wish it would rain

The sun is trying to break through low clouds here- I wish it wouldn’t.  I was hoping for some rain last night, it’s been about 2 weeks now since we had any.  Just before we turned over to the 11 pm news last night a tornado warning flashed across the screen.  A small cell had popped up just to our north and west.  It was unusual that late at night with no watchs posted and it got the weatherman all excited.  A waterspout had formed over a lake and moved on to land making it a weak tornado but it quickly fizzled out before it got here.

 They had said there might be hail over our area from the storm and I went out in the dark to check things out. Although we had been leaving the light on in the back of the barn to attract the guinea hens and turkeys inside for the night they insist on sleeping outside.  The baby ducks which usually do come inside were outside also.  So I was glad there was no hail but rain would have been nice.

 Guinea fowl are strange creatures.  They are very noisy also.  I’ve learned that females make a two syllable call and males a one syllable call.  Otherwise they look pretty much alike.   Any little thing sets them off and they sound like a flock of strange geese or hoarse dogs yakking away. 

 Our young turkeys, destined to be holiday meals, have become very tame.  They follow me around the bird pasture and if I sit to watch the birds they come up and stand on my shoes and peck at me.  Big Tom the old turkey male pretty much ignores them.   Both of his adult hen friends are again setting on eggs, one in my corn patch and the other in a flower garden.  I have had to water those gardens but nothing makes them move.  I hope for their sakes they finally hatch some turkey chicks.  They have both hatched chickens for us but we took them away of course.

 We have sold off all of the excess hens, the frizzle babies are in their permanent home and the replacement hens are in the back horse stall with a screened opening on both sides for the old hens to get acquainted with them.  The coop wall shares a wall with the one horse stall.  The bottom half is solid but the top is covered with wire.  Last night when I was checking before the storm I saw that one young hen had gotten over the wire and was perched on a roost next to the older hens.  Instant integration!  But she was back home this morning with the other youngsters.

 We opened up part of the area around the pond to the horses since their pasture was dried out and not re-growing because it’s been hot and dry.  We put some hot wire up across the section leading to the apple trees and the gate to the pond because we wanted to let the ducks come and go and keep the horses out of the green apples.  Those buggers walked all away around the top edge of the pond which is a narrow, steep and brushy strip to get around to the apples.  We put hot wire on the other side of the trees so when they walk around they are stopped.  This morning Lily must have waded around the hot wire in the pond (which we extended 4 foot into the pond), because there she was on the other side. 

 The bank she climbed up was steep and she seemed reluctant to go back down so I ended up leading her through the chicken pasture all through the yard and around to her old pasture.  The brat better not be back there tonight.  The old saying that grass is always greener on the other side of the fence must have pertained to horses.

 I’ve been watering the garden but rain is always better.  Our corn is making ears and I can’t wait for some fresh sweet corn.  Baby potatoes are ready too.  I can’t keep up with the weeding because all my time is devoted to watering, water makes the weeds grow- it’s a vicious circle.  All the flowers are blooming early because of the heat - nothing will be left soon.

 Summer just goes by so fast.  

hot times

Well after stating that I intended to blog more often, I haven’t.  I could use problems with internet dial up services as an excuse but I’ll just say I didn’t follow through.  I did enter a 24 hour short story contest this week, and while I completed the story in no time, I had to sweat out whether my phone would come back on in time to send it.  It did and that is now behind me.

 It’s easier to stay inside and write now that the weather is hot and muggy and today- peppered with thunderstorms.  I need to move some chickens and ducks around in the barn but I don’t want to stress them and me in this heat.  We had all the meat chickens butchered a few days ago which leaves us with a little room to spread out the rest of the birds.  Some of those birds- at 49 days- were the size of small turkeys and I am not exaggerating.   It’s amazing how selective breeding has transformed these broiler birds. 

 When we first started raising meat birds it took about ten weeks - sometimes longer- to produce a nice bird from broiler stock.  Now about 18 years later it takes about 6 weeks- at least we could have butchered last week and had decent sized birds.  I saw a number of broilers at the butchering facility that were from the new “Red Ranger” meat stock.  They sort of looked like red barred rocks, or maybe New Hampshire’s a little.   I saw one butchered out and the carcass looked pretty good but I had a feeling the birds were a few weeks older than the broilers we brought in.  They are supposed to do well on pasture.

 I don’t think you save money raising your own chickens but they were every bit as tasty as store bought birds and they were fed a good natural feed with no antibiotics.  Plus the meat wasn’t pumped full of salty water before we cooked it.  Our 10 pound  roasters were all real meat, no additives.

 Well the barn swallows have left their nest and I turned the baby mallards loose to find their way back to the wild.  For a few days they never left the pond.  Now they are back up in the chicken pasture hanging out with Mr. Muscovy duck.  They seem less nervous and scared than they were in their pen.  The baby muscovy ducks have not been allowed outside yet, they are growing like crazy - but I gave them a big rubber horse pan to swim in.  Soon I am moving them outside to a pen.

 The guineas are starting to make their weird little guinea noises.  They too need to be turned loose soon.  The red turkey disappeared for most of the days last week and I had to hunt down her new nest.  It was right beside the road, under a small bush, a very unsuitable place.  I tried to move her and the eggs but that turned into a disaster of cracked eggs.  The dark turkey hen is sitting on a nest in the middle of the corn patch- a small bit more acceptable.  After a few days the red hen is sneaking off again.  We saw her coming out of one of the bushy garden beds I have so I suppose that’s the new nest spot.  She can stay there.

 I don’t know if the tom we got is doing his job or not, although I have seen them mating.  He is still a scruffy thing, with most of his belly bare.  Hopefully a few more weeks of good food and care will see an improvement in him.  The hens are egg laying machines though- as good as the chickens almost.

What is quite interesting is the baby silky-frizzle crosses which I understand are called sizzles.  They are turning out quite pretty although I can’t sex them yet.    They probably won’t lay well but I think I’ll keep a few.