Gardening Time Means Bugs

I love to garden so this is truly my favorite time of year. I really hate it when I go to get my gardening implements and tools are missing. I have been spending my weekends preparing my garden, even enlarging it by quite a bit, to get my veggies in. Yesterday I was going to work the garden before it got too hot and then mow the lawn, which grows as I watch it sometimes (I’d still rather the grass than snow). I ended up having to wait on a telephone call that was to be before noon but didn’t come in until three. Bummer. It was supposed to rain by Saturday night and not stop for a few days. My day was shot. I got my seeds and seed potatoes, tiller and then looked for the hoe that was supposed to be hanging on the wall of our shed next to a garden rake that is the same size. No hoe. After an exhaustive search I gave up. I lost even more time and ended up using the rake to plant. That is not easy either. I got roughly a third of the garden done.

I noticed around five o’clock gnats started swarming and by five thirty I was so overtaken by them I had to quit. I kid you not, I have welts all over my neck, face, ears, even one on one of my vertebrae on the back of my neck. They are swollen like bee stings, itch and feel bruised to the touch. The one on the back of my neck actually created a huge lump that distorted the shape of my neck and the other ones on my neck and face are so concentrated that they have affected the lymph nodes causing painful swelling all the way to my ears.  I’ve gone through about a half tube of the highest percentage hydrocortisone cream I can get and still ended up taking Benadryl last night, which only succeeded in helping me sleep; not stopping the itch.

This morning I made a drawing salve I have generally used for infected mosquito bites (it really works too). It helped the itch within minutes. They are still really red and swollen and painful though. I don’t know what to do with that. Maybe some hydrocortisone with lidocaine or aloe with lidocaine will help with the pain. I’ll have to try that next. See in the picture some of the bites. Just so you know – it’s really hard to take pictures of bites like these by oneself. Trust me; they’re huge.

                                                      Welts from bites of gnats on my neck. 

Recipe for Salve:

In a small cup (I use a 3-oz. bathroom cup) combine 1 tablespoon non-iodized salt and 1 tablespoon petroleum jelly. Mix well with something like a tongue depressor. Place a hot washcloth on affected area (to help bring venom or yucky infected stuff closer to the surface) for about a minute. Spread salve on the wound/bites fairly thick. Do not cover. As the petroleum jelly soaks into the skin the salt will start to fall off, so you will have to clean it off within about a half hour. You will see the salt change colors where the wound is. Infected wounds will turn yellow!

Clean area with a warm damp cloth. If treating an infected bite, apply an antibiotic ointment and cover with a bandage. If it is just an itchy bite, don’t cover it. Re-apply if the itching starts up again. Mine has lasted several hours so far keeping the itch at bay. The one on the back of my neck looked like a huge lump and has gone down to normal. 

Seed Catalogs

With all the freezing cold outside (and trust me; it is freezing cold outside) the thing that helps save my sanity is the flood of seed catalogs I get every winter. (Odd considering I usually hate junk mail.)

The good old fashioned seed catalogs 1) Remind me what growing things look like, as opposed to all the white frozen stuff around me. 2) Causes me to think about experimenting with varieties of vegetables I haven't tried before. 3) Offer help with problems I have growing things.

Case in point: a good many of my neighbors seem to be able to grow strawberries and blueberries. I have spent a shameful amount of money trying to do likewise to no avail. I have yet to harvest a single berry; just a lot of dead plants. (hangs head in shame)

We received a nice big seed catalog from the Jung Seed Company (No, I am not affiliated with them in any way!) and my husband got to it first. He suddenly says, "Hey, I think I found your problem." (This could cover so many things!) I raised an eyebrow. "What?" He smiled. "Your dead blueberries," he elaborated, and handed me the catalog. 

Now, aside from the numerous seeds and plants offered in seed catalogs, they also offer tidbits about why one might be having a particular problem and of course the products they sell to remedy the situation. We had our farm soil tested last year and they all had pretty much the same result: our soil is neutral, as in, not acidic at all, especially around where I plant our food. Blueberries need acidic soil to grow. Well, I'll be. I have some work to do this spring and I will be getting the suggested products either from the catalog or locally if I can find it. Quite frankly, plants seldom survive the journey from any company to our farm anyway (like sweet potatoes-ahhh!), but the seeds and other products do well and if not available locally, I will go to the catalogs.

