Happy Harvest Blog
Privacy Stalls
I finally got around to a simple fix to make higher walls on the nest boxes - just cardboard. Two of the nest boxes never got any use - too exposed. They all squabble over the corner office box and it gets vociferous. I hear them whining- complaining, indignant, offended, self-pitying, insulted, according to their chickenalities. I've been holding in an egg here for ages, and she just barged in here! Get off of me, I was already in here! Take a number!
First day in the new coop!
Moment of truth! The grand opening. I dropped the ramp and the birds on the threshold stared, taken aback. Oh, there's the Colonel pushing his way through. Coming through, coming through. I'll show you how it's done. And he did. Then the birds started pouring right out. The rapidity may have had something to do with the angle of descent. I wasn't sure about the steepness of the ramp if they could handle it, but it turns out, they handle it. They accelerate! - they're running by the bottom third, but they can hop and fly the runout,
Oreos and the Cobra mom
The guinea hen is definitely setting.No idea how many eggs she´s got. Easily 20. Perhaps a chicken egg got in there too. In fact, she could be due any day. I don´t know about guinea terms, but she´s got to be close.And since there´s only three birds walking about yet, I suspect those three are the boys, and the other hen has found her own nest site somewhere in the woods. May she walk out healthy one day with a trail of chicks.
Guinea house finally outside
They piled up on the roof per usual, two of them utilizing the perches.Surely they´ll go in the house when it rains? No, no they won´t.They huddle grimly on the top of the house in the wind and rain, only one hen perching up against the entrance, somewhat sheltered by the overhang of the roof.
By Golly, they like it!
One night! And the guineas have decided they live on their coop! I'm so pleased. All of them, lined up on the rim. It's probably only because it's about 2 inches higher than the header of the door (by design), but I'll take it.
Look up, look way up, it's the new guinea coop
The guineas have a collective mind of their own, choosing different places to sleep every night. They used to like snuggling between the hay bales and the plastic, or perching on the top of the open screen door, which is funny. They've just moved up one better though, and are roosting on the top of the door header.
Coop infiltration continued
One hen, the mom of two, had three chicks under her (sleepover!). The other (less intelligent) six were huddled in the box where their mom had taken to sleeping. No mom.
Broody hen egg poachers
My Silkies are trying. Very trying. First they all went broody one after the other, in March. A little early, Missy’s, but, if you must... Then, the egg-thieving began. It’s an ongoing problem.
Boy did I learn my lesson.
Do NOT move the chicken coop during the day.ONLY move the chicken coop when the birds are in it. If they don't wake up in it, then they don't know where it is. Is magic! No coop!
How chickens can make their own bed (ding).
I love my Chicken Mulch Cycle!The chicken make the straw for their bedding, add fertilizer, and their bedding becomes mulch.
Box upgrade for the Brown Brood
It amazes me that they are so tiny, a third or less the size of a "normal" chick, and yet, there are any number of songbirds that are no larger as adults. A hummingbird egg must be the size of my pinkie fingernail.
Chicken Mom / The In’s and Out’s.
I crawl in and start grabbing the chicks. Uhoh! At the sounds of distress, mom comes rocketing down the ramp, on a rampage! Flying attack beak! She’s battling me so fiercely, I have to protect the chicks I’m trying to grab with one hand from stabbing beak with the other hand. I should mention that being attacked by a two-pound hen, even giving all she’s got, is not all that threatening.
First day out for the chicks!
I split the box open so that the hen could lead the way out, and make her way down the ramp on her own time. She completely ignored the opening, although the chicks were interested, and quickly began scampering around the rest of the coop. They move like water bugs.
New hens-integration
These new chickens are like little waifs, with no life skills. They are bad at scratching and foraging. They are bad at leaving the greenhouse. They very quickly mastered trailing around after me and whining.
Coop Management
I put clean grass into the nest boxes and throw dirty nest box grass onto the floor of the coop, covering the daily poop. Every week I put a serious thick layer of fresh weeds that really spruces it up in there. Monthly I remove the composting result to the garden.
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
Bite size.
