Eggs--Peaches--And A Rainstorm

I've gathered 2 more eggs this week. 1 on Monday and 1 today! It's is such an awesome feeling to go out and look in the nest and find a treasure! So fun!! I check the coop for eggs a couple of times a day. I read that when the hens first start laying they will lay 1 egg about every 3 days at first before they begin to get regular and lay an egg a day to every 2 days. So that leaves me to believe I have 2 hens that have begun to lay. Today's egg could possibly be egg #2 of the hen that layed the first egg. I'm pretty sure it's the Wyndottes that are laying them. So if you are thinking of getting chickens that shows you how good the Wyndottes are!

I've been checking the peach tree in hopes of getting peaches this year. I noticed that they're ripe but very small. I'm guessing that last freeze is maybe the reason. OR maybe this tree just makes small peaches not sure. I've never been able to harvest any because the bugs or birds have always gotten to them first. Usually it's fruit flies and wasps that seem to eat them ---BUT this year a scary BIG GREEN BUG is eating them!!! I'm pretty sure they're Japanese Beetles. Much like a June Bug only bigger and greenish. They fly and dive bomb you---they scare the life out of me!! I began gathering as many ripe peaches as I could so these ugly bugs wouldn't get them. I had to climb up the ladder to get to the top of the tree to get the ripe peaches up top. I was trying to carefully pluck the peaches from the tree and not disturb the crazy bugs. BUT as I reached around this peach swarmed with the ugly guys they got perturbed and began bomb diving my head. I half fell -half jumped off the ladder screaming like a scared school girl!! I landed on my feet but ended up on my rear end!! The fall was too far!! I'm so sore today in the backside and oh my legs! I gathered a good number of peaches but they are so small there's not much I'll be able to do with them---Guess we can just eat them as snacks!! They really are sweet and delicious! Wish they were bigger!!

After just about killing myself on the ladder--later in the afternoon a crazy rainstorm came up. I say crazy because the wind was so strong the rain was coming down sideways from the North. I noticed my chickens in their normal spot by the back of the house under the trees. I'm guessing they got caught there and couldn't make it to the coop in the storm--I say this because I've seen them run to the coop when it begins to rain. WHY they didn't do it this time in this CRAZY storm--well, I just don't know!! I decided after a few minutes of pouring rain I'd better go stir them up and get them to run on to the coop. BUT as I shooed them, they all scattered running in every direction getting more soaked. I ended up chasing each chicken down 1 by1 and carrying them to the coop. This took about 20 min. SO you can imagine just how soaked I was! TO THE BONE!! The funny part was I had on my muck boots and the wetter I got the more it ran into my boots! Several times I had to stop and empty a gallon of water out of my boots! It was a crazy, funny, and yet almost typical FARM DAY! We were blessed with 2 inches of rain in a span of about 2 hours! CRAZY!! Then after all that drama the sun came out and I had to go back and let the chickens BACK out!! I added some apple cider vinegar to their drinking water to ward off them getting a cold. Chickens are very susceptible to respiratory problems. UGH!! But so far today they seem to be as happy as ever and I got that egg so I assume they aren't too traumatized by it all. ME --well I might be a little!! hahaha! The kids had a good several laughs at my expense yesterday! It will be a day to remember! --"Hey Mom, remember the day you fell off the ladder? Hahaha!"