Good morning X Batts have always watched birds at closing the coop for the night.
This is the oatmeal hoard. About once a month they get a bag of it.
This is the oatmeal hoard. About once a month they get a bag of it.
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Great picture is that second picture.Nice sunny day here. Most everyone decided to enjoy the sunshine and sunbathe. Saoirse, Fuzzy and Caramel somehow managed to dust bathe all at the same time, though it was plenty crowded.
My brother stopped by this afternoon for a bit of chicken therapy, apparently today was a tough one and needed to spend some time with animals. Depression is rough for him this time of year, and I was more than happy to pick out a couple of the girls who tolerate being held better to help him out. He also got dog snuggles, a good chat, a nice meal and hugs from everyone before leaving in a much better state of mind.
I’ve seen some slow improvement on Cordelia’s crop. I’ve been using the crop bra to support her pendulous crop and taking it off periodically to allow for better dust bathing. The last couple weeks, her crop hasn’t ballooned as much by the end of the day, which seems to indicate that her crop is regaining some of its muscle tone. It’s been slow going for sure, this has been an issue for at least 6 months now, but she’s gaining weight and her comb is erect. I was looking back at pictures from fall of 2021 and realized that her comb was floppy back then. It was about time she started to lay sporadically (and then stopped altogether) though it wouldn’t become apparent to me that she was having troubles until the next spring. Would her poor nutrition (due to a pendulous crop) have an effect on her comb like that? I’ve noticed that Fuzzy’s comb, which is large, flopped over when she started molting last fall, in addition to getting pale. These are the only two of my girls who have had changes like that, though a good number of the hens here have smaller or different types of combs. Last picture is of Cordelia from fall 2021.
Maybe worth giving it a try now there are less chickens but don't the chickens need to be taught how to use it?What do you think of the treadle type feeders? Supposedly they are rat/mouse proof. If that was the case, then you could potentially leave feed for them overnight so they’d have something to eat in the morning.