The Girls are Panting

And this may be the reason why:

Seriously. Yeah. I know. That says 112 degrees and yes, my car was parked in the shade. Holy crap its's hot in Austin already.
It's supposed to be in the upper 90's all week. That being said it is easier for one of the girls to die from heat than it is from the cold. I have been reading on how to keep the girls nice and cool and there are many techniques that can be used. I tried frozen water bottles in the coop, but they were just super skeptical.  I thought maybe they would sit by them or even on top of them to cool off (ok, I may have done a little demonstration for them) but no luck. They literally stared at me and I could tell they were contemplating what the hell I was thinking. 
Water bottles.......... no good. Enter the mister. 

Nothing fancy, but it works. I got the 9.99 Home depot special and ran a water hose all the way to the back. I turn it on intermittently throughout the day to keep them nice and cool. They love the water from it and they also love the wet ground it creates. It's their favorite part of the coop to scratch around in once the mister is off. They still pant and spread their wings because the heat is ridiculous, but I think it helps throughout the day. Aaaaannnnd  Global warming.....end scene. 
Another tip I have been using is putting electrolytes in their water. I went to the local feed store and got a bottle of the good stuff. I add a teaspoon per gallon to their water. It does not affect the taste  and I know that this simple step keeps them well hydrated. 
I am also going to get a battery powered fan to put in the henhouse for the nights it doesn't drop below 90. The circulation and ventilation will help for when it gets super bad in mid June and July. Since the heat is already offensive now, I can't imagine what its going to be like in a few months. 



Anyone else have any other tips to beat the heat? 

I love Chicken Shit

Harvest

Sad little harvest so far. So far all I have grown is a Strawberry(ate it), a couple of banana peppers, a few super sweet 100's and some yellow pear tomatoes. Oh and a Jalapeno but big Barb got it before I was able to pick it. And they took out the eggplant in 2.5 seconds when I wasn't looking. Damn they are super fast those girls (Im a sucker for free ranging) .

Seriously. Famine style.
This fall, it's gonna be huge. Huge I'm telling you. 

It was bound to Happen

The wind blew and the gate I thought was latched came undone and the boys got loose. 

I was in the back fighting with a water hose when I heard it. The girls were free ranging. 

Yeah. I know.

Rouge couldn't get to the coop fast enough and the boys got her. 

She's ok. Thankfully. They got a few feathers off of her back and hurt her leg. She wasn't bearing weight on it for about 2 days. Finally today she is putting her leg down and is walking. Throughout it all, that Rouge girl never stopped eating or drinking(she would never miss a treat) and even kept laying. She's a resilient girl. I sprayed her wound with an antiseptic ointment, massaged her leg(advice from the poultry forum) and added electrolytes and vitamins to their water. So far she is doing great. 

I felt guilty for not latching that gate and was super mad at the boys. But it was my fault. The gate should have been latched. Lesson learned. 

Lots of training yet to be done with those two. Sooner rather than later. 

My Rouge girl in front. 

Fight the Blight......and other things

Well I received an email back from the Texas Master gardener. According to him, I have a "variety" of problems going on. Good stuff. My thumb has gone from a faint hint of green to black and necrotic on the verge of falling off. Seriously ouch. 


Luckily, I don't have any nematodes. One of the problems I have is called early tomato blight. Seeing as though it has not rained in Austin for 2 months and has been dry dry dry, tomato blight should not be a very common disease occurrence right now.  I guess it's sort of not my style to grow things easily. I think I may have been super paranoid about watering in the beginning and ended up watering too much. The fungus is now out of control so I am going to have to use a copper fungicide, still organic, to kill it. I was going to spray over the past few days, but the forecast called for rain. Hopefully tonight we will get that nice, welcome cold front. I clipped off all the dead, affected leaves and I am hoping to salvage what's left. Surprisingly, I do have quite a few tomatoes growing even though the plants are somewhat small still. 


The second problem I have is a bug infestation. The master gardener couldn't tell for sure what type of bug it is and I have yet to see any so I am going to start using NEEM oil to get rid of any type of infestation.


Even after reading a ton of material on what to do and what not to do, I still cant grow a damn tomato. Lesson #1 learned: even the simplest mistake can ruin something, but next time I swear I won't go crazy with the water.