Category: chickens

Fluffy butt Friday

On By CarynIn chickens

Since it is Friday, and I have happy healthy hens, I have a fluffy butt Friday photo to share. Showing off the girl’s fluffy tails is such a big thing with chicken keepers because chickens that don’t have poofy bums are having health issues. To see a line of clean derrieres is an outward sign that they all might be healthy, which is a great feeling for a carer. I say “might” because they still need their health checks, to part the feathers and look for blocked passages and pests, but a butt that is outwardly dirty is a sign that needs immediate attention. So here is to more fluffy butt photos!

Chickens enjoying some scratch, showing off their fluffy pantaloons

Pumpkins for chickens

On By CarynIn chickens

When we carved our Halloween pumpkins, we waited until the day before, and did not treat the carvings with bleach or other preservatives, so after Halloween the hollowed out vegetables could go to the chickens. The chickens love it. We didn’t put all the pumpkins in the run at once, but are spacing them out and replacing hollowed out pumpkin with a carved pumpkin (after checking for mold).

Chickens tucking in to a jack-o-lantern (photo credit to my eldest)

Pumpkin treat

On By CarynIn chickens

This pumpkin didn’t get any special treatment or cute presentation, I just cut it in half and put it out for the chickens like an instant bowl. Chickens don’t care, they dived right in.

Chickens enjoying half a pumpkin

I’ve read that pumpkin is a natural dewormer for chickens, and although I am becoming more and more suspect of “internet knowledge”, my chickens do like pumpkin, and they seem to digest it better than watermelon or cucumber. Maybe I can freeze some for the large part of the year when fresh pumpkins are not available. Or do something to canned pumpkin to make it less of a mess. Hm.

Molting

On By CarynIn chickens, Coop, eggs
Feathers mixed into the pine shavings

My hens have started their molting time. The coop and run, from a distance, look like there has been a small snow flurry. The hens themselves look moth-eaten and disheveled. Egg production has slowed to a near stand still; I’m getting maybe one egg every other day. About this time last year the eggs stopped completely and they didn’t start laying again until the end of January. That was fours months without eggs. Hello powdered eggs, lets see how you do.