                                                   

                                    

            Image courtesy of Grant Cochrane/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

             Stock Photo - image ID: 10090261

What I have started is my own gardening book of sorts and you can too. Peruse the catalogs for the types of produce, flowers, bushes, trees, etcetera, you prefer and see if they have growing tips and troubleshooting tidbits. Cut them out of the catalog and put them in a binder by category. That way you can find them easily when you run into something with your plants. This is fairly inexpensive –you still will need a binder and something on which to collect the articles. Print off articles you may find online or cut out agricultural articles in magazines and trade newspapers (I have done this for animal health) and add them to your binder. You can also obtain leaflets from your state's university extension service. It is way less expensive than buying an entire book, or books, just for one or two problems and you have what you need at your fingertips. 

Now, if someone could just help me with those strawberries! 

Just Like Zikan's

There is no getting around it; when you live out in the country, as I do, when you go shopping, you get enough to last a while. There is a store in a spot in the road town nearby however, and though it's not a big box store that can get the super low prices, you can still completely survive using it.

The other night my husband was looking for a can of olives. I have a habit of buying extra items when I go grocery shopping, especially baking ingredients since he also has a huge sweet tooth. This led to his using the at-a-glance method when he looks for anything in the cabinets because he can just declare it not there and I'll find it, which I did. I reached in behind all the baking supplies and pulled out the can. "Just like Zikan's!" I said. He laughed.

What is Zikan's? Think of the general store in all the old westerns you ever saw. It is jokingly (and lovingly) referred to as the Catawba Mall. They sell everything you could possibly need. In one side is clothing, chore boots, baby clothes and items, cloth, sewing notions, cleaning supplies, groceries, even a small old fashioned meat counter. The other side and the basement has everything else: fan belts, small appliances such as radios, coffee makers, waffle irons and the like, dishes, glassware, cutlery, utinsels, pots and pans, paint, plumbing and electrical supplies, sporting goods, bicycles, stove pipe, mops, brooms, buckets, nuts, bolts, nails, tools, garden supplies, fans, small farm supplies like fence wire and insulators, chicken feeders and waterers, even hunting and fishing licenses and gear. There is not much this place doesn't carry and has for more years than I've been here. Considering how much they have, the building is not that large, so they stock things in front of and on top of other items. All you have to do is ask and they can reach, unseeing, into a pile and pull it out. Very few times I've gone in there and they were out of something or didn't carry it at all. Thus the joke, "See, just like Zikan's!"

I'll tell you what; you can shop the Wall-Marts of the world all you want, but if you really want that hard to find, unique item, you need a store like Zikan's.

Wintertime Preparedness on the Farm

The calendar says today is the first day of winter. I wonder who thought that up- it's been winter here for weeks. The snow is very deep and of course it is very cold. I live in northern Wisconsin, though, not Hawaii (although that is a dream of mine someday) so snow is expected, if not appreciated.

                                            To give you an idea of how deep it is already.

Most people know to keep gear in their car in the wintertime such as cat litter for traction, a shovel to dig out if necessary, a blanket, a spare pair of socks (important to keep your feet dry and warm), some food that won't ruin like nuts or granola bars, and water. A small board is also useful in case you sink in and need to put it under the tire to help you drive out. But are you prepared for just going outside? Case in point below.

Last year we had issues with the waterline freezing and we had to get a water tank to go get water for the cattle. Unfortunately, the tank was frozen to the ground and had about ten inches of snow around it. We had to get that tongue unstuck and attached to the truck, but I had the wrong gloves on. I was wearing leather chore gloves instead of insulated gloves and let me tell you, frost bite is not fun. I didn't have it severe enough to loose fingers, but it was excruciating when my fingers started to warm up and now I have issues with pain in my fingers when they get even a little cold. I'm lucky I didn't get it on my face too, because I wasn't exactly wearing the right protection there either. I was wearing a large knit scarf, however, and that is probably what saved my face.

Now when I go out in the cold to do chores, or hunting, and it is cold, as it has been here since early to mid--November, I gear up. The tractor we use for feeding hay has no cab and so we are exposed to the elements. I wear a mask to protect my face, along with a hooded coat, and if I am wearing a hooded sweatshirt, that hood is up too. I also wear some seriously insulated gloves. The kind I have is actually for hunting. They have individual fingers, but the ends are cropped off so that one can pull the trigger and get a good grip on the weapon. However, they also have a thick mitten covering that folds back out of the way to keep the ends of the fingers covered when the fingers don't need to be exposed.

