MJ's little flock

[Shadrach]

It was very comical! Her tooshi was hanging down the whole way oh dear poor thing is not at all aerodynamic. She's got strong wings though!

Chicken flight, not the most graceful display. It's astounding just how far they can get.

 

[rjohns39]

Good evening folks

 

[Grammy60]

Good evening everyone

 

[MaryJanet]

Good evening folks

Good evening everyone

Hello! How's life today?

 

[Ribh]

How did the roosting go last night, MJ?

 

[minsin56]

Hehe sorry, I'm a bit dense when it comes to pop culture references - but I'm very curious to know why it brought him to mind? Was there a character in a song called Peggy?

no when i first saw the post title"mj" useually means "michael jackson" to me

 

[MaryJanet]

How did the roosting go last night, MJ?

I missed roosting last night so my neighbour closed them in. But once I was home I went out to check and I found the youngsters up the top, Mary and Janet on level 2 and Sandy on level 1. I'm in two minds about Sandy sleeping alone. The positive is that she will at last escape Janet's bullying. The negative is that she might feel cold in winter.

 

[MaryJanet]

no when i first saw the post title"mj" useually means "michael jackson" to me

Oh I see! Haha, how silly of me to not see that

 

[MaryJanet]

Some rearrangements

As Ivy was using the roof of the little coop as a lauch pad for her escapology, we moved it away from the perimeter of the yard.

View attachment 2021627

I put the old table behind it to throw some cool shade down into the little coop. Then I hung food and water from it.

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This has turned out to be a very fortuitous move because the pigeons won't eat under there, preferring a vertical takeoff. One of them tried and hit its head, now they don't go under there!

Here's a new roost for Peggy to have an option other than "get pecked" at bedtime. It's higher than the hens' roost and further back so that hens won't fit comfortably.

View attachment 2021631

And here's Ivy's branch up high on the rafter.

View attachment 2021632

The table and little coop arrangement has been a great success. It's very popular with the older hens who have taken to lounnging in the shade it provides.

Now there are four levels of roosts, the bedtime struggles have eased.

My next task, which I'll take care of tonight, is to spray each chicken for lice and mites. I sacrificed the henhouse-pigeon boundary when the pullets arrived so they'd have somewhere to hide. I knew I was allowing mites and lice in with the pigeons. I've sprayed the henhouse, now I'll spray the chivkens and hopefully that will clear the problem for now.

 

[MaryJanet]

A question for experienced chickeners

A chicken lays five lovely eggs in five days.

How young could she be? What's your estimate of minimum age?

Edit: 6 eggs in 6 days