Our Little Hen Barbara Died Today

Our sweet girl was fine today, running around, and enjoying her yard.  At about 1:30 pm I gave her and Mabel their raisin treats.  She was her piggy little self.  At 4:00pm I went out to put them I their coop and found her dead on the floor.  Her little body was still warm.  There were no signs of trauma, no blood, feathers, nothing.  She was just laying on her side with her little eyes closed.  I picked her up and carried her inside, calling for Cal.   We are heart broken to loose this wonderful gentle funny little hen.  I am so sad. 
We don't know how Mabel will be now that she is without her buddy.  They cruised around the yard together all day long. 
We love you Barbara. 

Molting Chickens: Once again we have horrifying looking chickens!

I want to apologize for not blogging for several months.  2015 has been the worst year of my life so far. The sudden death of my Mom knocked me off my feet.  I am still reeling from that.  Add to that family illness and crisis and another death and blogging got lost in the shuffle. I am trying to regain my balance and decided to blog about the girls.

Feathers are everywhere!  Mabel's neck is only as thick as a pencil.  Barbara looks like a Zombie.  Scary!!  But we know molting is just the way chickens get ready for winter, getting rid of summer feathers and getting their winter coat.  Wish I could lose weight as easy. 

Barbara stopped laying a few months ago, which we think is just because of her age which is almost 4.  Mabel kept on laying until the her feathers started to fly last week.  For the last week, no eggs.

Honestly, that's OK with us.  These girls have worked hard and laid eggs for the better part of 4 years.  That takes a lot of energy, not to mention must be painful.  We love them and are happy to have them as bug eaters, and non-laying garden art. 

They are a joyful presence in our yard, and to help them cope with molting, which I think as the equivalent of PMS that can last for weeks. 

First of all, then need a higher percentage of protein while they are molting, like up to18%.  Yogurt, tuna, car food, dried mealy worms, cottage cheese, eggs etc. will give them the energy to generate those new feathers.   Talk sweet to them and give them treats.

Secondly, try not to stress them further by holding them more or moving them around, or God forbid introducing new chickens into the flock.  Did you know that chickens can become cannibalistic?  To use the PMS example, ladies, think about being full on PMS and having your mother in law surprise you with a visit, intending to stay indefinetly.  Uh Huh, you see where I am coming from. 

January 20, 2015: Eggs Now $4.00+ per Doz.

Wow, we have really appreciated our girls and their delicious eggs, but never realized they were worth their weight in gold.  Eggs today at the local super market were $2.59 per half dozen.
WTH! 

While the girls have slowed egg production a bit during these winter days, we are still getting 1/2 dozen per week.  Interestingly enough, even though I have been eating more eggs than before we got the girls, my cholesterol etc. is still OK.  Also switched to real butter at the same time, used sparingly, it has had no effect either. 

Another bit of chicken lover trivia:  We recently replaced our carpet in the living room and dining room with tile.  Why you ask?  So that it is easier for us to have our chickens come on in the house.  Well, it is also easier with a muddy foot doggie too, but primarily it is for the girls.  Now they come right in and join me in the kitchen watching my every move to see if I have a treat for them.  So now, I have three pairs of eyes on me when I am cooking.  We are  nuts, I know.

September 2, 2014: Wrangling Chickens for Over 2 years.

Just realized that we have had our girls, Mabel and Barbara for over 2 years.  Yes they have been cruising around our backyard, as a part of our family, and made our lives richer in the process.

What is a chicken?  There are a variety of answers to this question.   To Cal and I, our chickens are precious pets who chortle, make us laugh, lay eggs and come a running when we head out the door to the yard.

Each has her own distinct personality, and way of getting what she wants. 

Barbara is bossy, assertive and very focused.  She is a pretty girl, with plenty to say on almost any topic.  Last week I went out to move her out of the nest as she was keeping Mabel out and had already laid her egg.  She got so MAD at me, and cursed me out in chicken talk, at the top of her lungs for several minutes.  How dare I move her off her nest!!  She was indignant.

Mabel is our sweet, mellow little Amauricana who loves to be held and petted.  Her little chortles are just divine.  She is a gentle girl, who daintily takes the raisin from your finger tips, while Barbara will jump 2 feet off the ground to grab a raisin, nipping your finger with her beak in the process.

As different as they are, they are pals.  If they lose sight of each other as they wander around the yard, they will immediately start calling to the other" where are ya sissy?"  They both want attention and love being talked to and praised.  

They are funny girls who have brought so much joy into our lives, just by being themselves.  I simply cannot imagine not having them in our life.   Right now as I sit in the living room with my laptop, I can see them dashing by the sliding door, peeking in, wondering what I'm up to.  I'll go our in a few minutes, give them some cherry tomatoes, and have our nightly chat before their bedtime.

Love me some Mabel ad Barbara!  Get two chickens!  It will enrich your life, BUT, only if you love chickens,

August 4, 2014: I Kissed A Chicken And I Liked It.

I know we are supposed to love our children all the same, and that showing favoritism is a bad thing but dang it I really love Mabel.  She is the sweetest little hen I the world.  We had guests over for cocktails Saturday night and they wanted to see the chickens.  We went outside and Mable ran right up and let me pick her up.  Barbara meanwhile, ran out into the yard away from me. 

Mabel let Brenda and Pat pet her little head, and even stayed sweet when I brought her into the house to see our other guests.  I just love that little girl.

Mabel is the one who keeps track of where I am in the house.  I walk into the bedroom and she runs up to the sliding glass door.  I walk into the kitchen and she is at the dining room slider looking for Mommy.  We have a special bond.

This morning I just picked her up, petted her, talking to her the whole time, and she just settled against my chest making little cocococo's sounds.  She felt the love, and so did I, so I kissed her little head, and scratched her behind the ears.

We had a happy moment.  She gives me unconditional love.....and delicious eggs.

June 28, 2014: Chickens Can Be Spoiled Brats!

I know, I know, kids and chickens can both end up being brats when they are spoiled...usually by parents or grandparents.  I plead the 5th.  I do love my two little hens, and therefore are concerned about their welfare.

They have a lovely coop and chicken yard, but roam freely during the day around the backyard.  We feed them healthy chicken feed, scratch, with just the right amount of oyster shell mixed in.  SO....

I saw a post on Facebook about a summer treat you can make for chickens involving watermelon and yogurt where you kind of make a smoothy for them.  Well I did not have watermelon, but did have some farm fresh strawberries, and some strawberry Fat Free Yogurt.  So I made my own concoction in a glass bowl and took it out to them. 

They were very interested at first but then just wandered off from the bowl.  Ok, I thought, maybe it's just not there thing.  Then I took the spoon I was using to mash it all up, sat down with the spoon sort of hanging from my fingers.  Holy Hell!! They came running for the spoon like gangbusters, each trying to get a chance to peck the mixture off the spoon, totally ignoring the large bowl of the stuff at their feet. 

So being the good chicken wrangler/mommy that I am, I spent 15 minutes outside feeding them from the spoon, taking turns so they each got an equal amount.   Sad but true.

May 20, 2014: How to House Break Chickens

You can't.  Chicken diapers are the only answer and our friend Carl says he knows where to get them.