                           A good stocking hat is needed when exposed to the cold to protect your face.

 Gloves are important to protect your hands at all times.Thin leather gloves are NOT appropriate in freezing weather. If your gloves get wet, change them immediately.

One problem of course with wearing all the gear is that when turning to back up the tractor, the hood gets in the way and I end up pulling it down so that I can see where I am going. That is where having that stocking hat helps tremendously.

During hunting season we had to have all orange clothing, so I had the insulated coveralls, the scarf (close enough to orange), a knit hat, a billed hat (I attach a clip-on flashlight to the hat), and the hood of the coveralls to protect my head, and the gloves for my hands. I have some thick insulated coveralls that look like overalls and a big coat for farm chores. Because of their color, which is brown, they were not a good idea for any out of doors activities during hunting season.

It was very cold- below zero- during hunting season, but I was warm in my insulated clothing. I wondered if maybe I had on too much, but I never broke a sweat, and it was a quarter mile to my hunting blind walking though a good four inches of snow. Always carry water with you when you will be outside for any long periods of time during the winter. The air is dry and you need to keep hydrated. As an asthmatic, the cold air is dangerous for me to breathe and water can prevent the dry air from causing me to cough and inhale more freezing air into my lungs. On a lighter note: being bundled up like this also caused my glasses to fog up and then the fog froze. It's a little hard to see that way!

Always let someone know where you will be so if you get stuck or stranded somehow, even on your own property, they will know where to look. You should let them know approximately how long you will be gone as well. I know from experience that just because you have a cell phone, does not mean you will have a signal to call for help. Stay warm and stay safe.

Boy is it Wintertime!

Living in the country the way I do one really knows it when winter hits, whether the calendar agrees or not. This morning it was -17 when I got up, and the wind is blowing. There are several inches of snow that has accumulated over the week out there and somewhere in the middle of it is at least a quarter-inch of ice. It froze the barn door shut. Now that will be a trick getting open!

As I might have mentioned, I work off the farm as well as on the farm and I have to drive thirty miles to get there (sixty round trip). Let me tell you it is no fun driving on the ice. Even though I am going slow (really slow) my car with brand new tires does not like to stop and it is all over the lane. The wind was so hard the other day it created high drifts in our driveway that I had to just stomp on the gas to get through because I knew, unfortunately from experience, that if I went slow or stopped, my car would be there until the tractor dragged it out of the drift. I'd hate to think how high those drifts would have been had that driveway not been plowed out the day before.

With weather like this it makes me appreciate that I have put up so much food from my garden. Homemade soup made from ingredients I put up seems to taste better than commercially canned soup, but then I really don't care for commercially canned soup anyway. Baking bread and pie also helps to warm the house and fills the air with delicious smells.

It seems like a good day to work on my book or read one. I have also done quilting and worked on projects for Christmas gifts during winter months, and I have discovered a lot of people around here do that too. The embroidery and knit projects done over the winter is often offered up for sale at the farmer's market come spring and summer. I have seen some fantastic works for sale and when I asked when they had time to do them, they said over the winter when they didn't want to go outside, except to feed the animals of course.

What are you doing this winter to stay warm and occupied?

Canning, Canning and More Canning!

It's a good thing I have an actual three days off this weekend. I have a lot of canning to do. Last Sunday we got a dozen jars of Bread and Butter pickles made and they are already delicious! I went out today to pick some more cucumbers and found one I missed last time..oops! The squash that ate Wisconsin is still growing and I think Chaos can see it grow because she growls at it now. I had to do a mercy killing of some of the stalks just so I could find the squash to pick it, but the butternut ones are growing through (and over) the cucumber fence and the watermelons, but then I have cucumbers and watermelons in the squash and and watermelons also on the cucumber fence. What a mixture! Thought I'd check on the tomatoes to see if I had any ripe yet, as they got a very slow start, but it looks like they might be taking off now so I'll keep my fingers crossed that we won't get a frost. We usually do about this time of year. I stumbled upon the carrots that I didn't realize needed dug, but I dug them in a hurry when I saw how large they were. No wonder the Rabbits are after them. I have included some shots below of the produce.

             Look at the size of those carrots!  I do think I should plant them further apart next year though.

                          Basket of goodies: cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions. I need to dig those next.

