AFL, sorry to hear about sophie. ALways sad news.
I found out today that my flock will not eat whole cranberries, and I wasted a whole pound on them!. Next time will grind them up and add to feed .
The 5 new hens that are point of lay are doing great with the regular flock. This wass the absolute easiest flock integration I have ever had - I kept the flock in the coop and let the new girls explore the run. Some of the new girls look similiar in coloring to the current flock, so when I finally let the flock out of the coop - there were some surprised hens, a little bit of squabbilng, and presto! I have to say i think helpful factors were the larger number of new hens (5!), the similarity in coloring for some of them, and the new hens feeling pretty comfortable in the run before being faced with strangers.
Everyone seems healthy...I am continuing to do as much immune boosting as I can possible do, due to the mareks death earlier this fall. I know they are much more susceptible to anything that they could have normally thrown off, and I know to be realistic I will likely see some losses in the upcoming year. But after getting through these past weeks I am feeling much more hopeful.
It was an astonishing 48 degrees today! Snow has nearly melted and there is alots of bare ground and mud. yuck