After getting the interior fence in, things have settled down A LOT in the chicken yard. Atlas is much happier with his freedom to run and not be confined to his crate while we are gone or cannot be watching. The chickens seem quite content – although Dominique the Barred Rock decided to take a flight into Atlas territory the first evening when we fed Atlas. She was a little perturbed to not have access to his dish, I guess. LOL!
Two of the Black Stars did find a gap in the fencing under the coop for us. I was so surprised that day when they started carrying on with their distress calls. At first we assumed they had flown out, but when we put them back in we watched them immediately go back to the gap and exit. Noted. Fixed.
One thing the Black Stars escape showed us is that our 50+ pound livestock guardian is still very much a PUPPY. He may not look so much like a puppy anymore, but he sure wanted those birds to play with. My mom says perhaps he just knew they belonged inside the fence and was doing his job. I’m going with puppy on this one.
All in all, it has been quiet and peaceful with the critters. It has made me realize how much more time I have to do things around and in the house when I am not out with Atlas on his leash worried that he’ll have to stay too much of the day in the crate. I’ve actually gotten to clean house (yay!), start – and finish – a sewing project within a week (found some neat rooster-motif fabric at Jo-Ann’s Columbus Day sale!), start making bread for our family, continue working on my quilt that I started in 2002, and take an afternoon to head to out for an impromptu trip to the Nashville History Festival!
We did have a little scare last week with the baby chicks. With all the rain we had, it turns out the CamperCoop™ was not providing the protection from dampness that was needed. The little ladies were struggling, and we were worried about coccidiosis. We brought them in for several days to dry out and give them some medicine. They are thriving again, and we are still keeping them inside at night, but have refreshed the coop and are letting them enjoy these sunny days outside.
I will really be glad for the chicks to be big enough to start incorporating them in the main chicken yard/coop. We made a Pet Porter tunnel in the garage (two of them end to end with a chicken wire pass through) to give them more space when they are in at night. They seem to have taken a growth spurt while they were recuperating… they don’t all fit in one dog crate any more. Ryan has to go in and retrieve them one at a time in the morning so we can move them out, but it is worth it for them to stay healthy!
Until next time… we are staying busy here on the farm! Here are some pics from our adventures of late (and yes, I realize I didn’t include any Atlas pics this time… these are more about non-chicken/dog projects 😉