Busy, Busy, Busy

What else is new?  This is a farm, y'all!  Life doesn't stop or take breaks!

Ok, I don't really say y'all.  But I wish I did.

Anyway, yep, it's been busy!  And what have I been doing, you ask?

Well....

"Hey flat bills!"  "Hee hee!  Your bills are flat!"  "What happened, did someone step on them?"

The geese have been busy heckling the new ducklings.

"Seriously.  Leave. Me. Alone."

Fat Black (aka Abigail) has been busy being broody and is setting on anything put under her--a plastic Easter egg, a golf ball, etc.  Finally I decided that she needs to put all the broody energy to good use and went to another local farm who has scads of chickens and picked her up 3 fertile eggs.  I'll let you know if anything comes of it.  At least she's working, though.

I've been busy building a new rabbit hutch for Bunnicula, who's been busy chasing Robert all around the world and beating him up.  Dopey.  I don't know what's gotten into him, but I think it has something to do with Petunia. 

The guinea keets have been busy escaping and not coming back.  One has returned, and I caught it to feed it and give it water because it was STARVING, and that caused it to eat and drink and then be busy screaming its fool head off, because it didn't want to be caught and was doing just fine on its own, don't ya know.

The kids have been busy going to half-day summer camp in town, which is great because then I can be busy playing my fiddle and they can be busy not hearing me do it.  By the way, I've kicked Home on the Range's butt, and am working on the next tune.  Woo hoo!

And the kittens?  They've been busy, too.  They've been-er-busy conserving energy.

I swear: they ARE alive.

I am proud to say, though, that they can catch flies out of mid air.  That's got to count for something.

That's not all, though.  The biggest, and most exciting news I have is that we built a chicken coop!  A HUGE one!  We went from this:

Which is lovely and built beautifully, but is really tight even for 9 chickens, to this:

A 64 square foot multi-colored (currently) behemoth!  It's beautiful!  I am calling it the Dream Coop, because I couldn't have asked for anything better.

This baby features a large chicken door that faces the wired run,

 a nice-sized person door on the opposite end that I can go in and out of,

And not one, not two, not three, but FOUR 8 foot perches! 

 

And one short, low perch for the Silkie and the roos, because they don't like to fly up high.

5 perches altogether!  Holy cow!  And still room to spare!  It will eventually also feature 12 nest boxes, but I'm still in the construction stages for that.  The rabbit hutch has to come first.  Stupid Bunnicula.

Can you believe it?  It is so wonderful, I can't even explain how happy I am with it.  It's as of yet unfinished, of course.  It's multicolored because I can't pick a color to go with.  And it's not trimmed, and the windows aren't on, but it will be done soon.  But it's workable so that everyone can live in it and not get rained on or eaten while I pretty it up.  Hurray!

Best part?  We built this with our friends and family.  My brother designed it (with very minimal input from me), and our family and friends came from all around to help build it.  It was a great day.  We talked, joked, laughed, ate, and worked like maniacs.  We never could have done it without everyone's help.  And I love the coop all the more because of it. 

There is something so satisfying about having a coop that you can comfortably fit your chickens in.  It's kind of like the relief I feel when I get the crops planted after having them juggling in small pots for so long.  You put them in the ground, and you feel like "Hey, there it is.  Finally.  Safe and sound"  Same thing here.  It gives me great pleasure to see all the little chicken butts on their perches in that house.  Safe and sound. 

Ahh.  Really, it doesn't get better than this.  It just doesn't.