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!
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Monday, August 12, 2013
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.
Monday, August 5, 2013
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
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!!!
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!!!
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
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.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
June 15, 2013: House Cat, House Chicken: What's the Diff?
I haven't posted for a while so I've got a lot to say. Most of you know we live in a place in northern California that gets very hot in the Summer. Not Mojave Desert hot, but very hot nonetheless. Miserably hot, and if anyone says's "yes, but it is a dry heat: I will smack them, cause 115 is damn hot, and dry heat feels like a blast furnace.
Well last Friday and Saturday is was hellishly hot, and I was so worried about the girls. We did get a fan that goes on automatically in their chicken yard, and they have ample shade and water when out in the yard, but we close them in the chicken yard at night which is shady, but still hot when it's a scorcher. I decided last weekend that I would bring them in if they seemed to be suffering. Then I thought, hey, I can't stand to go out of the air conditioned house, so they must be suffering.
So first I wetted down the floor of the chicken yard and the patio. The lawn had already been watered. That produced negligible relief. I then got a great idea for these kinds of emergency situations. I brought our large dog cage in the house. It is on wheels and is designed to transport dogs on planes etc. I place newspapers on the bottom, and Cal brought in the girls one at a time. We put them in the dog carrier, in the entry way to the living room on the cool tile. I put their water in with them and waited for any reaction.
The only reaction we got was blissful cooing and cococcoing as the girls enjoyed the joy that is air conditioning. We are so fortunate to be able to have and use A/C. We kept them with us through the hottest part of the day and/or until they pooped twice. Then I moved their fan so that it blew right into their coop. It wasn't as cool as the A/C, but a whole lot cooler than the ambient air outside. I put ice cubes in their water containers, and they did fine.
The only difference between having a house cat, and a house chicken is pooping issue. And lets face it, those of us who have had cats know they don't always use the litter box. And I am sure with enough time and effort I could teach the girls to use a litter box. But I digress.
Since then Carl, my brother in law and fellow chicken wrangler, told me about setting out a large shallow pan of water in the shade that the chickens can stand in. Apparently cooling off their feet by standing in the water helps them tolerate high heat. Come to think of it, it does the same thing for me.
So now I have a plan for the future very hot Summer days.
Next.
Several months ago, in fact right after we got Mabel and Barbara, I read that chickens liked yogurt and that it was a good source of protein for them. So I bought a big container of non-fat strawberry yogurt. I carefully set out a bowl for them to try. They walked in it. They did not even try it. So Cal and I ate strawberry yogurt for several weeks. Oh well I thought, they eat raisins, cherry tomatoes, and mandarin oranges. Can't have everything.
Let jump forward to last week. I am sitting happily on the patio in the morning, drinking coffee and reading the paper, while the chickens cruise around the lawn. I have a lovely bowl of nonfat Greek blueberry yogurt ( fruit on the bottom) over diced fresh cantaloupe. Mabel comes running. jumps up on the chaise lounge, walks up my legs right up to my bowl and stairs over the rim of it at me. I get nervous. Is she turning Veloceraptor on me? Gingerly I took some on my spoon and offered it to her.
She went nuts and as the picture shows she literally got it all over her beak in her eagerness to eat the yogurt. Clearly this was the end of my meal for the day as she an Annie finished off my breakfast.
Why did she eschew it when I bought the girls their own yogurt? What changed? Here is my theory. As with pets in general, anything you are eating they want. And, now that the girls have learned to be social and to trust us, she was no longer afraid to barge into my breakfast by lying up and walking on my legs. What ever caused the change, it was hilarious.
Also found a chicken sitter to the girls for when we go on vacation. That is a load off my mind.
I think that is all the pertinent facts for now. plus dinner is ready, so off I go. Ciao
amici.
Well last Friday and Saturday is was hellishly hot, and I was so worried about the girls. We did get a fan that goes on automatically in their chicken yard, and they have ample shade and water when out in the yard, but we close them in the chicken yard at night which is shady, but still hot when it's a scorcher. I decided last weekend that I would bring them in if they seemed to be suffering. Then I thought, hey, I can't stand to go out of the air conditioned house, so they must be suffering.
So first I wetted down the floor of the chicken yard and the patio. The lawn had already been watered. That produced negligible relief. I then got a great idea for these kinds of emergency situations. I brought our large dog cage in the house. It is on wheels and is designed to transport dogs on planes etc. I place newspapers on the bottom, and Cal brought in the girls one at a time. We put them in the dog carrier, in the entry way to the living room on the cool tile. I put their water in with them and waited for any reaction.
