Okay, I think I want to be one of your chickens and live in the Palais de Poulet. Hot oatmeal? Privacy when I need it? Sweet talk? Where can I sign up?
Ronna, it gets a bit nippy in there but overall they have a pretty good life. However, expect to be sexually assaulted by three roosters on a daily basis! ;)
Little Blue Mouse, it was verrrry cold but they seemed to enjoy their warm oatmeal. And it's fun hanging up veggies for them, isn't it?
50, I hear pigs are very smart, smarter than dogs. They probably are answering you back!!
Calum, you're lucky you don't see them being sung bedtime lullabyes...
Jams, thank you for an EXCELLENT haiku! I think I need to have a chicken haiku contest. Must think of a prize...
Btw, they LOVE fish skin so I'm sure they'd adore oysters and champagne.
Jams, I will figure out a prize and institute a contest!
Marylee, it gets pretty darn cold in Minnesota. I consider Minnesotans honorary Canadians.
Ahab, Georgiana is such a cute little hen. SHe's got a very dainty voice and is quite sweet. She lays little pale eggs that I can tell apart from all the others (which are brown).
As for egg-laying, you ask a good question. A hen should lay one egg every two-to-three days, although our hens seem VERY productive! We seem to get 9 - 10 eggs a day out of our 12 girls. One day I got 12 eggs, which was very impressive. Anyway, they won't lay more than one egg a day BUT they will lay eggs in a box already used by another hen, so that's why you saw multiple eggs. We have four next boxes. YOu don't need one box per hen; I think it's something like one box per five hens although don't quote me on that!
If a hen goes broody (decides she's going to hatch her eggs), she'll lay a clutch on successive days, then sit on them until they hatch. Most of our hens have had the broodiness bred out of them (the big black and red Sex-Links) but the four newer hens may decide to go broody at some point. I wouldn't mind some chicks!
I enjoyed that intimate peek into your chicken house, especially impressed with the curtains over the boudoir and the zen-like atmosphere throughout. The eggs are truly exceptional too. (Just resisted a chance to make a bad pun.)
I love videos! I loved to see your coop. I actually got some ideas from you - like the cabbage thing - we have never given our birds a head of cabbage. That's a great idea - we'll have to try it! And I liked the cutain over the nest box door - how sweet!!!
Oh, and I have sung my birds lullabies at bedtime, but don't tell anyone!
Fran, the curtains are used tea-towels. :) The girls like their privacy. A couple of times a year, I clean the big picture window and use the Shop-Vac to get out the dust on the tops of the nest boxes, etc. Those birds have a pretty good life.
Lynn, that contraption is just a wire coat hanger, bent and broken open so that it has a couple of "prongs" to hang things on, suspended from some string attached to a beam. We hang cabbages from it as well as apples, carrots and whatever else. It seems to amuse the chickens and gives them something to work for. I think that red cabbage is one of their favourite things.
ANd I'm glad I'm not the only one singing lullabyes to chickens...
Okay, I think I want to be one of your chickens and live in the Palais de Poulet. Hot oatmeal? Privacy when I need it? Sweet talk? Where can I sign up?
ReplyDeleteJudging by the steam coming off the oatmeal it should warm the hens up nicely. Our hens like a cabbage hung up too.
ReplyDeleteI talk like that to all our animals.
ReplyDeleteI actually have coinversations with the pigs and they answer me back - well I think they do!!
I'm definitely coming to share that house with your chicks. They are ... SPOILED.
ReplyDeleteChickens in the warmth
ReplyDeletefed on champagne and oysters
Knatolee loves them
Ronna, it gets a bit nippy in there but overall they have a pretty good life. However, expect to be sexually assaulted by three roosters on a daily basis! ;)
ReplyDeleteLittle Blue Mouse, it was verrrry cold but they seemed to enjoy their warm oatmeal. And it's fun hanging up veggies for them, isn't it?
50, I hear pigs are very smart, smarter than dogs. They probably are answering you back!!
Calum, you're lucky you don't see them being sung bedtime lullabyes...
Jams, thank you for an EXCELLENT haiku! I think I need to have a chicken haiku contest. Must think of a prize...
Btw, they LOVE fish skin so I'm sure they'd adore oysters and champagne.
I think it would be a great idea to have a chicken Haiku or other verse form comp.
ReplyDeleteThe warm oatmeal made me laugh. Your girls are lucky to live at Camp Knatolee. I'm sure they have shared your blog on their Facebook walls.
ReplyDeleteBrrr. Was just reading the temps in Minneapolis this week. Must check yours now. Better have some warm oatmeal yourself!
Kudos to Georgianna for figuring out the best way to reach the cabbage!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, when hens lay eggs, do they lay one at a time, or several at one sitting? I remember seeing several eggs in the nestbox in the video.
Jams, I will figure out a prize and institute a contest!
ReplyDeleteMarylee, it gets pretty darn cold in Minnesota. I consider Minnesotans honorary Canadians.
Ahab, Georgiana is such a cute little hen. SHe's got a very dainty voice and is quite sweet. She lays little pale eggs that I can tell apart from all the others (which are brown).
As for egg-laying, you ask a good question. A hen should lay one egg every two-to-three days, although our hens seem VERY productive! We seem to get 9 - 10 eggs a day out of our 12 girls. One day I got 12 eggs, which was very impressive. Anyway, they won't lay more than one egg a day BUT they will lay eggs in a box already used by another hen, so that's why you saw multiple eggs. We have four next boxes. YOu don't need one box per hen; I think it's something like one box per five hens although don't quote me on that!
If a hen goes broody (decides she's going to hatch her eggs), she'll lay a clutch on successive days, then sit on them until they hatch. Most of our hens have had the broodiness bred out of them (the big black and red Sex-Links) but the four newer hens may decide to go broody at some point. I wouldn't mind some chicks!
I enjoyed that intimate peek into your chicken house, especially impressed with the curtains over the boudoir and the zen-like atmosphere throughout. The eggs are truly exceptional too. (Just resisted a chance to make a bad pun.)
ReplyDeleteI love videos! I loved to see your coop. I actually got some ideas from you - like the cabbage thing - we have never given our birds a head of cabbage. That's a great idea - we'll have to try it! And I liked the cutain over the nest box door - how sweet!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, and I have sung my birds lullabies at bedtime, but don't tell anyone!
Fran, the curtains are used tea-towels. :) The girls like their privacy. A couple of times a year, I clean the big picture window and use the Shop-Vac to get out the dust on the tops of the nest boxes, etc. Those birds have a pretty good life.
ReplyDeleteLynn, that contraption is just a wire coat hanger, bent and broken open so that it has a couple of "prongs" to hang things on, suspended from some string attached to a beam. We hang cabbages from it as well as apples, carrots and whatever else. It seems to amuse the chickens and gives them something to work for. I think that red cabbage is one of their favourite things.
ReplyDeleteANd I'm glad I'm not the only one singing lullabyes to chickens...