A Bit of Excitement

It's been forever since I've posted anything new about the chickens, and I guess that's because we're really in maintenance mode. Rarely does anything new or exciting happen ...

Except for today. I had let the chickens out this morning and they were in the yard pecking around. I was mostly inside doing chores, but I had come out to the back porch to start some laundry. (I have a little laundry closet on the back porch with my stacked washer and dryer inside.) I heard a commotion and saw a hawk diving toward the chickens. They quickly scattered to the back underbrush and I ran, sprinted to the back where they were. It had appeared that at least some of them had run into the coop and that the hawk had flown in after them! When I got there, the coop was empty, the chickens were deep in hiding, and the hawk had flown away. I think we (the chickens and me) forget about that hawk, but that is really silly of us. I don't know what I would have done if the hawk had still been back there. I guess swat at it with the dirty towels I had in my hands still.

As a side note, when I ran back there I didn't have any shoes on and I didn't feel a thing, but when I made my way back to the porch, I felt every stupid acorn on the ground.

Chicken Drama

So, today was pretty crazy. Andrew had asked me a couple of times where Rosemary was, and since she is my brooder, I just figured she was where she always is: in the nesting box. Well, we were sitting outside and Kevin heard a chicken. Of course, I thought, I have six. Of course, you hear a chicken. As it turns out he heard a chicken in the yard next door. We looked over the fence and sure enough there was Rosemary. I don't know why she'd fly over there, but I'm betting on the hawk we've seen in the neighborhood. The chickens only fly like that when they're scared. Long story, but we spent hours trying to get her, going into several different neighbors' yards to do so. She flew into at least four trees, higher and higher each time. Finally, when she was in a tree that overlooks my yard (probably at least 15 - 20 feet up), we decided to let her come down on her own. She took her sweet time, but when she saw the other chickens scratching about, she did, indeed, come down on her own. I thought she'd want to run over to the other chickens, relieved to be down, but she acted quite nonchalant. She's a brat chicken, but I'm relieved I didn't have to call the fire station for assistance.

Mystery Solved!

I sometimes see Myrtle coming and going from the area that I call my garage. It's actually a car port that has been kind of fenced in. It's not fenced in very well, and the hens can get back there pretty easily. I had a feeling that Myrtle, and sometimes her buddy Birdie, have been laying eggs back there, but I could never find them.

Not until today, that is. Tonight we heard chicken sounds coming from back there, and sure enough Myrtle was noisily laying an egg. (I've never heard any of them making noises while they're laying. It's usually not until after they've layed that they make noise, and then what a ruckus.) For all my looking, I never thought about looking under my old hammock. I guess I need to see the world through chicken eyes.

Not only was tonight's egg there. Several days worth of her eggs (and a couple of Birdie's) were in the secret laying place.

Molting

I think the chickens are starting to molt. I'm seeing more feathers in the coop and on the ground and egg production has really slackened off. I've seen some pictures of molting chickens online, and it's possible that they will lose almost all feathers. So far my chickens still have most of their feathers. I have to say that featherless chickens are pretty unattractive (ha, ha, if you can be pretty unattractive).

I am pleased to report that Ethel and Rosemary have stopped brooding. They brooded for most of the summer, which was quite annoying. They didn't lay any eggs most of the summer, and by constantly laying on the eggs, they made collecting the eggs a bit harder.

Now that the weather has become less severe I've been able to spend more time outside with the hens. I'm not saying that chickens are as companionable as dogs, but I do think they are pretty sweet creatures. Not that this is a new idea for me, but I guess not spending as much time with them, I kind of forgot just how sweet they are.

Okay, So Roaches Can Survive a Nuclear Bomb, But Can They Survive a Chicken?

I never have a video camera when I need it.

Last week I discovered that the wood chips that I put in the hens' boxes had gotten wet and that a nest of roaches had moved in. I know, pretty gross. I'm always in such a hurry that I didn't have time to do anything about it ... until today.

I decided that I'd give the hens a treat and rounded the hens up for a morning snack. I dragged the bag of chips into the chicken pen, and the first thing I saw was not a roach but a little really black spider, not that I'm afraid of garden spiders, but I didn't recognize this one. Not to fear, however, lovely, brave Birdie came over and promptly ate it. And then the six of them ate all the roaches that I shook from the bag. I would say that there were no less than a dozen living in the wood chips, and I don't think even one got away. Not all of them were full grown. Maybe five or six were over an inch long, but I can tell you that a good time was had by all, including this big mother hen. If you haven't seen it yourself, I just can't tell you how much fun it is to watch chickens chase and eat bugs, and there is something extremely satisfying when that bug is a roach.

