Happy Harvest Blog
Havoc in the henhouse.
Ok, it’s officially December now. It’s not time to be broody. But I’ve been having a battle of wills with four broody hens, the most determined of which is Ursa Minor, and the peckiest is Fiesty, predictably. Then I open the coop to this. This. And this.Not ok! That’s seven. Seven. Seven broody, growly feather pancakes sitting on eggs. I didn’t have seven broody at once all summer. This is bad. Maybe it’s contagious. They win. They are sitting on eggs, and since they’re not going to give up, they can keep them.
ruffled feathers
I stopped this little Barred rock hen who's been wearing a denim jacket for a while, to see if she needed it still, or if her feathers had regrown underneath. Three of the other jacket hens are out of their coats now. This one happens to wear her coat like it grew on her, edges neatly tucked under her wings, and a perfect fit at her tail. I never see her jacket askew. But when I grabbed her to look under it, I messed everything up.
Shenanigans
Cheeks put herself back in her box after breakfast yesterday. I'm done. Either I spent too much time with the other chickens, or she thought if she was settled back in her box when I got back, she might avoid the pill procedure. Today she just settled on her box. In the greenhouse, all it takes to create a stir is a half dozen hay bale chunks set around. They disrupt the chicken run flow, make something to pick at, and they must all be inspected.
Cheeks is a cutie
Her foot is still hot and swollen and she's not keen on using it, so I hope she recovers.She's dozing after her meal. Now she asks to go back into her box when she's done eating and preening. She knows the routine. Birds' lids close upwards. There's the fattest squirrel: We mock this squirrel because he's so fat, his little hands don't meet in the middle over his belly. He's doing very well. He's thriving on sunflower seeds, or something. He recently made an appearance, after a long time seeing no squirrels.
forecast: slush
Yesterday we had a beautiful snow. The kind where the flakes pile up in delicate balance like they're weightless. Right this minute, it's snowing and raining at the same time. Ugly! It's "supposed" to just rain, and wash away all this snow, but instead, it's precipitating slush. Inside, it's tropical, the little birds are growing up, four Silkie hens are insisting that they are broody, and I'm insisting that they're not allowed to be. Everyone needs some entertainment, so I have to get in there and build and shuffle stuff.
Cheeks and sprouts
My worm bins were full of little sprouts. I pulled a bunch of them up, and they were pepper sprouts! All growing in a clump where I chucked in pepper innards.Pale, but apparently they get enough light in there. The worms are hiding. There sure are a lot of them though. I have to start selling worm starter kits. Cheeks digging into her windowsill meal. It's funny to me to see how much she likes variety (now she's eating again).
Cheeks eats
I set her on her Tupperware with a view, and she stood there looking like she's one-legged. She demolished her food - chicken food and long grain brown rice- a big hit. She even sampled the potted plant mix. She ate so much rice she passed over her seeds. Outside, the grosbeaks are congregating in the snow. She made an unholy mess of the windowsill, but I was just so happy she was eating. Nothing that won't clean up in seconds.
Cheeks is thinking out of the box.
Cheeks is making a comeback. I got her antibiotics and baby aspirin last week and started the daily regime of shoving them down her beak.I was hoping I wouldn't have to force feed her, so I tried everything to entice her to eat on her own, hoping her appetite would improve when the infection in her foot was controlled - kale, spinach, quinoa, beef fat, oatmeal, rice, coconut oil, raw egg, cooked almonds, cheese, cream - all things a well chicken would go crazy over.
Afternoon lounge
I took down the cross members that allowed the birds to hang out (and poop) over the Silkies. That wasn't working for anyone but the poopers. But now the birds are teetering around on the perimeter like it's a long way to tightrope walk. Hens beefing through the fence. Someday, we'll settle this. The little chickens are adorable, hanging out together in little friend groups. Someone is showing their (Puff)cheeks lineage. Do you see it?
