Wild City Chicks...

Yesterday the chickens were out free-ranging for quite a while. In fact I'm sure they left no bug or blade of grass uninvestigated. They hopped  up on low limbs of trees, made sure they had lots of playtime on the patio table (not where I want them to be so  I have to shoo them off). Their favorite places to get though, are our refurbished metal  chairs and glider (the glider really glides and it's a challenge to them to get on and work their way up to the highest point ad try to hang and balance there)! They went to one of the compost piles and did a little work on it for us, went to Harry's lettuce garden and made sure everything was okay in it. They heard our next door neighbor come out, get in her car, crank the engine and back out. They all stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction of the noise…I think it fascinated them since there is a fence and they couldn't see the actual noise-maker.

Run!!!!!

While they played I did a little cleanup around the hen house -cleaned out and refilled water and food containers, turn the bedding in the run, refresh the bedding in the coop. The most exhausting thing I did though was herding them back into the hen house.

I've spent so much time bragging on those SWEET babies I should have seen this coming. Mass mutiny in the backyard! Six chickens going in six different direction and none toward the hen house. I tried all my usual tricks to get them to go in, treats, food, toys, me sitting in there -no luck. One of the first things I thought about was maybe there was a good reason they didn't want to go in so I did check the coop and run to make sure there were no scary creatures hiding out.

Talulah is the best at escaping ME

I have a beautiful Japanese lace-leaf maple tree that of I have pruned/bonsaied and babied for twenty years. The low shape makes good cover for the chickens and they like scratching and pecking at the dirt around it. They also know that when they are under there it is hard for me to reach them. I tried diving under the tree to catch one and ended up breaking a really nice limb. Ugh!  I got the water hose and sprayed the tree just barely enough for them to decide it wasn't such a great place at the moment.

 Oh, the indignity

I finally tried picking them up one at a time and putting them inside the hen house. That, however, was their chance to show off their circus skills. I'd finally get three or four in, close the door and turn around to go after the last few… only they were ALL out again. This went on for a long time. I think they were trying to wear me down (which they did) but not to a good end for them. I got a wagon and some chairs near the hen house and finally got them corralled into a controllable area. In they went, one at a time, giving me the dirtiest looks possible for chickens.

Night, night sweeties!  Finally...

Liz-

A Little Fun While Keeping Their Feet Dry

From:

Fresh Eggs Daily

Does everyone have their stumps and logs ready in the run for winter ? It's a great way for the chickens to get up out of the snow and slush, as well as the mud the rest of the year.

 Photo from Fresh Eggs Daily

The above photo and comment from Fresh Eggs Daily Facebook page  (thank you) was a great reminder for me (and others, hopefully) about all he different uses for stumps and logs!


We are new chicken-keepers and this will be our first winter with them. To give them a dry place to jump up on when the run is wet (and for playtime when it's not) we stocked up on logs and stumps last summer! They were free...another good thing, as 'Martha Stewart' would say!

My husband's brother and his wife have a place in the country with acres and acres of woods. They had to have several huge trees taken down last summer and we were the lucky recipients of as much wood as we could haul away. We brought home a few logs/stumps in different sizes and shapes  (still have to go back and get wood for our fireplace though).

At that time the chickens were smaller younger and funnier and the stumps/logs were great entertainment for them and us.  I think I've mentioned that our chickens remind me of a six-ring circus...I've come to the conclusion that they are going to carry on their circus act for a long time! We had stars in our eyes just thinking about the great 'playground' the chicks were gong to get! Once we got home with the wood though, we realized that it could be dangerous -at least till the chickens got a lot bigger.

There were suddenly dangers we'd never thought of and we needed to do a test run. We put a log, upright, in the run and we watched the chickens play with it for a bit.  Okay, so two of them fighting to sit on top of this log could actually make it fall over...bad news if there was a chicken looking for bugs at the base.  We turned the log over on its side and felt that way was much safer for them. All six wanted to sit on the log together and since it was on its side there was plenty of room. They could peck at the bark, look for bugs around the bottom...and being chickens they all wanted to do them same thing at the same time. Next we added a shorter, wider, much, safer stump...to wide and bottom heavy to tump over. They love the logs. We go out and move them around frequently and there are always fresh bugs and other goodies under them.

Now that they have gotten somewhat bigger we are going to add two more logs, upright, that they can stand on. We can keep moving them around for entertainment, etc.,  (all I have to do is  go out there and roll a log over and it is a brand new playground)!

Their run is covered but it does get wet from blowing rain. We don't get a lot of snow through the winter but ice seems to be a constant. They also have some other perches to hangout on during the day. They all will have plenty of higher ground for keeping their feet dry!


This might be over-mothering a bit, but while the chickens are young make sure the logs/stumps you collect are smooth, do not have weird stuff growing on the bark and that they won't tump over easily.

Liz-