Sunnyside Homestead

Today’s temperatures are set to soar into the 40s with humidex. We had this for a week straight in the summer but I was home, so I could make mud puddles and change water for the chickens. Today we are at work so there was some quick modifications that needed to be done.

Our AquaMiser watering bottles (2L Pop bottles) were modified to allow ice cubes to be put into them. This of course means they no longer have structural integrity but they will work for the next two days. We moved the water inside the coop where we reinstalled the fan. In the far corner we took the “tray” part of a future garden bird bath and ran a hose to it on a trickle. We pinned the hose in place so hopefully they will not be able to pull it out. This should allow them a splash mud area with a constant refill of cold well water.

Hopefully this will make them more comfortable for today – and not run our well dry 🙂

We have only had one cold morning so far this year but it was obvious that the chickens were feeling it as they had roosted deep in the nest boxes in pairs. So yesterday we started with adding a light on a timer and some infrared lights for heat. The heat lamps are plugged into a “thermocube”, which is a thermostatically controlled electrical outlet. It is supposed to kick in at 2 degrees and cut out at 7 degrees.

We still need to insulate the walls and weatherproof one wall that is bare, very worn barn board.
Hopefully we can upload some pictures once we have the insulation in place.

In the meantime we have started to fence in a new area to give the chickens a job for the fall and spring – we need the area for the vegetable garden turned over. So Jamie is putting up some temporary fencing to house the girls during the day. Unfortunately we can’t leave the free with the predators and the less than ideal neighbours who let their large dogs wander free.

August was lazy and as such there were no posts made, or real progress on projects. We hade some visitors and just enjoyed the lazy days of summer. Of course now that they are over and we are both back at work on a regular schedule there is lots to do.

Over the summer we did take down some trees and bushes that were blocking the apple trees and a pear tree we did not know about. For our efforts to give them sunshine we have gotten some fruit. The fruit is far from perfect as we did not do any tree care this year and they had not had any care in over a decade. It is till good enough to turn into sauce and baking.

What Jamie could reach on the newly discovered bartlet pear tree…

This is about 1/4 of what we need to pick. I joked we should use a laundry basket but the larger reusable bags from Sobeys are a bit more manageable. We think they are Cortland variety but can’t be sure. There are a nice crunchy apple that are sweet, so they will be something we will want to keep up.

I did a whole lot of trying not to do too much this week. The heat wave was fairly intense and we have no a/c. Did have to invest some energy in the chickens each day as they required water changes and mud puddles to keep cool. Now I need to get caught up on chores. The coop needs cleaning, the lawn needs cutting, the porch needs painting and the gardens still need reclaiming if I want to be able to plant next year.

But for now I am sitting on the porch enjoying the breeze with Jamie and the pooches…