What did you do with your flock today?

[PopoMyers]

The weather has been dreary for the past weeks, and my camera catches the girls coming outside at around 8:30. Haven't seen any predators coming around. Maybe they can hear the electric fence. DH is staying on top of testing it.
We only have had to use one feeder and fill once a week for the 6 hens. Found some yolk on one of the eggs, so someone is laying soft shelled. Perhaps it's Ginger's, Olena's chick mate, who is done molting and coming back into lay. They are both almost 3.5 years old Welsummers. Found that my BSL is the one that adds sand to her shells, which wash off easily.
DH fixed the tarps so that there is more of an eave effect on the side of the run, and I took a sheet of plastic and clipped it to the bottom 2 feet of the opposite fence as a splash guard. Seems to be working. Still getting condensation with the tarps. Guess we'll just live with it.
My son won this for me from one of those grabber games.

 

[LTAY1946]

After a scare at bed check last night for one of my pet pullets that free ranges by day and has a place to roost on the porch came up missing. Well she came up to me this morning all sassy looking expecting a treat of some kind and I told her what she had done and was a bad girl for making me worry. She looked at me like I didn't do anything. I think what she had done was decide to go and roost in her old pet coop. I guess all is well that ends well.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Geese are entertaining. Unless the gander sees you as a threat but I'm lucky enough to not be on that side yet. I like to believe our two geese have bonded to me well. It's become routine on days the flock free range they find themselves outside our frontdoor until I come out with food and they all escort me to their run. Gus stays closer to me than Gizzy.

Geese are like toddlers or puppies of the bird world. Atleast thats my experience with our 2 that are under a year old. Their loud, they wont stop chewing stuff they shouldn't be chewing, they drop things into their pool. We've found sticks, food dishes and toys. If they can they will dump their water bowls. Ours don't like to cuddle sadly. If they see me come out they escort me around but if I'm not they go around with our chickens. We have a male toulouse and a female american buff.


Technically I didnt get to do much with our flock today unless you count me cleaning out a vehicle while having our geese yelling at me from the run. And I ran into a issue checking to chicken eggs. I think our geese are breaking them to eat. So I need to fix our collapsed nesting box asap diy instead of waiting for money. Why couldnt they wait a month..

We've had the one girl for years and never found anything in the pool. Then we hatched some eggs, and as they grew, suddenly the pool started getting filled with rocks of all sizes. Some are big enough I wonder how they managed to carry them. At first I wondered if they were playing with rocks because they see me out there constantly raking up rocks to protect their feet...monkey see monkey do kinda thing . Then I did some reading and found other people asking "why do my geese do this". I still don't know why they do it, but my planter full of rubber ducks lets them have their fun without the rocks. I've wondered if they were trying to build a place to nest in the water...their own private island? So I tried a huge truck tire with straw in the bottom next to the pool (so the ground under its always wet in case they want moisture under their nests) to see if they'd fill it with stuff... nope. They do looooove to stand on the edge of it and play king of the mountain though. So anyway ...still no idea why they do that. Sure is cute though.

 

[ChicksnMore]

The weather has been dreary for the past weeks, and my camera catches the girls coming outside at around 8:30. Haven't seen any predators coming around. Maybe they can hear the electric fence. DH is staying on top of testing it.
We only have had to use one feeder and fill once a week for the 6 hens. Found some yolk on one of the eggs, so someone is laying soft shelled. Perhaps it's Ginger's, Olena's chick mate, who is done molting and coming back into lay. They are both almost 3.5 years old Welsummers. Found that my BSL is the one that adds sand to her shells, which wash off easily.
DH fixed the tarps so that there is more of an eave effect on the side of the run, and I took a sheet of plastic and clipped it to the bottom 2 feet of the opposite fence as a splash guard. Seems to be working. Still getting condensation with the tarps. Guess we'll just live with it.
My son won this for me from one of those grabber games.
View attachment 3718923

I have that same one! Just can't remember who gave it to me .

