Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Farm life is moving along

It seemed like it took forever for Summer to get here!  When it comes to weather in Indiana, we know how to complain and hope for change.  We don't like it too cold (memories from last winter are still very fresh in all of our minds).  And, we don't like it too hot (remember the drought from a couple years ago?).  

This year we are experiencing a very mild Summer.  We've had one of the coolest July's on record with August starting out every colder with evenings temps in the 50s during the first week.  Great for attendance at the Indiana State Fair (record year with over 900,000), but our love for fresh home-grown tomatoes calls for some heat!  The heat decided to return this week and the tomatoes are just starting to ripen.  Canning will be a bit later than last year.

The new chicks have been doing great - well, at least the 10 that have survived.  Something killed one of the new Buff Orpingtons the week before last.  All signs point to a hawk or other raptor like bird.  There were no bite marks and the wound was to its back.  That leaves us with 10 chicks and 7 chickens, along with the 4 ducks. 


The old and the new seem to be getting along just fine.  We are wondering what it will take for the young ones to start roosting inside the coop at night.  Every night 10 fairly large birds squish together inside their small hutch.  A hutch that really should only house maybe 4-5 birds.  We had moved the hutch next to the coop in hopes that they would figure it out on their own.  So much for that idea!  One night we kept the hutch door shut and instead of going inside the coop with the older chickens, many of the chicks were running around wondering why they couldn't get into the hutch!  A few others decided to roost on an old ladder that is leaning up against the outside of the coop.  Guess we'll just have to remove the hutch all together.

Such are the daily dramas inside the Little Deuce Coop.