Out of the coop loop

Even though wishing for Spring in Austin can be wishing for 90 degrees in March, I don't care. Since I have been keeping chickens my love of freezing and below freezing temperatures have ceased. When it's too cold I can't sit outside with my girls and hang. As a result I feel out of the loop.


I check in on them after work and let them out to roam. They put themselves away at 5pm or so then around 7pm I go out to their coop and check in on them. This is something I started doing after the PeeWee incident. While they sleep I can check their noses and make sure no one is ill, check their feet for cuts and sores, check their vents and make sure they are putting on weight. What I don't get to do is watch them walk around much or hear their chatter and I really miss this.

They seem to miss me as well. When I do let them out they all come calling on me at the back door. I'll sit on the porch and they seem to be catching me up on things. I really should learn some chicken talk. Seriously, I took an entire semester on linguistics (before I realized it was too much like math) and there are definite patterns to their clucks and chatter. So yeah....if I had the time I could decode their chatter. I'm sure someone has by now.

Once I put Fuzztop on my arm and she strung together sounds that I mimicked for fun. Then she broke it down for me, giving me one sound at a time and I would repeat sound by sound. It was pretty amazing that she did that and we had this teach and learn thing going on. Get to know your chickens, they are pretty amazing little creatures.

This weekend should be in the 60's and that is perfect backyard weather. I just hope this summer is not as brutal as last summer. I would really love a nice, mild summer....is anyone out there granting wishes?

PeeWee and I

PeeWee

PeeWee was the tiniest, little thing among my first flock of six. She was always running under the wings of the others and would squeal when picked up. I took it as a stress scream so I would try not to pick her up often. However, I did not want her to be without any handling at all because I wanted her to be tame. Eventually she became less afraid and I was able to have her on my lap.

As a pullet, she would emerge every morning with a dropping on her head because she was tucked under someone else. Awww PeeWee, I had to clean her up because it was so sad to think of her running around all day looking this way. After Ducky went broody and hatched her babies, PeeWee grew up a bit and became more independent.

It was sad at first to watch PeeWee roam the yard alone. Her whole body seemed to communicate fear and sadness. Ducky had babies, Fuzztop had gone broody. It was just like watching a person find himself or herself each time she roamed. Every day she went further into the yard, alone for the first time, mumbling to herself while also seemingly in deep thought. It was hard not to want to pick her up and cradle her but I resisted. Off she went, dust bathing alone in corners of the yard never touched by hens before. It got to where she liked being out of the coop and not stuck with broody hens and annoying chicks.

One evening I put PeeWee back in the coop and turned to catch a wayward chick, closed the coop and went in for the night. It was 11pm, I was watching a movie with my husband when I felt the sudden and compelling urge to run out and check on the girls. As I approached the coop there seemed to be a towel lying next to it, only it was not a towel, it was PeeWee! I began to sob and picked up PeeWee who squealed and flapped her wings like crazy. I picked up the baby thinking something had gotten into the coop and this was the first of many bodies I would soon see. Oh no, I thought, she had been injured so I ran to the porch light and PeeWee was just fine, only scared.

I figured she had walked out that second I turned my back to get the chick. She had stayed out of the coop since 6pm that evening. My poor baby was locked out of her coop and we had gone out to eat, returned, and watched a movie. Anything could have made her dinner. I still feel emotional about it. PeeWee was snuggled up against the coop when I found her, poor thing.

After I could have lost PeeWee, it hit me why she was so special. I am PeeWee, teehee, to some extent! There is an inner PeeWee in me for sure. She embodies all there is about me that is fearful and nervous yet determined and courageous. It took PeeWee time but she explored the whole yard alone. Now she will even sleep in a nest all by herself. One thing I can learn from PeeWee is that she is patient with herself. The little thing is lucky too and so many times, I have failed to acknowledge how lucky I have been.

I love PeeWee. She is quiet and not as flashy as other babies I have written of at length but of all the chickens I have met thus far, I must say, PeeWee is I in chicken form.

News, Updates, Discoveries.....

One of Twinkie's feet has healed and the other seems to be improving quickly. When the boric acid/petroleum jelly mix didn't seem to work I just went out and bought Camphophenique. That really sped up the healing process. In any case what did not work at all was what the vet sold me.

Because of the whole GMO problem in this country, I attempted to procure layer feed from GMO free Ireland. Since they just went GMO free though, their livestock feed list for GMO free feed is not available. However, I plan on checking in later just out of curiosity. I'd pay a pretty pocket for some GMO free feed and I don't know how well the US can guarantee GMO free anything.

In researching GMO layer feed I did discover Rainbow Egg Farm and their 18% protien, soy-free feed! For $30 I get 20lbs, not too shabby.  But with pricey feed comes the desire for it to go into my  hens and not wasted on the ground so now I am in search of the perfect feeder. I guess like most chicken people just starting out, every egg is about $6? But they are so yummy and my Silklie eggs are large enough. Not going to double them up anymore, seems to me two eggs equals two eggs and four equals four.  These are not teenie Bantam eggs to me.

I discovered that a car cover is the best winter coop cover ever. It isn't easy to drench it, it dries quickly and it insulates so well. There is a definite teperature increase in the coop. So much so, I leave the south facing end open.

Austin is still debating the rooster ban. I really think if roosters are banned because of their call, so should those recordings that are supposed to scare grackles off.  The one near my home goes off every ten minutes 24/7.  The grackles are used to it and so are the employees of the business. Maybe because they hear it all day everyday they have become use to it? It's just part of the noise in their everyday lives? Well then so can a rooster's call become part of the everyday background noise. Either way.....the point is, roosters don't need to be banned, they can be put away and brought out at decent hours.