Chicken Talk

I never would have believed it but my girls love to be sung to! I was out at twilight and sat down to talk with them. A couple seemed upset so I thought singing might calm them down.  Boy, did it. They all came over to me and got very quiet. I sang a couple of lullaby's and quit. Started making noise again so sang some more. About 20 minutes total.  Some of them actually started singing with me. Their voices got a very soft purrr  like sound. It was so cool.  Now I need to sing lullaby's to them. Oh, they also liked movies and Broadway.

Chicken Talk/Jail Break

Chicken Talk/Jail Break

This is offically called Chicken Talk but this episode is all about a jail break and the purpetrater is Ginny.  Ginny is brown with white spots. I am going to buy a white marker and give her stripes.  Somehow,  Ginny has found a way to get out and she does it frequently, like 3 or 4 times a day.  Fortunately she stays in the yard.  The first time, my dog (Jack), was barking furiously and I checked to see.  It was Jail Break Ginny.  She was walking along the fence towards the back yard. Got her and put her back. A couple of hours later, yep, there she goes again.  Last time, I was checking on the girls because a storm was coming and there was Jail Break Ginny roaming around. That was on Monday.  Then we come to Tuesday. JB Ginny started her day off in her usual style....loose.  Tired of trying to convince her to come so I grabbed a hot dog.  Talk about the Pied Piper. Jail Break would have followed me anywhere. She even followed me back into the chicken yard. I checked, found how she was getting out, and fixed it. No more jail breaks for me. Went inside and ate lunch. Later on I went out to get the mail.  Yep, you guessed it...Jail Break Ginny did it again.  Grrrr.....  Checked and could not figure out how she was escaping.   Yesterday evening another storm so I go back out to make one last check. Opened the door and there was Jail Break Ginny! Patiently waiting for the door to open. Picked her up and carried her back to the slammer. Closed the door and threw away the key. I learned domething, never throw away the key. You will need it the next morning. It is currently 11:03 a.m.. Put Jail Break back in at 10:17 a.m..  Not out yet.  Could it be?  Is there a chance?  Only time will tell.   Let you know later. Stripes...gotta get that bird stripes.

Chicken Talk

Just found this.  It was written June 3.  Better late than never.

Not much happening...until today.  The girls got out today - twice.  I never worry about Ginny. She comes running and wants picked up.   But the others....they just want back into their safety.   Easier said than done.  I have a 4' long skinny tree branch.  The end of it is curved, that helps. So, got all the girls back into their yard, patched up the escape route,  and checked for eggs.  Got one, that makes 5 for today. 

Now if you have chickens...this is important.  To get the girls back in the yard (first time), I lured them with strawberries. Worked!  Charlotte was inside the coop working on an egg. I didn't want her to feel left out so I put a nice big strawberry right next to her.  Apparently she loved it.  How do I know? When I checked for eggs there was bright red liquid all over.  First thought?  Blood!  But all the girls appeared fine.  As I started to calm down and started thinking, I remembered.........strawberries.

Katie's Glasses

There is an old chorus we use to sing in church, Count Your Blessings.  The song goes like this:

Count your blessings name them 1 by 1.
Count your blessings, see what God has done.
(Repeat and sing slower for the second verse.)

When I start off counting my blessings, they are "big" ones, like salvation, a good husband, wonderful children, and things like that. I do not make light of those gifts, but there are so many more that we might not realize. There is the blessing of hearing the birds sing in the morning, of snuggling under your covers cold night. There are many blessings that might be called "small" blessings.  Thank you God for all the wonderful small blessings you have given me. Help me to give someone else a small blessing, Lord.

Chicken Talk

Guess my picture did not post. Let's try it again.

Chicken Talk

I have a neighbor.  In the past, he has taken us to court and called the police for various reasons. I was working in the chicken yard tonight, and happened to look towards his property. Right in front of his garage was his outside chair. He was not sitting in it but it was looking right into the chicken yard. Once before I have seen him watching the chickens. He has never complained about the chickens. I think he might be getting some peaceful relaxation sitting in his chair and watching my girls. At least I hope he is. They do such a wonderful job of helping you relax. 

