My day–at least the daylight hours–begins and ends with chickens. The automatic door that is supposed to open and close with the daylight simply refuses to work. I have to uncover the small door in the morning so they can get into the yard and then cover it at dusk after they have settled into the henhouse on the roost. My husband has tried to fix it numerous times and it works for a little while and then stops. We should probably just give up and buy a new one. But, I don’t really mind checking in with the chickens each day.
In the morning, I feed them and give them fresh water and just check them over. At night, I count them. That’s how I discovered we were missing a Rhode Island Red. Today, we found a small pile of feathers in the barn yard and think a hawk probably got her. We had a small group of chickens that were getting out each day and I had started free ranging the others in the evening. But they were doing pretty severe damage to the garden and I don’t want to lose any more to predators.
So, yesterday, we finished netting the top of the hen yard. It seemed to keep everyone in today but we shall see. Chickens are good at getting out, especially when they know there are rows of greens just outside the pen.
I managed to get out and grab some fall photos before the hurricane blew the leaves from the trees:
1. Across the Lawn, 2. Chicken and Mum, 3. In the Maple, 4. Farm Propaganda, 5. Cosmos Up Close, 6. Wyandotte, 7. The Carpet, 8. Magnolia Pod, 9. Flock, 10. Blackeyed Susan Vine, 11. Cosmos, 12. Pineapple Sage, 13. The Last of the Garden, 14. The Farm in Autumn, 15. Rhode Island Red, 16. Carpet of Leaves, 17. Hello Dolly!, 18. Cosmos, 19. Untitled, 20. Many Colors