For what it's worth I vote for Maltby, Potluck and BYOB. Do we get to bring a token chicken or two (BYOC?) or is that pushing it?
In other news, our silkie (Tina Grace) has gone broody. She started camping out in the far and impossible to get to corner of the coop about a week ago. To make matters worse to get there you have to crawl under the roost area. With all the fabulous nesting options we never dreamed a chicken would want to lay an egg there let alone hatch anything there. Since it is dark when we get home during the week, and thus the chickens are all roosting then, I could not convince the BF to crawl thru the chicken poop and under the currently pooping chickens to get her out of there. So now a week in we started feeling bad about the prospect of stealing Tina's eggs (we are such suckers!). So after cleaning out the poo today I crawled under and relocated Tina and her eggs to a safe brooding place. Fortunately she is only sitting on two eggs. Incidentally, neither egg is hers.
So, we have not hatched anything before and I am not quite sure what we are doing. Tina is in a large metal dog kennel with her own food and water. We have chicken wire all around it to keep small chicks from popping through the bars. Since it is now winter (and just getting colder and wetter) do we need to provide some heat if the eggs actually hatch or will Tina be enough to keep them warm? How much room will Tina and chicks need? How long will she want to be with the chicks? If only one egg hatches or one chick dies will we need to get another one so the survivor isn't alone?
Spent another large chunk of time today cleaning up the area that housed the temporary run. Don't know if it will grow anything now, but threw some grass seed there also.
How have these chickens managed to take over our lives?????? They look so innocent but clearly they have mastered the art of mind control.......
In other news, our silkie (Tina Grace) has gone broody. She started camping out in the far and impossible to get to corner of the coop about a week ago. To make matters worse to get there you have to crawl under the roost area. With all the fabulous nesting options we never dreamed a chicken would want to lay an egg there let alone hatch anything there. Since it is dark when we get home during the week, and thus the chickens are all roosting then, I could not convince the BF to crawl thru the chicken poop and under the currently pooping chickens to get her out of there. So now a week in we started feeling bad about the prospect of stealing Tina's eggs (we are such suckers!). So after cleaning out the poo today I crawled under and relocated Tina and her eggs to a safe brooding place. Fortunately she is only sitting on two eggs. Incidentally, neither egg is hers.
So, we have not hatched anything before and I am not quite sure what we are doing. Tina is in a large metal dog kennel with her own food and water. We have chicken wire all around it to keep small chicks from popping through the bars. Since it is now winter (and just getting colder and wetter) do we need to provide some heat if the eggs actually hatch or will Tina be enough to keep them warm? How much room will Tina and chicks need? How long will she want to be with the chicks? If only one egg hatches or one chick dies will we need to get another one so the survivor isn't alone?
Spent another large chunk of time today cleaning up the area that housed the temporary run. Don't know if it will grow anything now, but threw some grass seed there also.
How have these chickens managed to take over our lives?????? They look so innocent but clearly they have mastered the art of mind control.......
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