Chickens love mealworms, but they really love them frozen in a corm muffin. Today was a hot one. Temps topped 90 degrees. So to beat the heat, I blew up a pool float and put it in a small pond in my yard. I drifted around in about 10 inches of water, my belly looking …
Breaking lockdown
I threw a fistful of scratch as far as I could, and watched as my five girls toddered into a storm of seed. A small patch of red caught my eye. It was on Dottie's bum. After cautiously walking over, I picked her up, turning her upside-down all in one chicken mama move. My stomach …
Losing Loretta
I've been losing Loretta almost from the beginning. In her first year, she had a short but spectacular laying season. Her rich, deep brown eggs did not disappoint. But midway through the winter break I saw things had gone awry. The feathers on Loretta's bottom, her chest and eventually her legs disappeared. She had already …
Little Siouxsie Sioux
On the sixth day, I found little Siouxsie Sioux crumpled near the front of the brooder. Not knowing how long she had been out of the heater, I worried about her body temperature. I held her close to me, and saw that she was weak. The emergency box, which I had obsessively curated two years …
An egg???
Every day when I trek up to the chicken coop to collect eggs, I chuckle and remind myself that it's singular. Egg. My Olive Egger, Gigi, provides a green egg almost every day. But Loretta, our Black Copper Marans, hasn't laid an egg since last summer. And truthfully, it's been almost two years that I've …
Difficult decision
Nellie was my favorite chick from day one. I loved cradling her in my palm, and as she grew, she seemed to enjoy snuggling in my lap. Right around the time she started to lay eggs, all of that changed. She started attacking my, my legs, then she would fly up and go at my …
Toe trim trial
The other day as I was watching the girls perch on a homemade jungle gym, I noticed Gigi's toe nails seemed long. Instead of laying on the surface on the wood, aligned with her toes, the nails seemed to curl sideways. I went inside and Googled "how to trim chicken nails." After watching a tutorial, …
Week 13: Geez, it’s hot!
Summer has arrived a couple days early, with scorching hot temperatures. Today it was in the high 80s most of the day, then inching into the low 90s around dinnertime. I kept a close eye on them throughout the day, looking for obvious signs of heat stress. Around 5 p.m., I went back out to …
Week five: Drawing blood
Sunday started out simply. With temperatures in the 70s, I planned to re-stain the coop. I also knew the warm weather would be perfect for the chicks to spend the day in the run. After getting everyone settled, I put on some music and started to paint. About a half-hour in, a neighbor stopped by …
Discovering the crop
Last night, I gently moved my finger toward a chick and stroked her chest. This in itself was a victory, as the chicks usually run peeping, away from my hands. But as I touched the chick, I felt a lump. My stomach dropped. I gently picked her up, and palpated. Did she have a tumor? …
Chicken Scratch Fever 