#14 Rachel Has a Friend

Rachel has found a new friend in the barn.  Molly the cat has decided to take up conversation with her from time to time.  Sometimes she comes over to Rachel's day pen and meows at her.  Rachel will walk over to her and just look at her and quietly cluck back.  Sometimes Molly will lay down next to her pen and just hang out with her.

But then, you notice the foot sort of creeping into the pen?  So did I.  I managed to get the video started just in time for the action.  You have to pay attention to the very beginning because it happens quick.

Today, I was putting Rachel in her day pen and Molly decided to come in too.  This is the first time she has done this.  She was okay with it until Rachel turned around and started walking towards her.  I think she was thinking the same thing I was, "Is she going to peck my eyes out?"  Could happen.  So Molly calmly left the pen and Rachel went back to her chicken duties.

Now that it's March, I (we) are hoping warmer weather is on its way.  Last night was -9 F.  Everyone did well.  I brought Buster the dog in which gave me the ability to put more heat onto Max.  This morning after chores I brought Max inside to warm up for a couple of hours.  The day is getting warmer (10 as compared to a high of 2 yesterday) and sunny with little wind.  The dogs are out, Rachel is in her day pen and the Zen House girls are taking a dust bath in the coop in a sun spot.  All is well with the world!

Namaste and Aho!

#13 Dust Bath in the Zen House

Today when I went out to check on the Zen House girls, I got a surprise.  It was bath day!  Ebony was having a big time scratching and flinging shavings all over the place taking herself a wonderful dust bath.  Raven decided she wanted the prized spot that Ebony had found and scooted her out of the way.  Their waterer was completely filled with shavings, but I decided I really needed to wait for bath time to be over before cleaning it.  The photobomb in the video is courtesy of Gretchen who flew off my shoulder and back into the coop.

A half hour later I came back with the idea of cleaning their waterer.  But, wait!  Bath time is still going on full force.  It wasn't until after 2:00 when I normally feed that I was able to do clean up.  But, everyone was happy considering they haven't been outside in what seems like forever now.

Rachel update:  She is still hanging out in the barn.  She is happily clucking and pecking in her playpen during the day.  She has a new flock block that keeps her busy.   She is laying the largest eggs.  The other girls eggs range from 60 to 65 grams.  Hers range from 70 to 75 grams.  They are even bulgy in the egg carton.

Namaste and Aho!

#12 Windy Days!!

This month has been full of very windy days.  Being the geek that I am, I have a weather station at my house.  I keep close track of the temperature's ups and downs and lately the wind.  We have had 3 days just within the last 10 days of over 50 mph winds, 2 over 40 mph, and 5 over 30 mph.  I really need for this to stop.  I always marvel at how the women in the plains going westward ho managed with all that wind ... all the time.  No thanks, not for me.

The real problem with the wind during the winter besides the obvious cold factor, is that since we have the north side of the chicken's pen tarped it acts like a giant parachute and it goes for a little ride.

And then, amazingly, the force of the whole when the wind is 50+ mph actually moves the coop too!

This is not good!  Last night the wind blew at 52 mph and moved the coop some more.  The girls are actually a little tilted now.  Their hanging feeder is no longer plumb to the floor.  Hmm.  I think we have decided that a more permanent measure needs to be taken.  Hopefully this Spring we can get a post drilled permanent enclosure built and solve this wintertime problem.

On the Rachel front ... well, she is still living in the barn.  I have no idea how to integrate her back into the flock without serious injury.  I don't know if we can anymore and if this is a permanent oops or not.  It's been 26 days now since she was separated.  She is doing well in her kennel and playpen setup.

I caught her taking a dust bath in her playpen today.  It's always very funny when they do that.

It's gotten colder again, but everyone is doing fine.  I think we are all hoping for an early and warm Spring.  The days are definitely getting longer now, so Spring can't be too far off, well okay, maybe a couple of months.  I can always hope.

Namaste and Aho!

