Our John said if I wrote Hot Chicks in the title I would attract the wrong kind of reader. But I don’t know. I don’t think so. And If you like Hot Chicks you might like the farmy too.. everyone eats.
But it was so hot yesterday, hovering just under 100 degrees, as the Coke Bottle temperature gauge will prove.
Oh you cannot see it clearly?.. let me do some photo shop magic!
This was at 3pm and as it got hotter I seriously began to fade. Our first really hot day and I felt poleaxed. So I took shelter in the coolest part of the farm, the barn, with the hot chicks. When it gets really hot the chickens find a draught, go very still, hold their wings out from their bodies….
letting their beaks drop open to pant and they just wait it out. Hot.
You will remember that there are two flocks, the hen house girls, (the little chicks are moving in there quite nicely now) and the barn flock. The hen house girls are let out every evening into the fields to scatter the cow dung about (they are the manure spreaders) and get some greens. I let them out about 3o minutes before dark so they do not roam over to the vegetable gardens and create havoc. The barn flock help the cats keep the barn free of rodents, attend to the insects and keep the straw turned over and fresh. In the time honoured tradition of farmers I have to search for their eggs. They tend to work the North side of the property. 
There are roosters who keep them safe. Plenty of roosters actually. I call the chickens the unsung heroes of a sustainable farm as they are the ones who can and do, feed just about everybody. I collect between 12 and 18 eggs a day. The cats and dogs get milk and eggs every morning. The pigs get about half a dozen eggs a day. Minty gets an egg in her milk every morning.
The cows get eggs with their feed on medicine day. I eat two fried eggs every morning, and of course cook with them and all the rest are sold or bartered to pay for their feed. Though there is not a lot left over, I need more chickens. So although Daisy is the designated Mother Ship with her milk and seniority…
.. these hot chicks keep us all fed.
Good morning. It is going to be another hot day today. So I need to start early with the watering. In this kind of heat an animal can die if he runs out of water. Plus the secret ingredient in a vegetable garden is water!! But it all needs to be done while it is still cool.
The top lids of the beehives have been propped open a few inches to let the air flow through the hive. I do this when the temperatures rises above 90. But if it looks like rain (which it doesn’t), or if a big wind comes up, make sure I zoom down the back and lower them again. Propped up lids can blow off. Bees need a lot of water too so their water is always topped up as well. Did you know that the bees carrying water into a hive are given top priority by the doormen. They go to the front of the queue, like pretty girls in silver heels at a night club door. Pollen carrying bees have to wait.
The Dairy Mistress Paddock only has one more side left to fence, with any luck, I will have stock in there this evening. The internal fences may have to wait until next year. There is only so much fencing a man can do evidently.
And the pool needs cleaning so he says!! There is a lot of pool cleaning on hot days!
I hope that you all have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
66 responses to “Hot Chicks.. the unsung heroes of Sustainable Farming!”
Fantastic shots of the “hot chicks”. They must be happy enough with life to give you so many eggs.
I wish we would get some hot weather! But maybe not quite in the 90’s…I better be careful what i wish for!
I had no idea that chickens open their beaks a bit and hold out their wings to keep cool. I loved all of the pictures of them, they are so pretty! And then the “barn” chickens and the ones you let out in the evenings to disperse the cow manure…I have a lot to learn about chickens if I’m going to start raising them!
I thought of you yesterday when I was working side by side with the honeybees in my yard. They love a few of my plants. And I love how nice they are, unlike the hornets that kept running into me and freaking me out.
🙂
Bees in the garden are a little slice of heaven and i love how you get on with your work and they get on with theirs! No silliness like with the butterflies who fly off in a fright if they see you! c
Love the sillohette shot of the rooster. Very cool! And wow! 12 to 18 eggs a day! I wouldn’t know what to do with so many eggs. 🙂
Even in our little suburban backyard, the chickens are the hardest workers! Our little flock of just five hens keeps the garden beds tilled and fertilised, and they keep us in eggs (although fewer now than they used to). I love having chooks, and hope that we never have a backyard without them again!
We were pushing mid to upper nineties this past weekend, too. August will be a misery, I’m afraid. I hope it’s cooled off some for you and the chicks…I didn’t know that chickens panted!
So interesting; but back to the bees: how do the water bees carry water into the hives? Have you fashioned little bee-scooters that attach to their bottoms?
…and is “chooks” another word for chickens?
the bees carry the water in little sacs on their legs and yes chooks is chickens! are you having chook for dinner?.(laughter) c
Wow, that is VERY hot! I hope it has cooled down a bit, by now?
I loved that silhouette shot. Oh and thermometer! So kitsch. But in a good way. You have a pool? Fun but hard work. We’ve had to put a fan on today because our fledgers means all the doors and windows are closed! But I’m so glad that it’s not 100 degrees here. Nasty. 🙂
I’ve just found you today (loving your blog) so am scrolling through old posts. I have serious chicken envy! Your girls are lovely and the roosters handsome. I live by the beach on a tiny block but have 3 hens. I will enjoy reading your old posts today!
“three hens on a beach”.. there is a song in that!! I bet they give just the right number of eggs! welcome to the farmy! c
This was one of the few posts that I got to download for ZIa. Another featured the one-day-old lambs. Needless to say, she loved them. And yes, it actually got into the 90’s up there, too. Unbelievable for Memorial Day!
I am glad she got to see the lambs, they were quite cute in those days, now they are leggy trouble!! c
I have so much reading to catch up on! Realized that I haven’t been getting notified of new posts by several of my favorite bloggers ( sad face. sad face) So, I’m a bit behind –
But I do love that shadow shot of the rooster in the barn opening.
unfollow then follow and then it will reappear in your feed.. c
hopefully it’s fixed now. a tad annoying – been missing the farmy!