Chicken Talk

Just had a huge thunderstorm pass over us. Went from thunder and dark clouds to instant downpour to pea sized hail in 90 seconds!  The thunder was a continuous roll for about 12 or 15 minutes. As quick as it came....it left.  The fields, roads and yard are all standing water.  Looked out the back door and didn't see any chickens so I assumed they made it into the house.  As soon as the rain quit, I walked around to make sure everything was fine.   Checked on the girls. Did not make it into their house but had plenty of places to hide. They were barely damp.  I think one of the girls might have been scared by the storm.  There was one lone egg in the middle of the chicken yard that was not there earlier.  Ahhh, the joys of a spring storm.  Here is a picture of our back yard in the storm.  Notice the hail?

Katie's Glasses

I don't want to sound like I am tooting my own horn, so please forgive me.  This is just random thoughts.  Tonight I am thinking about my children.  Most of my thoughts lean towards family.  When our children were small, Ron and I kept our children close to us as a family.  We tried to teach them good values. I see all this stuff on facebook about children and it is true.  Raise your children with respect. Teach them to give their seat when an adult enters the room.  Little things make a difference.  Ron and I were the parents, not the friends. As our children became older, friendship developed, but we were always parents.  Still am.  If there was a disagreement and argument,  I am still a parent.  I think my children respect that.  Anyway, this is a lot of random thoughts.   I raised my children with 2 expressions.  1. I love you. I will always love you no matter what you do.  I may not love your actions, but I will always love you.     2.  Family is family. They will always be there.  Have a great evening and God's blessings upon you.  Much love.

Katie's Glasses

My nephew, Michael, is visiting from Texas. He has a good friend who is getting married and we get the benefit of having Michael.  So, I am sitting in the house and our family is all around.  Some are outside playing,  some are outside searching for groundhogs to to shoot, we have xbox games, sleeping,  and hot dogs grilling.  Emily Grace made a tire swing.  It seems like an old painting in motion.  Family.  What a wonderful word.

Katie's Glasses

This is just thoughts and opinions.  Since Mother's Day is just past, I thought I might offer a few opinions.  I have 3 wonderful children by birth and many many more by osmosis (?).  I am blessed with so many memories of my sweet little cherubs.  When we get together I am still finding out things they got away with.  Whenever we get together and end up talking and remembering, Christopher, Ronnie, and Sarah LOVE telling tales on each others.  So much for bragging on my perfect children.  Oh, if you believe that, I have a beautiful mountain top for sell in lower Delaware.

Chicken Talk

Just to let you know, Buffy is fine.  It was not until yesterday that she really perked up to her old self.  Today (Friday) it is pouring down rain.  Went out to check for eggs....change that....swam out to check on eggs and looked at the girls.  They looked wet and horrible.  Gives new meaning to "mad as a wet hen".  They didn't seem mad, but sure looked like it.  My nephew is visiting from Texas.  We had dinner here last night and Emily Grace thinks he is the greatest.  She got to show him the girls, how to feed them, and where the eggs are, and her general knowledge of chickens.  Of course, Michael, being the wonderful person he is, was so impressed at her knowledge.  Yeah, she has a new favorite.

Chicken Talk

Well, today we had a bit of a chicktastrophy.  Ronnie and I rearranged the chicken yard and enlarged their area.  Now it goes over to the fence by the house.  The dogs love it. Anyway, someone did not close the gate all the way and two chickens made it into the yard.  I was not aware of this and let the dogs out. Champ and Jack went ballistic and attacked the girls. Charlotte got away but Buffy did not. Champ had her by the fence, feathers flying everywhere.   I was already pulling Champ off Buffy but he got away and more feathers flew.  Emily Grace got the dogs inside and I picked up Buffy. I saw Champ's mouth around Buffy's neck and expected the worst. Buffy was so quiet and not moving or complaining.  I inspected her and found no blood. Everything felt fine and moved.  I put her down and she appeared fine. Fortunately Sarah and Eddy, the chicken wizard, came for supper. Eddy checked Buffy out and said she seemed fine.  She might be a bit embarrassed eith so many feathers missing on her butt.  Well, that is all the news that is worth telling on the chicken farm. Have a great evening and check in later.

