The hens seem to like having the scratch on the ground,
but I notice that they only eat some of the grains. Picky chickens.
Having the wood stacked behind the door will make it nice when we need to get wood, especially at night, or when it is really cold and I don't want to walk around to the back of the shed. I guess Tom is going to try this stacking arrangement out and see how it works. He will need to keep stacking wood there as we use it up and this will mean moving the wood at least twice. More exercise.
I cleaned the chicken pen today while the hens were out. I do like a clean chicken pen and coop. I raked up lots of feathers and later took a photo of a molting light brahma. At first I thought some critter had got her and bit out a bunch of her feathers, but Kristine said no, she was just molting. She looks terrible! I was going to post the photo, but it is rather unpleasant to look at a partially feathered chicken.
Kristine and I counted the hens tonight and there are still 18. We hadn't counted them for awhile and I wanted to make sure the hens were all ok. I admit I was worried that something was after the hens even after Kristine assured me the brahma was only molting.
I finished up raking half the driveway today. Raking leaves is great exercise. It was very nice today (75 cool and crisp) and I enjoyed being out in the piney smelling woods. There are so many downed branches that it smells like Christmas trees. I don't normally notice the odor of the pine trees, but with all the broken and crushed pine branches it smells wonderful.
I didn't paint today because Kristine has a cough and I don't want any problems. Even though the paint doesn't smell there is still something that is given off as the paint dries.
[2 eggs today]
Smiles
~:>
5 comments:
Good job done on the pretty driveway.
Good morning Callie. I do love a clean chicken pen LOL. We have had so much rain that our hen "yard" where I keep the younger chicks before I let them free range is a sloppy poopy mess and I have to wear my muck boots just to feed them. I am trying to decide what to get to put down in there. Any suggestions? I have read sand or wood chips.
I have a dominecker that is molting right now and when I first saw her I thought something and really done a number on her.
The driveway looks great!
Your driveway does look great. Your chickens are mighty pretty also.
diane: Thanks! I enjoy the raking and the paths and driveway tend to disappear under the leaves if I don't rake.
KentuckyFarmGirl: LOL Yep. A muddy pen is a smelly mess. My quick fix is to cover the mud with 12 inches or more of leaves since I've got 3 acres of those handy. After the rain stops and I can find some fairly dry ground I either take out the leaves and put them in the garden and/or cover them with a new layer of dirt. I have been through pea gravel disappearing in the mud. I suppose sand would do the same. And I suppose it all depends on soil type and drainage or I could try wood chips from where Tom cuts the wood, but I haven't tried the wood chips yet. If the rain is bad I have to keep topping off the leaf cover, but we don't usually have bad rains. I put down straw on snow in the pen, but the snow doesn't usually stick around very long either. Good luck!
http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-fix-a-muddy-run
Becky's Barnyard: Thank you. Most of the chickens are looking good. There are only a few that look like someone has been plucking them.
I'm enjoying reading about your solving the problem with the chicken pen. We have a problem here with mud and then it turns to ice and becomes very slippery so we are thinking of refencing for the horses.
I used to keep a woodpile right by the house (up next to it) and then when we sold the house the inspector told me I had to spray for termites because they jump from wood to houses. Don't know if that is true.
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