I guess I missed this one. Ummmm... how am I going to get that out of there? Hubby says to just pull it. It skinned it up some, but it came out. Going to make some more pickles out of this.

Deadly Nightshade

Well, I want you to get a good look at the plant below:

Chances are if you have some ground that has been neglected or ignored, such as an old garden spot, or a field you don't normally mow anyway, it's there. This plant is called nightshade (it gets berries on it from the blooms) and it is extremely toxic. The berries start out green and then then turn black. Several years ago when we lived in Missouri we lost a couple cows and when we opened their mouths to see if they ate something (before we did a dreaded necropsy/autopsy by actually opening them up) we found several leaves of nightshade in their mouths. It only takes a few leaves and the berries are worse. Last year I had several sheep die on me and one I saw dying. It was very sad to watch but he went so fast I didn't have time to call a vet (not that I have ever heard of a cure for nightshade poisoning). My son asked me if I had checked the pen for nightshade, something he knew was there growing around the silos but I didn't. We just barricaded them to keep the sheep from getting behind the silos, but they jumped it and went in anyway. I found the half-eaten plants and knew he was right.

When you mow your rural lot or yard or even weed your garden (I found some in mine this year for the first time), before you get the bright idea to be helpful to the farmer next door and feed the clippings to his animals rather than composting, please ask their permission first. If you see nightshade on your lot, don't give it to them, and in fact please do pull it up by the root- using gloves you will dispose of. You'll notice I am touching this one and I thought afterward how stupid that was and immediately washed my hands. If they mature and go to berries, the birds will plant them for you. If you burn, don't be anywhere near the smoke (or your pets) as this is also toxic. I'm not sure of the toxicity to humans, but I wouldn't chance it. By the way, nightshade is related to the tomato plant, so don't give that to them either.

Thank you from a farmer!!

Silly Bulls and Rascal Rabits

The funniest thing this morning... I went to the barn to do the chores and I found the silly bull in the water tank! I guess he needed to cool his heels a while. We have a set of head locks out there too. Those are where the cows stick their heads to get to the feed trough and they can be set to lock so that the cattle can be vaccinated or sorted, (or castrated- but he got away when we did the other bulls), or any other assorted things one would need the cow to stay in one place for. Their heads can't come out when in the locked position but the rest of them sure can move. We didn't have it set to lock but we had the adjuster bars in it (so that smaller cattle can be caught) and he somehow got his head in it and I like to have not been able to get him out. Sometimes you can say, "I bet he won't do that again," and sometimes not. Time will tell with him. He doesn't learn all that well, so I imagine I will be dislodging him again the next time he decides cool off in his water tank.

After all the rain we had this spring and summer, most of my garden had to be replanted and every time it rains the weeds grow like it's raining Miracle Grow. My strawberries are a lost cause (one plant survived) and the sweet potatoes were DOA except for three and they died shortly after planting. I don't get it. I have run that tiller more this year than any other and the season is just getting started, mostly because of the replanting, but I usually can get by with only a couple rounds of the tiller and I've already been through there four times this year. I had a nice stand of peas the last time I tilled it; the operative word here being 'had'. Last winter we had rabbits for the first time since we moved here in 1998. I suppose we've had some, we just didn't see them; but this year they are really making their presence known. They get on the porch via high steps, and climb some other ones to get onto our deck and look through the glass doors taunting our poor dog. They ate the strings off of about ten bales of grade A alfalfa hay in the machine shed and of course left 'gifts' everywhere. I told my husband he needed to nip it in the bud and get a small gave permit and then go hunting. He said they weren't hurting anything other than the taunting of the dog of course. I had visions of my garden being nibbled to the ground. Yep, my nice stand of sweet, sugar snap peas are all but gone. They are working on the lettuce and the green beans now.

Just wait until small game season rolls around again. I'll get the permit. Can you say hasenpfeffer?

Mystery Weeds!

I have mentioned that someone has to walk the fence daily to make sure it is still attached and working since deer seem to like tearing it down and sometimes those cows just don't care if they get shocked. I went around a few weeks ago and sprayed underneath the fence to kill off any weeds and grass that could grow into the wire and ground it, preventing the electricity from finishing the circuit. There were areas I couldn't spray because they were too close to water or just plain standing in water (we've had a lot of rain). Trees got in the way of the tractor too. Imagine that; trees don't just move so the tractor can get through!

