Saturday, January 29, 2011

Today

iciclesIt's January and it's snowing, again.  These icicles were hanging from everything today, and I admired them on my way to the coop to check on the girls.  Even when hanging off the dusty edge of the chicken coop, they were pretty.  One admires what one can in January, when there are no flowers to be seen and no blue sky for weeks.

I even admired my snowy work boots.  They are so useful in the snow and in the coop, both.  And they're warm.

Boots in the snow









Roger and Hattie in JanuaryI visited the ducks in their pen, sitting comfortably in the straw and hay on the run floor.  I re-purposed the used straw and hay from the chicken coop, cleaned out yesterday, to put on the run floors for the ducks and chickens to scratch and play in.  I don't let the coops get so dirty that the straw is too dirty to play in.  It seems to be appreciated.  I never cease to wonder that the ducks do not mind the cold.  Even when it was -6 the other morning, they all tumbled out of the duck house and made their merry way to their water bucket to swim.  Little Duck (Daisy) is not in this picture because she was too busy trying to eat my camera cord instead of posing nicely.

Chicken Entertainment
This is what passed for afternoon amusement in the chicken coop today.  That's a cabbage there, hanging from a chain.  I've found the best way to hang it up is to use a nail to stick into the cabbage, which I wrap a bit of wire around and then hook the wire to their chain which is hanging from a hook on the ceiling.  The chickens really enjoy having a cabbage.  They swarmed around when I hung it up.  Their feathers are looking much better after putting on the pinless peepers, as seen on a few of them here.  The only ones that still look awful are Matilda, in the front, and Rhoda, just in front of Matilda.  They look terrible, not because anyone is picking them, but because they are molting!  I'm not sure what possessed them to molt in the middle of January, but they are staying warm inside the coop.



And this is what waited for me inside after checking on the ladies.  I had a nice cup of tea and read the last of my issue of Mary Jane's Farm, which I picked up at the farm store with the chicken feed the other day.  I wish I had room for goats and a nice small barn.  Now, back to my tea and relaxation.  Enjoy your weekend, all.

3 comments:

Ann said...

I enjoyed reading about your ducks and chickens, it amazes me how birds tolerate the cold weather. A local park near where I live put out a request for food for the water fowl that couldn't find food due to the freezing weather. They were inundated with donations and has to ask for volunteers to come and help prepare for distribution to the birds, once again lots of people turned up to help.

Elizabeth said...

I'm glad that they're being fed. We have wild ducks on the beaver pond down the road and they seem to be doing OK with food as long as there is some open water for them. My spoiled ducks eat chicken mash and chopped kale every day!

flame821 said...

OMG, a fellow duck keeper! I haven't added any chickens yet, but I think I might pick up a few arcana this year. We currently have a few Mallards, Khakhi (if you want egg production, go with these girls, but they'll foraged your garden to death), and various runners. They are very sweet, my son actually took Bob the Mallard with him to get an Xmas picture taken. That duck follows him everywhere, he's like a puppy.