Ramming Heads-First Into The Weekend!
You are strong. You are fierce. You fight for what you believe in. Hard headed? That’s an attribute in our world. — Titania and Puck, who love a good round of head butting
Here’s What’s Happening At Good Spirits Farm
It may be Brat Summer in the rest of the world, but it’s Broody Summer here in these parts. We’ve been hardly getting any eggs at all because every hen seems determined to hide away between hay bales, lay a huge cache of eggs and then scream bloody murder when we—gently—take her off them each night. (Yes, I feel like a huge hypocrite telling them we don’t need any more babies while I tuck them under my arm—next to my own ever-growing baby bump—and carry them back to the chicken house at night. I know they’re thinking: But why do YOU get to have a baby, then???)
And it’s not just the chickens. On Thursday, I was walking Veli out in the field when I noticed a guinea acting strangely. As Veli approached, the guinea advanced, screaming and flapping its wings at her. This bird was ready to brawl. Upon inspection, I saw that the guinea was protecting a nearby guinea hen sitting on, you guessed it, another huge clutch of eggs.
While I don’t need any more chickens, I could use a few more guineas (they are rather dumb, which, sadly, results in them being very short lived). So, I thought: Well, maybe I’ll let her hatch these out. There was only one problem: She was literally in the middle of a big, open field. Prime coyote bait. (See above about the short lives thing.)
I ran through my options: I could try and move her and the eggs into a safe spot. The problem is that my guineas are incredibly feral. Catching her would be hard. And disturbing her this way would likely end in her giving up on the nest. Then I thought about maybe putting chicken wire around her — but that wouldn’t protect her from owls or hawks. Finally it dawned on me: I own exactly the tool for this! The rolling Alumi-Coops!
I bought two of these aluminum coops on wheels back when I was raising turkeys. They have no bottom, just four sides and a roof and a sturdy set of wheels for rotating them through pastures. If we waited until dark, perhaps we could lift it over top of her, then drop it into place.
We got *so* close. Trying to make as little noise as possible, we rolled the coop out of the barn and out into the field. And then we hit a clump of grass so thick and lush it stopped the coop’s wheels in their tracks. By the time we wrestled it free, we’d made enough noise to spook mama off her nest. We dropped the coop over the eggs and left the door open, hoping she’d return.
A late night check revealed no mama on the nest, but by mid-morning the next day, she was back to sitting. I’m not sure if a night off the nest will render her previous efforts moot (it is quite warm here, so hopefully not). Only time will tell. But: At least for now, she’s safe.
We finally got rain this week, and this guy was just as happy about it as I was. I don’t know if there is any finer feeling than watching your fields get a through drenching after weeks without rain. What a gift!
Here’s What I Loved This Week
This sweet book that a friend sent that stars a rabbit on a bicycle (and a host of other cute critters!) The book is all about all the adventures this world holds for our sweet boy, and the fact that he’ll always be able to come home at the end of his adventures. I can hardly wait to read it to him 10,000 times in a row.
