Category: chickens

Utility sinks are awesome

On By CarynIn chickens
Magic the hen ready for her bath

I’m so glad that my husband installed a utility sink in our small bathroom. It made cleaning up Magic’s dirty bum possible, seeing as how it is freezing outside and the water to the coop is off. I saw she was plugged up and brought her in for a rinse and a blow dry before taking her back to her flock. She was amazingly calm through the whole process and even accepted grubs from my hand when she was back in the coop! Magic’s usual elimination is a bit watery, and she tends to not have a fluffy butt when she is laying. Despite that, she is my sweetest hen.

Apple peel

On By CarynIn chickens

For my dehydrated apples I used my handy peeler corer, which makes lovely strings of apple peel. I twisted them into a wreath and hung the bundle up for the chickens. A had a longish stand fall loose and witnessed first hand why I want the chickens to have to pick off bits, as a hen picked up the end of the strand and gulped down the whole piece! I can image the tangle a whole peel would make in her crop!

Apple peel twisted wreath
Hens enjoying some apple peel

Chicken check

On By CarynIn chickens

Hurray! My chickens have gained their weight back! My eldest and I did a chicken check and all the chickens are heavier. They feel much healthier too. No mites under the wings, vents all look fine (and it is apparent that some are laying), no bumbles, but some have some very prominent scales on their feet. So another round of vaseline on the feet at night is in order. On the encouraging side, more feathers are growing in on their feet, so maybe the last two rounds of scaly leg mite treatment helped some.

Pretty egg

On By CarynIn chickens, eggs
White speckled egg

Every once in awhile we get a particularly nice colored egg. Sometimes they have well distributed dark spots, but this one was the first I’ve seen with white spots pleasingly spread across the surface. As the hens get back into the groove of laying, the colors even out, but this was a fun find.

Acorn squash

On By CarynIn chickens

I thought I would give the chickens some acorn squash both for enrichment and varied diet. They have liked it in the past (and it is as close as I can get to pumpkin right now), but it takes awhile for them to peck away at the flesh. This time I baked it (and let it cool) before giving it to them, so it was easier to eat. I sliced the acorn squash in half, left the seeds in, and baked the halves cut side down in a pan with a little water at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes. They picked the skin clean in a day! And it did make hanging half the squash on the carabiner easier, since the flesh was soft.

Chickens getting started on their cooked squash

You might notice that the hen on the right is more gray than brown. She had just been wallowing in the dust bath. Upon further investigation, she had a bumble on her foot and I wonder if because of the pain of it she wasn’t stable enough to have a good shake. I took care of the bumble and wrapped her foot and she was looking more like herself in a couple days.