Chick Graduation Day

It’s extremely hazy today. I’m guessing it’s due to smoke from Canadian wildfires? The air quality is very bad so EJ asked me to stay indoors as much as possible. I have the air conditioner on so it doesn’t get stifling in the house with the windows closed. Meanwhile, EJ, who is actually the one who struggles with asthma, is at work breathing bad air. He says he is keeping his inhaler nearby.

We were so busy during EJ’s “weekend,” which occurs Tuesday through Thursday, that I don’t mind an extra quieter day indoors.

Early Tuesday morning I put on my most raggedy work clothes and EJ and I went out to rearrange and clean the coop. We wrestled out of the Coop one of the two dog houses that were left here by the previous owner. The dog houses are well made, sturdy, very heavy, and not easy to move. EJ said they are made out of large shipping crates. The chickens enjoyed roosting on it, but they still have other roosting places. Then we moved the fancy coop towards the front of the Coop (which is a 10 x 12 shed). The fancy coop is one we bought from a home improvement store when we started our chicken flock. It never seemed big enough or sturdy enough to keep out predators so we’ve always put it inside–first in the garage and then, later, the Coop.

Once the heavy lifting was completed, EJ worked at installing a window in the coop to let in a little more light. It’s a long narrow window that he took out of an old door and turned sideways. We repurpose things as much as possible.

While he did that, I finished cleaning and rearranging the Coop. It was Graduation Day for the little chicks, the day I brought the little chicks from their cage in the house into the fancy coop. We moved the fancy coop toward the front of the Coop to provide more light and air flow to the chicks. I’ll keep them in the fancy coop until they grow big enough that they can’t get into hard-to-reach places, escape under the gate, or tempt predators. It also gives adults and chicks time to adjust to each other before the chicks join the flock.

The Coop was the major project but during our weekend, I also did laundry, gave the house a thorough cleaning, and restored order to the pantry/storage room after we went searching for paint for EJ to use around the new coop window. We also mowed the lawn–both of us mowing half. JJ came to visit and EJ fixed (refreshed?) his truck’s air conditioner for him. EJ and I did other things as well, but it’s sort of a blur and I can’t remember everything. We were pretty busy from morning till night and we went to bed exhausted each night.

Next weekend we’d like to buy new straw for the coop. EJ has been searching online for local people selling it at a decent price.

JJ returns to his boat in a few days so he’s bringing his cat, Astrid, back to us tomorrow to cat-sit again for the month that he’s gone.

JJ knows that The Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite books so a few weeks ago he bought me a nice quality map of Middle Earth. It’s printed on canvas. I hung it in a place of honor under the map of Upper and Lower Earth that I bought myself a few years ago. Both maps are really cool. I suggest my Michigan readers especially look closely at the top map in the photo for a good laugh. Enlarge it if you can so you can read place names.