Maine

[lazy gardener]

awesome bird paintings. That's on my bucket list... to paint... arty stuff, not just living room walls that are long over due.

 

[CoopChick719]

I found "deep litter" to be really damp, too. And it did start to have an odor once it got a bit beyond that damp phase. The first year I tried it it was damp and then it got cold and the whole thing froze into a sheet. It wasn't that bad I guess, but when I tried to get a cage out of there for cleaning, it was frozen to the ground and I bent it trying to get it out. I decided to clean the coop every few months and let it "deep litter" in my compost pile instead. Don't get me wrong, it gets disgusting, and starts to break down, but I'm never going to make chicken salad out of chicken poop in the coop.

I have got to go out soon and find and reinstall my gutters that blew off last night. But it just started to rain again, boohiss.

My deep litter is very dry but does not seem to be breaking down like everything I've read. I do have only 6 birds so maybe that's why?

 

[CoopChick719]

Mainechick--4-5 eggs a day w/no light...that's awesome!

Bucka--Great looking cookies!! I don't do any baking for the holidays so I admire those that do!

Hoppy--Your chickens sound very crafty! I bet the calendar looks great!

Ashandvine--Your eggs & your BR's are just beautiful!

Anna--We had a dog when I was growing up that could eat cake off the cake plate without even moving it. We would have never known but he had pink frosting on his muzzle. My mum was blaming us kids for eating it.

I received a lovely chicken ornament. It looks like a white Sizzle. My mum couldn't find what she was looking for but did find a ball with feathers glued all over it so she gave it a black beak and a gator clip to attach to a tree branch. Voila...one white Sizzle chicken ornament!

 

[ashandvine]

Nice new avatar Mainechick!

I did not PAINT those birds on the egg. I have a wooden egg around here somewhere that I did paint a loon on years ago but these ones are rub on pictures. Much faster for sure! And easier on my recovering wrists

Poor chickens. Inside all day for sure!

I have a cockerel who seems to be getting his first dose of hormones. He is walking around "huck huck hucking" and he looks a little worse for the wear. I am hoping that the current, much older cockerel (nearly rooster) in there isn't giving him too hard a time. So far I have found that raising them up together allows me the most time to keep them together without limiting myself to an all boy all girl set up. I actually hope he is getting those working chemicals because I totally need him to do his job!

 

[Mainechick168]

Oh thanks Ash I was pretending it was summer....

My flock will be mad today. I think they thought we would have grass forever. Oh, is it a sign that I am getting crazy if I start wondering about my chickens thoughts...and deciding I know that they are thinking???

I'm prepared for the power to go out...I hope it does not though, I'd like to make bread today.

Also, placing my order with Johnnys right now- they still have my fave red gold potatoes, thank goodness!

 

[buckabucka]

Ha! The changing avatars will help keep me alert. I tend to not pay attention to the names, but glance at the avatar, so when Mainechick posted, I thought, "who is that?"
You shouldn't have told us about the rub-ons, ashandvine! We are all so impressed with your talent.

I am also hoping we don't lose power. This is a great day for baking, or sewing feed bags, or browsing seed catalogs. I do need to go out and top off the water in the coop soon...

My deep litter is also very dry, but it's not very deep! I have poop boards though, so there is less poop piled around.

 

[hoppy]

I hate snow and I think the hens agrèe

 

[ChickMagnet207]

I think you're all in the wrong state if you hate snow.....

 

[Mainechick168]

You are right about that chickmagnet! I love the snow. and I love Maine.

We went out for a walk behind the house, it was nice. Checked on the chickens, and they are already up on the roost ( at 330!) I got 4 eggs though, so I'll let them go to bed early.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

For some reason this storm doesn't seem too bad. Maybe I'm finally getting used to all the snow.

The ducks (who are free range but sleep in a locked coop) didn't seem to mind the cold and snow very much. I'm amazed how different they are from chickens. There's all these duck prints all over the yard from them exploring.