Morning y'all. It's gorgeous here. Nice and cool.
I didn't get back early enough to lock up the chickens, so they were loose this morning when I let Ben out. He did really well at listening until he found one out by herself, around the corner of the fence where I couldn't see. He chased her back toward me and got his mouth on her just before I got to him. Of course I pulled him off and threw him back, giving her time to get under the fence. And then I let him know how disappointed I was.
Took me forever to find her, but she seems fine. It's the SS hen that's molting so badly right now. A few broken feather shafts, but no bites that I can see. But her few feathers left are all slobbery, so I know he got his teeth on her.
So, I consider that a close call. I just realized that "Ben" is also his retrieve command, so that's not going to work to stop him.
It's fine. We'll figure it out.
Last week I noticed fowl pox in my flock, a couple of the pullets. My hens and roo had it so bad last year, so they should be fine. I'm curious to see how much resistance their offspring have... Pigeon has it the worst, so I've separated her and I'll bring her inside in a minute.
Hers looks like it's trying to turn wet, which is SO much worse. I need to bleach the waterers today. Luckily it will still be hot enough for the sun to help disinfect.