Sleeping With One Eye Open

I find that I like routine.  I like things all laid out with no surprises.  You can settle in, knowing what to expect.  Every once in a while, things get shaken up and the routine takes a back seat to change.  The time change always throws me off-kilter.  This evening when I drove into the driveway, it was dark.  I grabbed my DeWalt 20v light and headed outside.

We capture rainwater in large catch basins in the back of the house.  When we have about 300 gallons of rainwater in containment, I'll turn off the water valve to the water trough and I'll carry 5 gallon buckets of rainwater to the trough until full.  Next, out to the barnyard.  Normally the animals are still eating grass in the pasture, but the new time has changed their routine as well.  They are pretty much tucked in for the night.  Let's take a look.  Maybe we won't disturb them too bad.

The hens are up on their roosts in the hen house.  Their poop is shoveled out once a year and used in the garden as fertilizer.  We wait a year, because chicken poop can be quite "hot" and can burn your plants.  One other thing that can be quite useful is the cobwebs that line the rafters and the ceiling.  Believe it or not, cobwebs can stop bleeding.  One time we had a heifer that was de-horned at the veterinarian's office.  Later that evening, she started bleeding - profusely.  We called the vet in the middle of the night, and he told us to find cobwebs and use in place of gauze.  It's been used since ancient times.  One of the reasons it works is that spider webs are full of Vitamin K, the blood-clotting vitamin.  It worked !

We always close the nesting boxes you see on the left side of the photo.  If you don't, some of the chickens will roost on top of the nesting boxes, filling the boxes with poop, making cleaning the eggs the next day a messy chore.

As I walked out of the hen-house, Annie and Buckwheat have settled in on some hay by the barn door.  Some other chickens have roosted on top of a carrying cage.  I was talking about routine earlier.  Animals are no different.  If I come out tomorrow night, those same chickens will be roosting atop the cage...

These same chickens will be roosting atop the woodpile...

I'm planning to burn this woodpile next week.  I'll remove the hens first, of course.

And these same hens will be atop the pile of bricks.  Do you always sleep on the same side of the bed?  Chickens do the same thing.

Clarabull has his own little place where he beds down at night.  This location was previously a big mud hole until we built a roof over the walkway and brought in loads of wood chips.  This area was once avoided and now it is a peaceful place of rest.

Luna, Clarabelle, and Rosie seem to like this spot.  We throw hay out of the window of the barn that they eat on.  Once finished, they tend to stay in this spot as there are fewer mosquitoes and flies that bother them here.  Of course they are in a routine, too.  They equate seeing me walking to the barn with feed and they mosey to the gate expecting to get fed again.  I hate to disappoint, but Tricia's already fed them.


It's hard work laying eggs and making milk, so I'll leave all the animals alone and let them get som shut-eye.  I'll head back indoors, eat supper, and do the same.