The Story of a Lifetime: Movin' the Coop

Friday, August 01, 2008

Movin' the Coop

The attentive audience...note the donkey to the left

Keepin each other company

With our baby chicks only 2 wks away we are getting closer and closer to having things ready. Since the chicks are 1st to arrive we had to get everything in order for them. And since they are about the easiest of what we are about to do we chose to go ahead and add them since we were, for the most part, ready. The inside is completely cleaned out and ready to mount the roosts in along with the nesting boxes. The 1st nesting box that we have to dismantle and take down from the old small quail coop that has become Fletch's loafing barn had to be put on hold. WE went out to take a look at it and discovered 2 massive black widow nests, both with egg sacks. One was actually attached to the nesting box and he other on the opposite side of the little 1 stall dwelling. WE headed into town yesterday and while there Brad purchased the necessary stuff to kill them all off. Once home and sprayed we learned the egg sacks were very much developmentally mature when a ton of tiny baby black widows took over in every direction from the sack. It didn't take long for the spray to kill them all off. Ugh!!!!! I still have a deep respect for them but I think my absolute terror of them is waning a little.

Now that it is where it'll stay for awhile I am on a mission to get it painted. In the end it'll be red with white trim, along with Fletch's loafing shed. We still also have to take the metal off the door and cover it in chicken wire for ventilation and Brad has to cut out the chicken enter/exit door. We already have the ramp up to it......just got to attach it. So, just little odds and ends. But I'm so excited! We intended to move it with a tractor but after getting right down to it Brad figured the truck would work just as well.....and it did! We probably should've put some weight in the bed of it, as the tires spun ALOT once it got out in the pasture. We haven't had rain in weeks and weeks now so the ground is nothing but dusty dirt with not much traction at all for a vehicle to cling to. It made for a very dusty job but it definitely got it done!!!

Next up......plowing up the fields and digging up the mesquite to clear them out! After that is done we plan on plowing it up for coastal and amending the soil for whatever it needs. Then come dairy goats! Our goal for them is spring so we have awhile before they arrive. It'll take about that long to get the pastures ready. And hopefully at some point in there the gin land will be acquired and we can work on that as we work on the 1st 2 fields.

Actually, on more of a small scale, dig in and get dirty note....next up is the little herb garden. Once we get a new wheelbarrow the children and I have the task of shoveling up an entire bed full of ground cover rocks and discovering the bare earth somewhere mysteriously buried underneath. It will be quite a bit of work but no one knows better than my widening rear end that it desperately needs the hard labor. Once it's shoveled up and cleared of all rocks and the soil ready to be a new herb garden we have plans to picket fence it in to keep rabbits...and dirt loving toddlers....out. So, lots yet still left to do. But it's fun seeing it all come together. Sort of takes the edge off of nesting, I suppose.

We were supposed to have added 4 new kittens but since 2 of them were older they ran back home. They didn't much care for it here and were miserable. So, in t he wee hours of the morning they found their way back home. But these 2 tiny ones remained, with a deep love and affection for our lively household. And we actually added a fish too. Nothing like getting kittens and a fish at the same time. The cobalt blue fish has been deemed Oregano.

Our newest members....Shotgun and Bullet