Where has the time gone?

Wow, I can't believe the 4th of July has come and gone.  I guess it must be summer because it hit 112 here in Northern California.  The good news is that the chickens are not "fried" and the heat wave has finally broken...it is a balmy 90 something today and it feels great.

The chickens have developed a new skill which I don't think I am too happy about.  They have become escape artists!  No matter how hard I try to "pen them in" just part of the back-yard, they still manage to show up in the "wrong" half.  They climb and fly over short fences and wiggle between bushes that seem way to tight to get through and love to walk on the retaining wall just outside my family room window as if to say, "hey, your coop is nicer than ours, what's up with that?"

So, I am off to the back-yard, again, to try to figure out the escape route this time!  I really wouldn't mind giving them free range to the whole yard, which is what they really want, except I wish they would stay off the patio because what they leave behind gets really slippery on my Spanish tile patio!

Meanwhile, on the egg front, there are none!  The nice lady at the feed store said that no matter what the internet says, chickens don't lay eggs until they are at least 6 months old, which would put it about August 20th or so, as far as I can determine.  So, I am off to the store to BUY eggs, how wrong is that!