Chicken Talk

Oh, so much has happened. Righ about the time I quit writing, I lost my irst chicken, SnowBelle.   Went out one morning and she was in the coup, already dead.  It was a shock.  Every time I checked the rest of the girls, I was so nervous.  Nothing else happened snd I still have 6 of my girls.  Whew.  Had an extra piece of pizza the other day and decided to give it to the girls.  Yeah. Have you ever seen a chicken grab a whole piece of pizza and take of running. Let me tell you, it was a sight.  And there were 5 chickens chasing her after the pizza. It was like watching a group of small kids playing kick the can. Oh, the girls are grounded again. They do fine laying eggs for the first week of free ranging and then quit.  Bad girls, bad. I went from 3 dozen a week to 20 eggs. Not good.  That is all for tonight.  Have a great evening.

Chicken Talk

Well, said I would get everyone up to date.

Today is May 10, 2014.

Hee, hee, hee

Chicken Talk

Wow. I need to post more often.  I decided that the girls needed more room to roam.  So, I dragged the plastic wire fence from behindvthe garage to the coop area. I made (propped) a fence from the coop to the garage.  Then I made another from a small tree to the coop.  That gave the girls a lot of room to roam and scratch.   Happy girls.  After that, the egg count went from 6 or 7 a day to 2.  Not good.  After 3 days of 2 eggs, the girls were grounded.  They cannot leave the yard till I have at least 5 eggs.  Believe it or not, it is working. I am back up to 6 or 7 eggs a day.  Much better. 

This was typed on April 18. Thought I would post it and then get everyone up to date.

Chicken Talk

Today I added some space for the girls.  I found some plastic fencing in the back yard. Ron probably got it years ago. The weeds were grown up all over it. So I pulled it to the chicken yard and started to unwind it. The stuff was about 6 feet tall. I put some between the coop and the garage and then put some more between the other side of the coop and our neighbor's fence.  Went in, propped the door open and let the girls out.  Let me tell you, those were some happy clucks.  They started digging in the leaves, eating grass, and scratching to their hearts content. When it started to get dark, they went right back to the coop.  Good girls!  Now if they will only remember when they lay eggs.
Sweet dreams.

Chicken Talk

Good evening!  It has been a day of beautiful weather,  temp was comfortable and the sun was shining....ahhhh.  The girls had a good day also.   With nights not as cold, I can leave their door open.   Much easier in the morning,  for all of us.  I started cleaning out their yard.  First I had Emily Nicole take an old comforter out and put in the trash. Had it there for a snow emergency if there was one.  Then I moved the dog crate that was under the comforter.   Let me tell you, the girls went wild!  Fresh dirt!  They had a great time with their new scratch area.  They were some happy girls. Then, with Emily's help,  I got the house cleaned out and filled with fresh straw.   Happy chicks.

Pizza Talk!

You will not believe the chickens and pizza crust with a whole slice thrown in.  First of all, I threw down the pizza crust and they were quite happily chasing after it.  Here is a chicken, with a pice of crust in their little beak, running all over the chicken yard and everyone else is chasing her.  Then......I threw down the whole piece, the one with the cheese on it.  Yeah, that was really funny.  Four of the chickens were calmly pecking on the pizza and greatly enjoying it.  Then, Jenny realized that there was something she did not have.  Jenny goes over and picks up the whole piece of pizza by the crust.  She then takes off running all around the yard with everyone else chasing her.  Someone would grab it, then there would be a mad scramble, and the next girl would start running.  This was better than anything else I have done.  Picture it!  One chicken running with a piece of extra large pizza in it's mouth.  Hopefully there is a video attached to this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUyZwIY_XDc