Long Overdue Update

It's been forever since I posted an update, and I have no excuse, really. In the winter, I didn't have much to post because it got dark so early. Now that it is summer I should be writing more often. Okay, here's what's been going on:

The chicks love being out in the yard, but that also means that they like to lay their eggs in the yard. Myrtle, especially. She likes finding dark quiet places to lay her eggs--the "garage," the cast iron plants in front of the porch, the overgrown area in the back ... . Yesterday, I had to shoo her away from the back porch even. She wanted to lay her egg inbetween the screen and back door. Silly bird. I eventually picked her up and put her and the others back in the pen.

Ethel and Rosemary have been all broody since I got back from San Antonio in late March. They huddle up in a nesting box together, changing boxes only after another hen has layed an egg that they can rush over and sit on. They do come out occasionally to eat, drink and poop (really large poops!), but they cluck the entire time so the "chicks" in the eggs they are nesting on don't miss them. No, I'm not leaving eggs for them to nest on. It's just what they do.

I had a batch of thin eggs a week or so ago. I hadn't been giving them oyster shells, but I've started up again and that seems to take care of the problem. One of the eggs cracked under Rosemary and stuck to her chest, and I had to clean it off of her, which, of course, she hated.

Lastly, I had to net my blackberries and tomatoes, so I can have b's and t's for us. It seems to work for the birds and squirrels. (Although, I'm sad to report that I've seen two birds caught in the net. One I was able to rescue. The other was dead by the time I found it.) The nets are less effective for the chickens. They simply go under the blackberry nets, and they've found an opening for the tomatoes. Myrtle was in the tomatoes yesterday, but I think that she was just looking for a place to lay an egg. Because Myrtle and Birdie are now bff's, Birdie had to go into the tomatoes as well. I think she scared herself a bit because she couldn't figure out how to get out right away and kept headbutting the net. She figured it out soon enough, however, and all is well.

Spring Cleaning

Yesterday was the first annual (maybe biannual) chicken coop total cleaning. I took everything out that was take out-able and scrubbed it was a bleach solution. I then took all the wood chips out and scrubbed the the nesting boxes, etc. I shoveled out about a third of the old dirt and replaced it with new. All in all, it was a lot of hard work, but it looked good for the brief time between when I finished and when the chickens went back in. This morning it was all poopy again.

I tried to wait to do the inside of the coop until the eggs had been layed, but Myrtle apparently was a late layer. Poor girl. She was so anxious about me being in there with strange things like brooms and scrub brushes. She kept looking for a private place to nest, and at one point I thought she'd layed her egg in the bushes. She was so desperate that--I didn't see this for myself, but Andrew tells me--she even went into the house. The chickens rarely get within ten feet of the house. She finally had a moment to herself in the coop while the boxes were drying, so she end up laying her egg in a bare box.

The weather has been so beautiful lately that I've tried to let the chicks out as much as possible. Here are a few pictures, mostly of their upturned bottoms as they peck around in the yard.

Villian in the Hen House

illustration by Timothy Pack, http://www.packgraphics.com/

A Slight Thaw

This morning was the first in about a week that the chicks' water wasn't frozen solid, and I'm enjoying the balmy 40s and 50s we've had lately. Even with all this cold, Birdie has wanted to sleep up in the eaves of the coop. I don't like her sleeping out there by herself. Bee sometimes sleeps with the little chicks up in the eaves of the coop and that leaves Honey all by herself. I think they should keep each other warm, so I've been putting Birdie in the coop each night. She can make her own decisions as to where to sleep once it warms up a bit during the night.

Ice Cubes

Today is so cold that the chicks water has started to freeze. It looks like we're in for several more days of this arctic weather as well.

Neglect and Consequences

Today was the scariest chicken day ever. I let the chicks out this morning when I fed them--kind of on purpose and kind of because three of them got out when I went in the pen anyway. I decided that they could stay outside on their own for a bit, and I went in to take a shower. As I was showering, I heard a sound like something had fallen. I few minutes later I heard it again. I figured that I had not latched the back door properly and the wind was blowing it against the house. After I'd gotten dressed, I went to see what was up. Everything looked fine. Nothing had fallen inside and the door was latched, but Honey was on the back porch. The chicks never get that close to the house. I picked her up and walked back to the coop. I didn't see any of the other chickens. None. Not a one.

