May 21, Day 20

We had our housewarming/chick viewing yesterday. Pat S., who is a director of professional development, brought a motivational mobile for the girls, which we hung on the light stand. Pat’s birthday is in September, and she hopes to be harvesting eggs as close as possible to that day. She might be more excited about it than we are!

Pat's motivational mobile to inspire our chickens to be good layers

Foxgloves

The housewarming was interrupted at intervals by scattered thundershowers. We were glad for the rain, but we could have used more. Despite periodic downpours, the total precipitation was less than 0.2”. An inch would have been better. As I often tell Terry when he is thinking wishfully about the weather, rain is not like financial assistance—it is not awarded according to need. Wishing does not make it so. The foxgloves bloomed just in time for the party. They are doing very well this year.

The chicks are starting to get their combs. The Dominiques are showing the most growth in this area. One of the Dominiques has learned to sit on top of the feeder. Ingrid has to share. It is time we got serious about naming the chickens. I noticed that the two Brahma differ in the amount of pigment developing on the top of their beaks. The Araucana are all different colors, making them easy to differentiate. I haven’t figured out how to tell the Dominiques apart yet. Sara is still a little bald on her backside, but when her feathers grow in, she will look just like the other two.

Comb is getting visible on the top of the Dominique's beak

A Dominique perches on the feeder while Ingrid
looks on jealously

The stems of the sprouted potatoes did not turn green. They are brownish, which I think indicates the development of some chlorophyll. In any case, they are sprouting leaves now, and I anticipate that they will have a head start on the others. A few of the purchased seed potatoes are breaking the soil. There is also a collection of sunflowers coming up where a potato should be. Damned ground squirrels! Always stealing seeds from the bird feeders and caching it in the garden where the soil is soft.

Potato leaves from winter sprouts

Sunflower sprouts in the potato bed

The lupines have gotten their first true leaves. I heard from our Boundary Waters outfitter that lupines are invasive up there. I checked Plants of the Chicago Region, which lists it as native to sandy soils and not present in McHenry County. It is also fire-adapted and disappears in fire-suppressed areas.  I think I’ll be lucky to get it going in our heavy clay soils. Nevertheless, I’m going to plant it in places where I either don’t care if it takes off or can contain it if it does.

Lupines with first true leaves

Terry and I built the floor of the chicken coop today. He made the base of six 4”x6” boards and laid down hardware cloth to keep out the rodents. I was then called in to nail down 17 planks with 2 nails in each plank over each of the six 4”x6”s. That’s 204 nails. Terry pre-drilled holes to help with setting the nail. This avoided smashed thumbs that invariably occur when one has to hold the nail to get it started. I used two hands on the hammer even though it made me look like a girly-girl. It was not work I normally do, and I knew if I tried to nail in a hundred nails one-handed, I wouldn’t be able to make a fist for days. Besides, Terry would never mock me. He’s just glad I can pound the nail straight and happy that he doesn’t have to do them all. I was proud that I did more than my share and only bent one nail.

Terry sets the first two planks on the hardware cloth-covered base

Trimming the edge after all the planks were nailed down