Buff Orpington

This little girl is a bit slow. Maybe she is old or maybe just cold. The hens have their feathers fluffed up and their heads tucked in like turtles.

So, whatever the case, she didn't run away when I took her picture. She just stared at me.

She has her toes nailed into the cabbage pieces, so she is sure they aren't getting away. Smart chicken!

It rained and hailed yesterday and rained last night, but gave way to a sunny/cloudy cold day.

This is Fall weather... cold and wet.

I'm making spaghetti sauce... spaghetti is fun food... that ought to cheer us up. I'll have to give some noodles to the hens.

Buff Update

The Buff Orpington doesn't look or act like she has a problem. The holes are closing slowly.

She would rather eat her feed and scratch off the floor so I sprinkle the feed and treats on the straw.

We hope she is going to be ok.

Today there was a beautiful blue sky and now and then a breeze. It was still in the 50's.

I'm looking forward to seeing some green leaves on these trees. And I will welcome some warm weather.

Tom bought some 3" screws for me to use to hold the planter beds together. I was going to use nails, but I think screws will be better anchors.

I fed the sprouts to the chickens today. They made short work of them. If I do any more sprouting I will wait until I can get some better lentils. The store brand lentils didn't all sprout and they took a long time to do anything.

I enjoyed watching The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency on my computer. I liked the shows even better than the book which is unusual. Kristine got the DVD's from the library. She checks out DVD's and books for me. I'm so lucky!

Peek at the Past

(March 26, 2009)

[4 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Why Does It Always Happen On Sunday!?

That's what Kristine asked after a pretty red fox with black legs put a hole in our biggest Buff Orpington and (we thought) ran off with one of the Wyandottes.

This is where the attack on the Buff Orpington happened.

And this is where the fox tried to catch the Wyandotte.

Morgan was on the porch when the chickens came running and yelling toward the house. Morgan took off to help the chickens, caught wind of the fox and took chase. Kristine saw the fox climb the fence and get away.

Kristine thought the fox had something in its mouth! Feathers? We counted the hens and we were short two. But then the big Buff Orpington came from the other side of the property.

We checked her and she had a wound and missing feathers.

Kristine drove down to town to the feed store to pick up some antibiotic while I made a comfy place for the Orpington to settle down.

Kristine is back now with a package of dry antibiotic and we have a new problem. How to convert mg into something we can measure and add to the chicken's water.

I don't know how to convert the mg to teaspoons and when I google for conversions they say that you can't convert because it is two different forms of measure... mass and volume. Arghhh!

I just want to add some to the water. Why couldn't they put down a teaspoon measurement?

Next step is to wash the wound with a saline solution. Then put on antibiotic cream. Not knowing exactly what to do for the hen is very unsettling. 

Kristine and I went out with treats to lure the chickens in their pen because we think the fox came back for another try and Morgan ran him off again.

Surprise!!! The missing Wyandotte showed up! She must have been so scared she went and hid out somewhere she felt safe. Wow! We checked the hen and she is fine except for some missing tail feathers and a patch of feathers on her side. She is small and fast and got away!

My thinking on the fox Sunday dinners is that since people around here go to church and probably locked up their dogs that left the area open for the fox to cruise for chickens with relative ease.

Sprout update:
Sprouts are sprouting... slowly...

Chicken update:
When Kristine and I were cleaning the side wound we also found a wound in the leg on the same side. Both wounds are in the skin not in the muscle. Looks like the fox's canines grabbed the hen and got mostly feathers and sliced the skin.

It is amazing she got away. Kristine thinks that when Morgan showed up the fox dropped the chicken and high tailed it for the fence. The Orpington feels like she weighs 10 pounds. Too heavy to hoist over the fence?

New Rule:
From now on the chickens will have to stay penned on the weekends.

Peek at the Past

(March 21, 2009) 

Jean is ok now.

(6 eggs today)

~:>

Smiles