Everybody in the Pool, Kids!

Well, make that: Every chickie in the tractor! The silkies have been out by the garden for about a week now, and the mystery chicks (still a mystery!) are getting very weary of life in the rubbermaid bin. So, it is outdoors for all feathered creatures. I hoped the silkies and mystery girls would be able to cohabitate, at least for a little while, but...well, the silkies like their own space. How odd, right? This afternoon, I started work on another chicken tractor. It is good that I have a surplus of scrap wood to pull from! In any case, this tractor is square-ish, with a slanted roof. At least, it will have a slanted roof once it is roofed. I hope to finish it this weekend, so the mystery chicks can head into the great outdoors. As I said, every chick needs to GET OUT OF THE TUB.

My meat chickens have another couple of weeks to go, and are getting large and sassy. I have been more careful about the amount and time of feeding with this batch, and I have been really happy with their rate of growth. Last year, it seemed like they got to be monsters and got really aggressive. This batch has grown a little more slowly, and has been more...well, I wouldn't say pleasant, exactly, but less crabby for sure. I think having them in the shed, where they get to hang out and enjoy green stuff that I weed-whack and toss in, has been better than the sun porch. It certainly has been less dusty and smelly for me! I have sent in the order for the next batch of chicks to arrive via mail, and the scheduled butcher date is Friday June 18th. I have borrowed a friend's Food Saver vacumm sealer machine, which I hope will work. I like the idea of having cut-up chickens in the freezer, rather than every one being whole. There's nothing wrong with a whole chicken, but sometimes having it cut into eighths and ready for the crockpot is really nice, too.

The garden is growing, including the newly replanted tomatoes. I think the second batch will do better than the first. It was great fun starting my own plants, but they were so thin and spindly, the first rain crushed them. I think I will get to do some research on how to start seed and end up with fat, healthy stemmed plants before next season rolls around. The soaker hose is working well, after I figured out a couple of kinks, and I think it's going to help cut down on some of the blight issues that strike every summer. Tomatoes are so picky about wet leaves, the little green prima donas! I really excited about my row of sunflowers--they are three inches high already! I can't wait until they are 8 feet high with giant plate-sized blooms. Pictures to follow, of course!