#11 Supervised Visitation

Poor Rachel has been separated from her flock now for how many days now?  Oh, right, 15.  I have determined that it must take a very long time for butt feathers to grow back in.  I can't seem to find any information on that subject; it all has to do with molting.  Well, they definitely did not molt; they had some outside help.  Everything I've read says either several weeks or not until after they molt.  So, in other words, a really long time.  Hmm.

Because it's been so cold and windy out lately I just cannot spend a great deal of time outside.  I have been wanting to put Rachel back with the flock with "supervised visits".  However, because of the weather, this has not been possible.  Last night, however, it was reasonably warm, 38 F, and I decided to let all the girls out to free range.

I brought Rachel out first and then opened the gate to the chicken pen.  Everything went pretty well at first.  For some reason Ebony got lost in the pen and couldn't find her way out.????  Raven and Rachel bumped chests a couple of times, but I broke it up and everything seemed okay.  That is until Ebony finally made it out and reintroduced herself.  It was bad.  She was really not happy with Rachel (do chickens hold a grudge? "You yanked my butt feathers out and now I'm going to kill you.")  Oh yes, she was out for the killing.  I really had to shove them apart.  As long as Ebony was not around, everything was fine.  Rachel did not even look at anyone's butt.  So now Ebony is the problem child.  What do I do??

 Rachel off by herself.  Poor Rachel.

All the others gathered around the chicken yard. (Chicken on the right is not Rachel)

Still no Rachel.

Ebony with her new denim Supergirl cape on.

Maybe that's what I need to do ... put a Supergirl cape on Rachel so Ebony can't get a mouth/beak full of feathers.  Oh well, today, Thursday, it's super windy with wind gusts up to 44 mph so far, so no, I will not be getting the girls together today.  Hopefully soon this will resolve and all will be peaceful in the Zen House once again.

Namaste and Aho!

#10 Enduring the Arctic Vortex

Things have been busy around the Zen House homestead.  Mom (me), was busy worrying about the babies.  The "Arctic Vortex" was at its worst here on Monday, January 6.  The low was -13 and we reached a high of -1.  I have read so many other blogs and posts of places with -22 and -40 degree air temperature.  Whew!  I honestly cannot even imagine.

Sunday night we brought our big space heater out for the dog kennels.  We swept away all hay and dust and set it on the rubber flooring of the aisle way and cranked it up on high.  That night got down to -4.

The next day, poor Buster, the dog, was just not happy.  He was sitting in his kennel shivering and looking very sad.  The barn is just too open for the space heater to be effective enough to generate that much heat.  So, I ended up bringing him into the house.  Now, that probably doesn't sound like a really big deal. But!  Let me tell you.  This dog has the most amazing ability to mark everything in sight within seconds.  He has to be in a kennel in the house or he will literally mark furniture, walls, toys, or anything else within a minute even while being held on a leash.  So, he took over Suzy's kennel.  Suzy didn't mind until bedtime and that stinky boy dog was still in her kennel.  She had to take one for the team that night.

Buster in Suzy's kennel.

As for the chickens, well, they did quite well. The Zen House girls had their heater on high and made out just fine.  Rachel, still in the barn, got a double heat lamp treatment.  I put a thermometer in her kennel and it said about 18 degrees.  She just snuggled underneath the lights and was great.  Max, the other barn dog, got his own heat lamp.  He appreciated it and was able to lay underneath it and keep warm.  The horses are fuzzy enough to stay warm on their own.  The cats were the last concern and they managed to share a bed and stay warm. I was probably most at risk for frost bite.  I was pretty sure my eyeballs were going to freeze just walking from the chicken coop to the house.  The wind was blowing pretty hard and, wow! was that cold.  Also, changing Rachel's water out is a no glove task.  I wear medical grade gloves which keeps my hands dry, but not particularly warm.  Taking the water bowl outside to dump and clean was so much fun!  The water from my hands would instantly freeze on the door handle.  She is a lucky little chicken to have a mommy that loves her so much.