Chicken Talk

A banner day!  7 chickens and 7 eggs!  I can live with that. Well, that was yesterday. Today I got 4 eggs.  That makes an even 3 dozen eggs this week!  Not yoo shabby.  I was getting the girls some cracked corn this morning. Turned around and tgere was Delilah outside the fence.  She has never done anything like that.  She was scared to death.  Let me tell you, the funnies started then. I was having a lazy morning so I was still in my pj's.  So, here is this scared black chicken running around the coop and me in pj's chasing it. Twice I had Delilah cornered and once I almost got her.  Almost.  Even got close enough to pull out 2 of her beautiful black tail feathers. Then I figured that I would leave tge gate open and try to chase her back in. There were no chickens around so sounded good to me.  I grabbed a stick and tried to herd Delilah to the gate.   Then Jenny tried to make a break for it.   Quickly stopped that. All the while,  Delilah is trying to get back into the yard by going through the chicken fence.  Delilah finally saw Jenny go back in and took her head out of the fence at the right time. She saw the door opened and ran for safety.  Me?  Well, I am extra glad we have trees around our yard.  That episode reminded me of a trip to NYC with Dot.  But that is another story.

Chicken Talk

Morning has come to the chicken farm.  Actually it is a coop, but farm sounded so poetic.  Coop is enough for me.   I left the door open last night so the girls were out in the yard when I went out. It was a good feeling.  But the ground was squishy from all the rain. Ugh. It is on high ground so it will drain.  At least the girls were dry this morning.

Chicken Talk

Good rainy evening!  I have started selling my eggs.  So far, I have sold all of one dozen.i have 3 customers plus family. More than I have eggs.  Still, it is cool. Figure I might clear $50 this year.  Woa!  Since I decided yo sell some, gigured I should know how many eggs I get in a week.  So far, yesterday and today, I have 10 eggs.  That works. It is so cool.  I have a canning jar for my "egg money".  Love it.  I now understand the expression,  mad as a wet hen.  My girls are not mad but you should see them!  After a day in the rain, their feathers are sticking out every which way.  Hopefully tomorrow will be just a bit dryer.  Nighty night.

Chicken Talk

Wow. It has been a while. We have had great changes here!  Actually, not but that sounded better than nothing has changed.   The girls are doing well and I even got to leave their door open for a few days before the snow came back.   It is much nicer when they can just walk out all by their selves and I can stay in bed.  I was a good girl and got up this morning and took care of the girls.  I am getting just under 2 doz eggs per week.  My famiky loves it. So do I.  Till next time.....

Chicken Talk

Oh my goodness!  Took out a snack for the girls.  Let me tell you, they LOVE hot dogs!  It was so funny.  Picture this...I had 4 hot dogs and threw them one at a time.  All 7 chickens decended on the first hot dog, then the 2nd and so on. The fun did not stop there.  Have you ever seen a chicken running with a hot dog in her mouth and being chased by 6 other chickens?  Unfortunately I didn't have anything to video the chase. It is a mental picture I will have for a long time.

Chicken Talk

According to the weather channel it is 66°. I can live with that. I am sitting outside with my girls, all 7 of them.  Jenny, newbie, is still having a hard time but it is slowly getting better. I have discovered how fast and smart Jenny is. She is overly friendly and will follow me around. Twice she has made it out the gate before I got out myself. Quick. Fortunately she likes to be petted and held.  Right now Delilah and Snow Belle are giving themselves a dirt bath. Sand is supposed to be good so I will get some for my girls.  I am so glad that I am not one of those overly indulgent people who treat their chickens as pets.

