And then there were six....

Very sad news today. Poor Dashey was killed by Finn, and Ms. Scratch-Alot got a real scare. They had escaped the coop when we were moving it and ran under the deck, with no real way to get them out. So after some effort we left them to huddle. The dogs had been interested but not enough to chase them out for us, so it didn't seem like a big deal. But a little later M discovered Finn with one of them in his mouth, running for it. We were able to get that bird away from him, but unfortunately he had already crushed little Dashey. Even though he got whacked for it, I think Finn's pride in having caught something overrides any shame he might have. He kind of knows we think he did something wrong but I don't think he really knows what it is per se.

Ms. Scratch-Alot appears to be OK considering. She is huddling in the corner of the coop, not wanting to do much but if forced is able to walk around. She hasn't flapped her wings yet, so I'm not totally sure they are OK. There's not a lot I can do other than keep checking in on her.

We will be moving the coop out to the back 40 tonight as soon as M gets home. That way if they get out again, at least the dogs won't get them. Of course a hawk or raccoon might, but we don't have to live with them.

Chicken-A-Go-Go

Here are the photos as promised. See, Ginger just looks like a regular, but beautiful, chicken now. And yes, Bella is very interested in her if she is in the coop. See how the poop just sits on the wire there. We are going to have to clean more regularly than I had hoped.

Here is Carmine, I think, sorry it's hard to tell in the photos. She likes her some grass.

Here are almost all the chickens, huddled in a corner. Pretty much just Ginger and Carmine

will come over and see me. The others just run away and then pick at things.

This is the coop, possibly the heaviest coop around. But hopefully it will keep out any predators, although the ground is so uneven, that it does kind of leave big gaps along the bottom. Even the dogs have noticed this and try to stick their noses under. I hope this doesn't cause problems. We have some pretty big raccoons around, but since I saved that one from the road I'm hoping that I have a little coon karma stored up.

The chickens are gone

Yes, finally the chickens are outside. We moved them out about a week a ago, after a frustrating day of trying to finish the house. It is still technically not finished and lots of things are occurring to us or have been shown as less than optimal choices. I still need to build the nest boxes, not a huge rush as they won't be laying eggs for a couple more months. More importantly we need to install a couple perches for them to roost on. They have been hanging out on the wire upstairs and enjoying the grass to munch on below. One things which seemed like a good idea t the time, was that we changed the floor wire from 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch. It seemed like this would be better on their feet especially as we were putting them in there young, but it is also small enough that it catches their poop. So we're going to have to go in there pretty regularly and brush it off. Also while the coop is pretty luxurious, it is also damn heavy. I'm not exactly sure how we're going to move it around. M put handles on it, but I can't do anything except shove it forward a foot or two and once we're out back and the ground is less even, I can see it being a huge pain. But it is what we have. It's possible we should have gone with a really cheap lightweight moveable summer house and then built a sturdy permanent winter house since they don't lay during the winter anyway. But we'll work this one for awhile and see how it goes. This is all new and obviously a learning experience.

The dogs are doing OK with the chickens. One of them got out the other day, not really clear how, but we fixed the problem we thought it might be and they haven't gotten out since. The dogs were just pretty much ignoring them, which is funny because they are constantly worked up by them when they are in the coop. It must just be the lure of the unknown and unseen, and of course the smell.

Carmine, who seemed to have a really bloated crop for a long time, but with no other symptoms seems to have worked it out by herself. She is fully feathered and quite adventurous, always one of the first to come when I open a door, probably because she is also the one I have handled the most due to her illness. I will get some new pictures of them as they have changed considerably. They look like really small chickens now, which is I guess what they are, so go figure. We put a feeder slot in for them which is way too high now, hopefully they will grow into it, but we need to add a perch for them temporarily so they can reach the food. It is nice that they can't perch on the feeder and poop in the food anymore.

Tomorrow photos and the farm!