~ Yesterday started off well ...............................

I strolled down to the chicken coop to feed the chickens , guinea and check on the young hen. I released her from the inside pen Sunday night and let her roost with the other chickens , but the older hens kept pecking at her. She finally found a safe place in one of the nesting boxes. She was doing well yesterday morning , although she was sitting alone atop the door of the pen when I opened up the coop.

I took some veggie scraps and dumped them in the compost bin , the older hens love getting in the compost bin and scratching around. I let the chickens out to free range and walked around checking out the garlic and greens. I was amazed how the garlic and greens had grown since last week , everything looked like it had grown an inch or more.

The lettuce I planted last week has started sprouting , the spinach looks better since I thinned it out. After taking a few pics I headed back to the house to do dishes and household chores. I went back out to check on the small hen around lunch , she was fine but was alone near some old wooden doors. So I went back to the house for awhile , went back out around 2:30 and she was hanging out with the guineas at the edge of the woods.

At 5:00 I went out again and as I was walking to the coop , I saw a small hawk in a tree at the edge of the woods , he flew away upon seeing me. Unfortunately this time I couldn't find the little hen. I was looking for her when Dh got home from work , he started looking too and found her lying near some steel he has in the field , the hawk had killed her. So my day didn't end so well. Some days you wonder if it's worth the effort you put into trying to be self sufficient , it was definitely one of those days.

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn