July 31, 2013: Hens and PMS or Broody Chickens.

W got back from our trip to the mountains to find Barbara not behaving like herself.  Our chicken sitter Jim and my sister, who checked in on the girls, said Barbara had not left the nest much.  So out we went to see the girls, first thing.

Mabel came running to greet us, but Barbara was not in sight.  We found her looking weird sitting on one of Mabel's eggs.  She looked dazed and had a scratch on here forehead.  WTH was going on.  I tried to pick her up and she pecked at me, hard!  I was afraid she was sick so we brought her water feeder and she drank a lot.  We brought her raisins and she ate them all.  We brought her yogurt and she ate it up.  So I figured she was probably not sick, but she still looked crazy.  When Cal tried to move her to clean the nest of some poop, she tried to peck the crap out of him.  Was she hurt?

Mabel was no help as she just stayed out of her sister's way.

Cal was finally able to pick her up so we could carefully look to see if she was injured.  She was not, but she puffed her feathers up so she was about three times her normal size..  A frightening sight I'll tell ya.  Cal said, do you think she might be broody, whatever that means.

To the Internet I ran.  And sure enough Barbara had all the symptoms listed.  Turns out they are much like PMS symptoms, and I know of where I speak. 
She is cranky, listless, snarky and even mean, wants to be left alone, or to pick a fight, whatever, and is bloated.  God bless the little thing she is hormonal, in spades!

It is a natural thing with most hens and there are several ways of helping her cope.  We can leave her alone and let her get over it, which can take weeks, and deprive Mabel of a nest as Barbara does not want to leave the nest AT ALL!  So that won't work.

We can get some fertile egg or baby chicks for her to sit on.......NO!!

Or we can put her in time out away from the nest, in a Taj Mahal of dog carriers with water and food and supposedly she will recover in a few days. 

So she has been sequestered since morning.  I let her our having closed the chicken yard door and she paced up and down in front of the door frantically.  I recognized the feeling and knew it was back in the carrier after a brief foray into the yard.  Mabel is confused and looks in at Barbara as if to say "what did you do?"  In solidarity with her sister Mabel has not laid an egg yet today. 

If this goes on I may have to resort to the only cure I know of......say it with me ladies....Chocolate!!!

July 17, 2013: Alert!!! Chickens Can Die When it is Too Hot!

I now I seem to be harping on this subject, but we love our little hens and would hate to lose one of them through not being aware of the things that can happen when it get so damn hot.

This past month has been a real challenge as it has been horribly hot, I mean well over 100F degrees and staying in the 90's at night.  Chickens do OK in the cold, but very hot weather can kill them.  One of our friends lost a hen from the heat. 

The backyard chickens are pets and need to be taken care of just like we do our more traditional pets.  Here is what I have learned about keeping chickens safe when it is very hot.

Of course, access to lots of cold water, and shade and damp ground.  I fill their waterers with half ice then add the water so the water stays cool.  We keep the yard watered
especially the area where they like to go and hunker down.  We wet down the floor in the chicken yard, and make sure it is fully shaded by using a cover. 

The chickens are enclosed in a chicken yard at night, so I feel safe leaving the main door into their coop open.  I crack the roof where we collect the eggs so tat air can circulate and have open the nest door and placed a stand up fan right in the open door to their nests.  The fan is on a timer and comes n automatically.  One side benefit I that this keep the coop well aerated and dry, but it also provides some relief from the terrible heat. 

We also learned that chickens like to stand in water to cool off so have a shallow baking pan full of water out in the yard in the shade.  On several afternoons when it was 111 degrees I actually squirted the girls with the hose.  They did not like it, but it helped them cool down.

We have also loaded the girls into our big dog carrier and brought them into the house.  I just lined the bottom with newspapers and threw some pine shavings, put their small waterer in their and they stayed in all day with us.  I cold not stand to see them panting with their little mouths open and lifting their wings to try to get cool, staring at us at the back glass door.  They chortled and cococoed with delight.

These efforts have kept our two girls happy, healthy and still laying 1 egg a day each.  We are also giving them cold yogurt and cold fruit which they love, and of course the ubiquitous raisins.

It has cooled of for the last week, but soaring temperatures are coming again starting tomorrow so we need to keep the girls safe and cool.

The girls like it so much inside they have even started venturing into the dining room from the patio door.  They both just stand on the throw run we have there to keep the carpet clean.  Haven't ventured any further into the house......yet.

Cool chickens are healthy chickens.  Our girls are way cool chicks.