Taking it easy

I'm really enjoying this nice break from the summer heat today. What started out as a rainy, grey morning has really blossomed into a beautiful day.

Last night brought hours of cooling rain, and this morning the temperature is comfortable, the air is breezy, and the sounds of cicadas and songbirds are filling the yard. The animals are all fed, the dogs are napping, and life seems calm.

After the last three days of working overtime on the doghouse, I'm especially content to just whittle the day away with photo-taking, yogurt-making, and the occasional hammock nap.

Even the chickens have to take it easy today. They are on lockdown in their coop for the rest of the afternoon, after several days of hiding their eggs in the woods. I didn't even get a single white egg the past two days, and I know I have at least three white egg-layers that are producing. Also, I think one of my Ameracaunas is due to lay any day now, and I want her to get in the good habit of laying in the nest box right from the start.

In other chicken news, we officially have a rooster here at the farm. Little Boots turned out to be a rooster, and he gave his first pitiful cock-a-doodle-doo two mornings ago. He's not a particularly loud or mean rooster, but he is the smallest chicken of the bunch, which limits his effectiveness as a flock guardian. I'm not sure yet whether he will stay or go, but if anyone is looking for a young White Sultan rooster... let me know.

A large box of hatching eggs also arrived in the mail this morning! They are Speckled Sussex eggs from a breeder in Georgia. I had planned to set them under my broody Polish hen, but when I moved her nest into the coop, it broke her broody cycle and she abandoned the nest. So, these little ones will be raised in the incubator instead. I should also be receiving a box of Ameracauna mix hatching eggs within the next week as well. In three weeks, this place will be hopping with day-old chicks!

I only want to keep a few for my own flock, so I'll be selling the majority of the Sussex and the Ameracauna-mix babies. If anyone local is interested, again please contact me. If all else fails, they'll be advertised on Craigslist and the Backyard Chickens forum. But like they say... don't count your eggs before they hatch! This is my first time incubating eggs, so I'm not expecting a full hatch. Heck, I'll be happy if ANY of the eggs hatch!

There's always something going on over here. It's a circus, but it's a good circus.