Blond Chicks

We’ve had several hot, dry days which yellowed the grass and made the garden plants droop. Our area is sandy, which doesn’t hold moisture so lack of rain is a problem. For several days I watered everything–EJ’s vegetable garden, my herb garden, the flower garden, and the fruit trees–so they wouldn’t die of thirst. It was so hot that the robins lined up to use the birdbath. I kid you not.

Thankfully, we got some rain overnight. It’s supposed to rain through Sunday night, which is good, but the National Weather Service has issued a Flood Watch with 2-4 inches of rain possible, which seems a bit too much. I guess it’s really true that “when it rains, it pours.” Fortunately we live on a hill, although we always have to deal with erosion in our driveway after a heavy rain.

I can’t remember if I told you that a couple of weeks ago the little blond Buff Orpington chicks graduated to the adult flock. They still act rather uncertain and skittish around the big chickens, keeping themselves to themselves. I have trouble getting them into the coop at night. I’m concerned about them going in before it gets too late because I don’t want the raccoon to threaten them. I finally figured out that the chicks didn’t want to go in the coop before the older chickens had gone in and settled in their roosting places. The chicks seem particularly wary of one hen who is usually the last adult to go in. I think she’s Edward’s sister. EJ has named her Turdweena. I often herd Turdweena into the coop and then I have to wait while she stops at the food dispenser for a snack and then slooowly finds a place to settle. Once she’s finally roosting, it’s very easy to get the blond chicks in.

One evening earlier this week I went out to shut the chickens in their coop. I always cut through our attached garage, walk through a portion of the garden, and enter into the chicken pen. I pulled open the garage door, walked several feet into the garden, glanced up, and spotted a doe on the other side of the garden fence. She saw me too. She looked at me for several minutes and I looked at her without moving. Finally she decided I wasn’t a threat and calmly went back to grazing. Then another doe emerged from the forest behind her with a tiny little fawn trailing behind. I stood and watched them for several minutes as they slowly meandered across the grassy hill and back into the forest.

I continue on to the chicken area to get them all shut securely in the coop. Then I moved my trail camera to so it was aimed at the grassy hill where I had seen the deer. I haven’t yet been able to capture footage of the fawn, but I’m trying…

Yesterday morning I watched a male and female turkey for about an hour as they slowly meandered across our property. I figured they must be mates since the male turkey was not trying to impress the female.

Yesterday evening, just after I got the chickens in the coop, I saw a raccoon in the front yard going to all the birdfeeders–near the rocks and near the house–to see if it could get any leftover birdseed. It was unsuccessful, which means I have succeeded in making the food inaccessible to the coons. I normally wouldn’t mind if raccoons ate leftover seed, but I don’t want to attract them so they go after the chickens.