I need to get up a lot earlier if it's going to stay in the high 80's + humidity. Nine AM was obviously not early enough to be outside doing things. Granted, I think the mosquitos would have been happy to eat me at whatever hour I went outside, but at least I wouldn't have felt like I was wading through liquid warmth to boot. I have achieved one main thing today, and that was moving the roosters. They have been eating the tomatoes as the tomatoes got ripe, and when they chowed down on a golden jubilee I had had my eye on for three days, that was it. (They took a few bites out of every single other tomato that was within a day of ripening for good measure.)
Roosters are easy to catch if it is at night and you have a flashlight to shine in their eyes. They stare at the flashlight and, though suspicious that you might be doing something out of their sight, they don't panic until you have already caught them. Then they shriek bloody murder. We collected all 7 from their various roosts in the barn and sheds. They had to hang out in a dog crate all night, and of course the dogs had a splendid time running over to look in at the birdies, running away when we yelled "No chickens!" and back again as soon as the echo of our voices had died down and, to a dog's brain, had no more authority.
I drove the crate out to the other farm, and released the roosters onto the lawn. Only one of them bothered to check out the corn and water I'd put out for them. All the other roosters were interested only in getting as far away from each other as possible. Hopefully they'll make a couple of circuits and either find the water I put out or, ideally, figure out where the cows' waterers are and drink out of those.
