Chicken Update

It has been a while since I have mentioned the chickens. We started with 4 Plymouth Barred Rock pullets, and one was soon killed by Zuno. Fortunately it happened right in front of us so proper correction was applied. Nowadays, Zuno is a model citizen around his feathered sisters.

We lost another chicken in January. We suspect one of the smaller hawks killed it since there were no condemning paw prints, and whatever killed it didn't haul it away. We have had both Sharp Shinned and Coopers hawks immediately in front of the house, and on one occasion actually up on the porch.

That brought us down to 2 chickens. Even during the shortest days we were still getting on average one egg a day. The coldest night we have had thus far showed negative five degrees (-5!) F on my porch thermometer. I am pleased to say the chickens seem to be weathering the winter quite well. Keeping fresh unfrozen water available has been the biggest chore so far. Since there is no natural forage left, we have been feeding layer food supplemented with treats like alfalfa sprouts (spouted from seeds) and freeze dried meal worms. The chickens MUCH prefer the treats over their regular food, and have become every bit as bad of beggars as the dogs.

The tent is holding up well, despite some pretty extreme winds. The chickens will come out even on the coldest days and make their way up to the porch where they hang out. It is a mystery to me why they don't want to stay in their nice protected coop tent, but there you have it. Jill did line a couple of plastic crates with some straw, and they will hang out in the straw boxes when it is really cold.

Recently our neighbor Laurel asked if we could take one of her hens. She and her son are breeding Australorps, and this particular hen has gold flecks which leads them to believe it is not a pure bred Australorp. Jill calls the new hen "Blondie" (from "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly", not from the insipid cartoon comic). We are following the chicken guru's advice and are keeping Blondie physically separated from the other hens for a few days. Fortunately we have big dog crate which serves the purpose admirably. 

We do plan to add a few more pullets in the spring to keep ahead of the attrition that is part of owning free range chickens in a remote area with plenty of natural predators.