I couldn't sleep this morning, I got up out of the bed at 4:30 and started cleaning stuff. I also decided to bring some fire wood in for the stove since there was a 30% chance that there would be a little bit of precipitation today (that did not happen). Anyway, I am carrying armloads of fire wood in to put it in the wood wagon in the garage, and when I put one piece in the wagon I notice this lizard. He did not seem to be in any big hurry to go anywhere (cold outside, blood thick) so I went in the house to get the camera and took a couple photos. I then proceeded to take that one piece of fire wood back outside expecting him/her to run off once it got warmer. Sure enough, I went to check on him later in the day and he was gone.Miguel came out today and we managed to get a lot of stuff done. We got the cattle fed and a couple miscellaneous things around the property done. The main thing was to do a thorough cleaning of the chicken coop. There are chicken mites out there; teeny-tiny little bugs about a 64th (or maybe a 32nd) of an inch long and thinner than one of the thinnest hairs on your arm. Teeny-tiny I tell you. And they bite or burrow kind of like chiggers. SO, we cleaned everything out of the hen house, evicted the brooding girls and took the nesting boxes out and thoroughly cleaned them and wiped them down with bleach and changed the hay in the boxes. Then I dusted the hay in the nests (and around the perimeter of the coop) with diatomaceous earth. I think that ought to slow them down anyway. The Internet recommends using Adams Flea Mist and/or Sevin Dust, but I do not want to introduce anything like that in the coop. No chemicals for these girls. We will see how this does.
This week coming promises to be kind of calm, I have a couple appointments this week, but it should be relatively slow and will let me get some office work done.
Deeds, Actions, Changes, MITES, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!
Well wishes to you and your hens
ReplyDelete