Around the Farm

I was away on vacation for three weeks. While I was gone Molly started molting. She looks very sad and scraggly. Blackie is still as fluffy as ever. The morning after I got home I was awakened to the sounds of the chickens freaking out. I couldn't find my robe so I finally ran out in a short jacket to see Molly being chased by a damn raccoon. It was a very close thing. The raccoon was just a few inches away from her little tail feathers. I was able to chase the coon away and get the chickens settled down. I'm keeping them in the smaller, more raccoon-proof run on the side yard until I can trap the raccoon. I've been trying to find a trap to borrow but it looks like I'll be buying a trap soon. The girls do NOT like being cooped up in the smaller run.

The bees really calmed down after I put another super on the hive. I have two more to put on top this weekend and that should do it. I'm going to put a queen excluder under the two new boxes, so they will only get honey.I haven't looked inside the hive for a couple of months. I'm curious to see what they have been up to. I need to put something up by the hive to provide a little shade in the afternoon. It gets pretty darn hot up there.

In addition to the raccoon and the skunk in the yard, I also had a squirrel in the garage when I came home from vacation. I was able to borrow a squirrel trap and found a little squirrel in there on Saturday morning. The poor thing had rubbed it's nose bloody on the bars of the cage trying to get out. My plan was to dispatch it, but it made me sad, so I put it in the car and let it out by a park. I'm a little disappointed in myself, but it was just to cute for me to murder it. When I let it out, it flew across the field and into somebody's back yard. Then I heard a little squeaking sound and then nothing. Not sure what happened there, but it sounded ominous.