Chicken Talk

Good to be back. Originally I planned on saying that not much had changed. Girls ate, girls lay eggs, sun goes up, and sun goes down. Then Greer gave me another chicken. She is so pretty and friendly.  I named her Jenny.  Greer said she lays beautiful big brown eggs.  Other than that, the girls ate, laid eggs and the sun rose and set. More later.

Chicken Talk

It has been a while. I have been busy getting my chicken supplies organized instead of all over. Next time I will work on getting all the extra straw off the ground. Whenever I put straw in the house, someone always scratches most of it out.  So there is a lot on the ground. Delilah is in serious molt. She looks like she has the mange. Chickens are not supposed to mall except in the fall so I would say it is probably due to stress. All of the chickens are laying eggs. I am getting about 2 and a half doz  3 dozen a s a week. Not too bad. Yea!!  Today, for the first time, I got 6 (!) eggs!  So cool.

Chicken Talk

Good evening!  The girls only gave me 2 eggs today. It has been about 2 1/2 weeks since I bought eggs.  That is so cool.  Of course, I haven't figured in the operating costs.  But I don't care. Really like having the girls. They expect a treat every time they hear my voice.  Yeah, so not gonna happen.  So, that is all for tonight.  More tomorrow.

Chicken Talk

This morning I got to see Buffy at work. She is truly the dominant hen. When I opened the coop up, she shooed her girls out, then came out, and finally the new girls came out. After a bit, the new girls went back into the coop. You should have seen them get out when Buffy went in.  They could not get out fast enough! Charlotte and Annabelle actually went through the door at the same time!  Got 2 eggs today, 1blue and 1 brown w/spots. 7 eggs in 2 days, not too shabby.  Gave the girls some cat food for a treat today. It was so funny. First of all they loved it! Next, the cat food stuck to their beaks and they pecked food off each other. It was so funny. Reminded me of puppies.  Well, that is all of our stories for tonight.

Chicken Talk

Wow, it has been 2 days. Must be getting lazy. Not much happening. Same cluck cluck as yesterday. One thing different.   Today I got 5 eggs!  5out of a possibke 6!  Not too shabby. Thanks to Emily Nicole for crawling over stuff in the garage, I now have a remote control to turn the chicken coop light on and off. Much easier for lazy me.  Well, if they go according to the past,  I should get 1 or maybe 2 eggs tomorrow.

Chicken Talk

Oh, the weather!  It is cold and wet!!!  It cleared up this afternoon so the girls got outside.  Buffy is getting bossier and bossier.  She has definitely become the dominant hen.   Does that make her a dominatrix?  Sorry, had to do that.  Got 3 eggs today. I am getting 2 or 3 eggs a day. Not too bad but I have 6 chickens. They will all get the hang of it in a couple of weeks.  Need to go turn the light off so tgey will get some sleep. Hopefully the weather will be much better tomorrow.  Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite.

Chicken Talk

It is sooo cold.  Brrrr.  OK. Chick talk.  Apparently chickens can get bored or have too much light.  One of the signs is pecking feathers on other chickens.   How did I find this out, you ask?  Annabelle has a bare spot above her tale.  Maleficent is starting to get one. Called my resident expert, Eddy, and he said probably too much light. I had been leaving it on for heat. As Eddy says, they have down coats. So, lights out!  Hoping this is the problem.  Next likely cause is overcrowding. Got 2 eggs today.  Now if I could get all 6 laying, I would have the extra eggs I wanted.  The girls were thrilled today when I bought some fresh kale and attached it to the inside of the fence.  Champ has been going out with me when I take care of the girls.  He is doing very well. I am pleased. The stray cat that has been around lately was not pleased. Well, we shall see what the weather holds.

Chicken Talk

It's a story about 3 lovely chickens
Who were living in a chicken coop alone.
Just the 3 of them in the chicken yard
There was no one else.

It is a story about a chicken farm
With lots and lots of chickens.
There were 3 chickens that were special
They were to join the group.

Then one day the chickens in the coop
Welcomed the 3 new ones to the group.
And that's the way they all became the
Walrath Group.

