We had three hawks (two full grown Red Tailed Hawks and one smaller [about half the size]) circling over the coop today! We were out on our deck trying to rig up a portable greenhouse for the poor tomatoes when I spotted the first hawk with a wing span of about four feet across circling just above the tree line of the nursery trees (about 15 - 20 feet tall). One by one, the hawks circled for about three minutes before moving on once they realized that they had no easy access into the run and humans were nearby. The chickens were totally in view of the hawks, so I'm guessing that the peeps could also see those big soaring chicken eaters in the sky!
The chickadees have finally figured out the ramp. After my "training" the other day, and then D did some additional training yesterday, they have it all figured out. When the rain storm hit us today, they wasted no time scurrying up the ramp and skooting into their nice warm nesting box to snuggle together.
There has been almost a half inch of intermittent rain early this morning and today. I noted a few saturation points in the coop along the base of the doors. So I picked up some more rubber weatherization to add to the floor around the doors. Remember, the other day, the rain totally filled up the feeder with water (making a delightful soup) which wasn't too appealing to the chickens. The feeder is now hanging from the middle of the coop floor "joists" and despite the rain blowing in from a variety of different directions today, the feeder stayed dry.
I must say, that it certainly does not feel like we are having 17 hours of daily sunlight this week. The cloud cover today has been so thick, it basically looks like the Sun already set an hour before actual sunset (in 10 minutes) and twilight is simply "no light" at this point. A very disappointing summer solstice. I just hope summer weather shows up soon!
