We are ready and waiting for eggs

This weekend, my parents came over, and helped us get a tremendous amount done around the house and on the farm.  Mike is predicting an early first egg date of sometime in the next two weeks, so he wanted to make sure that we got nest boxes installed in the coop.  On Saturday morning, he put the boxes together, and Taperman arrived just in time to help hang them.

Mike and Taperman install the nest boxes

The girls were very curious

Completed nest boxes! 

Lily was also very curious.  She loves the chickens.

 We have a total of eight nests for the twenty girls, which should be plenty.  Mike made the pitch of the top of the boxes very steep, so that the girls won't roost on top of the boxes at night (that gets very messy, very quickly).  Mike also ran electricity out to the coop from the barn, so the girls now have a light and we'll be able to hook up a water heater for the winter.  Topping off their day, we cleaned out the fridge so they got leftover melon, veggies, and various other leftovers.  It was a good weekend to be a chicken.

Our tomatoes are now ripening very quickly, so Mike decided to make a tomato sauce with the harvest that we had this week.  The tomatoes are gorgeous - I love the heirloom mix for asthetics alone, even if it is a little confusing to try to harvest the tomatoes when you aren't sure what they're supposed to look like, or what they are supposed to be used for. 

Tomato harvest 9-3-2011

Mike blanching tomatoes 9-3-2011

Mike peeling tomatoes 9-3-2011

Lily helped.  She was not in the way.

Finished sauce!

Mike made a huge pot of sauce, so we bagged it and froze it.  I haven't had a taste yet, but it looked and smelled amazing.  I still haven't learned how to can, but from the looks of our tomato plants I need to make that a priority.

Chicken socialization time 9-3-2011