Chicken Talk

Apparently my talk with the girls work. Yesterday they gave me 4 eggs. Hopefully today I will get some more. I have started taking Champ outside with me when I take care of the girls. He is our border collie and I want him to become used to the girls and the girls used to him. He is very enthusiastic around the girls. I am so glad I have a fence. But he does listen to me and stays right by me when I tell him. Hopefully he will eventually see the girls as good.  Well this morning I got 3 eggs from Annabelle,  Buffy, and Charlotte. Good girls. Now if Maleficent,  Delilah, and Snow Belle would just join in the crowd.

Chicken Talk

I have to get better with the posting.  Made breakfst for Ronnie and the boys yesterday morning. Used my own eggs!  That was cool.  The girls gave me 4 eggs today. Makes me back up to 6.  I want to get some fresh veggies to put in the pen for them.  We might get more bad weather this week.  I love the snow but I have to admit, I am over it.
All of the above was for Friday.  This is today. Changed the straw today, or most of it. Thag coop is going to need a major cleaning this spring.  Ugh.  It is the end of the chickens day and they did not give me one egg today, not one!  We had a serious talk. I talked while they listened, or were supposed to listen. I told them that there are 6 of them. I feed, water, and give them snacks. My quesgion is why no eggs?  I told them in no uncertain terms that they need to get busy.  Will see tomorrow.

Chicken Talk

Top egg layers of the day are Annabelle, Buffy,  and Charlotte.  Yea girls! Just got in from giving them fresh water.  This morning's water was frozen.  Interesting to see them chomp on ice. Found out they are not overly fond of pancakes. I will go back out in a bit and give them some scratch.  Keeps them busy.  One of the new girls gave me an egg. That makes 4 today.

Chicken Talk

It has been 2 1/2 weeks since I got the girls.  It is interesting to see their personalities develope.  There wasn't much difference when I just had Annabelle, Buffy, and Charlotte.  The three of them got along fine.  When I got Maleficent,  Delilah, and Snow Belle everything changed.  Buffy immediately became the dominant hen.  She even bosses the old hens.  No one dares to argue with Buffy,  no one. The dogs run to their own fence to keep an eye on the girls. Jack barks a lot at them. They have learned to ignore the dogs. But now I can't ignore them. Every so often, their bark changes and I have to make sure the girls are alright.  The boys are great for watching the girls. Only got one egg today.  Girls are adjusting to Buffy.  All for tonight. Have a great evening!

Chicken Talk

Came home after getting my taxes done and checked on the girls. First thing I noticed was a white cat running away from the coop.   Hmmm...could that be why all the girls were inside? The cat was outside and couldn't get to them, but still. The new girls were huddled in a corner while the others were using the rest of the coop. Buffy was running rough shod over the others.  She was definitely in charge. Egg count for today is 3.  Here is a question for you.  Which came first? The chicken or the egg.  At my house,  the chicken! 

Question...is anyone reading this or should I just post on fb?

Chicken Talk

Sunday--Been an active day at The Coop. Started off with 3 eggs from the "old girls" and about an hour latergot a jumbo egg from Maleficent.  That is 4 eggs in one day. Not too shabby.  The old gals do NOT like the new ones in the least. Hope they get things worked out soon. At night, I have to help the newbies get into the coop since the others will not let them near the door.  Delilah iz either molting or being severely picked upon. I will watch and see what happens.  I know they have to work things out among themselves, but it still makes me feel bad.

Monday--Opened the door this morning to let the girls out. Figured they might want out even though it is raining.  Working at the District Office a few days this week and wanted to check and make sure everything was fine before I left.   I had 3 water soaked hens, Maleficent, Delilah,  and Snow Belle, in their yard.  Buffy was standing guard just inside the door.  I got them shoed in the door and closed it. I don't know if chickens can get sick from being too wet,  but they were drenched. Poor sweeties.  Well, I am at "work". I will check on them during lunch.

