A few weeks ago Penny and Sky were just starting to molt.  Both of them are still at it.  Poor Sky, she was looking really bad.  She lost most of the feathers on her head and neck and all of her tail feathers.  Normally she has a very long tail, compared to the other two chickens, which stands up about 8 inches tall.  When she lost all her tail feathers and had large areas of feathers missing she did not look like the same bird.  She and Penny are still losing the occasional feather and still have some patchiness, but feathers are growing back.  Henny, on the other hand, is looking very handsome these days and has gained a few pounds, she is quite a large shinny black hen.

All three of the girls are not liking the short days of winter.  Since Andrea and I leave the house and come home when it is dark, the girls do not get out in the yard much.  We have also been coming and going so much on the weekends, for the holidays, that the hens don’t get out on weekends either.  This has caused a bit of a problem.  Because the girls don’t get to see much of us and because they don’t get out much they have become a bit nervous around us and are not willing to get back in the run when called.  Not even for food.  Penny, who has always been the more cautious hen has been the most trouble.  I have had to chase her down a few times and catch her to get her back in the pen.  And she is a clever chicken, making me go around and around the fruit trees, trying to wear me out.  Even when I have her cornered she still makes a last attempt to escape by leaping out of my hands as they close on her.  The result is that I then had to grab for anything (a leg, a tail, etc.) to catch her.  Grabbing a chicken by the leg or tail results in a lot of screaming.  Once I calmed down and stop screaming, it is obvious that Penny was pretty upset too.  And the other two hens get pretty nervous, when one of their own screams “help me, help me I am caught”.  I decided that chasing chickens and making them scream is probably not the best way to say “hi, can we be friends”, so a new course of action is in order.

My new approach is to use food as a treat for letting me pick them up.  They are not allowed to leave the run and go out into the yard unless I pick them up (gentle and quietly) and set them outside the run.  It has taken some time (again because they don’t get to practice this much), but by using live meal worms I can get each of them to come over, eat out of my hand, let me pick them up and place them outside the run.  Once they are outside I don’t let them go until they are calm, then they are given a few more meal worms and are set free.  Penny is still the last to let me pick her up, but I think we are making progress.  It is always a good idea to pick up your chickens on a regular basis anyway, so that you can inspect them for health problems.  We still have problems getting them back into the run, so we only let them out when we are going to be around past dark.  The girls will put themselves in as it grows dark.  Henny is usually the one to start the procession into the roost.  She has always been the one to go to bed early, the other two stay up a little later then she does.

Although winter is wet and muddy, the girls have been easier to take care of.  They eat and drink less, probably because they are not laying eggs, and therefore poop less.  I am only cleaning the roost once a week now and it does not smell that bad.  In the summer the smell can get bad on hot nights and I clean at least every 3 days, sometimes more often.  I don’t know if it will be the same this summer, but during last summer the chicken poo was much more watery, while this winter it has been very dry.  I was not expecting this, but have been liking the ease of cleaning and the better smell.

When the girls do get out in the yard they have been doing a good job of cleaning up the bird feed that has fallen to the ground under the feeders and are constantly patrolling for slugs.  The slug eggs and little slugs are easy to pick up and eat quickly, but the larger slugs (2-3″) take some doing.  A few pecks, positioning it correctly, and a chugging/gulping action to get it down.  Of course all this extra work usually draws the attention of the other two, who come running to see the yummy thing that has been discovered.  If the slug catching hen can out run the other two with her prize long enough, they may lose interest, so the meal can be finished.  Then there is the wiping of the bill in the grass – to get the slug slime off, of course.

Andrea finally found a camera she likes (my gift to her from several Xmases ago), so I hope to be able to send the occasional picture in future Hen Heralds.

Till next time.