The heat has been scorching (really), and the chickens are having a miserable time with it.  Yesterday I went out a little after noon, and poor Xena was huddled, panting, in the hen house on top of a pan in which we put ice at night to cool them off. You could almost hear her thoughts: "It's cold at night, why isn't it cold now? OMG I'm hot ( Read more... )

The heat has finally caught up to the hens, and all but Harriett have stopped laying. Bless her feathered heart, Harriett is still giving us one egg a day. We're putting lots of ice in their water, and ice bags into the hen house at night, but we still catch them panting in the heat of the afternoons. This is tough weather for all animals, domestic ( Read more... )

When one of my former co-workers moved away for a year, she asked me to take care of her betta fish. Betta, as she was named, was already over 2 years old, which is pretty old for a betta. I understand they can live 3-4 years, but Kate and I have never had one reach 4. Betta was beyond the venerable stage when she passed away yesterday, at well ( Read more... )

We knew the temps were going to get bitterly cold this week, so this weekend, Kate installed a heat lamp with a dark red bulb in the hen house. (Yes, we spoil our chickens.)  Knowing that chickens get spooked by anything remotely resembling change, we turned it on a couple of times over the weekend just to get them used to it ( Read more... )

Life in chicken world is filled with much less trauma (nocturnal visits from opposums aside) now that we have the hen-pen built and they are no longer running around the wilds getting eaten by hawks and owls. In fact, we haven't lost anyone since Auntie was munched by a hawk this spring. Fred, Auntie's faithful companion, took to hanging around the ( Read more... )

The poor hennie pennies are all clustered together for support this chill autumn morning because a possum got into the hen house last night. We spent the day in south east Oklahoma, and we didn't get back until 10pm or so, well after dark. I went to close the door on the hen house and noticed that one of our roosters was still out in the pen. ( Read more... )

The enclosure is working perfectly to protect the chickens from the hawks. We actually had a red-shouldered hawk perched on one of our fallen cedars beside the hen house, and, while the chickens were obviously quite nervous about it, the hawk was equally obviously thwarted by the deer netting. We have not seen the hawks as often in the yard since ( Read more... )

In two weeks made largely of Fail, the wheel of fortune may be spinning up. This afternoon, I found the nail in my left rear tire before it went all the way flat,  and I even managed to find a place open to fix it after 6:30pm. Then, after getting home and seeing Auntie wandering around all alone, I assumed that Fred was probably the latest victim ( Read more... )

Two nuggets are crowing now...

 One of the nuggets is crowing. We have a rooster again!