Wind, Snow, and Poopsicles

We had really strong winds earlier last week, and part of the plywood on the coop that protects the girls from wind/rain/snow blew off.  I had my handyman fix it.

Actually, Will fixed it, but it Alex brought his hammer along too.

Then, all the snow melted and we were left with a whole lot of mud and chicken poop.  All the frozen poop-sicles melted and it became quite a mess.  It was almost like spring for about two days, and then we got another 8 inches of snow.

Meanwhile, I have been worried that one of the chickens had frostbite because of a black spot on her comb.  I looked it up online, and in the books/magazines I have on chickens.  There is a wealth of information on the subject, but varying opinions on what to do (ranging from nothing, to antibiotic treatment, to surgical removal of the comb).  Finally, I called my dad and asked him what to do.  (My dad has had over 80 chickens in the very cold UP).  His advice?  Kill the chicken and have soup tonight.  Thanks, dad.

Now I think it wasn't frostbite.  I think it might have been a peck wound.  I might have to stop giving them the chicken mash, because maybe they're fighting over it.  Alex gave them a stern talking to about learning how to share and playing nice.  I think he put Sandie in time out for a few minutes.  I am sure that will help.   I'll keep a close eye on it and hope it doesn't return. 

Happy Valentine's Day

The chickens gave me a Valentine's gift (well, two of them), and clucked "I love you" to me and Alex.  We decided to make the most of our eggs today.  Here is how we used their gift:

Scrambled eggs for lunch

Making peanut butter cookies.  Alex had to add the egg!

Seriously yum.

And pancakes for dinner.

Only backyard chicken eggs were used in the creation of the above (i.e., made with chicken love).  We will be making a heart shaped patty of chicken feed mush for the girls!  (I'm just kidding, I think).

Crazy Chickens

These chickens are crazy.   They are over the frozen water grudge.  Now I am The One that feeds them. 

They eat some sort of dry commercial feed.  They have access to two full bowls and can eat as much as they want (but never seem very excited about it).  I also give them some cracked corn when it's cold to give them something to do to warm themselves up.  And they have a bowl of water (that is almost never frozen).  They get excited about the cracked corn, but you should see them when you mix the commercial feed with plain water.  It makes a paste that looks like cat food (uck), and the chickens go crazy over it.  Tonight, one of them pecked my hand to get at it.  Out of control chickens, here in Lansing.  Since I started giving them the mush, I have become very popular.  They practically attack me when they see me carrying the Styrofoam cup I use to mix it up.  Here is a picture of them eating the mush; notice they eat it off of a plate.  Nothing but the best for these girls.

Blizzard 2011

On Wednesday I  had a lot of shoveling to do.  I decided to shovel the chicken coop roof so as not to have a roof collapse.  The snow was heavy, and I wasn't sure how much weight the coop roof could handle.  Here's a picture of the coop before I shoveled.  As you can see, we got a decent amount of snow.  The chickens didn't mind.  When I opened the coop door, they ran out and explored the Aviary.  It was cute to see them waddling through all that snow.

 

I also got my first frozen eggs this morning.  I am guessing that they were eggs from yesterday and they froze over night.  I am not sure how I missed them last night, but it seems unlikely that they froze this morning -- it isn't that cold!

 We had two snow days because of all of the snow.  We spent only a little time outside in the snow ("it's too cold, mom"), but we did build a snow fort and have a snowball fight.  Will got caught up on his grading, and I took three naps.  Gotta love snow days!  Alex drew this picture, so I thought I would share it.  I think you can tell it's a chicken laying an egg, but you decide.