Well, I never got out there and hooked up my light to the chicken coop.  It is definitely on the to do list today.  Sarah only collected 8 eggs this morning (didn’t do it yesterday, as parental supervision was minimal).  Two were fairy eggs.  I have been giving the fairy eggs away, as they are very small and some don’t have a yolk.  I have another dozen!  I just gave away an 18 pack away on Monday from last week.  Chickens need to get it figured out!  At 2230 last night I stepped out the front door on my way to lock the chickens up, I was assaulted by a horrific odor.  Another skunk.  Now I had been contemplating not locking up the chickens.  This whole locking them up every night is getting old.  I feel like a child who sleeps with closet door closed.  If I forget to close the door the bogey man will get me (or my chickens).
 That $200 for the automatic door is starting to sound more affordable every day.  Especially, if I get the chicken numbers back up over 50 laying hens.  I quickly changed my plans, went back in and grabbed the Walther P22 pistol.  When I loaded it, I realized I had not changed the clip after the latest round of executions, so I slipped in a fresh clip.  Hitting a moving target in the dark is not easy, especially when it is a skunk and distance is a serious issue.  I sulked out the front door armed and ready, as I flashed my high power flashlight around, I spotted glowing eyes everywhere!!!  The orchard was full of them.  I spotted 5 deer before I quit counting.  No skunks. Over by the coop I pulled a bead on my favorite new kitty “mouse killer”.  He is all black and was running toward me.  Luckily for him, my finger is my safety, and I did not have my finger on the trigger, it was laying along the body of the pistol.  Chickens were golden.  I flashed the light around through the chicken door.  They muttered at the intrusion.  The hen that is trying to hatch one egg was still in her nest box and our Polish hen was sitting in the opening to one other nest box.  I figure if those two are alive then all is good.  They are the easiest to snack on, as they are the closest to the ground.

Here is mouse killer’s picture.  He was batting around some poor mouse this morning on the front porch.  Luckily, for the mouse, it was dead.

mouse killer

I took the dead skunk up to the boneyard to drop it off.  It stunk something fierce.  Sarah refused to come with me, I offered to trade her jobs, but she wasn’t biting.  I drove the mile up to the boneyard and jumped out to empty the trap.  I lifted one end of the trap and attempted to shake the skunk out onto the ground.  It would not come out, so I shook harder.  Thing would still not fall out and the stink was all over me and getting worse.  So I turned the trap over and looked to see what was hanging up the body.  Damn skunk had sunk its teeth into the cage in its death throes.  Its jaws were locked onto the cage!  Didn’t want to get more stink on me, so I just rolled the cage around till it fell loose.  I then had to shake all the dirt out of the cage also.  It stank something fierce.  I didn’t want to leave the dirt in the cage, it was contaminated with smelly spray.  I hosed out the cage when I got back to the house.  Set the trap on the other end of the chicken coop enclosure.  For everyone who thinks I am cruel, the trap is less than six feet from my chicken enclosure.  The predators are choosing to die by scouting my chickens.  Just avoid the chickens and you will live a healthy and long life.

When I went out to lock the chickens up after dark and bait the live trap the moon was out.  I ran back in and took some pictures.  I noticed afterwards that I have something on my camera lens.  I cleaned it and tried it again.  Slightly better, but I still have a few spots that show up.  May have to take it to a camera shop if this persists.

This is the old wooden grainary at night. hard to believe it is lit by moonlight only.

This is the tree behind the chicken coop.  It is amazing how light it can be with the moon.  I had to come inside and shower after dealing with the skunk and I still smell it occasionally, even now.

Dumb chickens only gave us 9 eggs today.  Definitely need to get that artificial light going inside the coop.

I caught another predator this morning.  It started out simple, let the dogs out to pee, since I was up and outside I decided to let the chickens out.  That was when I noticed the skunk in our live trap.  Now they make a live trap for skunks, it is far smaller than mine.  I cannot catch big raccoons if I use the smaller skunk trap.  Know why the skunk trap is smaller?  It is so they cannot lift their tail.  If they can not lift the tail then they don’t spray.  Hence no bad smell.  Unfortunately, I cannot just cruise on up to the live trap, lift it and carry it away.  I would get sprayed.  So I had to stand way, way back and shoot it.  Every time I shoot a skunk they spray, there is just no way around it.  I am going to have to go out way later today and empty the trap up at the boneyard.  The smell is palpable!  I was having a hard time breathing because I could taste the smell.  Not very pleasant.  Then Annmarie and I heard some meowing (she had come outside after she heard the gunshot).  One of our kittens had somehow gotten into the back of the chicken coop and was stuck up on a rafter.  While I was getting the ladder, she coaxed it into coming over to her while she was standing on top of the nesting boxes.  I was not needed.

I got to spend a little time in the chicken coop tonight.  Sarah was feeding the chickens and she found a mouse in the chicken food garbage can.  Now, since I have instructed the child multiple times to place the lid back on the metal trash can I was less than sympathetic.  I told her to pop it with the plastic container, scoop it up and toss it outside for the cats.  I went outside and worked on the sprinkler system for the chicken yard.  Sarah hit the mouse multiple times to no avail.  She ended up getting a second container and trapping the mouse and then taking it outside for our cuddly kitten (about 14 weeks old).  The mouse took off running, it was no match for a wily outside cat.  No more mouse.  I need to add a couple more sprinklers to the chicky yard.  My new grass died from lack of water to the appropriate spots. 


  I am getting several small eggs a week now.  So hopefully my production from the chickens will start back up again.   It is almost time to get the timer and light going again.  The chickens need 17 hours of light/day to maintain peak production.  I use a timer and a cheap light (40W).  I had unplugged the extension cord to the coop to use for my new electric weed eater.  So after this weekend, I will put it back.  After September, I should have time to wire the chicken coop with power.  Lots of jobs, just no time to finish them.  

There are times when nothing gets done.  Work has been crazy (I volunteered to teach some classes and drive a metaphorical bus, more work), we are getting ready for the Swim team major fundraiser in 4 weeks and there is no time left for anything else.  So the farm is on cruise.  Now that has not prevented the sheep from getting out every day.  I left the barn door open and I think they are jumping into the barn and running out the other side.  The momma and her babies are still crawling under the fence where it crosses the creek (I am gonna fix that today with a hog wire panel).  The teenage chickens have started to lay.  In the last two weeks we have gotten over a dozen fairy eggs (very small eggs with no yolks).  I gave them all to one of my original local egg customers.
My baby chicks are running around in their outside enclosure.  I had switched my drip sprinklers to a new rotary style drip sprinkler.  Damn things won’t turn.  Total waste of $2.  So now I am going to scavenge parts off of those and use in my old ones.

Here are the sheep cooling off next to the old wood shed.  They love leaning up against the concrete on a hot day.  The chicken is a Silver Laced Wyandotte.  They are pretty fragile as chicks but I am having good luck with them as adults (if they live to adulthood).