Of want and plenty

I nearly resorted to buying eggs this week. The poor hens have been so discombobulated by the raccoon visit that they still are not back to a regular laying cycle. After the “misfires” in the days immediately following, I was finding nothing in the nestbox most days. A week has passed and I’ve gotten only [...]

Read Full Post »

Thief in the henhouse

We had a visit from a raccoon early this morning. Luckily, all the hens are OK but it was pretty scary at the time.
The dogs woke me up at about 4:15 this morning when they leaped out of bed and began barking. Then I heard the chickens squawking in distress. I threw on something suitable [...]

Read Full Post »

Retrograde

Am I moving forward here or going backwards? For a few days there I thought my health was improved, but over the past week that has not proven to be a permanent condition.
I worked out 2 days last week and 2 days the previous week, after taking off nearly 3 weeks from my typical routine. [...]

Read Full Post »

Just a sunday

Today started out a bit rough and it’s been a sort of mixed-bag day. But I have to start with yesterday first, as that was a different sort of day altogether and it sets the stage for today, too.
Yesterday I spent the afternoon in Ikea with Rachael, Jamie, and Chris, and then we returned to my [...]

Read Full Post »

Animal house

The kids are growing up. *sniff, sniff*
Over the past few days I’ve seen Marshall definitely trying to fulfill his rooster destiny with the ladies. So far, none of them are having anything to do with him.
I must say, he really needs to work on his approach if he wants to get anywhere. Reaching out and [...]

Read Full Post »

Full cycle

Missy, one of my Delaware pullets, died. I’m not certain what happened, but I discovered her dead and stiff this morning while I was letting the chickens out of their coops. She was laying on her side, halfway in and halfway out of the coop door.
That detail distracted me for a moment, as I KNOW [...]

Read Full Post »

Hens at rest

Brrrr….We are starting the really cold weather early this year. It was 7 degrees (Fahrenheit) this morning when I got up to let out the chickens. It’s not typical to have temps this low so early in the winter.
Today was a new milestone: not one egg in the nestbox. For the previous few days it [...]

Read Full Post »

Winter chickens

We got snow yesterday, and although it isn’t the first time this season the white stuff was flying around, it is the first time it stuck stubbornly in place and stayed there. Today was sunny, but it wasn’t warm enough to melt the stuff either, so we still have snow on the ground. We’ll get [...]

Read Full Post »

Guess what…

Uh, huh. Go ahead…just what you’d hear from your 10 year old…chicken butt!!!!
Oh, geez, I never would have thought that keeping chickens would result in such things, but I had to wash Maisy’s butt today. Here’s Maisy, last year just before she started laying:
Once she started laying last year (on September 8, 2007 to be [...]

Read Full Post »

August recap

Yeah, I’ve been a bad blogger lately. Mea culpa and all that usual blah-biddy-blah-blah.
This past month has been BUSY, and although I have my energy back for the most part, I sort of turn into a pumpkin by 10:30 PM these days. If I’m not in bed and asleep by then, I am pretty wiped [...]

Read Full Post »