I have come across some wild strawberry plants growing out there that produce all plant and almost no berry. Odd that I can't even get tame strawberries to grow in my garden but wild ones are taking over the woods and cow pasture. There are some other weeds growing too and I had to look them up to make sure they weren't really 'weed' weeds. I swear we didn't plant them. Turns out it's wild hemp, also known as a variety of pig weed, and just so you know, the ingredient that causes one to get high in the real thing, THC, is not in hemp, so trespassers beware. We won't take it lightly if you come on to our land looking for something that isn't there. Sure looks like the real thing though. What do you think?

                                                   Wild Strawberries and the 'Mystery Weed'

                                         I swear it really is wild hemp or pig weed. Looks real though.

Well, the Fence Works

Fence maintenance is a time consuming, but necessary chore on the farm. We have several fields fenced off for our cattle to graze in. One is right behind the barn and has woven wire with electric fence inside. It has woven wire because it is the first place we put weaned calves to get used to fences in the place. It turned out barbed wire wasn't much of a deterrent to cows that have never been in a fence and many times we had to put it back together. Thus, we re-fenced it with the woven wire. Next, is a little larger area (a couple acres) outside of the first one that is barbed wire and electric. Once they are used to that and have begun eating the grass faster than it can grow back, we give them the larger field - the other areas are inside the big one. Every year the deer have a habit of running through the wire and either knocking it down or breaking it altogether. This fence has to be repaired often- like daily. We keep the cows up next to the barn starting in the fall because it's hunting season and we don't want people shooting at the cows. We also have a hard time getting around the field in the deep snow.

The circumference of  this outer field is about a mile. We finally got the cows used to the middle field and it was time to fix to the outer fence. Last year we had taken down some of the posts for the combine to have access to our soybean field so I spent a day putting up posts and replacing plastic insulators. FYI-Insulators go on the posts to hold the wire and they are plastic so they don't conduct electricity between the wire and the posts and the wire will maintain its ability to shock the heck out of the cows (or anything else) that touches it. The next step is to put the wire back on the insulators or in most cases, splice it back together where the deer broke it and then put it back. We also have to tie orange tape (non-stick kind) on the wires so the cows know it's there before they get shocked. (Fair warning and all that.) My husband did the other half mile of the fence the next day as I was tied up with other chores, and we turned the critters out for a test run. The cows of course began immediately exploring so we heard a lot of bawling as they discovered the fence in spite of the warning tape.

Now everyday someone has to walk the perimeter of the fence to make sure no insulators have come loose or are broken which happens on occasion, especially if a deer decides to crash land on it or a cow doesn't heed the shock. And we have to check to see that the wire is not grounded, which causes it to not shock, or broken, also causes it not to shock, or some weed didn't sprout to immense proportions overnight and take on tree-like status which also shorts it out. I did go around the fence with the tractor and big spray tank and spray weed killer under the wire, but sometimes it just doesn't kill it.

Today, I walked the fence and judging by the black hair on the barbed wire, a cow did not heed the shock and it broke an insulator which also set free the wire which tangled with the next one down. Shucks. It was like passing a law to get it untangled and if I had not decided it was just too far back to the barn (and through ankle deep mud -we'll call it that- yeah, since it has rained so much lately) to unplug the charger it would go much faster. I carefully separated the two pieces using the fence tester (a heavily insulated piece of wire-the wire exposed on each end that one puts one end on the wire and one on a steel post to see if it zaps), and a pair of fencing pliers with plastic coated handles. It must have had a few cracks in the coating on the handle because I got some mild shocks - nothing too bad. Then I put a new insulator on and commenced to putting the wire on it. Now the way one threads an insulator of that type is that it has to go under one hook and over another one like a set of fingers holding it in place. That wire was stubborn, but rather than putting in on the insulator and then onto the fence post, because the wire was hot and I thought it would go easier without the wire on it (it did). All the tools slipped and I ended up with a firm hold on a non-coated part of the pliers. The tools went flying one way, I went another and I know a really bad word slipped out. I got up and shook my head, almost afraid to reach for the tools on the other side of the fence, but I got them. Of course my legs felt like jell-o all the way back to the barn and I'm not sure my heart will ever forgive me. But you know what? It's really hard to check for shorts in the fence if it's not plugged in. It was about a half mile back to the barn where the charger is, and then another half back and then back again, because it does have to be turned back on in order to continue the check, but I think I'll just suck it up and get the extra exercise and wade through the 'mud'. Ouch!