Usually they're in a group, rooting around in the garden or in the roses. No chickens anywhere. I looked and looked. Nothing. Ten minutes later, after I've looked over the fence into all my neighbors' yards, I find Birdie and Bee hidden in some undergrowth behind the dirt pile. I put them in the pen, but cannot imagine where the little ones are. I look in the all the places I've already looked. I go back towards the house where I think I hear something. I looked in the cast iron plants by the porch. Nothing. Finally, I go up on the porch and look behind some plywood leaning against the house: two chickens--Myrtle and Ethel are hiding there. At this point, I'm convinced that Rosemary has been carried away by a hawk. I don't see any feathers, but I've looked everywhere and haven't seen her, and the chickens are so deeply hidden that something must have really scared them.

I pick up Mrytle and take her to the coop. Silly Ethel runs towards the coop, but doesn't go inside or want me to pick her up. As I start to chase Ethel, Rosemary appears! Where she was, I haven't a clue. I spent the next twenty minutes chasing chickens round and round the coop before finally getting them all in. I can't tell you how scared I was or how awful a chicken mom I felt. I've gotten too lax in letting them out. I have decided to take the Mr. Bennet approach to chicken parenting now and will tell the chicks: "You are never to stir out of doors till you can prove that you have spent ten minutes of every day in a rational manner.'' I wonder how long my resolve will last.

Marching In

With the short days, it's dark by the time I get home from work, and since the chicks go to bed as the sun starts to set, they are already in their sleeping spots in the coop when I check for eggs each night. This means that I don't get to spend much time with the chicks and they don't get to go out into the yard much. Today, I let them out while I read and dozed in my new hammock. There are so many cute things about the chicks, but the top three things they do are (1) when they hop down from something; (2) when one realizes she has strayed from the flock and then runs to be with the others; and (3) when they decide it's time to go to bed and they file into the coop on their own. Today, I once again watched them go into the coop one by one, well, all except Birdie, whom I had to round up myself, and as many times as I've seen them do this, I never tire watching them march in.

Chicks in the Sun

Today was such a beautiful day, and since I was out in it most of the day, the chickens were as well. They love being outside, scratching around. They are mostly good, and the cats don't bother them, which is a bit surprising actually. I've seen Gus the cat stalk and kill at least two squirrrels. I'm not sure why they aren't interested in the chickens, but obviously I'm glad they're not.

They didn't want to go back into the coop, but actually they're a little like sheep (or what I think sheep would be like). I have a red stick that the chicks are a bit concerned about. I use it to guide them to the coop, like a shepherd's staff. It took me no time at all to get all the chicks in with very little chasing.

Oh, my kindness to the chicks in letting the chicks out today paid off. Today was a 5-egg day, following a 6-egg day yesterday.

Finally ...

Today was the day--the 6-egger. Every one of the chicks layed an egg today. Every last one. I'm all smiles.

A Five Egg Day

Yesterday I got 5 eggs! Of course, I'm not completely happy because I have six chicks so I should have 6 eggs, but 5 is getting there. I'm not sure who the layers are. Birdie and Bee are my solids, and Myrtle, she's pretty dependable as well. Rosemary had been taking a break since her brooding. (She's not brooding anymore, but she hasn't been laying eggs either.) Honey and Ethel hadn't been laying, but they're both showing signs that they should be ready. Ethel is getting all waddle and comb-y, and she's been investigating the coop, but Honey getting waddle and comb-y as well, plus her twin Bee has been laying for months now. Anyway, it appears that all but one is laying. I'll find out who the layers are soon, I hope.

Ida

So, last night we had a bit of weather thanks to Ida. She started out as a hurricane, but was only a tropical storm when it was all said and done. Still, we weren't sure where she would come ashore and how strong the winds would be so we did somewhat batten down the hatches, so to speak. I went to put the chicks' food and water in the coop around 7 pm. I figured that if it was really raining in the morning, the chicks could have their food and water in the coop and they wouldn't have to come out into the pen and get blown around or wet.

The first thing I noticed when I went out there with my flashlight was that there was an egg in the dirt. I picked it up and put it in my pocket and didn't think too much about it. But when I went to put the water in the coop, I noticed that Bee was sleeping on the bench where we keep the water. I did think that was strange. I picked her up to put her in the coop and that's when I noticed that the coop was empty. I looked all around for the rest of the chicks, but they were no where to be found. Finally, I looked up, and there they were: up top on a piece of wood that spans the pen. Birdie, Honey, Myrtle, Ethel and Rosemary were all huddled together, sleeping in the rafters.

