The girls had geared up laying, five out of six are now laying and they were laying up to 5 eggs a day. The last three days however, they have slowed down to 2 and then yesterday only 1. This morning though, they are raising a regular racket as they have all decided to use the same box. They have five boxes to choose from, but now all want to use the same box. Who knows what goes on in a chickens brain, because last year they used three boxes and began using three this year but have now changed to one. Is there such a thing as "prime" chicken real estate??
Must be, because they are brutal over it. Raven, my little black bantam was in the box ready to lay and Chanel, the French Black Copper Maran, hopped up onto the platform, grabbed Raven by the feathers and tossed her to the ground!!!! Mean little so and so..... She has become quite the bully, chasing Raven any chance she gets and not just pecking, but pulling feathers out as well. I had never seen any hen throw another physically out of the nest though.
It's as if the older hens had had enough of Chanel - and Ellie, the Silver Lakenvelder, turned around and gave Chanel quite the peck on her comb, drawing blood. It's times like these that a rooster would come in handy to establish the peace and keep everyone in line I think.
Other than that, yesterday was an eventful day, we went over to visit our old neighbors who had moved to the country (5 minutes away) and bought a mini-farm. They had built a new HUGE chicken run and now have 11 chickens. They also have just purchased two baby milk goats, Nigerian dwarfs. They are the cutest darned things you have ever seen! By the time we got there, they had been fed and were sleepy, so the white little female hopped right into my lap, put her head on my arm and dozed off. I have been kidding my husband for quite some time that all we need now is two pecan trees and a milk goat and we can "live off the land", our whole half acre of it....lol I fell asleep counting baby milk goats instead of sheep.....so, so cute!!!!
Garden is coming along as well, I'm a little off on the planting dates, because it is a slooooooooowwwwwwwwww process with and injured knee. I have to do everything slowly now so I don't pay for it later. So............almost all the soil is turned and amended and fertilized and all the cold weather crops are in except for turnips and carrots. It has been unseasonably warm the last few days (up to 75 degrees) so I've been trying to take advantage of the warm spell to get things done.
Chickens appetites have become ravenous for greens too, I cannot pick enough grass and weeds to satiate them and have taken to buying kale and collards at the store to supplement them. No matter what kind of goodies I feed them, they will drop everything and run for the greens. I suppose that is their "natural" diet and what they crave, but it seems to really have ramped up since the weather has turned nicer and they have begun laying more eggs. Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon with their chickens?
Lastly, I am doing all I can to avoid chick fever.....I REALLY want some java's and dorkings and have found sources.....and a beehive or two......
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