Henny Penny?

Kristine asked me if I had seen Henny Penny. Well, she asked me if I had seen the Wyandotte with the duct tape. No. I hadn't noticed her for awhile, but then I hadn't been looking. So, this afternoon I went looking with my camera for the four Wyandottes. I can't tell Henny Penny from the other three. I found this Wandotte in the bottom old nest box. She looks pretty. Nice feathers!

Click this photo to find

the hen with fluffy feathers on her back.

Then I spent a long time calling the hens in the woods back to the coop to check out the feeders I had just filled. The hens gradually straggled in and were very happy to collect around the scratch feeder. I did have to herd in the one hen that was "stuck" on the other side of the fence. A Wyandotte. She either couldn't remember how to get in the coop or didn't want to?

I finally got a photo of the three Wyandottes in the pen. I think the top one is Henny Penny because of the fluffy feathers on her back. She didn't have any feathers on her back when I put the duct tape on. The way the duct tape is supposed to work is that the duct tape will fall off when the feathers grow in. Well, the duct tape is gone. If anyone is interested you can find out about Henny Penny and her duct tape episode by putting Henny Penny in the search box.

I also got a photo of Hen-Roo and she doesn't look any better. She still has her duct tape and her feathers look terrible. Kristine said she was always small and puny looking. I hope she gets some good looking feathers after she molts. She thinks she is a rooster. Poor thing.

[5 eggs today]

Surprise!

Smiles

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Found Basket

Here is another find from years gone by. I sewed the fabric insert and the "wings" top for this little basket. There are pockets on the sides and in the top for thread, needles and such. I wish I could have found a chicken basket, but at the time we had ducks too, so having a duck sewing basket seemed a good idea. I think blue must have been my favorite color then.

Kristine brought this plant home to me today. It is called Armeria "maritima Bloodstone" a 6 to 10 inch evergreen perenial for borders. It has sea pink flowers. Well, not now, I dead headed the few that were there and I will plant this in the green garden. It is supposed to do well with two or three hours of sun a day. It is hardy to 0 degrees, so it may not last the winter, but it is supposed to do well in the winters up here. We'll see.

I went out this evening and put new straw in the nest boxes, but when I went to take photos the battery need charging. Phooey. I have to catch the two duct tape hens and replace their saddles. Orp Roo's saddle came off completely and Henny Penny's saddle is loose. I charged the battery so I hope for photos of the chickens tomorrow.

[11 eggs today]

Smiles

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Chicken Pen

Here is a close up of the small hole chicken wire I have about one third up the sides of the pen to keep the raccoons from reaching in and grabbing a chicken. The Old Gray Egg here asked if the chicken hoof racket on the porch chased the raccoons away? Funny you should ask. We did have a colony of raccoons living under the house when we moved up here. My brother fed them dog food so they were very happy to live here. I must admit they were cute. Mommas, Pop, and all the little ones on the porch in the evening clamoring at the slider for their evening chow. But, we didn't want to deal with the raccoons and our dogs at the time surely didn't want them around. So, once the free food was cut off and our dogs made their displeasure known the raccoons took off for a friendlier place to live. I don't remember that the raccoons bothered my brothers chickens. Maybe they were too full of dog food to make the effort? Or. Maybe this coop and pen are that secure that they couldn't figure out how to get in. A few years ago I do remember a chicken going under the house and never showing up again. Maybe there are some raccoons still living under the house?

I managed to get a shot of Henny Penny with her new duct tape saddle. I never realized how much smaller she is or how much bigger the other chickens are.

I found some neat chicken coop links to share here and here.

The beer can roof on the outhouse coop is so neat

and I love the nest boxes in the second.

Here is a very short video of the chicken pen/coop. It has been very hot here lately and everything has dried out. I am not a hot weather person and like the wet winter weather much more that the summer we have here. There are only three months that are really bad as far as heat goes, but still it is way too dry to make me happy. The cobwebs don't look too nice, but they are a very good thing to have around the chickens to catch all kinds of crawly and flying insects. Once a year, after the temp goes into the hundreds, I will hose down the coop and pen, inside and out. It all dries quickly when it is so hot. And the pen is is the sun part of the day, so it doesn't take long at all to dry out.

[7 eggs today]

No eggs in the dirt!

Smiles

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Henny Penny and Hen/Roo

Henny Penny and Hen/Roo scratching around today under the shade of some Madrone shoots off of an old Madrone trunk. I should cut them all off and I suppose I will someday when I get to clearing out this area. I remember that my brother raked this whole area clear. I have never been able to do that and have just managed to clear some paths from the chicken coop to the back fence and along the back fence. A mosquito tried to bite me as I was taking this video so I gave up and retreated to the house. I would love to have some wind to blow the mosquitos away, but then I would have to worry about forest fires. I'd rather have the mosquitos.

Things didn't go the way I thought they would today. Kristine got sick and had to go to her doctor. She is going to have to stay home for some extra days and get over the sore throat she has developed. She ended up spending time at the doctors and I ended up sleeping. I wish I could send her to Australia again for a vacation. She will have to pretend she is on vacation around here instead.

[9 eggs today]

Smiles

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Henny Penny's Saddle

Since Henny Penny's duct tape has been working out so well, I decided to look around on the internet and see what I could find about chickens and duct tape. I came up with these three sites that have some good information. First is a site here that lists an even better tape (Nashua Tape R 357, max temp. 200) than duct tape and has some good photos. Second is this site that has chicken saddles that you can purchase. And third here are instructions on a sew or no-sew your own chicken saddle. Personally, I think I will stick to the duct tape method. Pun intended. hee, hee.

