Rain, Rain Go Away, The Drought Is No Longer Here To Stay!

For all of the summer we were in a severe drought. When looking around the farm yard yesterday I had a feeling that we are no longer in a drought. I checked the state drought monitor and yes no more drought. No wonder big puddles or small ponds are popping up where once there were none. One area in particular gave me concern because the water is building up near the rabbits 3 season home. This is also a sattelite covered location for the chickens in winter. I don't want it flooded or turned into an ice rink! Since it's raining again today I decided that I should dig a drainage ditch of sorts to re-direct the pooling water around the rabbits home.

The ducks of course are enjoying any and all pop up ponds and at one point this area I'm working on may have been a good spot to encourage a pond area to form. For now it's established as something else and at the moment I don't want to (or don't have time to) change the set up so digging in the mud was my chore for this morning. Of course I got far too much help from 10 happy ducks! They love water, they love mud, they love worms that are unearthed when digging. If anyone grabs a shovel in the fenced farm yard the ducks come running begging for the ground to be dug up so they can find goodies in the soil.

My drainage ditch isn't pretty but it will do to run the excess water away from the rabbits area.

This is what I noticed happening late yesterday.

Today as soon as I started digging to redirect the water the ducks joined right in with the fun.

Angel took a break from mud play to go lay an egg. She sometimes prefers to use the chicken's nest boxes.

I think my new drainage ditch will solve the problem and re-direct the water if we get more rain before the water level goes down.