Sanded the coop

[Squirrel Man]

Hi folks, sorry I haven't been overly active. It's been a trying summer out here in the high desert for a number of reasons.

Finally getting some stuff done around the place. Had a month of monsoon season with a lot of rain for the desert and the flies. Oh god...

Five gallon bucket trap with stinky yeast stuff and several bag traps around the coop isn't doing great but it helps I guess. All this wet weather in this region has consequences but we'll manage.

Granddaughter spends the summer with us and she's now back east back in school and we're getting some things done now. One was a sandbox that we set up in the back yard for her. It's been there a few years but we tore it down today. We got a huge 9 foot thick plastic cattle water tank for a swimming pool and that was the bigger hit, sand box is gone.

So I did a little research on sand in the coop. Gut told me it would be great, google confirmed so we took all that sand and layered the coop and run with it. It's stupid hot now, 90's for the last couple weeks and next week too according to the report. Coop's been getting a little skanky lately and I've been wanting to dig it up and throw some dirt in there and maybe some sand but man - what a hit.

Girls are having a blast with it, rolling around like happy dogs. Huge hit but I think I still have a little coop dirt work to do before the snows come.

Might be the last year for these gals, egg production slowed down a lot. I stopped giving them veg scraps that I got in huge bag fulls from where I work because of the flies and they've been on layer pellets all summer. Egg production slowed a lot and I'm guessing it's because of the heat and they're approaching 3 years. We'll see what comes next.

Hope everyone's having a great summer, seasons are changing.

Peace all!

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I thought summer was over, until a heat wave hit us the last 3 days in the 99-100-deg range. And humid here in Missouri, too. I worried for the 4-week and 6-week chicks in their separate brooder coops, even with fans on, so I tossed some 2-liter bottles and milk-jugs of ice in with them, and within a short time they were perching on them or cuddled up next to them. (You're welcome ) Later this week, highs in the 60's are forecast. Go figure.

My bottle calves are weaned and doing great! I'm hoping to turn one into a milker, got a halter on her this week *finally* after many failed attempts. Hard to get a cow, even if only 500 pounds, to do anything it doesn't want to do. She loves to be petted, so I used a comb and then the halter to rub her down while feeding, especially her face. After a few days of this, I was able to slip it on with no fuss at all. Yay! Next, train her to the lead rope. She is very spoiled and has to be in my hip pocket whenever I go into the corral so it shouldn't be hard.

The garden kept me busy for the rest of the summer - lots of canned goods put away for the year, until the Japanese beetles and grasshoppers took over the rest. This heat wave has now finished it off. Nuttin' to do now but till it under, maybe put some salad crops in for the fall, if I feel like it. or not. I did find three healthy volunteer tomato plant seedlings near the barn. Put them in pots, and maybe I can keep them alive in the laundry room through the winter. We'll see!

I retired in May, and it seems I work harder now than I ever did before. But damn it's great! Get to do whatever the hell I want whenever I want. No one to answer to but the hubby and myself.

Hope you have a spectacular autumn out there in the desert! Peace out...