When the temperatures drop to a balmy 85 or less, I can again have a lap chicken. The last couple of times it has been Jade jumping up to nestle into the crook of my arm. She even lets me stroke her back feathers if I don’t touch her head. Ah, lap chicken.
The chickens are 113 days old, or 3 months and 22 days. We did a health check because the weather was cool which is better for handling. Everyone is still putting on weight, which is good; and starting to molt, which is normal but may mean it will be months until they lay their first egg. Since that will put us into winter, we may not get eggs this year. A bit of a bummer, but we’re in for the long haul, so it will be what it will be.
We did discover a calmer technique for holding the chickens for well checks. My eldest held the chickens under the chest, with the chicken’s head tucked in the crook of her arm. Even Taco (pictured above) calmed down for the toe nail clip, band check, foot pad check, and mite check (in the triangle of skin between the wing and the body). We also weighed and checked vents.
Who knew? Probably anyone who has seen this video (link goes to Facebook and a Homestead Survival Post), or has ducks or chickens. I didn’t know, but after seeing the video I had to try it.
I already have small “pools” as chicken foot baths that I bought at the hardware store marketed as plant coasters. Each bath holds about a gallon of water. I bought rosy red minnows at the pet store, which they sell as feeder fish. I started with just 4 minnows just in case the chickens didn’t get it. It gets hot and the foot baths get gross (I change out the water several times a day, and invariably as soon as the water is clean, there is a chicken in it), so I didn’t want fish lingering. The chickens can be picky about new treats too, so there was possibily of lingering. I didn’t need to worry. The chickens knew just what to do and finished off the fish in less than three minutes! I’ve posted the video on my You Tube channel.
I’m so excited! We went to the hardware store and in the garden center they had 17” plant coasters, which are bigger than my current foot baths (cupcake holder top and bottom). The plant coasters are made of a sturdier plastic too. I took them out to the chickens, but left the old foot baths because the chickens are usually wary of new things, and I didn’t want them to overheat for fear of a new foot bath. I didn’t need to worry, they stepped right in (but not for the video, figures).
Since I filled all four with water, rather than dump out the old foot baths (they will never hold cupcakes again anyway), I’ll observe which dishes get the dirtiest which should tell me which foot baths the chickens prefer. Another impromptu experiment!
I also figured out that the hose reaches into the coop, which makes rinsing out the foot baths much quicker and easier. Better late than never.
I did a little data collection. The high was forecast to be 100, and at 10:30am I was quite excited that the chicken’s runs were still in the 80s even though the nearest station was reading 95 degrees. Then 4pm happened. 102 degrees in the shade. Yuck.
I took ice out to the chickens twice and switched out the water in the foot baths four times. Although I had the styrofoam cooler filled with ice packs and the fan running, I feel like it is these foot baths that make the biggest difference for the chickens.
Another telling thing is that almost all of the chickens’ feet feathers are wet. So they are taking turns cooling their heels.
Critters and Craft 