I made a label for my egg cartons! I found some six-egg cartons because we still don’t have many extra to give or sell regularly. That is Tigger on the label, I think she has the prettiest comb. The green glass dish is from my husband’s grandmother’s collection, the lid of the dish (not pictured) is a hen, and I love the color. I printed on full sheet labels, then used my Cricut machine to cut them out. I’ll probably play with different designs when this set runs out, mainly because I can!
My friend gave me some beautiful single-ply, wool blend yarn from Germany (viele Danke!) I wanted my own cloche style hat, so used half double crochets to make a circle, continued without increases to make the sides, then alternated rows of increases and no increases to make the brim. It came out nice and warm!
I replaced the glass top of my scale with a short piece of 1×4 to make it easier to weigh the chickens. We were using a small piece of rubber shelf liner on the glass, which was functional, but still hard for the hens to stand on, then the glass popped off, so I needed a different solution. So I routed a circle in the middle of the board to fit the screw knob and glued the screw knob to the board. It is much easier for the chickens to stand on this to get their weight for health checks! They are still restless, though, so weights have a definite error factor.
Speaking of health checks, since I fixed the scale, we were able to finally do the monthly health check. Magic and Pooh’s weights are down, but Cloud and Navi’s weight is up. Navi’s pendulous crop is back, but doesn’t seem to bother her. There were many dirty bums, so I think I need to cut back on scratch and treats. The weather is honestly too warm for scratch anyway. We treated some foot injuries and are keeping an eye on them. Everyone is walking Ok, for Faverolle waddles. They are really cute when they run, though.
On foggy warm days it is easier to see the funnel webs of the American grass spider. The saucer sized webs dot our woods and meadows. The internet tells me their webs are not sticky. I tried spinning some garden spider web, but it stuck to my fingers. Maybe I will find an unoccupied bit of grass spider web and try that. But with much caution because the internet also tells me their bites hurt. In the meantime I will just admire their little spooky blankets.
I was a little afraid after the summer when it was too hot for laps, and after the holidays when life was hectic, that I wouldn’t have anymore lap chickens, but I do! Magic is my girl, and if I sit down she will hop up and make herself comfortable. Some of the other hens will hop up and look for treats, but Magic settles in for a snooze. Ah.
