens coming up the stairs and treating my balcony as their own. I thought it was quite clever when they learnt to climb the stairs. I soon learnt that it wasn't clever, it was really annoying, as once they'd done it the first time, they kept on doing it, popping upstairs, perching over everything and leaving smelly little chicken deposits!

No more!

Behold! I have come up with a low tech solution that works for everyone. I call it... material scraps on string! I had an old shirt that was in the scrap bin because it was too holey, so I simply cut some long strips from that and tied it to a piece of twine. Make sure the strips are long enough that they'll twirl about in the wind.

Tied to one side of the stairs and then looped back around, I fastened the two ends together with a paperclip so that I could undo as required and not have to step over it all the time.

I arranged it so that it was high enough for the dogs to go underneath, but not so high that the chickens think it inconsequential. As I was taking a photo, Toby obligingly trotted down the stairs and posed.

Here is the view from above. I'm getting baleful glares from our still-unproductive chickens, and the two hounds are obligingly posing either side of my barrier. You can also see a trail of deposits I have to clean off the stairs from the last time I chased the poultry down from the balcony. It was that that tipped me over the edge and made me determined to find a solution.

I'm hoping that they will soon learn to stay downstairs and I'm able to remove the string after awhile as I imagine it will get annoying having to undo it to pass all the time. Still, for a little bit of extra effort, I will feel much happier not having to clean poo from the balcony before I let Jimmy and Ellie out to play. Hurrah for that!

It has been up for a number of days now and the chickens seem to be respecting the boundary I've set, most of the time. Now I have a (mostly) chicken free balcony, and garden. I'm open to suggestions that will change the 'most' to 'all the time' though!

Any other tips for deterring chickens other than physical barriers?

How does your garden grow, August 2015

In my garden this month I am still harvesting passionfruit. I was so excited with this bunch that I left them on the bench a bit too long while I looked at them admiringly. They wrinkled, but still tasted delicious. I'm probably getting about 5 or 6 a week at the moment, which is nice. I have them plain or mixed into yoghurt.

I also  harvested two eggplant, and I think these will be the last for awhile. The plant has quite a few flowers, but no fruit on it at the moment. The chickens have turned the area under my eggplants into their own personal dustbath...

I continue to harvest parsley and turn it into pesto. I've taken quite a liking to my pesto and have it on sandwiches and as a garnish on quite a few meals. I find it livens up a stodgy soup quite nicely!

I've planted some tomato seeds, but I don't expect much from them. They were from a tomato that went over ripe, so I threw it into the garden and left it to burst and fend for itself. I guess I use plant loosely in this context.

I have also planted out a sprig of the rosemary that I had growing in a little bottle on my kitchen windowsill. It well and truly had roots so needed to be moved.

I have a lot more planting to be done. The chickens' 100% free ranging days have come to an end. They ate my chinese vegetables, they dustbathed in my big garden bed and plucked out all the baby carrots. The carrots, coriander and even some of the parsley which were thriving in my smaller bed have all been nibbled and the greenery eaten.

I have lost most of my seeds for next season, as the plants I'd allowed to go to seed were also decimated. Gutted.

Mr Fork was put to work building me a chicken proof fence pronto. He's quite proud of his work, but the damage has been done. The chickens are very disgruntled.

Out the front, where the chickens don't roam, my citrus were also treated to some attention. They had some gypsum added to the soil, were fed and then mulched generously. Already I can see signs of new growth, so I just need to work on keeping the grasshoppers at bay now.

How does your garden grow this month?

I'm linking this post into the Garden Share Collective, hosted by Lizzie from Strayed from the Table, Kate from Rosehips and Rhubarb and Krystie from A Fresh Legacy.  

5 things I've learnt from keeping chickens

So we've had our chickens for awhile now. Despite a somewhat rocky start, I think they are now well established. I've had a few people ask me what keeping backyard chickens is like, so I decided to put together a little list for those people who are interested. Here are 5 things I've learnt from keeping chickens...

They are destructive

These chickens have selectively destroyed all the best bits of my backyard. We let them free range during the day, so I perhaps naively expected them to range happily around the yard eating bugs and weeds. I was never told they would dig up my organic vegetable beds and strip all the fresh young growth from my fledgling vegetables. I didn't expect them to dust bath underneath my eggplants, and kick up soil all around. Despite preparing them a dusty area, I wasn't prepared for them to decide to remove all the mulch from my garden to make the entire bed their chosen dust bath. I did expect them to poop, but not on everything in sight.

They eat anything

I'll be honest, a big draw card of getting chickens for me was being able to use up some more food scraps by feeding it to them. It's sort of worked out. I mean, if we have some food that's about to go bad, I have the option of feeding it to the chickens before putting it to the compost heap. They are doing quite well at eating the weeds from the backyard too. Apparently they are also excellent for gobbling up ticks, flies and other bugs (I hate bugs). The thing is, they're not really particular about what they eat. I didn't know that styrofoam was like crack for chickens, and I've had to re-pot everything in my thriftily recycled foam boxes as the chickens were pecking holes and eating it with gay abandon. I've also caught them indiscriminately chomping on newspaper, the plastic bag their chicken pellets arrived in and various detritus that has blown into our yard.

They think they are people

Our chickens are quite social. They are now big enough to have learned to climb up the stairs to our back deck, where they like to frolic around merrily, pooping with gay abandon and eating the dog food. They respond with shame and disdain to being shooed back downstairs, leaving smelly little deposits behind. Although I have a gate at the top of the stairs to keep Jimmy inside, it also keeps the dogs inside which just makes it messy and annoying for everyone when I have to keep opening it on demand. I need to find a better solution to this!

