Cloudy Days in the Coop - My Adventures with Chickens.

[Starburst]

Alright, not too many pictures of the chickens, my apologies. It was soaking wet and they were hiding under the coop, making it very hard to get pictures. But with the pictures I did get, you can see wet, dirty faces, droplets of water on chickens, and chickens shaking themselves to get rid of the water.
Not including chickens, the forest is getting a nice drenching, mushrooms are springing up, - and, @Sapphire Sebright, just for you, lots of Moss!

 

[Starburst]

Hi, everyone! The days are staying crisp and chilly, (in the 20’s Fahrenheit), with blue skies. My chickens are enjoying today’s heavy frost free-ranging, and I also gave them a little scratch to enjoy. The age of the frozen waterers has also begun. Some pictures from today:

I hope everyone is having a wonderful, peace-filled day.

 

[Starburst]

Sometimes, especially as winter sets in, I am discouraged to walk outside to get pictures, only to find the Autumn leaves, the flowers, and other things to be...gone. My first thought is, There’s nothing beautiful left. But really, that’s not the case. That dead flower might have lost its color, but it’s still beautiful in its own way. The shriveled mushrooms that look like nothing at first glance actually seem to glow with mystery and beauty, with small, intricate details. The evergreens still have their vivid green needles. The moss still offers a soft touch to the forest. The birds, while many have left, still sing their sweet songs. As I look closer, I realize that there is beauty in every season, no matter how it may look on the surface. And at last, camera aimed for a fallen flower, I smile.
The chickens have been enjoying beautiful days with little rain, just clouds. Today, I let the flock out to free-range, and they’ve spent their time running around, grabbing fresh bugs and other forage as they go. Mochi was especially adorable as she followed me all over the yard as I took pictures, her fluffy legs toddling after me. After a while, I had to scoop her up and give her some snuggles

 

[Starburst]

Alright! Bath time done! It’s dark out, so I’m a little worried of how Mochi will react to staying up a few hours past bedtime. Hopefully, she’ll be alright. Anyway, she did surprisingly well, and was very calm. She barely flapped around doing the bath, and she honestly seemed relaxed when I was drying her. And looking at the before and after pictures, she almost looks like a different chicken!
Before:

After:

 

[ILoveBabySilkies]

Can’t wait for profiles on them! Miss chunky in the front is adorable!

 

[thepick4uchicks]

Hi, everyone! I decided that it would be fun to share my adventures with my beloved chickens. I've had my flock for about two years, and I hope to have chickens for the rest of my life. I started keeping them thinking it would be nice to have some eggs, but I've now come to love them for being, well, chickens! I've yet to be faced with chicken math, but...I now must beware of the feed store during chick season. Last time I wandered into the chick room 'just to take a look,' I came out with six chicks in a box. But that's not chicken math...right? Anyway, I currently have eight chickens running around my yard and making me grin ear to ear every day. (I'll post each of their own 'profiles' in a bit. ) Some may say I spoil my chickens, holding umbrellas out so they can free-range without getting wet, taking them into the house on the frigid days to warm up for a bit, cooking them oatmeal, popping popcorn just for them, and decorating their coop for the seasons. Yet personally, I just find it as my way of saying 'thank you.' A thank-you for that egg in the nesting box that will make my breakfast, a thank-you for sending me rolling in laughter, a thank-you for letting me hold them when I need it...chickens are pretty awesome! And let's be honest...for me, there's no place better to be on those cloudy days to be out in the coop, with my feathered friends scratching around I'm looking forward to sharing the times I spend with my flock with you, and thanks for coming along for the ride!View attachment 2344437

Beauties

 

[thepick4uchicks]

Jasmine:
Jasmine is my Australop and is one of my original flock and is 2 years old. She was always very friendly as a chick, and is still happy to be held from time to time. Last Autumn, she was attacked by a large dog. While I managed to get to the scene before the attack could become fatal, I found that she couldn’t walk. She refused to eat for days, and only drank when I coaxed her to. While one leg seemed to work, the other wouldn’t work at all. Thinking it was dislocated, after several days I took her to a vet that would take a look at chickens. After four hours, they determined that she was most likely paralyzed. They explained that when the dog was shaking her around like a rag doll, her spine may have been severely injured. They gave me medicine after I refused to put her to sleep, telling me that it may help her. Jasmine was a fighter! After two weeks of giving her medicine, a check-up pronounced her to have nerve damage. She was always weak, but one day when I took her outside to be in the sun, she flew out of her bin to get around. That gave me hope. After several months living in the house and giving her medicine, she was hopping on one leg. By winter, I had a chicken tractor made. The ‘Chicken Infirmary.’ She spent those snowy days in there, nice and snug, and I would put her in the coop to stay warm. By spring, I began to introduce her to the flock again. One the head hen, she was now at the bottom of the flock, and still is. Amazingly, she began to use her weak leg to walk as well. Though she’s still slow in moving around, and her limp evident, she has gone a long way! Her favorite treat is mealworms and popcorn. And she loves to free range, despite her having a harder time getting around. She especially loves to dust bathe in my garden.
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That and she and you are all AMAZING!!!!!

 

[ILoveBabySilkies]

Kiki:
Kiki is my Cukoo Marans. While she’s not one for being held, she’s still one of the first ones to run up and greet me. Just recently beginning to lay, her eggs are a beautiful dark brown. She, like Minnie, is about 7 months old. She really is delightful, taking anything as a challenge she’s ready to face, be it a new treat or figuring out a way to sneak into the garden. She loves cooked oatmeal, but only gets it on special occasions. Though she’s a very brave chicken and strong chicken, she seems perfectly content being near the bottom. Thankfully, most of the others don’t seem to bother her.
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As you can see, Minnie and Kiki are almost inseparable! They never seem to leave each other!

She is adorable! I have a Cuckoo maran except it’s a cockerel! I do have a Golden cuckoo maran pullet though which I’m excited for her to start laying!

 

[DrTheMomm]

I haven't noticed that any one of them is Head Hen. Katherine Howard is always off by herself, doing her own thing. In fact, before she looked distinctly different from her sister (Annacleves), we could still tell which of the two she was because the five of them would be together and Katherine Howard would be somewhere else - somewhere over there - doing her own thing. Poor little Detroit (named after a kitten who died who was named after an engine, not the city, but that's another story) is sweet but none too bright. When she was but a pullet, she got stuck in our neighbor's yard and couldn't figure out how to get home. My husband had to rescue her. And these days, she is always chasing after the group saying, Hey wait up, guys! Wait for me!

I'll have to watch them more closely to see who is Head Hen. Yesterday Katherine Howard fluffed out her feathers at Lida Rose, my little furbaby, and Lida Rose ran for cover, but I think that's different.

I'm loving your stories!

 

[Starburst]

From the pictures, Mochi definitely looks like a girl to me!

This morning, as I was walking down to the coop to the let the chickens out, I heard crowing. I almost died of horror. I raced down there and pulled open the door, ready to confront Mochi, but she came walking out like nothing happened and began to feast on food. Then another crow came from inside the coop, I was terribly confused because all of my little ones had left the coop, which left my older hens, who I knew were female. I guess one of them was feeling extra bossy today or something.