Caught Up… For now.

This has been a good week. We actually got caught up on all of our school work so that we ended the week “on schedule.” The boys worked really hard and we were able to be much more efficient since I was able to put Atlas in the crate when he would start showing too much playfulness towards his charges. It really helps with our productivity to be able to remove the distraction of having to go check on them every few minutes! As much as I truly enjoy just sitting in my chair in the yard watching these critters, there is schoolwork and housework and farmwork to be done.

By the end of the week, Atlas had earned much longer stints out of the crate and out among his birds. In fact, Friday, he only went in for a short period in the morning and then was out the WHOLE day without incident. Good boy, Atlas!

I’m typing this as we are headed down to Atlanta for Jackson to compete with his Aero Youth Triathlon Club in the IronKids Alpharetta. He has worked so hard this summer and improved so much! I am excited for him to have this opportunity. To be honest, at the beginning of the week, I wasn’t sure how we were going to do it. I am so grateful to my parents – they are going to take care of things for us as we make this super-fast trip. I just pray that Atlas will cooperate. When we left this morning, he was out and just napping while the ladies were out doing their typical scratch, scratch, peck, peck. Hopefully, the day will continue, and they won’t cause any drama for the Grands 🙂 Update: Just got a text from home… everyone is accounted for and tucked in for the night! SUCCESS!!!

I am grateful to have a flexible nature! When we initially planned this trip, I was going to leverage my homeschool flexibility and head down to Atlanta early in the week to hit some Civil War historical field trip opportunities. That, however, assumed that the new chickens weren’t going to be so “new” to Atlas and be seen as such a novelty. Once I realized there was going to be more integration training necessary I realized we’d just have to make it a quick trip. C’est la vie.

I did make an important observation about the interactions of my farm critters this week. The new hens don’t do themselves any favors. Atlas, the Livestock Guardian in Training (a.k.a puppy) likes to play. When they go flitting across the yard flapping their wings all willy-nilly, it is sort of like calling “Hey Atlas, catch us if you can!” Of course he’s going to run after them! Yes, he has to be corrected, but it is easy to see why these new birds have presented such a training opportunity. They are also loud. Lots of chattery cackling going on when they are in the yard. SO different from the other two.

The old guard are very laid back and pretty quiet. Except, they (especially the red one) are definitely making it known they are higher up the pecking order. “Red” will make a beeline across the yard sometimes when the other hens are at the feeder. No drama, just when she shows up, they scatter. And, they stalk Atlas’ food dish. They both do it. When they hear the food rattle in the pan, they come just as sure as Atlas (if not more). They will pace around while he eats, and the moment he leaves they are in. I pick it up when he’s done because I think it would get expensive to feed the chickens dog food. Thanks to Elaine’s suggestion, I started feeding him at night after all the hens are up so he can eat in peace.

This week will be yet another learning experience… we are expecting our original chickens – 6 4-week old juvenile birds: 3 buff orpingtons and 3 rhode island reds. They’ll be in a separate run/coop in the yard which should make it easier. “Should” being the operative word… If I’ve learned nothing else, it is that nothing ever goes as planned/expected 🙂 But, you know, life is still better when you’re up with the chickens!

Have some more pics to close out this post…