This Silly Chicken

Inez is a loud one and one silly girl.  Now she thinks she will be safe if she roots on top of the pergola.  I was sitting enjoying a campfire and watching her.  I tried to get a video at several angles but she was a little skittish.  So I just parked it and patiently waited for her to do her stuff.

And there she sits.  Now when we go out to the hot tub we have to put our towels in a new place so she doesn't poop on them.

I just checked on her.  She is perched in the same place.  Tonight has been windy, rainy, and the temps are to drop below freezing.  I wonder if she will ever figure out that if she sleeps in the roost with Lucky is will be a lot warmer and safer.  Better start beefing up girl.

Molting Chickens and Fun Facts

I'd look at someone with a camera in my face too if I didn't have all my 'clothes' on!

The girls are molting.

I don't know why it is working out this way with all the nasty weather they say we are going to have this winter.  We are doing our best to fatten them up since there are only two of them and they don't like roosting together.

Inez is just starting her molt.

Lucky on the other hand, is well into hers.

She looks so bad.

These pictures make them look good.

The Wammyville families send treats for the Girls all the time.  I put them on a low birdfeeder so all the little wild critters that live in the backyard (one brown bunny, a family of chipmunks and a family of 4 squirrels)

They love a good clump of scratch.  So do I then they scratch up more weeds.  Definitely, a win, win!

Noe for some CRAZY FUN FACTS...

For my birthday, someone that knows me very well and I wish I could remember who it was, got me a Chickens magazine.  I love this magazine.  When we first became chicken farmers I had a subscription.

There is a section titled, 'Ch-Ch-Changes.'  The article describes the 6 ways that hens change as they get older.  I was blown away by some and others I have learned from reading and experience.

1.  As hens get older their legs get bigger and rougher.  Some even grow spurs.  Their bones get rigid, tougher skin and they become less active...that could describe me too!

2, They end to lay fewer eggs. The Girls would lay an egg apiece daily. Now we might get one every 4-5 days. The weather has a little to do with that also. They like the sun and grey days their switch pauses.

3. This one seems strange...the eggs are bigger and the shells are thinner. And the color becomes paler.

4. They begin to put on the pounds Like I said I can relate.

5. This is the crazy one! Spontaneous sex change! One of my girls seems to think she is a rooster. I have heard her try to crow twice. A hen has two ovaries. The one on the left is the one that produces the eggs. The one on the right is underdeveloped. Then those male hormones kick in. This change tells me that one of them has come to the end of their egg-laying days.

6. If there were eggs there is a tendency for them to become broody. Guess there is no chance of that!

The life expectancy of a healthy chicken can be more than 10 years (Mark's hopes this is not true) but the prime egg laying days are over by the time they turn four. So the days are short around here. The Girls are a little over 3 years old. I've tried to talk Mark into getting more but I don't see any new girls in my future.

Just A Lazy Kind Of Day

It looks like someone is molting.  She has already lost her tail feathers.

I found one of Lucky's tail feathers.

FYI...Inez is still roosting on top of the pergola.  I wonder what she plans to do when the weather turns nasty?

Oh No

Somebody is getting a little wing trim tomorrow first thing!

That is where she is sleeping tonight!

I don't think she can actually fly that high because today at lunch we saw her standing on top of the hot tub.  So I think she flies there and uses that as a stepping stone to the top of the pergola.  Inez is one crazy chicken.

Fairy Eggs

Have you ever wondered what the inside of a fairy egg looked like?  Today was the day that we are all going to find out.  These two little eggs have been in a bowl for over a month or two.  I was just waiting for someone to ask to open them  Marli was the one that wanted to know just what did it looked like.  So it became her job.  So without further ado...

She opened the longest egg first.  What she found was just regular insides only a lot smaller.

The second egg was a little different.  I think this one has been around longer.

There was a shell inside a shell

The Girls Are Still Helping

We leave the garden gate open so the girls will just mosey in and begin to scratch the dirt up.  Saves me from having to do so much of it and they leave some little droppings that are good for the soil too.

Work it, girl!

Now she is working on the strawberry bed.  Not to worry we had old plants and they have to be replaced next year.

Farmer Pappy just has to get a tiller to work it up a little more.  We have a good batch of compost that will be put in all the beds before planting time comes.

Looking like a million dollars.

We threw some scratch in there for the chickens to see if we could get a little more work out of them.

This Is Embarrassing

I hate to even post this picture because things look so bad in the garden and we have even been working on it.  Mark decided that the girls should have a run at it.  He hopes they fertilize it a bit and scratch it up a whole lot!  They don't seem to mind.  The love all the bugs a]that seem to be popping out of every handful of weeds.  Now is when I wish we still had lots of chickens.  They could tear it up in no time!

Silly Girl

I went out to see where the girls had decided to roost.  Lucky has learned her lesson, she goes to the coop every night.

But not Inez!  She now sits outside the bathroom window on the ledge.

I can't even get a minute to go to the bathroom without her pecking on the window.

An Evening With My Friends

The boys were so excited to be out and eating leaves and twigs.

It started to sprinkle so everyone retreated to under the rabbit hutch.

They are eating brown crunchy leaves.

Hey, Mom look at me!

A little on the spot quick photoshoot.

Look who I caught eating the variegated liriope.  Not a good choice.

And then someone else joined the party.

Don't you be stickin' your tongue out at me!

Nowe the acorns for dessert.

Boogie moving on to the good stuff.

Then back to the treats.

The girls roosting a little under the rabbit hutch,

Maybe a few weeds mixed in with the good stuff.

Look at me mom I am eating all the stuff so you won't have to rake it all up.

Side Note....this evening when I went out to get the girls to put them in the coop I couldn't find Lucky.  So I took Inez to bed and all the way to the coop we called for her.  She never came running as she always does.  I put Inez in the run and thought I would check for eggs one more time.  Guess who I found in one of the nesting boxes....yep, Lucky.

Putting The Girls To Bed

New nightly routine...find where we are roosting tonight.  Sometimes they are together and sometimes they are not.

Just me gathering up The Girls.

Lucky showing her good side...not the side where she is missing a ton of feathers.

Inez choosing her spot.

Just Checking In

Someone likes to play Hide-N-Goat-Seek.

Boogie living his best life.

These guys are so funny!  If I open the sliding glass doors, the Cluck-Thru, or the backyard gate, they start talking to me.  They loved to be loved on.  They love little pieces of black licorice.  And they REALLY like getting out and running around the backyard and eating the things I will let them eat.  I have learned the best way to keep them away from the plants we would like to keep or to get them back in the pen all I have to do it get out the hose and use the water as a shepherds hook.  It is amazing how fast the can move.  They hate water on their backs.