She Lives -- Kind Of

After the dog attack yesterday, my hens went into deep hiding.  When they started coming out of the bushes, I tried to count them.  Well when you have 10 hens from the same breed, they all look alike.  I kept counting 9 hens.  Even when I locked them up last night, I only counted 9 girls.  So I was very surprised when I let them out this morning that there were 10 hens.  I looked at the second hen that I thought was moulting and her back was wet.  When I looked closer, I saw that the feathers had been torn from her back.  She also has a puncture wound from a bite by the dog.  So the  bottom line is, yes she lived from her dog attack but I don't think she is going to live out the day.  I washed the wound and sprayed it with antibiotic spray but I don't think it will do any good.  If she is not better by tomorrow morning, I will have to put her down.  I hate that. This hen survived being bit  by a dog and the other hens were also able to get away each time the dog came in the yard too.  They are warrior hens for sure. 

I Am So Sad And Mad

I am so sad and mad. About 3 hours ago I heard a noise outside to do with the chickens so I went out to the porch and 4 large dogs were in my yard and 1 of them had killed a chicken and was eating it right in front of me. I started screaming at them and they started to charge me but I guess I looked crazy enough that they took off. They came back 2 times trying to get more chickens and I had to...

run them off with a big broom. I called animal control and they came out but couldn't find them, either could my neighbor. The man from animal control said I had every right to shoot them if I wanted to since they were agressive toward me and had killed livestock. I don't have a gun and don't really want to take that route but I may have to. I just want to be left alone to raise my hens and sell the eggs that help me make ends meet. I started with 20 and now I am down to I hope 9. I say 9 because I can only find one, the rest have gone into hiding.

Feathers, Feathers, Everywhere Feathers

OMG -- the feathers are every where.  It scared me at first because I thought that a preditor had caught a chicken but when I counted all 10 were here.  So today even more feathers and I knew nature was at work.  I looked it up and my chickens are moulting.  When a chicken moults it gets rid of the old feathers and grows new ones.  For now not only do I have lots of feathers but I have chickens that are starting to look a little bare.

Playing Chicken

I was cutting the grass on my lawn tractor and as this picture shows, my yard is not level.   There is a hill I mow that is like riding a roller coaster.  So today as I was mowing apparently the hens are not afraid of the mower any longer and some of the hens waited until the last second to get out of the way.  It wouldn't be a big deal on level ground but on the hill there is no stopping the tractor if they don't get out of the way fast enough.  That being said, I wonder if my hens were playing chicken with the lawn mower. lol

Chicken Named Little Bit

I'd like to introduce you to Little Bit. She is named Little Bit because she has an extra little bit of comb that the other hens don't have. She is part of the first hens I purchased and has lived through me being a new chicken owner, winter, raccoons, and now summer. She knows her name and will be one of the first to come running to me and squat to be picked up. I know when she squats she is saying that I am the dominate being here but I choose to believe she wants me to pick her up and have me talk to her.

My hens go grocery shopping

Today I went to the grocery store for my main monthly shopping which means I had a lot of bags of groceries in the backseat of my car.  I was carrying them in, a few bags at a time, so left the car door open to come back and get another load.  Well, I came out of the house and could see one of the hens was standing on the groceries with her head in a bag checking it out.  Another hen was plucking the bags from the ground.  I came around the car door and put my hands on my hips and said "what are you doing?"  The hen on the ground took off running.  The hen standing on the groceries decided to fly out of the car except I was in her way so she sailed over my head.  I had never seen one the hens fly so high before.  Lordy, it's just like having children again.

Broody Girls

Finally, finally, finally it looks like the 2 broody hens are off the nest on their own and out into the yard.  Even when I went to the hen house to gather eggs, they didn't follow me.  That is good news -- they should start laying eggs again very soon.