Rachel with her 2 heat lamps staying toasty.

Max with the heat lamp above him and him under it.  Ahh, that's better.

3 of the barn cats in the bed.

Molly being tough and helping me in the barn.  Okay, she does have a little more insulation than everyone else.

It felt like a very long cold spell even though it really wasn't.  I am glad for that and that everyone made it through without any frost bite to combs, wattles, toes or ears.  It's still just the beginning of winter, but I really hope we don't have too many more Arctic Vortexes come our way!

Namaste and Aho!

#9 Om

Rachel's new speaker came in today.  Wow, what a spoiled lucky chicken she is (okay, except for the fact that she is separated from her flock and locked in a dog kennel).  She now has her own meditation music for her meditative enjoyment.  I got her an Ivation Multi-Function Bicycle Speaker from Amazon.

 

Now she can listen to the Deepak Chopra Perfect Health Meditation music I bought.  I downloaded it to my iPod and can now play it through this new speaker.  It works great and it's small and versatile.

She has been so obsessed with pecking and picking since she has been in the kennel.  This was the first time I saw her stand still.  She cocked her head toward the music and really seemed to calm down.

She is now just quietly eating her food.  Who knew chickens would really like Chopra meditation music.  I know I was hoping she would.

It's difficult to see, but she is sitting on her perch.  This is the first time I have seen her do this.  Yeah!  She likes it!  Hopefully tomorrow will bring the same calming results.

I promised her sisters I would spend some time with them tomorrow; probably in their coop.  It's suppose to be 7 degrees tomorrow.  It is snowing tonight; no telling just how much we will get.  The rest of the Zen House girls did get outside during the day.  It may be a few days before that happens again.

Namaste and Aho

#8 Switch!

A couple of days ago Ivy got separated due to her bleeding backside.  Then Rachel got separated because she then turned her attention onto Ebony and started doing the same thing.  The first night went fine for both "separees".  Rachel was more notably ready to be out of her kennel than Ivy, but still, she was dealing with her confinement just fine.  Yesterday, Thursday, I decided that since Rachel was being separated, that maybe Ivy would be okay rejoining her sisters in the coop.  Her backside had healed enough that it wasn't bleeding anymore and it would be warmer for her in the coop; especially important for her exposed backside.  I put Ivy back in the coop and checked on her frequently for several hours.  Yep, everything was just fine.

Since I had displaced Buster the dog from his kennel to give to Rachel (he was not happy about his new sleeping arrangement), I switched Rachel over to the extra kennel I was using for Ivy.  In the process of all of this, however, I knew I needed a way to heat her water.  I went to Orschlen's and found a bird bath heater called The Rock to put in her water bowl.  It is heavy enough that when she stands on the edge of the bowl (or in it), it doesn't tip over and it doesn't get too hot.  Perfect!  Pricey, but perfect.  I also found a very cute small hanging feeder so feed isn't all over the kennel.  Now to put it all together.

This was her first setup.  She was constantly getting hay in her water and dumping feed out all over the place.

 Her new cute hanging feeder.  This one she just pecks the feed out and not fling.

Her water bowl with The Rock in the middle.  It sits on a piece of board.  She still kicks pine shavings into it, but not as much as before.  And, yes, shortly after is picture was taken she did poop in it.  Oh well, only so much you can do.

What??

So now Rachel is the only chicken in the barn.  I'm pretty sure that dog Buster would really like to eat her (for real), so I am very sure to keep him away from her.  The cats have been mildly curious, but don't seem to see her as food.  I take her out of the kennel when I can and pet and cuddle her.  I'm afraid to let her go as she could end up in the rafters of the barn; she probably wouldn't, but my luck ...  I need one of those chicken diapers with the leash attachment.

Tomorrow she will get a special treat - her own personal music.  I purchased some great meditation music and a cute speaker system to play it.

Namaste and Aho