The Chicken Club (The Flock)

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Comment by Jamie Jedinak on November 19, 2010 at 9:15pm

Thanks Alicia, I needed that story about now, now I feel a little less alone in my trials over here yonder....

Ode to the Joy of keeping chickens haiku...

Winter's frost is here
We anticipate its weight
Stewarding all around

Comment by Deanna Lloyd on November 19, 2010 at 7:36pm

Thank you Alicia for sharing that story though I must admit I got a bit of a chuckle at your expense! Using the poo water to hydrate your houseplants is a great idea! I also set about winterizing the ladies coop today. It was quite humorous to hear all the commotion the ladies were making when they went to roost this evening and found a heat lamp as company in their coop....they were quite unnerved! I just went out and checked on them and they don't seem to want to sleep now....just having a red light party. One of them lost some toes to frostbite last year though so now I'm a bit unnerved myself about not having a heat lamp for them when it gets under freezing temps.

Comment by Alicia Wills on November 19, 2010 at 6:33pm

Some days you gotta wonder why you have chickens ... or benefit from new lessons learned the hard way, if you want to look at it like that. As I started winterizing the coops for the upcoming cold spell, I was reminded why you don't let hens set in the summer - because if you haven't integrated the new chicks by fall, you're looking at two sets of frozen water dishes. I set about replacing and adding luxurious amounts of straw and creating a new snug place for the 3 month old hens, Shadow, Pippin and Dove, who won't go into the coop with the big girls yet. Then I turned my attention to the young roosters. Spot, who will have a new home soon, has been with the 3 girls. The other two have been in a holding pen - about 5 x 4, 2.5 feet tall, under my small coop. With the cold spell, I wanted to get them into the small coop. As I opened the door, Spot scooted in and began what looked like a fight to the death with Bully (aptly named). I beat on the sides of the pen, tried to scoop them toward the door with a stick and finally had to crawl on my hands and knees under the coop to separate them. This on a lovely floor of oozy mud and a months worth of roo droppings. My new gum boots did a great job of scooping up the slime when I was horizontal and dropping it on my feet when I got vertical. I grabbed Spot and deposited him in the coop. Bully, aroused, had already lit into Red - another knock-down drag-out fight. SO I crawled back in to get Red, who I deposited in a cage in the shed. Then one more time into the pen to get Bully - a bleeding muddy bedraggled mess - and get him into a separate cage. Finally, with all 3 young roosters deposited in places where they could stay warm and in one piece, I made my way to the house, thinking (lesson lightbulb!) that the holding pen definitely needs an large removable wall! Pants, boots and coat into the bathtub to remove most of the poo before washing, I changed my clothes and then remembered I still had to round up the young hens, who were huddledin a corner of the yard, freaked out by all the fighting and having to go in with the big girls. As I herded them toward the coop, Pippin darted sideways. I lunged, slipped and fell on my face in the mud. Really, at this point - after some ripe language - all I could do is laugh. Into the house to change again, clothes into the washer and - in an effort to make lemonade out of lemons - I watered my houseplants with the poo water in the tub. You gotta really love chickens sometimes.....

Comment by Jamie Jedinak on November 16, 2010 at 9:26pm

the below post was to Angela MacLeod.....

Comment by Jamie Jedinak on November 16, 2010 at 7:11pm

I posted the info in an email to David's email, b/c that account doesn't have your address in it! If you email me there I can then have it! :) I'm happy you'll be joining and I look forward to meeting your ladies sometime soon! and to see you set up! Also, I'd love to hear about how you felt overall with the garden set-up you created this year! :)

Comment by Jamie Jedinak on November 16, 2010 at 7:07pm

KEEPING RACCOONS Out

http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/raccoons.html#conflicts

Comment by Angela MacLeod on November 16, 2010 at 7:02pm

Thanks Jamie...How do I join?

Comment by Jamie Jedinak on November 16, 2010 at 7:00pm

There is a food buying club with scratch and peck here on TW - I just picked up my order tonight. We order once per month! Do join, my chickies love their feed too! I just bought a bag of oats for treats and if they look good, I may try them myself!!! :)

Comment by Angela MacLeod on November 16, 2010 at 6:47pm

I'm currently buying chicken feed from Scratch and Peck. Our hens love their feed. I don't want to change the feed but I'm wondering if S&P gives discounts for larger orders. Is that already happening or does anyone want to explore that with me?

Comment by Kate Clark on November 11, 2010 at 12:03pm

I had a couple that lost their belly feathers this summer, but I attributed that to getting broody and insisting on sitting in the nest all day. Other than that, they are all over a year old and no signs of full on molting. I'll keep watching...with my luck they'll do it right when frost starts hitting!

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