We are enjoying mountain spring at last. Days that are mild enough for long sleeves or a light sweater, nights still cold enough for a coat, but signs abound that Old Man Winter has finally moved south, way south.
Peach blossoms and green grass.
Garlic growing in the garden beds.
On one of my surveys of the outside of the house, I have found many Preying Mantis egg cases, two on one of the spent deck plants from last year.
They will be carefully cut off and placed in the new plants on the deck and we will try to catch the day they begin to emerge. It is interesting to watch the tiny 1/2″ long critters creeping around on the plant leaves.
Sunshine today and though it is only in the mid 50s outside, the 4 week old chicks got some sun time.
They are just past the dinosaur stage and look to have nearly all of their feathers. When out in the sun, they jump and flap, chase each other around the water trough that was their brooder. Today they went back into one of the wire dog kennels, but this time in the garage as they kept tipping the water and spilling it into the trough and the pine shavings were getting too soggy too quickly.
Tomorrow we are expecting heavy rain most all day, so Jim and I will go to the lumber yard and purchase the wood and a roll of chicken wire to create a coop divide. By the end of the week, the chicks will occupy half of the coop, perhaps still with a heat lamp for another week or so and the other half of the coop will be the two Buff Orpington hens and the Americana hen. Cogburn and the rest of his harem will be moved at night into the temporary pen and chicken tractor, tricked out with a new nesting box to keep them separate from the chicks and to isolate them until the day in July or August when they will be permanently removed from the flock.
After a few weeks of adjustment and a bit more size, the coop divider will be removed and the chicks will have to learn the pecking order with the three hens that we will be keeping.
Cabin Crafted 