Chicken Talk

So far this morning,  I have 2 eggs.  My new girls are here and my "old" girks have their beak out of joint. I put some scratch down and they are bysy with that instead of each other.  Pictures later.

Chicken Talk

Big day tomorrow.  Well, first things first.   I received the gift of 2 eggs today!  One was Buffy, not sure which one gave me the other.  Either way, WOW!  Things will change tomorrow. We are getting 3 more girls.  They are called Black Star chickens.  They are blavk in color and supposed to be good egg layers. Wait and see about that. Their names are Delilah,  Maleficent, and Snow Bell.  I am hoping that they will get along with each other.  They were outside almost all day long.   Should be out tomorrow also.  I am getting the new girls about 9 am.  I will try to get some pictures and post them tomorrow night.

Chicken Talk

Received a gift from Buffy today, her first. It is a pretty brown egg. If you look closely,  you can see dark brown specs.   I have been given 1/2 doz from Annabelle and now 1 from Buffy.  Hopefully Charlotte will start also. Wonder if Charlotte will give me an egg tomorrow? Wonder if Annabelle will give me an egg today? So full of questions.  So exciting to wait for the answers.

Chicken Talk

Not much happened yesterday. They did get outside for a little bit, then it turned cold and windy and they went back inside. I got another egg yesterday and today from Annabelle.  That makes six so far. I am out of store bought eggs and have only 4 eggs from Annabelle. Kind of nervous, hope she keeps up the good work. They were very happy with their evening treat tonight. I gave them corn flakes, oats, sunflower bird seed, and some leftover raisins. Thought they might like the fruit and the sweet. They are starting to look forward to me coming in the morning and evening. Very probably just because I supply the food. Oh well, better than nothing.  We are in for another major cold spell and possibly 4 inches of snow tonight. Sooner or later it will be spring.  Then the girls can get out on a regular basis and turn their nice yard into a mud bath.  Here is a picture of 5 eggs. 4 are very pale blue and one is white.  The white egg is from the store and the other eggs are mine. Just added the white so you can see not much difference between the eggs in size.

Chicken Talk

Well, I did it. I ate one of my eggs. The yolk was bigger than a store egg and less white. I made a fried egg sandwich.  I am not sure if it was a different taste or just my imagination.  Either way, it was good. Best $50.00 fried egg sandwich I ever had!

Chicken Talk

Maybe too much straw?

Chicken Talk

Amazing discoveries.  Females are alike no matter if human or chicken!  We are having a heat wave today and tomorrow.  All the way up to 30 and then 40!!  After being closed in the coop for almost a week, figured I'd do some work on the coop. First of all, they did not want to go out. So I left the door open and proceeded to go around the back and do a bit of housework.  Would those girls go out?  No. They jumped up on their perches and complained the whole time.  I proceeded to remove most of the straw and put a BUNCH of it back in.  Figured they would tramp it down.  Then, while they were working on that, I replaced the straw in the laying boxes. Finally, I went back and added more straw in the main area.  Annabelle was up in the top two laying boxes throwing all the straw out!  The other two girls were busy moving around the straw I had so carefully placed. All I could think is makes no difference if it is a coop or a house, a woman is never completely satisified if someone else cleans her place, appreciative but never completely satisfied. I am really enjoying these chickens. They are great!

Chicken Talk

The girls have had a good day today. They are starting to realize I bring nice warm and good food in the morning. This morning they started eating almost before I got my hand out of the way. Annabelle gave me another egg today. I think she is the only one that lays eggs. Her eggs are a real pale blue, lovely to look at.  Now I have another problem. I don't want to eat the eggs because they are too pretty. So I will force myself this week and have an egg and cheese omelet for breakfast. I'll give you more information on that later this week. The girls still have not been outside because of the cold and blustery weather. I leave their door open but they do not want to leave their warm house. Until the temperatures start to go than freezing, I will leave them alone. But once it warms up, I will push them out the door. Until then, they can stay nice and warm and snugly. Have a great evening.

