Sophie and the Herd on a misty morning this past week.Postcards from Little Seed - 6.9.12
Sophie and the Herd on a misty morning this past week.Sophie and the Herd on a misty morning this past week.Chickens Only
Wynonna the Wyandotte, settling into a nice dust bath.The more time we spend with our animals, the more entertaining they become. The chickens are one of my favorite clans to watch as they free-range around the farm. They mostly stick around the coop and barn area, but I recently discovered their secret hideout, right next to the house. One day I was out checking on our garden beds, no chickens in sight, when I heard a little squawk and then silence. I looked around, still no chickens. Then, a few minutes later I saw Elvis, our Silkie rooster, heading toward the rose bushes. He stopped at the edge of the rose bed, and then quickly ducked inside.The Coop and The G-Unit
Loading the Guineas and Chickens into the salvaged-barn coop. Sophie's curious about her new feathered friends.
Big (and busy) weekend for us. Late last week we finished up the salvaged-barn chicken coop, literally screwing down the roof moments before a thunderstorm rolled through. It was good to have a hard rain before the chickens moved in because we got a chance to see where some cracks along the edges of the nesting boxes and a couple cracks along the edges of the coop were letting in rain. We got it all sealed tight by the weekend and on Saturday morning we rolled out to get us some birds.
One thing we'd heard about and not fully internalized was the existence of ticks. I remember three short weeks ago sitting in our NY apartment and laughing at the "Sh*t Weekend Farmers Say" video where the protagonists constantly ask each other "Is this a tick?". (See video here, it's pretty good: Sh*t Weekend Farmers Say). Little did I know how true that would be. Since we've been setting record heat days around here all month the ticks are out in full force. Full force is an exaggeration actually, they'll get much worse as the year goes on. But this weekend was the first weekend where they were noticeable. And by noticeable I mean picking one off my leg every hour or two (if not more regularly). The mild winter didn't break the cycle, so they're comin' out swinging before the bell.