House chicken 2018
Cheeks is in "intensive" box care in the house. At the end of October, she somehow got the end of one of her toes torn or bitten off, pretty cleanly. I was horrified but it can't be reattached, so what can you do? She's been spending her days in a chickery safe from harassment but still with the other hens in the GH. I figured she needed safe time to heal and the wound would close and she'd make a recovery. Appetite, check, using the foot, check, lots of time resting but normal behaviour.
Friends
It's so interesting and touching to see chickens form alliances and bonds. Sometimes it makes sense when birds hang out together (birds of a feather), sometimes I forced the issue, but most of the time it's organic, and often odd. I would never have called this one. Sidewinder and Apples' chick. This is so unlikely. Sidewinder is a VERY low chicken. I can say with certainty that she's the lowest. She's kind of a mess, with a butchered beak, therefore wicked underbite-not good for self-defense or settling arguments, bad feet,
What do I do when I haven't taken any pictures all day?
Take pictures in the fading light at guinea hour. There's the guineas grazing in colour-coded groups. There's the chicks that slipped out today, quite proud of themselves. Nosey on the left. They're pretty good about following the guineas back in, when they call it a night. The little barred rock again. I'm with you, right? I'm the right colour! Oooh, can I come out?! The small chickens are so cute. They're cute right up until they're suddenly big burly roosters swaggering around.
The guinea graze
The guineas haven't had their evening graze for a couple of days due to rain, and I let them out a touch early. (Time change! What time is it? Old time or new time?)Perchick shot out along with the guineas. That's a Cheeks move, to get in the middle of the guinea crowd and run where they're going. Can't see me! Guinea speed is a dead run for a chicken. I wouldn't mind some grass too. Then a few other chickens squeezed out. What's going on out here?
Just standin' around
The old girls have decisively claimed the roof of Chris & Cream Puff's coop. They pile up there all day. An alliance is forming. Sidewinder, the molter in a jacket (again! She molted last year), and Apples' chick. She was raised with the six other Silkies, but she doesn't hang out with them anymore. They're babies. The full Silkies are a third of her size. This one could be a full leghorn. Cute. There seems to be a bond.
Sun day
The sun came out and dried up all the rain. Not all - there was a lot of rain. And more wind. This morning, the pig house was upside down. No pigs. That's never happened before (the pig house flipped, certainly not absent pigs). I can picture them bolting out of there as their house lifted off of them. Pigs are easygoing, pleasant, optimistic creatures though, so they had no worries about settling back in after breakfast. I had a good time in the greenhouse, cleaning up, untying strings.
You Tarzan, me chicken
Now I know why the other chickens weren't impressed by Nosey. This is what they do when I'm not looking. The white one was up there too, before I got the camera. Just walking around up there on the tomato vines. She's going to practice swinging in a controlled environment.
The killer has pointy ears
I came face to face with Inky's killer today. I saw the rounded brown form lope into the brush as I came by the greenhouse to check on the pigs. I thought it was a raccoon because it was slow and lazy getting out of sight. To be sure, I snuck up for a closer look. It moved. I moved. It wasn't in much of a hurry. I found it, camouflaged in the underbrush. A bobcat. Sitting front feet together like a cultured cat, head forward, round face a little sad looking, like wild cats' faces look.
All in!
What a load off my mind! Everyone is in. I thought it might all be too crowded for the numbers I have now, but it's ok. It's sloppy and slapdash right now, but it will work out. There's plenty of room for the coops, and a pool, and more. The guineas are being very tolerant about this mass invasion. They very much like to sit up on top of Silkieland. Perhaps we'll poop on you. I think they're so cute. They treat the chickens more like pets they're fond of, than equals.
Two coops in
2.5 coops. Chris and Cream Puff are in too, in their personal size coop. It's a big mess, the coops are just barely in the door, but I'm going to reorganize a bit, and there are a lot of strings to come down. Oh, the birds are in heaven. The scritching, the tomatoes, the dust baths! They've been wanting into the greenhouse all summer. It's warm, and they were so happy all day bathing and lounging.No matter how big they are. HW deadpans "Yeah, that'll last until about lunchtime.
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
Bite size.
