This was a quiet weekend. Not that we didn’t do things, but that it was just kind of “more of the same”. Saturday we gave the chickens more room to roam by combining two fences and pulling them out as far as possible – they seemed to enjoy the new territory. Then we worked on planting out the blackberry bushes under the shade of one of the oak
trees, and getting ready to plant out others, into pots, as well. We’ve been collecting horse, goat, cow, and burro manure, along with household scraps and coffee grounds, for a while now, and composting them in bins made from pallets; I mixed up 2/3rds compost and 1/3 dirt for a potting mix/soil additive to use on the plants. By 2pm, I was just done. It was so hot and beginning to get a little muggy, so we simply finished off doing the normal chores and called it a day. We weren’t really expecting rain until midweek, but that night we had some sprinklings… just a taste of what was coming. Continue reading
The Monsoons
10 Monday Jul 2017
Remember I said I’d be forthcoming on the difficulties as well as the successes? Well, this is a current difficulty that we’re dealing with; Bumblefoot. It is a common ailment in birds kept in captivity. If they injure their foot, they can get this type of infection. Luckily it is quite treatable at home, and many chicken keepers have had great success 
trees. I am continually pleased with how the mulch helps keep the moisture in the ground. With the added layer, I’m hoping that we can get down to deep watering the trees only once a week. Once the monsoons start, I’m thinking we won’t need to water at all. That’s the point of the water-harvesting type measures we’ve been taking. We want to be able to retain as much rain water, on the property, as possible. We want to continually replenish the aqua-fir, by slowing down the run-off and helping it soak back into the ground. Sue has started creating little dams in the lower contour areas that collect and funnel water down our sloping land. Just small rock berms or walls to slow the water and have it take time to soak in before running off the property and down the road. Every little bit will help water retention. 
ABOVE GROUND POOL WITH DECK! Was it really short, or was that just for me? As you know, I was off visiting my folks – Sue was home working in this amazing heat we’ve been having. What better way to prepare for more of the same than making an above ground pool with decking… for the water fowl, silly! Here is the 100 gallon tank and the beginning of the decking. Just took her two days to get everything done. Ramp for them to get up there, deck to lay out 
on, 100 gallons of water fun… what else could they possibly need? Well, they are just not too sure about it. Roman was in it for a few seconds, but jumped right out. We wanted to get something bigger so that they could really paddle around and have room to dive under. We also wanted to be able to just change some of the water out when it got yucky, instead of dumping those little kiddie pools every other day. We were 
using a lot of water! This pool has a drain towards the bottom that will make cleaning it out so much easier. I think once they realize what it is, they will be happy to have it. It had been outside through the hottest part of the day and the water was still quite cool. In fact, it was way cooler that the kiddie pools that they were still hanging out in. It’ll just take a bit of time. 
Really, they are. We enjoy watching them, from afar, do their little chicken things. You wonder what the heck is going through their little bird brains. They make us laugh. It is quite relaxing – like watching a fish tank. You never know what they’re going to do. Yesterday, Sue went out in the afternoon and saw the Delawares’ rooster lying flat out on the ground by the escape hatch. She thought he was dead and beheaded. He was simply lying in the shade with his head through the bars trying to get at the food on the ground. Silly thing, at least it was in the shade! Sue made the escape hatch for the little Specks as we knew they would be the lowest in the pecking order and would need to be able to get to their own food and water. The Delawares try really hard to get in there, but only one has ever made it. That one has been picked on by the ducks for some time, quite badly actually – and we recently put it in isolation so it’s wounds could heal and may be not so picked on when it gets back into the flock. 
Wing and a Prayer 