Labradors and Chickens Don't Mix

When we decided to get chickens again after nine years we had to take a lot of things into consideration. One, the original chicken house was built inside the machine shed (by previous owners) out of chipboard. Even though this was technically inside, it is not a good idea. It was still exposed to the elements and the chicken doings so it had been ripped out a few years ago. Therefore, we had to make a secure, rot-free home for the hens. We decided to give them the old sheep shed and build a pen for them to go outside in. The meat birds we built a treated wood pen for in the old barn. They'll only be there a couple months until they are ready to butcher, and there is plenty of ventilation for them.

We did not let the chickens roam when they lived in the machine shed like we did when we lived in Missouri because we are way, way closer to the road, and I wasn't sure how our Australian shepherd Spot would handle them. He was cool with cats, but he liked to chase the yard birds (sparrows, robins, etc.) around bushes, so we figured he would also chase the chickens. He never was interested in getting them out of their house however, just going to the door occasionally to make sure (I suppose) they were still there. Flash forward to our obtaining Chaos, a four-month-old Labrador retriever, a/k/a a bird dog, a few years later. Spot being older and wiser, left the chickens alone, but Chaos made it her mission to get those birds. She was an excellent hunter without really any training. My husband once took on a company day-hunting trip to a local hunting preserve and he let someone else borrow her for a while. Their gun misfired and didn't go off and the guy yells really loud in a booming voice, "Damn!" To her I guess it sounded like 'blam!' and she took off after the bird she had pointed to. She jumped in the air and caught the live bird and took it back to the guy. Everyone just shook their heads as she presented him with the stunned fowl. My husband got five offers immediately for Chaos. I would have killed him if he has sold her.

However, she really, really wanted my chickens. The door to the hen house latched with a hook and eye lock. Who knew a dog could unhook it with their nose? I mean, that should hurt with the sharp point on the hook. She was not deterred once she figured out she could unlock that door. She opened it only enough to play Big Bad Wolf and stuck her head in and grabbed the first unsuspecting hen to waddle by. Poor things never saw it coming. We had many rounds of "Drop that Bird!" to no avail. We finally had to put a concrete block in front of the door. Unfortunately, if one was inside cleaning the pen or feeding the hens or collecting eggs, the door could not be locked. One winter's day after my husband had plowed the snow up into high banks across the yard in a sort of Y shape so we could go from the house to the shed or the barn Chaos decided she was going to get her one of those hens while I was inside feeding them. The chase was on. I tripped trying to get out of the hen house of course, so she had a head start. She decided to run circles around the snow-plowed (now apparently) running track. After several laps of my yelling for her to give me back my chicken she played 'hide the ostrich' with it and plunked its entire body, head first, up to its feet into the snow bank and kept running like she still had it. Apparently she couldn't breathe with a chicken in her mouth and run at the same time.  I was far enough behind her (because she is very fast when she wants to be) that I saw her 'hide' the chicken. I pulled the poor bird out of the snow bank and checked for signs of life and then decided I should probably do that in the hen house in case it came out of its stunned silence. I wasn't sure it wasn't dead, except dead chickens usually flop around quite a bit- I had seen it many times from the ones we either butchered or she had shaken to death like a rag doll when she stole them. I put the hen down in the house just in time for her wake up. She got to her feet and staggered around a bit and looked at me like (I kid you not) 'what the hell happened?' I locked the hen house and re-barricaded it. Chaos was so into the chase she made at least two more laps before she realized I wasn't chasing her anymore. She went to retrieve her ill gotten prize only to discover it was gone. She sniffed around and ended up at my feet. She looked up me and I looked back down at her. "Yes?" I asked her. Have you ever seen a dog pout? She pouts. She figured out I found her quarry and put it back.

Yeah, we have a chain and lock system on the chicken pen now. She can't get that open so she just stares at the hens, licking her lips when I'm out there.

This morning I was cleaning up the pen with the meat chickens. They are held in with a large wooden panel attached to the old steel pipe cow stanchions and gated on the ends with a concrete block wall and the other with a 4X8 piece of plywood. She cannot get over it or under it or through it. She paced the entire time by that panel across the stanchions whining and complaining because she could hear the little chicks squawking about my cleaning their floor and re-bedding them with wood chips. When I was done, she stood in my way looking up at me like 'would you give me a chicken already!' No, I don't think so.  

                                      Right after I got the baby chicks. They are about three weeks old now.