In for the night. It warmed up to 73, mostly cloudy but more "bright clouds" than dark and grey clouds... Did not get any sprinkles over the course of the afternoon. I wound up in a short sleeved shirt too as the long sleeved T was too warm.
I put leaves in the cornish pen and they are now laying more... got 4 eggs today... 3 yesterday. I have a bag of leaves for the NH pen, but since I put a bunch of sorry looking grapes and some other stuff, will put the leaves in there tomorrow.
Plus, I decided that I was going to get the pen up out of the damp grass and buildup before it rots the bottom. Not getting any help from DS like he has promised and I am tired of asking. So, I got a 2x6 under the front the other day... then I took the weed eater and went around the outside... and got too close to one spot and it did "eat through" the thin wire , so I will have to repair that with another piece of wire mesh.. luckily it was only about 6 inches long so should not be a big deal. Then I took the pointed shovel, scraped all the grass and accumulated stuff from them scratching inside, off the 2x2 along the bottom and used the shovel to scrape all that away from the run. Then I went down the side with the shovel, shoved/dug it under the 2x2 along the side, and pried it up to get some bricks under the boards. I went down every 2 ft or so, and did that so I could get a bunch under it and not wrack it all out of shape. Took some time as I would stand on the shovel handle and it would pick up the 2x2 enough to get a brick under it... then go down further... Used the shovel like a pry bar... From the chickens scratching all the stuff I give them inside, it has broken down, so alot goes through the mesh eventually, and was sitting on top of the 2x2's along the bottom of each panel... since the wire is on the inside of the pen, it gets scratched around and settles just outside the mesh on the frame of the panel.. INVITATION to rotting through.
So the whole thing is up off the ground... yes there are small spaces so an invitation to something getting in there I suppose. But I will see about getting some help to get the treated 2x6's under the 2x2's, to keep it off the ground. I have even considered using 4x4's and making it a more permanent in place pen at this point. I wanted to make this pen moveable, but am thinking it might just be too big and long to do that... The smaller 2 pens that are not as long ought to be able to be moveable... and easier to move. I might use some of the metal flat "braces" to hold the corners and such better to make it more sturdy.
Next is getting the one that the cornish are in up on the treated 2x6's to use as skids. And I intend to put the one I am in the process of putting together , up on the "2x6 skids", before I finish it so that it is done and not trying to "fix it" after the fact. I need to go to Deb's and get the 2 pieces she was trying to make for me, out of where she said they were in the barn...and get this finished.
I also got the panels switched so that the pre drilled holes were in the right places and got the "truss pieces" put together and screwed and bolted into place. Makes it soooo much sturdier. Then I cut the 2x2's that I wanted to use on the "roof" part of the screened top... to make it better to put the vinyl on top and not have it sag so much. Those panels for the roof screened part are about 6 foot by 4 1/2 ft??? I do know that I could not get 2 pieces out of the 2x2x8 ft long ones I got in the bundles... I did not even measure the length.. I just took one 2x2 and laid it where I wanted it, marked the place and cut it... It fit so I went ahead and cut 3 more so I could get the 2 top pieces done BEFORE I put them up... I do have to tack the wire to them just to keep them tighter... that will be tomorrow. I did not have the staple gun there, and it was getting darker and I wanted to finish running the weed eater batteries down and then I could recharge them completely.
So I used the weed eater around a couple places and it "died" rather quickly ... which was fine. I brought the batteries in and they are on charge. Put it away in the shed as there is supposed to be some rain later tonight.
So got the stuff put away, and got the eggs collected... The cornish pen is just dirty... as
@Baymule says, they are dirty birds.. and they do such big piles... I really want to move it around some...
The 2 storm windows that I did all the putty one, seem to be about cured... so the 5 bantams are going to go out in the calf hutch with the one window that I was using as a "door" across the front. Get them off the porch and out of the crate.
DS wants to work the cow/calf pairs through the chute in the morning...around 8 he said.... I guess GF came to the farm this afternoon. So "helped " a little. He said that they got the cows across the lane into the field next to the bulls, that hadn't been grazed, and they went to town. Then when they seemed to be full a couple hours later, he took the skid loader with a little bit of the silage left, and they followed him "across the pipe" and into the lot at the barn.
I am not going to burn tonight so I don't have to stay up late to keep tabs on it. He wants to move the dry cows that have been in the other field there, out to grass for a bit too... may as well get them away from the barn for 2 months... Some are due starting Aug 10th... some not until early Oct... but they are already dry so they would benefit from going out to green grass... That will also let the grass grow back here at the farm so that there will be a little for them to eat when they come back to calve early this fall.
That was my day. I just took a couple small pieces of fish out... I think it is filet of sole... I ahd taken it out of the box and just put the vacuum sealed pkgs on the door... fo some supper...
I also brought in another gallon of tea I put out early this afternoon. As soon as the lemonade thaws, it will go in the fridge.
Going to sit and eat and watch another movie and work on some more paper shredding... junk mail.... and go to bed earlier than last night.
We had a total of 7/10ths of rain over Friday and Saturday's showers/sprinkles. Dumped the rain gauge earlier... That's just under 2 inches for the past week. It is not going to break the drought.. but it is soaking down some... there is dry dusty 6-8 inches down, but that is still better than what it was... Hope we get some more the next couple days... It certainly will help the pasture grass.
Well, supper is ready so going to eat.
