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.