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.

May 28, 2014: Typo leads to renaming Hens!

Just a short note about something that happened today that changed the way we refer to our hens.  I was posting on Facebook in response to some ones comment about loving chickens.  I finished my response and before posting looked up an noted that I had typed "shickens", instead of chickens.

I think this was not an accident or an error, but a subconscious expression of what I really feel.  I love them girls something awful, but they really do poop a lot.

Cal's son Kevin was visiting from London this past weekend, and Cal and I worked our butts off to get the patio pristine.  I mean it was beautiful.  Could have been featured in Sunset Magazine or House Beautiful.

On Sunday morning we were having coffee out on the loggia when a sneaky hen came up and crapped right next to Cal just as he stood up to get more coffee.  How delightful it was to see  him step in it barefooted and smear it across the patio floor.  Our idyllic morning suddenly became real "real".  Sophisticated lounging ala loggia went out the window, replace by shicken reality.

Ahh Shickens!  They never disappoint.

May 7th, 2014: Chickens Make Great Party Hostesses

 

Had 14 ladies for lunch Saturday. Cal and I worked our butts off getting the patio clean and spruced up.  Those of you who have chickens know they tend to poop at will...anywhere they want.  So of course I was worried.  If I kept them in their chicken yard, they would complain loudly and disturb our meeting.  Yet they seem to be drawn  to a freshly washed and swept  patios like moths to a flame.

We made the decision to let the girls stay out in the yard.   After all, the ladies know we have chickens and some of them really like them.

Well I could not be prouder of Barbara and Mable.  No pooping, no squawking, no coming onto the patio at all.

They were little feathered angels, chatting quietly in the background as we held our book club meeting and had lunch.

Love these girls.

 

April 11, 2014: Chickens Celebrate Birthdays

 

I know this is a picture at Christmas, but the hens also like any kind of celebration.  Tomorrow is Cal's birthday.  I told the girls Daddy was having a birthday and they.....well they just looked at me.  But I could tell they were excited!  Barbara even pooped right then, so excited.

Cal and I talked yesterday about how much the chickens, our dog, and the 5 neighborhood cats we feed add to our lives. 

Annie gives us love, kisses, and cuddles.  The kittens are so sweet.  They won't let us touch them, but do stay on the porch versus running away like they did at first.  Very sweet to watch them come to the porch to eat.

But....our chickens give us something else!  That's why they call them pets with benefits.  EGGSEGGSEGGS!

April 4, 2014: Barbara Is A Star!

Cal brought Barbara into the house today to say Hello.  Decided to take a video of her as she was talking a blue streak and letting me pet her really sweetly. 

It turned out so cute that I posted it on FB.  Got numerous positive reactions.  Tried to copy it and paste it to this blog.  NO go.  So you'll just have to go my FB page to see her in action.

Meanwhile Today was a good day for the Chicken Wrangler.  The girls enjoyed the day, and we enjoyed watching them play in the yard.

Chickens make the day a better place.

April 3, 2014: Spring Chickens!

In the midst of some rains storms, we've  had some lovely sunny days.  While we all enjoy the beauty of budding flowers, our chickens have gone completely nuts. 

Today we let them out as usual and they ran as fast as they could, as usual, out into the yard BUT....
they continued to race around the yard jumping and squawking like crazy.  I thought maybe a cat was prowling around and they were chasing it.  Turns out they were just filled with the joy of Spring!

Shortly after that the gardener came, and we had to put the girls in the chicken yard.  OMG the racket they put up.  The whole time they screeched and screamed.  Bet the neighbors liked that.  I mean, they have Spring Fever bad.  OR... it was the ripe tomato I gave them day before yesterday.

Love my feathered little girls.

March 12, 2014: Happy Hens in the Sun

 

We had a terribly windy day yesterday with strong gusts.  I was worried about the girls being blown down the block, or across the river to Marysville.  They stayed close to the house hunkered down, under the patio cover out of the wind most of the day. 

