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The Chickens Get Their Own Backyard
The chickens are angry at me this week because they’ve been booted from the yard. I finally got tired of them kicking all the dirt and mulch out of my flower beds, wandering into the neighbors’ yards and getting closer and closer to the street where neighbors regularly walk dogs. Without a fenced back yard, free range was just too free, and with spring around the corner, I didn’t want to have to deal with them uprooting the wildflowers I’m about to seed. The veggie garden has a fence, but the Tweedles have no problem squeezing in and out of the pickets to get at whatever is left of the…
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Flock Swaps
I was warned that this chicken thing can get really addictive. The eggs are great. Planning and building the coop was fun. Problem solving is challenging. What is addictive is walking across the yard and realizing two chickens are following at my heels, I stop, they stop and scratch around in the dirt. I walk, they walk. I stop and turn around, they scratch at the dirt. I have a fan club now thanks to a treat called Crackleberry Nugget Treats. What is also addictive is hearing the panicked peeping of the newest addition at dusk, then hearing the panic change to happy chirps as I place her in her…
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An Update on Betty White
I spoke to someone at The Urban Chicken about how to tell if the bullying has gone to far. Obviously if there is bleeding, the bird needs to be separated as chickens are drawn to the color red and would potentially peck it to death. The other dangerous sign is if the bird stays off by herself. This would mean the chicken has been rejected by the flock and it isn’t trying to rejoin. The fence divider in the run only lasted a day and a half because I was curious how Betty would do after spending a day with Luna. She was eating and moving around well, so I…
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Nursing Our Silkie Back to Health
Miss Betty White has been a house guest for a little over a week now. She’s a Silkie pullet, and we think she is about 10 – 12 weeks old. She and her sister, Vader, fell ill before New Year’s Eve. Vader didn’t survive, but Betty is on the mend. When we first brought her in, she was lying on her belly in the run and was limp. There was no peeping, no walking, and her head was caught in this turning pattern which the boys said looked like she was reading a book. She kept her eyes closed most of the time. We think a combination of lice, cold…
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One Silkie Down
As a newbie chicken mama, I’ve been very lucky to not face tragedy for over eight months. Though we live in downtown, we have our share a predators — hawks, foxes and raccoons are all regularly spotted. Our coop and run are pretty well protected, but I let the ladies free range for extended time most days. Typically if I am home, the birds are in the yard. Though they tend to stay in our backyard, sometimes I have to hunt them down and chase them out of neighbor’s yards. We really should get a fence, but talking to my back neighbor, I think he’d rather have the occasional chicken…
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New Silkie Chicks
Meet Betty White and Vader. We are crossing our fingers that they are both hens! We were happy with five ladies, and when they were babies, they’d sleep in a pile in the corner. The girls have grown up now, and sweet little Luna doesn’t roost with the others and still sleeps in the corner. With temps dropping below freezing at night, I’ve been really worried about her staying warm enough. So today we brought home a pile… two new Silkies. We have cornered off part of the run for Luna and her two new pile mates. Once the ladies are used to their presence, we will integrate them into…