 

[ChicksnMore]

After a scare at bed check last night for one of my pet pullets that free ranges by day and has a place to roost on the porch came up missing. Well she came up to me this morning all sassy looking expecting a treat of some kind and I told her what she had done and was a bad girl for making me worry. She looked at me like I didn't do anything. I think what she had done was decide to go and roost in her old pet coop. I guess all is well that ends well.

Teenagers!

 

[MaeM]

Today I held one of my chickens and her abdomen felt weird to me. I don't know how to explain it. I don't know if I've spent too much time without holding a chicken or if it's actually swollen/distended.

I hadn't seen my chickens in about 10 days and I don't know if she is perhaps a bit fatter?

I mean, the chicken looks good and acts normal, but I'm kind of traumatized because her sister used to look good and act normal while she was laying eggs internally.

Have you ever felt that something is wrong with one of your chickens but you are not able to differentiate whether there is something truly wrong or it is all in your head? After dealing with IBV in my flock, I kind of have what I'd call "CIA" - Chicken Illness Anxiety.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

We've had the one girl for years and never found anything in the pool. Then we hatched some eggs, and as they grew, suddenly the pool started getting filled with rocks of all sizes. Some are big enough I wonder how they managed to carry them. At first I wondered if they were playing with rocks because they see me out there constantly raking up rocks to protect their feet...monkey see monkey do kinda thing . Then I did some reading and found other people asking "why do my geese do this". I still don't know why they do it, but my planter full of rubber ducks lets them have their fun without the rocks. I've wondered if they were trying to build a place to nest in the water...their own private island? So I tried a huge truck tire with straw in the bottom next to the pool (so the ground under its always wet in case they want moisture under their nests) to see if they'd fill it with stuff... nope. They do looooove to stand on the edge of it and play king of the mountain though. So anyway ...still no idea why they do that. Sure is cute though.

Yeah their weirdos lol I didn't realize they were putting the bowls in the pool but one day my mom comes in and tells me to take a look and Gus our toulouse was playing with it in their pool even though I had moved it across the run that morning for feeding lol I think maybe its just a playful thing. I've never seen ours pick up a rock but they do fancy their sticks lol

 

[ChicksnMore]

Today I held one of my chickens and her abdomen felt weird to me. I don't know how to explain it. I don't know if I've spent too much time without holding a chicken or if it's actually swollen/distended.

I hadn't seen my chickens in about 10 days and I don't know if she is perhaps a bit fatter?

I mean, the chicken looks good and acts normal, but I'm kind of traumatized because her sister used to look good and act normal while she was laying eggs internally.

Have you ever felt that something is wrong with one of your chickens but you are not able to differentiate whether there is something truly wrong or it is all in your head? After dealing with IBV in my flock, I kind of have what I'd call "CIA" - Chicken Illness Anxiety.

I hope she's ok. I do know what you mean...I get nervous if any of my birds sneeze. all's well with her

 

[crystalsc]

I walked my ladies around the yard this afternoon, we went to the brush pile area and they got to climb all over old limbs. Then I moved the camera in their coop so I could have a better view of their roost bar. Earlier in the day, two ladies came inside and walked through the house. They just prance through chirping and looking and taking it all in. My girls tend to want to be where we are. They like to hang out on our deck or in the hedges along the front porch. They will come up to the storm door and make noises and “knock” with their beaks until we say hi or come out.

 

[LTAY1946]

I've never been one to do selfies but couldn't pass this up. I brought Legs inside tonight and handled him some. I had not picked him up in several months. He has really packed on the pounds. I need to weigh him. He turns 7 months in about 4 days and must weigh 8 lbs now. We also got a second photo of him snacking on tidbits of fresh bread. This will become a ritual with him like it is with a pullet that came to us along with him. I put my old raggedy coat on expecting him to fuss but he didn't. A perfect gentleman. She sat while eating and the only time he got some bit anxious was he didn't want to do the selfie.