~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~

[Wisher1000]

Great job, Lizbeth!

 

[coloradochick]

Aww thanks Linda

Quite the talented little kitty you have there

I have a couple of banties I would love to have in the house but the hubby doesn't see things the way I do

Your stories of you all snuggled in under the blankies gives me warm fuzzies. It's currently a balmy 12 degrees here and it's COLD. I lost one of my Silkie gals yesterday to the bitter cold. I so hate the cold.

Stay warm !

 

[gryeyes]

I bought myself a heated throw foe snuggling in The Enchanted Recliner. Of course the dogs and cat love it, so it shouldn't have amused me all that much when Beth and Punkin discovered it in the last few days. Kinda disgruntled Dooley who hides under it so the sight of chickens in the house won't drive him mad. This is because Beth and Punkin walk right on him and once they each decided to his the lump of his body as a perch there.

Jack wanted to go outside today with the girls. At one point, I found him standing at the gate and watching the flock, so I opened the gate to invite him out. He stepped out and wandered a bit further, so I walked through the gate to leave him on the other side. He followed me back into the garden. Oh, okay then.

A bit later, he was back pressed against the gate. I let him out again. He wandered away and even did a little hop-jump AT Madge, who had started to puff up at the sight of Jack. Madge stepped aside.

Jack traversed the entire yard; I kept checking on him to make sure he wasn't lost, or getting harassed. But qs dusk began to fall, I wondered if it would be all that safe for him in the coop with temperatures MUCH lower than those to which he's acclimated.

He wasn't in the coop. He was hanging out with some of the Cayugas, and when he heard me call his name, he strode directly to me.

I brought him inside and let him go on his way to the feeder and waterer in the office. After awhile, he came out, looked around, then started maneuvering past the coffee table where he usually settles.

Jack then jumped to the foot of the recliner and flappedity-flap-walked up my legs and torso to settle down across my chest. At first I thought he was trying to get to the window over my shoulder, maybe he was ticked off I brought him back into the house?

Uh, apparently not.

I am so glad I've been keeping my iPad next to me, here. Until my Jack wants to move, I'm not getting up for anything.

And the phone, with its camera, is in the kitchen!!! Lisbeth isn't interested in helping out this time because she has been walked on by a pullet once too many times today.

 

[HEChicken]

Linda, I don't post much but do enjoy your "blog" posts very much. I am curious though - in the pics I've seen of your house chickens, I've never seen them wearing diapers. The only times I've had birds in the house they were chicks who escaped the brooder and they showed no signs that they were potty-trainable. How do, um, handle your house chickens inclination to just squat and go wherever they are?

 

[gryeyes]

I have diapers on order.

The sofa and chairs are covered in washable throws. I keep another, larger throw draped entirely over my bed. The floors in the house are ALL wood veneer. I should buy stock in paper towels and toilet paper. Well, until the diapers arrive....

 

[HEChicken]

LOL, that is the opposite of us! We are an all-cloth family, using cloth rags for all cleaning, toilet paper and even feminine needs. I must say switching to cloth for cleaning was easy but I was dubious about the other two. Now, after two years, I would never go back to paper.

 

[gryeyes]

TP soiled with chicken droppings goes into the compost; the thin paper will decompose more quickly than the mass of soiled pine shavings I shovel from the coop (or scoop out of brooders).

I do have a specific, cloth towel I use for cleaning up the puddles left by my elderly dachshund Zorro when he doesn't want to go out into the cold or wet weather. He's 14 and arthritis slows him down quite a bit. (Since I started giving him glucosomine supplements, he is more apt to exit the house to do his business, which cheers me. Maybe it cheers him, too.)

I had to move out from beneath the collection of companion animals parked on my chest, lap and legs. Everybody but Jack got down and rearranged, too. The pullets have gone back into the office to their chosen overnight roosting spots on top of Simba's hutch. Jack is still content to rest on the heated throw. Lizbeth came back and claimed a spot. Zorro climbed the doggie steps, but stopped at the top where it meets the recliner's footrest because Jack
was right there. I had to move the danged rooster a few inches to one side before Zorro continued!

Dooley walked to the steps but changed his mind to simply jump onto the sofa. He then burrowed under the fuzzy (non-heated) throw and made a nest out of it, right next to me. (Dual-recliner sofa.)

Then we all shared an envelope of Pop Tarts.

 

[HEChicken]

Love it! Hope they all enjoyed the pop tarts. Now that I think about it, if I were cleaning up chicken poop I think I'd rather do it with paper, especially since you can compost it, than have to wash out cloth rags. Eeeek.

When I first built my coop, I bought a couple of bales of pine shavings, and when I needed more, was about to go and buy it when it hit me - Duh! - I had 30 bales of dry, clean straw, sitting in my pole barn. So I carried a bale down to the coop, separated the flakes and spread them around the coop. The chooks went crazy digging through them and in 3-4 hours, had the straw evenly distributed around the coop. A month of so later we repeated. They really love going through the straw to find any seed heads that are left in it, and they chop it up quite fine so eventually it packs down a little and since I am doing DLM, when its packed down enough, I add another bale and let them start all over. Every few days I also throw a handful of scratch in on top of the bedding to encourage them to continue turning it over. My hope is that by spring I will have a lovely lot of material that is ready to start the composting process (if it hasn't started already). I know straw gets a bad rap, but I really haven't had any issues with it - I don't know if it breaks down faster in the compost than pine shavings would but if you have access to any cheap straw it might be worth a try.

 

[welasharon]

TP soiled with chicken droppings goes into the compost; the thin paper will decompose more quickly than the mass of soiled pine shavings I shovel from the coop (or scoop out of brooders).
I do have a specific, cloth towel I use for cleaning up the puddles left by my elderly dachshund Zorro when he doesn't want to go out into the cold or wet weather. He's 14 and arthritis slows him down quite a bit. (Since I started giving him glucosomine supplements, he is more apt to exit the house to do his business, which cheers me. Maybe it cheers him, too.)
I had to move out from beneath the collection of companion animals parked on my chest, lap and legs. Everybody but Jack got down and rearranged, too. The pullets have gone back into the office to their chosen overnight roosting spots on top of Simba's hutch. Jack is still content to rest on the heated throw. Lizbeth came back and claimed a spot. Zorro climbed the doggie steps, but stopped at the top where it meets the recliner's footrest because Jack
was right there. I had to move the danged rooster a few inches to one side before Zorro continued!
Dooley walked to the steps but changed his mind to simply jump onto the sofa. He then burrowed under the fuzzy (non-heated) throw and made a nest out of it, right next to me. (Dual-recliner sofa.)
Then we all shared an envelope of Pop Tarts.

Linda, can you tell me something about the supplemental glucosomine for your dachshund? I have one that is almost 17 now and has recently started going in the house. I would like to give it a try too.
sharon

 

[gryeyes]

1-800-PetMeds. Joint Enhancer, a daily joint rebuilding formula with Chondroitin & Glucosomine to improve flexibility and mobility. Cute little bone-shaped pork and liver flavored goodies.

I think it just hurt too much for Zorro to walk all that much. Now he has more energy and shows real interest and glee, sometimes, in going outside to ramble around the yard. He comes right up the doggie steps to bed and the sofa instead of carefully maneuvering up or down each step, slowly, like an.... Old man. He's peppy and much more active.

Now, if it's really cold, or wet outside, he still resists going outdoors. But he's old, so I make allowances for him.