Egg Eating Rat Snake

Today at lunch, while checking on our chickens my husband almost stepped on a huge black snake by the coop door. It was trying to enter the coop like we were; looking for eggs. I have been shorted an egg a day for the last 2 weeks. Not being prepared to kill, the snake took off before I could whack it with a stick. It seated itself under the coop and evaded the eyes of 4 adults after a hay lunch hunt. We moved all the hay bales to find this snake.

This evening I did my usual chicken check and there was the same snake, parked above the chickens in the coop rafters. The chicken wire was keeping him at bay. This time we were armed with an maul, shovel and a hard rake. The snake was huge, black and angry for being poked out of the rafters. My husband poked the snake and got the snake to fall onto the ground. Then I jumped in to end its life. But a final blow from the maul did the deed.

I hate to kill any living thing, I even like snakes. But this big one was determined to make a feast out of our eggs and chicks since we don't have any rodents around. I don't want to have to do this again. It is not a nice feeling ending the life of one of God's creatures.

Happy Chicks

Our chicks are growing up fast. They enjoy the freedom of running all over the coop. There has been a huge black snake under our coop stealing eggs. We are gunning for him after letting him slip away. We will have to keep an eye open for him.

Dirt Bath

Having seen the older chickens take dirt baths I figured the chicks would like the same. The Silver Wyandottes dove right into the pan of dirt. The best thing ever on a hot day.

Beefy Deck

Our deck got an upgrade in design accents. We love the western look our deck now has.

Chicks week 4

The chicks were getting too large and smelly to keep inside the house. Even changing their litter once a day was not enough. So with the warm weather we decided to put all 23 chicks in the big coop. They get to see and hear the adult chickens but are safely housed away from them. They have all kinds of room to run around in and windows. They will get to run outside after we mow the chicken yard. And their new nest boxes are on their way. These are going to be very happy hens.

And the color is Pecan

Here is a stained board showing the color our log cabin will be. Mark, our contractor, stained this sample and tacked it up for us. It will soften and lighten after a while. Very exciting!

Humid Day

A humid day on the farm with Osa the shepherd, Daisy in the trailer and Poppy looking above it all.

Four Flycatchers

Here are the 4 baby birds we moved to a safe new nest. They were on the gable end of our house and construction required removing the nest. They are safe now in a plastic gourd with one of the pair of parents watching and feeding them.

Slow Moving Monday

This turtle is moving fast than I am today. I am all worn out from water proofing the hen house. Getting our coop ready for 23 young pullets is hard work in the humid heat of Sunday. My plan is to keep inside and quilt for the rest of the week.