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?