Getting the girls settled

As promised by Taperman, the chickens arrived yesterday morning. I hear that they handled the car ride over very well. Stoney and Winston provided supervision while we loaded the girls into their crate, as you can see. Last night, Lily and our new addition, Bullet, also met the chickens (through the fence). All of the dogs are deeply interested in the chickens, and in what cannot bode well for my girls' future survival, several of the chickens were quite curious about the dogs as well.

By yesterday evening, the girls had figured out how to use the door to go outside, and were greatly enjoying their fenced in yard. Several of the smarter girls had figured out how to roost on the gate that we set up to the yard, and one flew up to the top of it to see Mike. We'll be re-configuring that setup this week.

Today is also the start of my first official week of unemployment/full time farming. So far, it's going well. Both dogs were up bright and early this morning for lots of playing and running, and now they're asleep in their kennels. I'm very happy that so far, Bullet is extremely patient with Lily and doesn't seem to mind when she sits on his head and bites his ears. That has to be a good sign, right?

My farm is also looking very good, although I've been so busy with the dogs that I haven't had a chance to do much work in there this week. My squash plants have mostly germinated, but I have cucumber beetles all over them. After I watered the squash this evening, I dusted the plants with garden dust, which allegedly is organic but has some serious warnings about not eating/breathing/touching it, so I hadn't wanted to break it out.
I just put the chickens to bed for their second night, and can report that after a headcount that I performed twice, all twenty are safely shut into the coop. When I went out at 9, five were roosting on the gate in their outdoor pen, so I picked them up and scooted them through the door. The rest of the girls were fairly evenly dispersed between the windowsill, roost, nests, and floor. Taperman was concerned about the temperature last night as it dropped to 50, but so far, the girls appear to be fine.

Below, are swiss chard, eggplant/onions/tomatoes (with potatoes in the bed to the left), zucchini and green beans, and potatoes, all as of 6-19-2011.