The Old Grey Egg said that roosters will cause the hens to lose feathers because of mounting. Kristine said that these two hens had feather loss when we had roosters and never molted properly. We don't have roosters anymore, but our hens mount each other, so I guess that accounts for the feather loss. Silly hens.

Kristine took the next four photos for me because I was complaining that I didn't have anything to post. So, she went out to my little tiny overgrown neglected garden and took these pictures. I slept late today, so tomorrow I should be rested and I will make a start on my green garden.

I like this little welcome sign that Kristine got for me.

I think Tom and Kristine got this rooster .

This poor little bird bath needs water.

It needs filling every day.

These flowers are volunteers from last year.

Kristine is doing better today, except she had a bloody nose last night. She thinks that happened as a result of the fifteen minutes of retching yesterday at work. She went back too soon. Since then she has followed the dentists instructions and stopped all the medication and she is feeling better, except for the pain, and is eating foods like mashed potatoes, noodle soup, and ice cream. She plans on going back to work on Saturday. I plan on more sleep time.

[6 eggs today]

+1 = 7

Smiles

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Henny Penny

I took the camera with me when I went out to collect eggs this morning and was lucky enough to catch Henny Penny. She took advantage of her photo op and slowed down and did some chicken poses and a cluck or two. She seems to be doing well and is back to running around with the other hens. How neat is that! I was really worried about her, but she is fine.

The duct tape doesn't seem to bother her and maybe it is a fix for whatever? Or maybe she ate a bad bug or plant or? Well, at least the duct tape will keep the mosquitos away and keep her from getting sunburned.

Happy Birthday, Kristine!

I must say that having your wisdom teeth pulled is not my idea of a birthday present. I'm sorry you got sick at work today and had to come home, but I'm glad you will be home for a few more days. Hope it all heals up quickly and you are back to yourself very soon.

I'm going to go back to bed. I need sleep.

[6 eggs today]

Smiles

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Nite, Nite, Henny Penny

Henny Penny looked pretty chipper when I went out tonight to put her back in the coop for the night. She moved up to the front of the carrier and looked me in the eye and said something in chickens that I didn't quite catch. I do think she is feeling much better. Messy girl. Look what she did to her feed bowl. I was asleep all day because I was up all night changing out the cold packs on Kristine's jaws every 15 minutes with a rest period of 5 minutes in between. What did me in was the trips up and down the stairs. Tom took over for the day pills and cold pack shift.

Here is Henny Penny all tucked in for the night. Tomorrow, I will try letting her out in the chicken pen for awhile after the other hens have left for the woods. I hope I will be surprised and she will not be injured. I looked back at the 1st photo here of her I posted and she really looked bad. I still don't know what is wrong with her, but she is eating, drinking and moving. Well, I'll find out more tomorrow.

[4 eggs today]

Where have all the eggs gone?

Smiles

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Look'n Better!

Henny Penny is looking better today! She looks bright and alert. She ate a lot of her feed and all her lettuce. The feed was a combination of raiser and corn and it was filled up to the top.

Today the other hens were coming up to the cage and visiting. Or maybe they were just trying to get to the feed? But she does look better. Hope she recovers!

I dumped out the four hens that were sitting in the nest boxes for most of the day. It was like they were in a daze. Once they were out and about they clucked happily over the corn and went and did chickens stuff like scratching around for edibles. I guess I will have to get them out of the nests earlier every day.

[4 eggs today]

Smiles

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Recovering?

The hen was still alive this morning when I let the chickens out of their coop. So, I moved the hen in the carrier back into the feed shed where it is warm all day. Today the hen drank water, she even spilled it a little and ate all the corn and some feed. Eating is a good sign. Then she turned herself around so she is facing the back of the carrier. ?

Tonight I moved the carrier back into the coop for the night so she can be locked up where critters can't get her. I would like to leave her in the feed shed but it is not safe. Too many openings that I can't close. I covered the carrier to help her retain her body heat. Hope she is doing better tomorrow morning. It is still cold, well, in the 50's tonight. I gave the hens some corn to help keep their energy and temperature level high.

I would like to just put her in one of the closed nest boxes but I am worried that the other hens might start pecking on her because she is weak. Don't want that!

[5 eggs today]

Having the weather go from the high 90's back to the 40's

has thrown the egg laying awry.

Smiles

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Sick Chicken

Yesterday when I went to lock up the chicken coop I noticed a Wyandotte hen that had scrunched herself into a corner and who was not looking like she felt good at all. In fact she didn't even make any effort to move or look around. I left her alone because she looked comfortable and warm where she was, but I didn't expect to find her alive this morning. But there she was this morning in the same place.

So, I made a straw bed in one of the cat carriers and put her in the feed shed. It is warm in there during the day. I managed to spill the water. She scooted up to the water, but I haven't noticed her eat any feed. I don't hold out much hope for recovery. It has been my experience that once chickens show they have a problem they are in real trouble. This is one of the hens that never finished her molt and I suspect the abrupt change in temperature was the cause.

I blocked off the entrance to the feed shed so Morgan wouldn't bother the hen, but so the hen could have some light and might eat and drink. I'll move her back into the chicken coop when I lock up tonight. I hope she does recover. Maybe?

[10 eggs]

I hope she gets better...

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