coopcoup

I had a dream that I went out to the garage to find hundreds of baby chicks that only came out during the middle of the night. I frantically scooped up as many as I could put in the coop — because they would die in this cold weather! In addition to chicken babies, about 20 yellow ducklings and their mother were mixed in with the chicks. I then stole a para-sail from the neighbor so I could scoop them all up on the sail and then pour them into the coop. What does it all mean?

So again I found hens in the garage. Carried one gal in to the coop, saw an egg in a nest and put it in my coat pocket. Went back out to the garage and tried to catch the other hen, but ended up cracking the egg instead. All over my iPod. The remainder of the egg was thrown on the ground and devoured by the birds. And the iPod? Wiped off the mess and it still sounds “egg”cellent!

Another cold snap is at our front door. I’m already noticing some discolored combs and wattles due to frostbite. It’s nice and warm in the coop, but for 3 roosters, there’s something oh-so enticing about the garage. Maybe it’s the way their crows echo against the walls in the morning?

It’s one thing to be all-that and think you’re too cool for the coop, but it’s another to lead some beautiful egg-laying hens astray. Yesterday I chased the hens ’round and ’round the car several times before they figured out they could just go beneath it and get away from me. Sure I figured out that I could never catch them (after at least 2 laps) — but I thought a little exercise might do them good. It was a fun, large muscle exercise for most of us.

Collected a half dozen eggs from the nests, and saw 2 frozen, cracked eggs in the garage. Enough of this nonsense!

Evidently there’s still plenty of tasty things to enjoy outside this time of year; specifically, chicken poopsicles. The dogs get down on all fours and chisel the frozen blobs out of the ice. Nice. Not so much.

Last night a few of the hens were hanging out in the garage with a rooster — long after coop time!  I put the girls in the coop, much to the dismay of the rooster.  He then wasn’t too thrilled about being sniffed by the dogs who were just trying to figure out why he was so angry.  The rooster tried to take on all 3 dogs at once.  Did a great job of scaring them away — with tails between their legs.

Flock together and eat 24/7!  I have 20 Buff Orpington hens and 3 roosters.  Since I’ve made the coop so warm and cozy this winter, the birds are reluctant to get out and exercise.  Warm and cozy? Yes!  This year I actually placed heat tape (that’s normally used to protect pipes from freezing) on their roosts.  Needless to say, there are 46 very warm feet that need to get moving!!!