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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Quick Shade

Beat the Heat/Sun
New Shade in the Pen

Our darling girls haven't had a lot of time outside of their pen this last week and we've been having a warm spring, so I decided to organise something for them to do tonight.

First, in went a wheelbarrow load of clean sand so they have something more to scratch around in. I'm hoping they might like to play in it because they tend to go for the bare dirt to dust bath as soon as their let out when I get home at about 6pm. They immediately started scratching around in it so I am sure it will be a hit tomorrow.

Next I found a couple of hessian sacks and laid them out on the roof of their pen. The weather has been very calm so I don't think there is any fear of them blowing away and they just cover the area with the sand to give them some more shade tomorrow. The poor girls are panting so I think we might have to think about something more permanent for some extra shade in the summer. The grape vines don't seem to give much cover in the midday sun, and they tend not to go under their coop, even though there is space and shade there.

So now I'll wait and see if the hessian sacks are still in place tomorrow morning, and hope that they have fun with tomorrow's "chicken entertainment" (aka the sand)

Those big pots in the background are our strawberry bushes in the vege patch. They are the sweetest and most delicious strawberries I have ever tasted. Mark is doing a great job!

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