How To Get Warm On A Chilly Morning

A bowl of warm oatmeal works well, especially when you stand in it.

Warm feet

I  made oatmeal and served it to the girls with a few marigold petals sprinkled on top. They did their usual viewing and discussion of who was going to go in and test it first.  Julie was the first one in ...literally. After they took turns pecking and checking they all went in...again literally.

Another warm treat they love is cabbage. I slice it in half and loosen some of the layers. I put it in a bowl and fill halfway with water and WARM in the microwave.  I cook it till it's a bit more tender than raw, but not mushy (if it's warm, but still holding it's cabbage-head shape then it's just right). A  few minutes is all it takes. Serve it to them with the water that's left from cooking. Safety Warning: Since some microwaves cook very unevenly check for hot-spots! You can go ahead and slice it for them if you like but mine like to attack it whole!

Our summers are miserably hot. Even though it's officially Fall we haven't had that many chilly days yet. The weather alternates with more hot/warm days and a few cooler ones thrown in. There are a lot of false alarms for our season changes. The don't go gently from one into the other.  Leaving for work in the morning you might have a coat on and car heater turned on. Heading home you have the air conditioning blasting and have removed every layer of clothing you can legally can.  We go through this yoyo-ing for quite a while before we can finally say 'Hey I think Fall is here, finally'. This morning the wind is blowing strong and the leaves are falling like crazy but a high of 83 is predicted.  We'll have a few weeks of true Fall weather then Winter gets dumped on us like a bomb.

Looking it over

Standing over it

I think it's okay...

Let's eat!

For now, we are enjoying the 'cooler' days and not having to stress the triple-digit temps of summer.The chickens love free-ranging on the nice days- unless the wind is blowing. That's a whole 'nother post!

Liz-

And The Heat Just Keeps On Coming

As soon as the sun came up this morning we took the chicks from their coop-et out to the big girl coop coop. We have been trying to increase the time they spend outside a little more each day  - letting them get acclimated to the weather and their surroundings. The heat has really made it difficult to keep them outside longer in the afternoons. This morning was a little cooler so I really had high hopes for a long day outside for them. I loaded them up with lots of water and frozen treats. The coop and run are enclosed, so there's plenty of shade. They love being out there and they're so funny to watch! It's like a kids trip to the fair only instead of rides and games it's bugs and grass. I left them scratching, squawking, chest bumping, practicing air-to-ground maneuvers hoping to leave them a little longer today than yesterday.

Easy D.I.Y. Detergent

Back in the house I finally had a chance to make a double batch of my home made laundry detergent (recipe on 'For The Love Of D.I.Y. Page'). In the summer we go through laundry detergent like crazy! With the heat, building the coop, chicks 24/7 and the amount of time we spend outside anyway we go through twice as many towels, clothes, etc.

We're Hot

After running a couple of errands and grabbing lunch, I went out to check on the chicks...it had gone from a pleasant, not very humid 90 degrees to a sweltering, humid 100 degrees. So much for the extra time outside. They were already panting (panting is one way a chicken tries to stays cool) and showing some heat stress. I cleaned up the coop-et and brought them back in. They burrowed down in their bedding and conked out for the rest of the day.
I guess we will try for a longer day outside again tomorrow.

They do go through an ugly duckling stage. They look like dangerous little raptors for a few weeks...they don't stay that way very long and you love them just the same.

Liz-

Up The Down Staircase...err I Mean Ramp

The chicks are really getting used to their coop and our coming and going during the day. Harry goes out very each morning and opens the coop door for them. Sometimes they are slow coming out and walk down the ramp like sleepy chicks.  More often than not, though, the chickens are up and waiting to make a fast escape. Instead of walking down the ramp one at a time they take off from the top of it. Flying out and doing their flight list check-off in mid air...right wing working -oops no.  I hope as they get older and heavier these flights will not be so wild and crazy.

Clear The Runway!

They know that shortly after the coop door has been open by Harry that I will come out and refill their water, check their food supply, and usually bring a small treat...this morning it was juicy cucumber slices. They hear me come out the backdoor before they see me. They know/hope I'm on my way and are usually all piled up on top of each other in the same corner of the run trying real hard to look pitiful (remember by comparison if these chicks were human they'd be thirteen yrs old)!

GOT TREATS?

There are rare moments when they politely allow each other access to the ramp.

Carmen and Tallulah go nicely up the ramp.

Tallulah - taking her time.

Julie Newmar and Carmen Miranda telling Tallulah 'Ok, move it now'!

Liz-


Addendum:  At about fourteen weeks they are even wilder and crazier. Evidently they don't gain much weight as the get bigger and fluffier. 'Fluff' weighs nothing! They were taking flight and landing on the top of their hen house...not good. Our yard is fenced-in but all the neighbors have dogs so one swoop to the top of the fence then over to the other side would not turn out well. We barely clipped the flight feathers on one wing of each bird. They didn't seem to mind be held and petted and didn't even notice Harry's careful clipping of the feathers. They can still take flight if needed but not enough to go over a fence.