When I went out to check on them this morning, it was obvious that they had slept there all night. I felt bad because I had put Bee in the coop away from the others, but that was before I realized the plan was to have a campout. I don't have a clue why they'd want to sleep outside, especially in the wind and rain. Quite odd, if I do say so myself, but what do I know about chicken logic?

~~~

As I was cleaning the pen this morning, I suddenly realized I was the only one in the pen. The chicks had pushed the door open and were all busy pecking around outside. I finished up and then sat with them for 15 minutes or so. Myrtle found and ate a worm--she had to run away to a private spot to make sure no one shared it with her--and all the chicks liked drinking the puddled water in the wagon. I like letting them out in the evenings better because they go into the pen all by themselves when it starts getting dark, but now with the time change, it's dark by the time I get home and they haven't had much outside time. This morning, I don't have to be at work until later (storm leave), so it didn't matter much that they were out, but I do need to look at getting a latch on the inside. I can't be chasing them around the yard and make it to school and work on time.

Weddings and a Brooding Hen

We've been busy but not too much with the chickens. My sister got married in Greenville, SC on the 17th, so I had to find a sitter for the chickens. Luckily, my across-the-street neighbor, Cindy, agreed do it. She seems to have done a great job (not to take away from her efforts, but sitting mainly entails cleaning poo, filling food dishes and counting heads to make sure they're all still doing well). I hope she wore closed-toe shoes when she came to take care of them. When she came to get the rundown on the Thursday before we left, they were very interested in pecking at her cherry-painted toenails.

In other news: Rosie is brooding. She wants to set on eggs, even when there are none. If one of the hens lays an egg, she is Johnny-on-the-spot to go sit on it. Somehow, she has convinced the other hens to lay in the same spot on the floor of the coop. I feel bad that she doesn't have a real egg to sit, but since these eggs will never hatch, I take them out from under here. She's okay with me moving her around a bit, but she goes back to setting and occasionally clucking. I try to take her out of the coop in the evenings so she'll be sure to eat and drink. Apparently, setting hens can be so committed to their nest that they'll neglect themselves.

A Trip Outside

We let the chicks out of the pen tonight. At first, we just let the big ones and Myrtle out. Kevin was afraid the little ones would try to fly around, but Rosemary and Ethel wanted to be with the other chicks, so I let them out as well. The little ones didn't even try to fly. In fact, they were all pretty much together the entire time and pretty much right in front of the coop the entire time, as well.

When it started getting dark, we wondered how the chicks would do. Would we have to round them up or would they go into the coop by themselves? They were so busy and happy to be pecking around in the grass. Well, Honey went into the pen first and squawked so everyone would follow her. Nobody paid her much attention. A little later Rosemary went in. Honey came back and squawked some more and went back in. Ethel went in, and then a few moments later, Myrtle followed. Birdie went in, made a noise, and then Bee went in last.

Kevin closed the door and that was that--easy-peasy. They did so well I'm thinking more outings will be in their futures.

Eggs and Excitement, Slight

I'm averaging four eggs a day now, which, of course, makes me happy. Here are three eggs I just got from the same nesting box. We have four boxes, but apparently the favorite is the one closest to the hen door. You can see the difference in size and color of the eggs. I know that Birdie, Bee, Rosemary and Myrtle (yes, Myrtle) are laying for sure. I'm not sure about Honey and Ethel. I've never seen them in the nesting boxes, but someone lays a greenish-grey egg that I see occasionally.

It's raining here (yeah!) so when I went to look for eggs a few minutes ago, I took a red umbrella with me. You should have seen the chicks all run under the coop. They weren't scared of it like they were of the dogs, but they were a bit concerned. They're so funny sometimes.

I'm not sure if they're getting along any better, but I'm convinced that me or Kevin back there makes them more pecky toward each other. Speaking of me and Kevin back there, I had to do some work back behind the coop on Saturday and they all lined up under the coop to watch me. Kevin raked out the pen and then was disposing of the waste just outside the enclosure and they were all crowded in a corner to get a good look at what he was doing. I guess any little change of scenery is fascinating for them.

The Flock

We actually put the little chicks in with the big chicks Thursday. It's going okay. I do wish they were getting along a bit better. The big chicks are still pecking at the little chicks, but not maliciously, just to keep the little chicks in their place. You can see in the photo how the little chicks keep together and the big chicks keep together. Occasionally, we intervene, but we aren't there all the time. I guess they'll figure everything out, but I wish they could be nicer to each other. Egg update: three yesterday. Kevin says I'm a slave driver. I want an egg from every chick every day. If that's being a slave driver, then, yes, I am.