BUT today it is sunny with no wind and they are delighted to be out running around as usual.  I walked out to our loggia to see them together just enjoying the sun.  They always greet me with their sweet little voices. 

March 4, 2014: 1.5 years of Chicken Wrangling and Still Love My Girls

Hi All,
It's been a while since I posted.  Still working on my children's books about Mabel and Barbara.  Been procrastinating about the publishing part. Reading how to self publish etc. I need a big kick in the butt. 

The girls made it through a pretty cold December, but so far the weather has been milder  and they are doing great.  During the day, when it rains, they gather under the patio cover and sleep on the door mat when not scouring the yard for tasty tidbits.  When we move to the bedroom they follows us so they can be a part of the family, standing outside that sliding door.  I never knew they were so social.  No chicken coop for them, they want to see Mom and Dad and their sister Annie.

I love that about them.  This afternoon I went out and sat on the patio chaises.  Of course they immediately ran around the hedge from the west side of the yard to see me.  We chatted and they expressed an interest in some raisins.  We shared a few stories and they ate raisins.  It was so peaceful to just sit with the girls.  Sometimes I think that hens are natures Zanax.

BTW:  A few weeks ago I noticed a wet looking spot under Mabel's chin.  Brought her in the house and sure enough she looked like she had a weeping sore area.  Cal cradled her while I washed it with soap and water then applied Neosporin.  She was calm an let us pet her and talk to her during the process.  What a trooper.  She has always been so sweet.  Anyway it worked like a charm and completely healed in a few days.

December 7th 2013: Chickens move into the kitchen.

 

Annie wants to check it out before we move it back into the kitchen.

The last 3 nights have been well below freezing here which is an anomaly, and flies in the face of the proponents of global warming.  Today it snowed...in Yuba City....central California....Valley floor!

With Mabel so naked, having finished molting but not anywhere near fully feathered yet, I have been worried about both she and Barbara out in the coop at night.  Cal is exploring chicken sweaters, and I tried to fashion a chicken coat of sorts made out of small scarves.  Mabel looked like a gypsy and did not like wearing them. 

So again we resorted to the large dog carrier, filled with pine shavings, in the kitchen.  The girls seem to like being in here, and readily go to sleep as soon as we turn off the kitchen lights.  When I told the women in my book club today about bringing the girls in, I think they thought I was nuts.  Do you think I am spoiling my chickens?  It's only going to be 22F tonight, and Mabel is nude!

11/29/2013: Molting is Revolting

Happy one day after Thanksgiving, chicken lovers.  What is it about the holidays that bring out the worst in some family members?  Drama is truly overrated.

                                                   Mabel at her fully feathered best.
Speaking of drama, I have begun to notice large amounts of feathers on the back yard door mats.  At first I thought the chickens had had a fight.  But no signs of same on either girl.  Then notice Mabel has stopped laying.  Barbara is still  happily laying one egg a day, but it's been several days since we've seen a pale greenish blue egg. 

Today, after several days of flying feathers everywhere. Mabel is looking pretty groddy.  Poor little thing looks almost naked, and in the winter too.  Is this right?  I thought chickens molted in the Fall, not mid-winter.  Our sweet little pretty Ameraucana is bald in patches. and looks hideous.

We don't mention that to her, but I thinks she knows cause she looks at her self in the sliding glass doors.  Barbara is strutting around like "look at me, I'm the normal chicken, Mabel is the mutant."  Kindness is not a big part of Barbara's character.

So, to make it up to Mabel, I give her extra raisins, and yogurt, and tell her that this too shall pass and she will be our pretty little hen again soon.  Then it will be Barbara's turn and Mabel will have the last laugh.

October 16, 2013: Mabel and Barbara Missed Mommy amd Daddy

It's been a while since this chicken wrangler has posted here.  Since I got my Smart phone I spend less time on my laptop.  I have missed writing about the exploits of our girls.

They remain the delightful little critters they always have been, and we miss them when we travel.  (That God for our surrogate chicken wrangler, Jim, a neighbor who also has backyard chickens and helps chicken sit when were gone.) We discovered this past week that they miss us too when we are gone.

