I took Friday off work, but didn't go to the swap as there were still storms rolling across the state and we didn't want to drive almost 2 hours to find no one selling. So, I went to Aly's house for a while and got to see her new additions of mini horse and fawn.
I cleaned out my rain gutters of storm junk and found a BRICK and a vent cover on my roof. These are definitely not from my property. I'm told there were funnel clouds in our area on Wednesday evening, so who knows where those came from. The brick is a brand new one. I've got some shingle damage all on the south side, but the storm seemed to come from the north.
I got a lot done on my to-do list this weekend.
- mound the potatoes with more dirt
- thin the beets
**- finish the fence around second coop and put in 2 pop doors
- finish fence around expanded garden area
*- put a pop door on other side of main flock coop for entrance to bigger yard (doing a secure door is becoming a challenge)
*- put up gate and cover new chicken run with netting (netting not done)
- build a box shelter for the ducks with a nesting area
- set up movable fence so geese can pasture out under the apple trees (and so they eat more grass and less feed)
- finish 3 pens in new coop and kick ducks out of the space
- do major clean out and new deep litter in main coop
- put a real gate inside my main coop between walkway and pen
- finally hinge windows in the main coop
- butcher 4 older hens (never done this before hmm)
- sell those adult guineas! (haven't heard back from buyer, so I guess I'm going to list an ad)
Well, it felt like a lot until I started checking the list. I did clean in both house garage and detached garage, which feels good. Mowed the grass and picked some peas. Looks like the garlic is ready to pull, but I've never done garlic before.
Went to the farmers' market, but didn't find any mulberries. Did buy a strawberry/rhubarb pie that was divine!
So, on Saturday evening I was about to call it a day and decided to chat with the only hen that will let me pick her up and hold her. Now, I've never had an issue with my gentle giant Buff Orpington rooster. But while holding Jezebel, he came over and pecked my shoe. No big deal, I took my foot and brushed him away. He came back with feet flying. I dropped the hen and gave him a good kick. He kept flashing those talons and hit my shins. Thankfully just a scratch. I tried to get my foot on his back and show him who was the boss. Since I had shorts on, I decided to quietly walk away and be the first to end the fight.
Now, I'm going to have to keep my eye on that guy. I usually work in the coop and run without paying him much mind. I'm glad he wants to protect his girls, but I want to rule the roost.
