I’m not sure how hot it actually got today or if we broke any records, but I do know one thing – if you had hay down, it was going to dry very fast! So tonight after work, Daryl got the baler out and baled our hay. He didn’t think it was going to get too many bales because it was the new seeding and also it was so stinking dry this year. But there was some and it will help with the cows during the winter. It’s always so much nicer if we have small square bales instead of the big hay bales in the winter. It seems like the cows kind of waste the big hay bales and a lot of it ends up on the ground and gets stomped on. But any bales off the new seeding is better than none and it’s now in the shed. We never did get the rain that we were expecting because the hay was cut. It did sprinkle the other night – but not much else. Oh well, we tried.
The cows are happy!
Because there was a lot of stuff going on tonight, it was late when I picked eggs. It’s so predictable if I pick eggs at night. I know exactly how it’s going to go if it’s dark in the chicken coop. I go in with my pail and then I kind of creep over to the nests. Now this is stupid. Why am I creeping ? – I have no idea. But I go over to the nests quietly and start feeling around for the eggs. You have to go by feel if there are any in there because it’s dark and you hold your breath that a chicken isn’t in it when your reaching. And to be perfectly honest I almost half squint when I’m doing looking for the eggs. I can’t imagine that it’s a very attractive sight. The reason that it’s scary is because if there is a chicken in the nest, she’ll peck your hand when you’re grabbing the eggs. Yea, not that she’ll fly out in your face or anything dramatic like that, but she’ll give you this little peck on your hand when your grabbing in. Now with that said, it really is kind of scary and you just never know at night what you’ll find in that nest. So you reach in and hold your breath and just try to get it done and get out of there. Too stupid right? Well, I’m been raising layer hens for some time now, and every time I have to pick eggs after dark it’s always the same. Maybe chickens are much smarter than we think and they hide just to see if they can scare me enough to make me jump and scream. Well, it works!