Dark To Dark :(

[Baymule]

I leave in the dark and get home in the dark. I have enjoyed spending time with the girls (2) in the evenings after I got home. I picked greens, cabbage leaves, collards, or turnip greens plus a piece of bread and held the goodies for their eating pleasure. My DH said they are spoiled. YUP! Now when I get home, they are gone to roost.

I feed in the mornings before I go to work, but they now won't eat their goodies. The greens are wilted on the ground and the bread is a dirt sandwich. I really like winter, but I'm more like WAH! I miss my girls. I don't have power to the coop, so no lights. Anybody else out there missing their flock?

 

[NeeleysAVLChicks]

Uggg, me too!! I miss my afternoon free ranging time with the girls.

I find that the only time I really have road rage is in the winter on the way home from work. I always feel like I'm racing the sun just to get a few cuddle moments in with the girls, good thing there is BYC 'cause I doubt many other folks would understand.

 

[gryeyes]

ME!!

I still have light before I leave for work, but it's just a whirlwind of making sure all the waterers and feeders are full (got a couple of grow out coops with youngsters in 'em as well as the Main Flock Coops) before I dash off to work. I'm gonna have to rethink this, because I WANT to see 'em, but in order to do that, I must already be in my work attire. Just changing into and out of coop shoes doesn't fix dirty water splash on the skirt, or ensure I don't walk into the office with a pine shaving in my hair. Or a feather stuck to the back of my top.

I am so sad to go out and gather eggs in the dark when I get home, just murmurring gently to roosting chickens. And only one of my 7 coops has an automatic door for the chickens, so I really worry about the dusk and darkness time with unsecured coops.

I MISS interacting with my chickens!!!

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

I feel ya! And I'm in southeast Arizona, so I know the rest of y'all have shorter amounts of daylight!

I hang out with my peeps in the morning before work, thereby making me late more often than not

And on weekends I do outside projects in theory, but in reality mostly just hang out with the birds and drink coffee . . . . and on Monday I just say I spent most of the weekend "bird watching".

(Hey, I don't think any BYCer has ever regretted spending too much time with his/her chickens!)

Cheers!

Bryan

 

[HHandbasket]

I count my blessings every day that I have the good fortune of being able to do my job from my house and telecommute from home. I live in northern California, but my company's office is in Oklahoma City. I've never been there but would like to visit some day. I still have to clock in, work a schedule, and get my work done--but make no mistake, come break time, I'm out back with my animals and my garden! When I worked in an office, I used to go walking to stretch on my breaks, or sit in the break room thumbing through a magazine. I liked the walks I would take on my breaks before, but NOW if I want to go for a walk, Ginger (our dog) gets to come with me! Or if I'm not up to getting out and going for a walk, I still go out into the backyard where the chickens are. I get to be home with my chooks all day, and if one of them is sick, I get to keep a close watch on her. I think that is why Martha, our welsummer that has had everything from respiratory illness to fowl pox, is doing well and hanging in there and is finally starting to grow a little bit. She's 29 weeks, and she has not really developed or grown much because she's spent a lot of her life fighting sickness--but today, I noticed she's REALLY pink/reddish in the face & is gettin' a little bit of comb! The comb is still small and pale, but it's bigger than it was a week or two ago. Anyway, it was really touch-and-go with her for a while, and I think she did well because I was able to watch her *very* closely while working here at home. Every 2 hours when I get my breaks (just like on a regular job), I would check on her, give her medicine or whatever--even brought her in the house with me in a dog carrier when it was ungodly hot this summer & she was sick and on antibiotics for a couple of days.

I think that's the thing I like the most about my job--the flexibility it gives me to be home and take care of my animals and my husband!

 

[MakNugget]

I have power, but I feel your pain. My girls are NOT impressed with the 30 minutes they get to spend in the run after I get home. This forced me to buy an automatic door which should arrive any day now.

If you're anywhere sick in the head like me, I've bought a cat feeder/timer (catmate c-20 is what I have) that I haven't figured out a place for yet. It's a relatively cheap (cheap build for sure) feeder tray that just opens up at a preset time. I used it once in the coop and put some greens in one compartment (c20 has 2 separate compartments, c10 is single). I watched (I have cameras...) remotely and their reaction when the flap opened was priceless! They were all on alert, only accepting this new object a few hours ago as "safe", and now it's moving on its own. Took all but 30 seconds before all three heads were buried in wheat grass.

Anyway, I figure this would give them something to do while I'm not there.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I work two days a week and I hate not having the afternoon time to let them free range.. I am pulling greens from the farm and bring them to the girls... still have some pumpkins and they get their birdseed but it's not the same! I don't like filling the feeders and waterers in the mornings--it's colder and I end up getting wet and dirty and THEN have to go get ready to leave! I found out last winter (my first w/ chickens) that the free range time, is as much for me, as it is for the girls! It's a time to watch them and note any changes in their behavior or in their bodies, it gives me time to clean their coop/roosts and gather eggs and then I get to love them a little before and after they are on the roosts!

 

[IdealisticRoo]

Not to be an instigator, but I have month old babies in a kiddie pool in my garage so I can always watch them, even after my big girls have gone to sleep.

My month old babies seem so happy even with the cooler weather and they are feathering out fast! So, OF COURSE I had to order more! That way I will be able to get my fix even after my first batch moves out to their own insulated little house.

Again, my apologies if this post instigates anyone to feel moved to order chicks!

Some people do not think of ordering chicks when its cold, but that way they will be laying come spring!

Thank goodness that Ideal Poultry hatches and ships 52 weeks a year!

I have had terrific results selling the extras I bought (I have sold more than half of the order)! This has helped pay for my chicken habit! Non-chicken addicts want more chickens, but don't know where to get them or are afraid to order this time of year, I think. So, I am glad to be an enabler and the chicken dealer (not to be confused with drug dealer, even though chicks are WAY more addictive)!

Best regards to Y'all and I hope you get your fix!

 

[Ironmaiden]

I'm right there with everyone else in this shortened daylight. I set up a light on a timer for an hour in the morning, so their days aren't so short. I too fill waterers and feed at night, although I bought some Carhart bibb overalls, overshoes and jacket to cover my clothes if I need them in the morning.
I only get about 30 minutes with them when I get home...then they are off to the roost to squabble over position. I give them some scratch grains/corn in the morning, but that is about it. If it is sunny out they stay out in their yard a bit longer and I give them scratch/treats then. I miss sitting with them and having a brew while they mill around me and hop on my knee. And it's only the beginning of winter...if only we didn't have to work!
Patches Lil Roo...I too am guilty of putting off weekend chores and just sitting with some java, watchin the goings on. What else are weekends for?

 

[crawfordmama]

Like HHandbasket, I also am fortunate enough to work from home. There are some days, however, that I probabaly spend more time with my chickens than I do working (don't tell my boss!). I think I'm a little spoiled by that too, because on the days I'm away from home, all I want to do is spend time with them. My heart sinks a little when I arrive home after dark, enter the coop to "tuck them in", and they're already asleep. I compare it to a working mother getting home after the kids have already gone off to bed. I love those silly chickens so much!