Week 8; Day 2

Feeding time!!

Another long break, but there's been really nothing note-worthy going on. But a few new photos, and short updates today....

Whenever I refill the feeder, they push and
shove to try to get the 'best' of the feed.

The chickens have stayed outside since the first time they were put in the pen. It hasn't been too cold; the rain has been fairly steady for the last two days, but the coop seems to be working wonderfully at keeping out the water. Last night, I completely forgot to close up the coop. This morning, all was well; the chickens were thrilled with wandering out for a moment to scratch for worms, then rushing back inside to get out of the rain.

A few days ago, I went outside to open up the coop in the morning. It was already open; apparently, they managed to push against the door hard enough to pop the catch loose. I remedied the problem that day, with a spring-loaded hook-and-eye set; I installed another one to secure the gate into the pen. So far, they seem to be just what it needed.

Both ISA Browns are getting what one of the kids referred
to as "Amish beards". They look funny, but still cute.

The chickens need to eat grit for digesting anything beyond the bagged feed, so I salvaged an empty can [think the short cans from bean dip] from the recycling bin. Add a short length of dowel driven into the ground, and a screw to fasten the can to the end of the dowel, and voila! a grit feeder. It collects rain, but it takes only a second to pull the dowel from the ground and empty the water. They seem to love eating the grit almost as much as a fresh worm or a freshly-filled feeder.

The first night that it rained, the hinged roof-board warped horribly, but once it dried out, it flattened out again. We then salvaged a section of an old pool-liner to drape over the roof; my husband used a ratchet-strap to hold it down so that the wind can't blow it away. Problem solved.

Mama [the black tail feathers] knows she can't fit between
the boys, so she shoves under them to get to the feeder.

It's hard to believe, but there are only a few days left before we can plan the first slaughter. Depending on how well it goes, we may do all three 'boys' the same day. They're absolutely enormous; I can no longer pick them up easily -- they're simply too big around to get a good grip. The girls are getting big, as well, but nowhere near the same size, as you can see by the most recent photos.

All the chickens seem to be getting a little anxious about not being handled at all. I hope to be able to remedy that issue soon, as well. If we can put up more fencing along the back of the yard, we might be able to let them out into the yard for short periods. This will ONLY work with fairly strict supervision, though, as the girls will almost certainly be able to fly over the fence, and I do NOT want to have to climb fences into neighboring yards to rescue them.

I'm sure there were other small items I wanted to mention, but I can't recall any more at the moment. So, until next time....