After a 5 day trip to the San Juan Islands, we returned late last Friday night.  We checked on the girls who were cooped up and asleep.  Come Saturday morning, I got up, went to open the chicken run, and feed them their scratch.  They were still in the net.  Didn't even notice I was there. 

After a book club meeting later that morning,  I dragged myself home, opened the back sliding door to let Annie out, and collapsed on the living room couch, leaving the door open so Annie could come back in at her leisure.  I was just dozing off when I heard a familiar cococoing sound, only it was not in the yard, it was right next to me.  I opened my eyes to find myself eye to eye with Barbara who had strolled on in the house, Mabel right on her tail.   Barbara began chatting with me, while casually pecking at the carpet.  Mabel followed suit.  I believe their message was "where the hell have you been"?

Still it warmed my heart to see these girls who were so afraid of us when they arrive a year ago, that we had to chase them all over the yard to get them in the coop, fearlessly walk into the house, through the dining room and into the living room to find Mama.  We had a nice talk.

I did say a small prayer that they would not poop on the rug, and sure enough they didn't. 

Aside:  Earlier this summer we had a lovely green granite-like patio poured and added new garden furniture, umbrellas and even an outdoor area rug, flower pots, and garden art.  It is lovely, like an Italian loggia.  First time a chicken stepped on the new rug, she pooped big time!  Only ten minutes of sheer bliss looking at my lovely new serene patio before the deed was done.  I knew it was inevitable, but only ten minutes?  They have the whole dang yard to poop in and Barbara has to go and poop on the rug first thing.  Good thing I love those girls!

August 12, 2013: Barbara is back and laying!

What Annie Really Thinks of the Chickens!

You know we were concerned about Barbara a few weeks ago when she went crazy then stopped laying eggs?  We did our research and learned that she was broody, not an illness of any kind, but kind of like PMS + Menopause = stay away from her, and don't let her near a loaded gun.  Thank God she doesn't have opposable thumbs or we might have been in danger.

During my massage last Friday I asked my masseuse/chicken expert, Zahra, about eggless Barbara and she assuaged my fears.

Anywho she laid her first egg yesterday and another today.  Hooray!!!  She and Mable strolled into the dining room today after lunch to get their daily treat of raisins.  They are getting braver and now come all the way in and closer to the dining table legs.  My sister Karen was here and witnessed the raisin ritual first hand.

Just another anecdote for you:  had my sis and brother in law John over for dinner last night.  John was seated looking out the glass door to the yard.  He asked me a bunch of questions about the girls, talked about how pretty Mabel was and the numerous colors of her feathers, and I noticed him smiling when he looked out at them.  The little hammy hens must have sensed the attention and came and sat by the sliding glass door, preening and being cute, just for John.

I'm telling you chickens are good for what ails you.  They are little stress relievers and bring us such joy in their antics. 

Annie thinks of them as her chickens and watches out for them, just in case some anger arises like a kitten, or blue jay comes in the yard. 

Life is good at the Chicken Wranglers City Chicken Ranch.

August 5, 2013: Barbara Comes Back From The Dark Side.

In my last post I described our adorable hen Barbara suffering from PMS/broodiness.  She was crazy, and confused.   We didn't know what the hell was going on.  After carefully research we discovered what broodiness is.  And she was in it!!

As recommended, we sequestered her from the nest for three days in our large dog carrier, and she is almost back to normal.  She hasn't started laying again, but that is also a part of broodiness.  We are giving her lots of TLC and blueberry yogurt (her favorite).

Meanwhile Mable has been wondering "what is wrong with Sissy"?  She has been so solicitous of her sister and staying close.  While Barbara was in the dog carrier, so Mable could have access to the nest, Mabel would look in and talk to Barbara, and as soon as she laid her egg, we would close the coop and let Barbara out to free range in the yard, they would run to each other and cruise around the yard.

So things are back to normal, well as normal as they ever are.  There is peace in the Kingdom again.  For now.

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!!!