Save the Chickens

Our poor chickens have been under attack since the weekend of Thanksgiving.  I started out with 40 or so in early fall and today I counted 20, 18 hens and 2 roosters.  Back in late summer we had to put our livestock guardian dog down. I guess I didn't truly appreciate all that Lance did to protect the flock, but I am beginning to get it.  Predation is worse in winter anyway, and apparently something or several somethings are treating our unguarded, free-range flock as its own private buffet. 

I do think part of the losses are from aerial predators.  We have seen hawks about, both red tails and chicken hawks.  And we hear owls.  We have also seen fox, coyote, raccoon and bobcat in the area at times not to mention domestic dogs and cats, so there is no shortage of predators around.

So yesterday when I found yet another clump of owner-less feathers in the snow, I decided enough was enough.  I inventoried what we had around to work with and came up with a plan to quickly attach a run to the hen house.  I firmly believe that chickens allowed to really free range are healthier and produce better eggs, but I guess they would prefer confinement to a house and run rather than say, being dead. 

First I cleaned the bedding out of the house, put it in the composter and replaced it with clean.  I usually use recycled paper shreds from the school for bedding, but this time I used some very old hay that had been stored in the barn too long to be any good for feed.  Next I used a section of our portable electric fence to make the run.  It was difficult to stick the posts in the frozen ground, but doable.  I doubled the fence around twice because it was too long and I didn't want to cut it.  I figured double fencing couldn't hurt anyhow.  Finally, I stretched bird netting tightly over the run and attached it to the fence with cable ties.  Last time I tried the poultry net fencing, my chickens just flew right over it any time they felt like it, so hopefully the top netting will keep them in as well as "death from above" out.



I managed to persuade most of the chickens that this was a good idea.  I still have four renegade hens to capture somehow, but that is a job for another day.

The horses were extremely curious about this new arrangement and were totally in the way during the whole project.  They are inspecting the finished project in the photo above.



A view from about halfway up the hill.  Still plenty of snow here, but it is starting to melt.



Deep and Crisp and Even...

We had snow here on Christmas, and the day after that, and all night last night.  In fact it was still snowing this morning, but it has now finally stopped. We measured 9 inches total.  The sun is out now and the whiteness of it is dazzling.

Christmas Week


The shopping is done, the presents are wrapped. This week is about cooking the foods that have become traditional in our family, enjoying the season together and taking time to reflect on the real significance of the holiday. I thought I'd share a few photos.

Our Tree

The Mantel is Dressed in a Woodland Theme this year

My Santa Collection

A December Sunset from our Porch

Season's Greetings From

Pleasant Places Farm

Gloria Dei Y'all
I think I will spend today unashamedly in my pajamas.  Around noon I have to get ready to go out into the real world, but until then, I am here by my fire and my Christmas tree trying to think great thoughts and trying not to see that the floor needs vacuuming.
In truth, I am not much of a great thought thinker. I have friends who are and their blogs sort of make me envious.  But no, while I occasionally have flashes of profundity, I am mostly a do-er.  My thoughts tend to run more toward the everyday-- how to keep the goats in the fence or stretch a food budget.  And the only thing that is profound about me today is the profound sense of gratitude to God that I feel sitting here warm and dry by the fire, my every need met, my family intact, my land stretching out below me.
Today started out under a sheet of ice but a relatively warm rain is finally melting the frozen stuff away and Pleasant Places is wrapped in a thick, foggy blanket.  Another few months, weeks even, of this and I may be planning a trip to the Keys, but for now it is pleasant to sit and listen to the rain hit the metal roof of the back porch, the slightly damp logs hiss in the fireplace and the clock tick in the back room. 
I was thinking last night about the fact that probably few if any read this blog.  Pretty sure even my own mom and my husband don't read it.  But I decided that was OK.  Some things are worth doing whether anyone else takes notice or not.  I have tried to live by that principle, so I will write by it as well.  Some things you do for yourself and because God grants you the ability to do it.  You do it because it expresses who you are and that brings glory to Him as your creator.
At various times in my past I have tried patterning myself after those I admire.  And I have tried working to please others and live up their expectations. Mostly, it doesn't work and  even when I do seem to pull it off, it leaves me exhausted.  Thankfully, in recent years  I have begun to receive from the Lord the exquisite grace to just be myself.  I serve Him best and others best by just being my best self.  That's pretty freeing.

