And now... in unrelated news..... My family all went to bed early, and I haven't done a late night 'spend time with the chickens' session in a while, so I went out with my flashlight and put clear covers over most of the coop windows with the wind blowing so bad, because it blows right on them when they roost (great for hot weather but not for cold). They all still have plenty of roof ventilation. So I did go ahead and check over my youngest flock and thankfully I did, because one of the little pullets got scalped and had dried up blood on her head, and another I noticed a callous on her foot, which I picked at and removed the whole darn thing, leaving an open exposed wound on her foot..... So now I have two sweet little porcelain d'uccle pullets in my garage 'rabbit cage infirmirary.' I debated whether I should put them together, afraid the limping one might peck the scalp wound of the scalped one. I guess I'll just keep an eye out and make sure it's healing and not getting worse. So I have one with goop on her head, and the other with medical tape and cotton on the bottom of her foot. Now I just have to figure out who is the scalper! I also have to play chicken doctor at night now till they both heal up. I'm sure my daughter will delight in having two little hens in the garage again. Now I just have to figure out which unscathed pullet to take to the show. I'm bringing all my younger roosters to figure out who does best in the show (ie: who to keep with personality being fairly equal). I think I've picked which ones I want to keep, now to see if the judges agree with me. I'll kind of be glad to get the show over with, then pick my 'keepers' and cut down my #'s.
