Happy Harvest Blog
Two coops in
2.5 coops. Chris and Cream Puff are in too, in their personal size coop. It's a big mess, the coops are just barely in the door, but I'm going to reorganize a bit, and there are a lot of strings to come down. Oh, the birds are in heaven. The scritching, the tomatoes, the dust baths! They've been wanting into the greenhouse all summer. It's warm, and they were so happy all day bathing and lounging.No matter how big they are. HW deadpans "Yeah, that'll last until about lunchtime.
The walnut tree dropped all its leaves.
All in one day, the walnut trees dropped all their leaves. There must have been the exact right frost. You could stand there and watch them drip down. Now there's a big pile of leaves under the naked trees. One coop in. It sure looks crowded right now, but I think it's going to work well. Last year I had a corner cordoned off for the Silkie hens, so why not move in the whole run. Of course, right away everyone who was already living in the greenhouse has to jump up on top of it.
Greenhouse freedom
I have to move all the coops in to the greenhouse, and I'm at a bit of loss what to do with all the chicks and mamas that have been at large in the GH for weeks now. They're very much enjoying themselves. Somebody's got a windfall tomato. Interest is aroused. Now I got the tomato!I got the tomato back! It seems most or all of the non-Silkie chicks don't really need their moms any more, so they might be willing to go back in Silkieland.
Predator pressure
The gang's all here. You put these here for us, right? We needed a grooming station. The gang's not really all there. A few of them are trapped in the greenhouse with the Silkie moms and their chicks today, because I was worried. Things are going to change. I have to get the birds under cover for their own safety, asap, and it's going to be hard. Yesterday I got out of my car to a bald eagle hovering overhead. We looked at each other, I told him to leave, and he tipped and banked towards the greenhouse.
Roos of the woods
Eviction is in progress. We lifted the coops out of the greenhouse, and I'm "encouraging" the birds to all transition to living outside now. You'd think they'd be all gung-ho to spend all their hours out of doors and get their vitamin D. But no, they are resistant to being encouraged. They all find their way back into the hothouse by the afternoon. The GH is at its worst these days. It's (past) time for it to assume its primary function, sheltering growing food, so high time to move all the chicken-related detritus out.
Bunch'a house sitters
The chickens like to stand around all afternoon on top of their houses. All of the houses are fair game. And a bale sitter. I love this hen. The little silver adventurer. She's the best. She needs a name. Cream Puff. They are just, just about to get evicted from the greenhouse. And those old dusty poopy houses will get a good rinsing in the next rain. And then the birds can't sit around all afternoon indoors. They'll have to play outside. Right now they wander around outside for a few hours, and then like they're slacking off work,
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
Bite size.
