Chicks in Prison

Although I would push the coop door closed, each day I would walk out to the chicken run and see a chick head or two peeking out from around the door.  They kept pushing it open and poking their heads out.

Then the weather got really hot and I realized they must be dying in there, but I don't have time to cut and secure a screened window to keep the other chickens out until this weekend so I decided to prop the doors open and just block the doorways so they couldn't get out and the big girls couldn't get in.

Now, every time I go outside I see a bunch of birds in chick prison and it makes me laugh.

The good news is that it's Friday, so tomorrow I can cut new windows into the coop for better ventilation for them AND for the next three days, when I let the adults out to free-range, I'm going to let the chicks come out into the chicken run for their first taste of the outdoors.

Good Night

Since the youngest chicks needed the smaller coop, the bigger chicks needed to move in and share the large coop with the big boys and girls.  They weren't too happy and were actually huddled up by the smaller coop door when I went out there last night. 

I had to catch each chick and put it into the big coop, and by the time I would get the next chick and come back, the first one would have already come out of the coop.  I finally got all nine of them inside and then I went in to help them settle in.

This guy was the first one to jump up on to the roost with the big girls and Clyde.

Some others decided to stick together around the nesting boxes.

 Australorp wasn't happy sharing and actually started pecking at the girls next to her.  I decided to help some of them out and I picked them up and put them on the roosting bars.

A few were brave on their own and jumped up to the roosting bars.  Clyde wasn't thrilled.

Meanwhile the goats were all tucked away and ready to go to sleep.

No More Birds in the House!

The chicks that my students hatched and my buff orpington chicks are 6 weeks old and starting to try to fly, so it was time for them to get out of my house.  I cleaned out the smaller coop where the first batch of chicks had been sleeping at night and moved these guys in.

And at night, they all went to sleep together.

Another illness?

The other day I noticed that Mary Anne's feet and legs looked strange. It was as if they had warts.

I did a little research and found out she has scaly legs.  These are actually mites that dig into the legs and lift the scales of their skin up.  It can cause serious injuries and even kill the birds if it gets bad enough.  

The best solutions that I read were to wash and clean their legs with a tooth brush scrubbing between the scales and then to put on various treatments.  Some of the treatments were easy, like Vasoline.  I purchased a spray that said it would help and got to work.

I cleaned each and every chicken.  I did see some signs of possible scaly leg on a few other birds.

And then I even saw lice on one of them.

 I had gotten rid of the lice a few months ago, it was an quick and easy fix.  However, since we feed the wild birds with our bird feeders, my chickens are bound to get lice again (and again and again) since the wild birds will continuously bring it back.  Luckily, I have the supplies on hand to clear up lice and so I treated each of the birds for lice as I was cleaning their feet.

Another pair of clean feet with signs of scaly leg.

They were not very happy to have me holding them down and doing this.

Mary Anne's legs were definitely the worst.  After I cleaned them, it was even more clear how bad things were so I decided that I would buy some cream I read about and re-treat them on Monday after work.

I've heard stories about birds falling asleep while being held.  I wasn't so lucky, but Mary Anne did close her eyes when I'd touch her beak.

A Clean Coop makes for Happy (Egg-Laying) Chickens

I finally got the coop cleaned out and the improvements made.  

I raised one roosting bar and added a third.  This way they aren't pooping on the backs of the birds beneath them.  I still need to add poop boards (boards that catch the mess).

\

And I bought these shelf thingys and added the front boards to create an edge for the eggs to not fall out.  I need to add a piece of plywood at the top to create an angled roof so the birds won't sit on top (like that one.)

There is even space for me to put the chicken feed can!  This means I have more space in the  mud room!  

And this must be great news for the birds because look what they finally left for me

Pretty Eggs

 While there are NINE eggs, I have to admit that one is from yesterday afternoon and two are guinea eggs.  But still this is the first time they've laid six eggs since the new coop was built.

And check out those colors!

Just in case you missed it, look at the funny shape to the one on the left

One step forward

Between work that I got done yesterday and then work that I got done today after working all day, I'm getting closer to feeling like the garden looks good.  Looking good means I'm a little closer to having it actually produce this summer.

I spent about 40 minutes fixing the fence to keep the chickens out.  I pinned down the bottom all the way around since they were finding spots to sneak under it.  In the three hours of free range time today, not one got in.

I added a wire fence to the back of the garden where the berry bushes are

Added a wire fence along the row for the green beans to grow on

Put all the tomato stands in

And made four more potato piles although you can't see very well in this picture

Two Girls?!

I knew I had one female guinea because every time she was locked in the coop with the chickens, she laid an egg.  Meanwhile in the other coop where the two "male" guinea were, there was never an egg.

Well today, I found two guinea eggs!

The one on the right has different coloring so I think it's from a different bird.  If they looked the same I would think that one was laid yesterday and I just missed it.

She is nuts

First, I turned around this afternoon and saw Carrie doing this...

Then, I went outside late in the afternoon and saw her doing this...

 The thing she is standing on is just a piece of metal fencing that we barely attached in the chicken run for the birds to perch on.

 And so it soon broke under her weight...

 And she was stuck for a minute

But not too long...

And then she was back up and trying again....

Their first taste of freedom

I decided today was a good day to let the first batch of chicks taste freedom.

I opened the door.

And then waited.

And waited.

And waited.

 And FINALLY we had a brave bird that went into the coop and as he/she stood on the edge, an adult chicken came behind her.

 She jumped out of peer pressure, I'm sure of it.

Not too graceful

Walk it off like a pro

She was out of the coop alone for about twenty minutes before I gave up and went inside the house.   About thirty minutes later I went back outside and found another bird had tasted freedom.

 I figured maybe they would come out if they could come out through the coop so I propped an old ramp up to the door and immediately someone poked out to see the world.

And the rest followed.

All nine are walking around testing their freedom and and adult birds are doing fine with them, except for Silkie Sue who tends to attack every once in awhile.  :/