Dawn419 & doc's LSTA: Confounded Computer!!!

[Dawn419]

Well, I managed to accomplish more outside this evening than I expected to. The humidity was lower than what it had been and I think that helped!

Got all of the food-bearing beds watered with the soaker hoses and finally got the guinea bed (which is home to my Riesentraube tomatoes and Georgia Jet sweet taters) mulched with a combo of shredded leaves and bunny gold.

I also started re-working the border of one of the "edge beds" in the garden with oak 4 x 4's instead of a thin tree so I can add more mulch to the bed and get the walkway along it covered in sawdust.

Also got the buns' poop trays emptied and will use the gleanings in the above mentioned edge bed.

Tomorrow, I've got no choice but to start harvesting the garlic! on a decent harvest. I think I'm dreading it so much after seeing how puny my moms' looked after we pulled a few of her bulbs for a look a couple weeks ago. She never mulched hers or gave much, if any supplemental waterings so hopefully mine is a bit better.

 

[Wannabefree]

All my stuff has pretty much crapped out in this dry spell. Hope your garlic does well!

 

[Dawn419]

Ugh...just hit 101F, in the shade! It's supposed to be even hotter tomorrow.

The only good thing about no rain since the 11th is that you are supposed to not water your garlic before you harvest it (from what I've read), I just hope I'll be able to get the garden fork in the soil.

Now I've got to figure out just where I'm going to let it all cure. Thought about putting it in the real shed but it doesn't get much air flow so I may just put the bulbs in the empty rabbit cages until I get a drying frame of some sort built on Tuesday (civilized visit at moms' tomorrow). Once I get a frame built, I can set it in the fenced off area between the chicken coop and bun barn. If I get it set up to cure outdoors I'm pretty sure that it just might rain. Hmmmm, I just might be on to something here!

Finally found the Y connector for the garden hoses (that we bought last month) so I was able to water in two places at once yesterday. That sure made life a bit easier, plus cutting time spent watering in half!

Well, I need to get my rear in gear and refresh everyones' waterers. Hope everyone is keeping cool!

 

[pinkfox]

were hot here too, not 101 but im reading 96 in the rabbitry whihc is pretty well shaded...
dont go over doing it now!

 

[Dawn419]

Well, I was just finishing up getting the critters food and water and there will be no garlic being dug this evening because...

We have CHICKS!!!

I think there are atleast 6 of them, atleast thats the ones that I got to see!

Now I'm hoping doc got my message on the phone as I don't have any pine shavings on hand! I really didn't expect ChaChi to pull this off so I didn't bother getting any shavings to have on hand.

Gosh, I'm excited...can you tell?

Will try and get some pix before it gets dark and post them later this evening!

 

[Wannabefree]

SWEET! I has babies in the bator too I like the broody babies better though...nothing cuter than a momma hen with her chicks Congrats!

 

[Dawn419]

This is my first time with a full-term, successful broody hen.

One of the girls went into the "zone" when we lived in TN but didn't go the full term and them we bought a styrofoam Hovabator to do the hatching ourselves. I can honestly say that I didn't have great luck going that route either, but tend to blame it on the shipped eggs and not myself!

By the time I got back outside with the camera, ChaChi had gotten the babies all tucked back under her...where they were safe from the "crazy lady who points that scary black thing that flashes".

Doc got my message and of course WalMart only had small bags of pine shavings, so I did a thick layer of straw on the bottom of the cage and then spread the shavings on top of it. I needed to raise the "floor" up high enough that if the chicks got out of the nest box that they would be able to get back into the nest again.

The box on top will give you an idea of how deep it is:

We draped a towel over the nest box to keep Mom from freaking out while I made the neccessary floor adjustments and doc said she growled the whole time. I can't get over the fact that our not-so-bright hen is such a ferocious mom and I'm so proud of her!

One little brave chick came out to see what all of the fuss was about as we finished up:

We have two of whatever color that one is, two black ones and two chipmunks (that I saw earlier) and will hopefully sneak in a pic of them before we head to moms for our civilized visit later today.

Now I reaaly need to bust butt and get the Chick-n-Barn out of the grasp of the jungle!

 

[Wannabefree]

Cute pics! Glad they are all okay! She sounds like a really good momma

I hope you have a nice visit today

 

[Denim Deb]

AAAhhh.

 

[moolie]

Adorable!