Day 3...
One snow day is awesome.  It's unplanned, a gift.  I feel perfectly justified in spending it however I choose.  Two days, well, I start looking around for work to do.  Yesterday I made up the school menus for January, cleaned a bathroom, wrapped up some more presents, stacked in some more firewood...it was productive.  But day 3, while not exactly unwelcome, begins to feel a little confining.  I literally can't get out because my husband has to take the four wheel drive truck to get to his job which for some reason never takes a snow day.  So I plot a course to make the most of this third day: write blog, an hour or so of yoga (I used the first two snow days as an excuse to skip the exercise and I am beginning to feel it), bake some bread, more firewood...well, we'll see how that all goes.
Yesterday was one of those beautiful, frigidly crystalline days.  The sky was as clear and blue as I have seen it.  And while it wasn't warm, I think it got up to freezing only very briefly, it wasn't so windy.  The power of the sun interests me on such days.  It marks it's territory on every southern facing slope, scratching off the snow.  I walked down to the southern end of the pasture to check and make sure our spring wasn't freezing over , and I could feel the temperature rise. 
The temperatures quickly fell back into the teens yesterday evening though and very little of the snow actually melted.  DH says the secondary roads are still quite icy and our neighbor slid off of our road twice yesterday evening trying to get up it.  So I do understand why there is no school yet again today.
Today, the sky is gray and heavy looking again as we brace for another round of weather; freezing rain is predicted this time. If that hits then we may be out again tomorrow, and at that point I say, why bother?  Christmas vacation starts Friday afternoon.
I don't see Charlie Cat this morning.  Yesterday he was outside the door when I got up waiting to take his place beside the fire I had just built.  I tried to keep the cats in on Monday night when it was coldest and windiest, but they weren't cooperative at all and had to be put out.  I left the shed open for them and I think L.B. has been sleeping in there but not Charlie.  Charlie probably went back down to the barn to sleep in the hay, but I would feel better if I saw him and knew he was safe.
The horses are a lot more active since the addition of Domingo.  They were up here at the top of the pasture this morning.  How beautiful they look against the snow.  They seem to be enjoying the cold weather.
Looks like the fire needs feeding and I should get a move on "the plan" for today.

First Snow!

It started snowing yesterday morning and by afternoon was beginning to accumulate. By nightfall, the wind was howling and driving the snow against the house like a real blizzard. We awoke this morning to about five inches of the white stuff, the powdery, squeaky kind. It is still snowing now , off and on.

I got up the courage to suit up and head to the barn around 11, worried about the animals in the cold. The constant battle in these temps is keeping water available. The horses have a de-icer in their bucket, but the chickens, mostly huddled in their house, were out of water. I refilled, gathered the eggs and quickly made my way up the hill in the driving snow.

Charlie, one of the cats, insisted that the barn was not warm enough and accompanied me up the hill. He whined all the way, belly dragging the snow. I guess I'd whine too.

I know five inches of snow to a lot of folks is nothing, but here in the south snow is always an event. And this much in December is unheard of. Schools are closed today and they may well be tomorrow. It's not that we don't know how to drive in it, it's that we choose not to. Much nicer to declare an impromptu holiday and sit around the fire drinking coffee and catching up on pleasant tasks. There's a sort of license that goes with snow days to do things normally frowned upon. Right now I am sitting around in furry house booties and purple long johns wondering if I could pass them off as leggings should anyone be brave enough to venture up the driveway. And I am thinking how very many simple blessings I enjoy--a warm house and clothes, a crackling fire, a sparkling Christmas tree and a snow-covered mountain farm.