They are smelly

I've had birds before, so I know what birds smell like. Actually it's quite a nice clean sort of dusty smell. That doesn't bother me. I also knew from gardening that chicken poo is quite stinky, but fabulous for the garden at the same time. The big surprise came in just how smelly fresh chicken poo is. How can it possibly smell so bad? They are eating plenty of greens and good fresh food, getting plenty of water, but it is seriously potent stuff. I was pooped on plenty when they were little chicks, but now that they're bigger, the output has also increased along with the smell. There sure is a lot of it! I've taken to watering it into the garden nightly, so that I can let Jimmy and Ellie play out on the grass the next day without fear they'll step in little chicken 'gifts'. I have to be honest, our dogs are much tidier poop wise than the chickens.

They have cool relatives

Apparently, they are apparently the closest living relative to Tyrannosaurus Rex! That will certainly come in handy in a few years for impressing my children with "cool stuff their mother knows"!

source

Finally, to be fair, I will note that although I've been quite critical, they are lovely things and they've got loads of personality. They've quickly become part of the family!

Please share your stories in the comments so I know my chickens are not unusually wilful!

How does your garden grow, July 2015

It's really the middle of winter now. If I'm honest, I'm rather disinclined to be outside, pottering around in the garden. The only times I'll willingly venture out are to hang washing or to tend to the chickens or dogs. Oh, and to harvest some garden produce, although there really isn't a great deal out there are the moment.

Here's a little tour of what's going on at the moment.

Chickens! We have them! Read more about our chicken keeping story here. They've only just gotten all of their feathers and so have finally been removed from inside and moved permanently outdoors. I'm a little relieved actually, they were starting to really have an obvious chicken odour! I'm very grateful for all the chicken poo and other compostable matter they're producing. Mr Fork would also like me to point out how luscious and green is lawn is looking too...

Parsley is growing by the armload! I don't know what to do with it all to be honest. Can I freeze it nicely somehow? I've tried making pesto (it was delicious!) Any other ideas?

The bok choi is coming along nicely too. I pick leaves off it piecemeal as I need it, and so far it's holding up nicely. I've been using it in soups and stir fries and it's yummy!

Carrots are growing. I mistakenly sowed them way too thickly and close together, and then couldn't separate, so I'm sure that beneath the surface there are lots of misshapen little growths, but I'm certain they'll still be tasty. There's a few little weeds poking through there, as well as a lot of self sown coriander seedlings.

I've planted out some lettuce and mixed greens, but have yet to see any shoots.

Still to be done:

• Make a decision about whether to keep the eggplants in or not
• Fertilise the citrus trees 
• Take the finished compost from the bottom of the heap and distribute before turning the remainder over

What's growing in your garden this month?

I'm linking this post into the Garden Share Collective, hosted by Lizzie from Strayed from the Table, Kate from Rosehips & Rhubarb and Krystie from A Fresh Legacy.  

Poultry in motion

Let me tell you the story about how we came to have chickens. See, we'd been thinking about getting a few backyard hens for ages, and then everything sort of fell into place: a chicken coop came up on our local freecycle page, it was a long weekend so Mr Fork could make coop repairs and build a chicken run, we had time to go to a farm and have a look around and see what was what. Despite not eating eggs myself, Mr Fork and Ellie do, and chickens are wonderful garden assistants and scrap eaters.

Mr Fork is a bit of an impulsive person. So despite me, his country raised wife, saying that perhaps it was better to do some more research, get point-of-lay chickens, or perhaps do some more investigation into breeds and preferences, he insisted that everything would work out.

As soon as he saw them he was set on silkie bantams because they were just so cute and so much smaller than full sized hens. Of course, being the thrifty sort, he also said that he would like to get day old chicks as they were much cheaper than the older point of layers. Now I've never personally raised chickens myself, but I grew up in rural farm country, so I do know that day old chicks take a fair amount of work, especially cute fluffy little purebreeds and who in their right mind gets day old chicks in winter?! Being on maternity leave still, I also knew who would be doing the care and raising of these baby chicks should we get them...

Anyway, he'd said all of this in front of Ellie, so naturally, we came home with three of the teeeeeeeniest little silky bantams I have ever seen. I think they were literally only 7-10 days old. They were promptly christened Sarah, Vanessa and Jemima (thank you Peppa Pig for your chicken naming inspiration).

Vanessa

The chicks lived in a box in our sunroom, with a heat lamp, fresh food and chick pellets daily, a meticulously cleaned floor and oft-refreshed bedding and plenty of interaction from the loving humans around them. Despite that, over the course of a week and a bit, all three of the teeny babies didn't make it. I suspect they were not well to start with, but certainly their size and the weather didn't help.

As we have the setup, and Ellie has been so enthusiastic about having chickens, Mr Fork was not deterred, and promptly hastened out for replacements. Now, instead of delicate bantams, we have two Rhode Island Red/White cross, and two of what I suspect are Wyandotte or Australorp cross. These are not bantams, but full sized chickens, and probably about 5 or 6 weeks old now.

Ellis has named them Sarah (again), Jemima (again), Vanessa (again) and Neville, as that was also a Peppa Pig chicken name. Despite my suggestion that Neville was a boy's name and we (hopefully) have female chickens, she insisted. I compromised and Neville is now pronounced as Nev-ill-ay. I realise that this is not a particularly good name for an egg chicken (Never-lay anyone?). 

They will be living indoors with a heat lamp for some time more until they are bigger and hardy enough to relocate to their outdoor accommodation on a permanent basis (they do get supervised outdoor time at the moment too).

Any tips or tricks you can offer about raising tiny chickens and keeping them healthy and alive will be accepted with gratitude.