The only reaction we got was blissful cooing and cococcoing as the girls enjoyed the joy that is air conditioning. We are so fortunate to be able to have and use A/C. We kept them with us through the hottest part of the day and/or until they pooped twice. Then I moved their fan so that it blew right into their coop. It wasn't as cool as the A/C, but a whole lot cooler than the ambient air outside. I put ice cubes in their water containers, and they did fine.
The only difference between having a house cat, and a house chicken is pooping issue. And lets face it, those of us who have had cats know they don't always use the litter box. And I am sure with enough time and effort I could teach the girls to use a litter box. But I digress.
Since then Carl, my brother in law and fellow chicken wrangler, told me about setting out a large shallow pan of water in the shade that the chickens can stand in. Apparently cooling off their feet by standing in the water helps them tolerate high heat. Come to think of it, it does the same thing for me.
So now I have a plan for the future very hot Summer days.
Next.
Several months ago, in fact right after we got Mabel and Barbara, I read that chickens liked yogurt and that it was a good source of protein for them. So I bought a big container of non-fat strawberry yogurt. I carefully set out a bowl for them to try. They walked in it. They did not even try it. So Cal and I ate strawberry yogurt for several weeks. Oh well I thought, they eat raisins, cherry tomatoes, and mandarin oranges. Can't have everything.
Let jump forward to last week. I am sitting happily on the patio in the morning, drinking coffee and reading the paper, while the chickens cruise around the lawn. I have a lovely bowl of nonfat Greek blueberry yogurt ( fruit on the bottom) over diced fresh cantaloupe. Mabel comes running. jumps up on the chaise lounge, walks up my legs right up to my bowl and stairs over the rim of it at me. I get nervous. Is she turning Veloceraptor on me? Gingerly I took some on my spoon and offered it to her.
She went nuts and as the picture shows she literally got it all over her beak in her eagerness to eat the yogurt. Clearly this was the end of my meal for the day as she an Annie finished off my breakfast.
Why did she eschew it when I bought the girls their own yogurt? What changed? Here is my theory. As with pets in general, anything you are eating they want. And, now that the girls have learned to be social and to trust us, she was no longer afraid to barge into my breakfast by lying up and walking on my legs. What ever caused the change, it was hilarious.
Also found a chicken sitter to the girls for when we go on vacation. That is a load off my mind.
I think that is all the pertinent facts for now. plus dinner is ready, so off I go. Ciao
amici.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
June, 4, 2013: Chickens Eat Spaghetti
Did you know that if you feed spaghetti to chickens, they eat it one strand at a time, and they treat it just like a worm.....and they wipe their beaks after every strand. So fastidious, from birds that poop right next to their food. (Check out Chickens Eating Spaghetti videos on YouTube.)
This week, after reading the latest edition of "Chickens" , we decided to try giving the girls some different treats. They loved blueberries, really liked yogurt, and went goofy over cherry tomatoes. They I thought I'd see if they would like bruschetta spread. YES!!! They even ate the garlic bits.
Clearly my girls are of Italian decent just like their Mama. Bambinas Mia.
In my last post I mentioned that it is very hot here, and this is their first summer ( they are just barely 1 year old). Well they seem to be doing pretty good, however, I inadvertently moved one of their water sources out onto the lawn from the chicken yard, and place in the shade of a tree. They ran to it and drank like crazy.
Apparently they do not want to walk all the way back to the chicken yard to get a drink. We also have been putting ice cubes into their water reservoirs to keep the water as cool as possible. We are also changing the water daily and adding apple cider vinegar to help keep it fresh.
News flash: Mabel climbed from Cal's arm onto my shoulder and sat there with her little head right next to mine and we walked around the yard. So sweet.
This week, after reading the latest edition of "Chickens" , we decided to try giving the girls some different treats. They loved blueberries, really liked yogurt, and went goofy over cherry tomatoes. They I thought I'd see if they would like bruschetta spread. YES!!! They even ate the garlic bits.
Clearly my girls are of Italian decent just like their Mama. Bambinas Mia.
In my last post I mentioned that it is very hot here, and this is their first summer ( they are just barely 1 year old). Well they seem to be doing pretty good, however, I inadvertently moved one of their water sources out onto the lawn from the chicken yard, and place in the shade of a tree. They ran to it and drank like crazy.
Apparently they do not want to walk all the way back to the chicken yard to get a drink. We also have been putting ice cubes into their water reservoirs to keep the water as cool as possible. We are also changing the water daily and adding apple cider vinegar to help keep it fresh.
News flash: Mabel climbed from Cal's arm onto my shoulder and sat there with her little head right next to mine and we walked around the yard. So sweet.
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