Chicken Talk

You should have seen the girls this morning when I took them their hot breakfast. They really chowed down. There was only 1 egg again this morning.  I would say of the 3 chickens only 1 is laying eggs. Hopefully the other 2 will start soon because that is 1 of the reasons I have then. I left the door open for the coop today but the chickens did not want to come now. Still too cold.  Tomorrow, Saturday, I will have had the girls for 1 week. Talk to you later. Have a great evening.

Chicken Talk

My girls are cold. Poor things. I was reading in my chicken handbook about cold weather care. It mentioned that chickens will probably like a hot meal in their tummies, just as we would. It gave s recipe for some hot food. I didn't have everything so I substituted ehat was available.   I cooked a very small chopped potato. Then I added that to a handful of oats, handful of wheat germ, handful of Grape Nuts, and a tablespoon of oil. Mixed it up and took it out to my girls.  Let me tell you, they attacked it!! Now I have breakfast for the next few days. It also said they need brewers yeast to combat the lack of sunshine.
No egg today. Hope things pick up when it gets a bit warmer.  I scraped part of the pen area today and left the door open for about half an hour today.   Then I added some fresh straw. The whole time they did not even try to get out. Stuck their head out the foor and refused to go any further.   Smart chickens.

Have a great evening and happy clucking.

Chicken & Mole (whack, whack) Talk

Overheard the chickens talking tonight. Apparently there is a devious plan a foot. I thought the chickens were clucking and scratching around the hen house. Nope, not these girls. Actually they were scratching and looking for moles. These are not just any moles they are Rehoboth moles. They are an extremely dangerous group of moles because they will whack whack anything they see. In the past, they were under the control of the evil cat lady, Debbie. the moles have been tunneling under Delmarva looking for a way to get out. They heard about my chickens and knew the Evil Cat Lady, Debbie, would sometimes visit the Nice Mom Lady. The moles and chickens have been in touch with each other and devised an evil plan for escaping the tunnels. The chickens, Annabelle, Buffy, and Charlotte, agreed to scratch the ground to make holes for the moles to escape. Unfortunately the weather has affected the plan and now the ground is frozen. The chickens cannot make any headway with their scratching. To throw The Nice Mom Lady off track, they actually laid an egg. More updates as they come in.

Chicken Talk

The girls came through the storm fine. Lost their light bulb and their source of heat, but they are fine. Christopher replaced the bulb for me and I feel so much better.  To top everything off, got anothdr blue egg yoday. That is 2 Welsummer eggs. So Buffy has not laid a thing yet. I don't know if war Annabelle and Charlotte who laid the egg.

Chicken Talk

Still only have 1 egg.  I am assuming that they are not old chickens.  The girls were happy to get out this morning but quickly went back in the coop.  Wind chill.  They were inside most of the day.  Closed everything up for the night and they were already snuggled for warmth. Tomorrow I get to trudge my way through the snow. It will be interesting to see how they react. I will keep food and water inside for them. That is it for tonight. Oh, they are starting to get used to the dogs.  Sweet dreams.

Chicken Talk

I got my first egg today. It was a gift from Annabelle. I will post a picture of it. It is not as blue as it shows up in the picture.  My granddaughter,  Emily Grace, is staying with me. She asked if she could have the egg since I would be able to have a lot more.  Of course, I said yes.  Her father said that should be the best $200 egg we ever had.  Tried to post a picture but can't figure it out. Took it on my phone.  It is on my facebook page.

Kate's Chicken Talk

Well, here goes.  Not sure if I have this right. This is a blog about my new chicken coop. I have wanted one for a few years  and finally got one. Hopefuly I can figure out how to post pictures. I have 3 hens. Buffy is a Buff Orpington, Annabelle & Charlotte are Welsummers. I got my coop and chickens 2 days ago, thanks to 4 great guys. No eggs yet but  did not expect any this soon.