Melting!

As many of you already know we are living through one of the HOTTEST summers in a long time. We have lost two chickens to the heat, but all of the other animals are doing well. We are checking on the animals several times a day in this heat, making sure that they all have cool water to drink during the day. The garden didn't do as well as I had hoped this year, but that is OK. I am getting ready to plant my fall garden. I grew a new type of cabbage this year that is actually doing very well, it is called

Couer De Beouf Des Vertus. I have NO idea how to pronounce it, but it is growing well, though it is very vulnerable to the c

abbage worm so I have to go out and hand pick the worms and eggs, but I am about to harvest the cabbage and I bet that it will be worth it. I just love cabbage and I am so excited to try this one!

Here is what it looks like. Please be sure to support you local farmers, without you we would soon cease to exist!

Cleaning the Chicken Coop

Winter is a good time to clean out the coop. The weather is cold and I think it makes it easy to tolerate this sometimes unpleasant chore. I didn't mind doing it, I actually enjoy chores around the farm. I love my chickens and I love giving them a nice clean place to lay their eggs, sleep and eat. They don't spend too much time in the coop, because we let them out every day to roam around the farm.

We are planning to make some renovations to the coop. The hen that you see in the picture is sitting on the loft, and I want to change the area underneath the loft into a nursery area for baby chicks, or for a hen and chicks in case any of my hens go broody. I am also going to build nest boxes and we will need another roost too. I can't wait to order more chicks! I am reading a great book right now by one of my favorite authors Carol Ekarius called Storeys Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds. There are lots of great photos and information on chickens. We have decided that we are going to order more laying hens, more broilers to eat and maybe even a few chickens that are rare. Here are some web sites about chicken coops!

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/poultry/factsheets/10.html

http://www.demesne.info/Garden-Help/Keep-Chickens/Planning-Coops.htm

http://www.mybackyardchickenfarm.com/chickencoop.html

http://www.henspa.focuspage.com/Henspa%20Features.htm

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Build-a-Chicken-Coop---6-Crucial-Elements-on-Building-a-Chicken-House&id=477219

http://backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html

http://www.mypetchicken.com/