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.
I was going to clean out the coop before Winterpocolypse, but then saw the forecast and decided not to because the decaying matter produces some extra heat. I even had the new bales of pine flakes on the back porch! So when it warmed up, my eldest and I locked the chickens in the run so they didn’t freak out, then cleaned out the old shavings, put down some diatomaceous earth, and spread 5 bags of clean pine. We emptied the old straw from the nests and replaced it with new straw sprinkled with some dried lavender. In the process, I also cut out one roost bar, shortening the roost by about 16”. The chickens never used the whole roost, in fact, they only use half of the new area, but by making it a bit smaller it makes it easier for the humans to move around! In whole it took the two of us two hours to clean. Not too bad.
The cameras in the coop and run have been offline since November. Every once in a while I would start the troubleshooting process, then give up because it takes forever and I was busy. The camera would connect, but not stream video. So frustrating. I finally carved out some time to disconnect the devices and bring them inside, where they performed perfectly. Huh. So I bought a repeater, and after more time spent moving it around to get the best signal overlap and extension, found a spot where the cameras would work again. I have no idea why they used to work just fine on the single router, but I’m glad that the repeater worked and I can see them roosting again. Especially since it is cold and it makes me feel better to see that they turn into nice warm fluffy feather balls.
Now that we have rolling blackouts, checking on the chickens via video is spotty. I do go out to break the ice off the water every couple hours because the heated water bowl doesn’t work without power. The chickens are all huddled in the coop, not happy, but surviving. No signs of black on the combs, and we are still getting eggs!
A wasp nest in the coop that I sprayed a year ago finally fell down into the runs. I left it up because I read that if there is a nest, other wasps will avoid the area. Apparently people make all sorts of fake nests to psych out the wasps (yes, there are even crocheted decoys!) I just left the fumigated nest in place. We’ll see if I get new inhabitants this spring.
Silly cat. She gets up on the coop roof via an overhanging tree. She quite likes peeking down at the chickens. And me.
Critters and Craft 