Chicken Update

It's been quite some time since i've posted about our hens. I would like to do a more elaborate posting on their health and life stages, but will keep it short today. I keep an 'egg log' to track how many eggs each hen lays per week, and it is looking pa-rit-tyyyyy bare these days. Nary an egg in over a week. Our Australorp was our last trooper, holding out even during her ridiculous molt with an egg about every other day. Our Wyandotte was first runner up, but even both of them have stopped laying. Our Buff has started squatting again, so I'm hopeful that they'll turn things around and start earning their keep. I could use some scrambled eggs for lunch about now!


Make a gif

It's Winter in Austin, which doesn't feel much different than Spring of Fall and we don't really need to 'Winterize' our coops. Even in the coldest climates chickens can fare pretty well on their own as long as they have A. Plenty of water B. A draft free place to take shelter and C. Plenty of food with supplemental fat. I give our girls scratch on the chilly days to warm up their metabolisms and i covered their open-air coop with plastic last year since they were pullets without their true downy feathers grown in.  Open air coops are really the best housing for any climate because they allow plenty of circulated air to flow about, minimizing smell and disease, and keep things cool in the Summer. The girls all pile into the nest boxes on chilly nights (which i'm SO happy to clean out in the morning, gross) and their warm feathers do all the insulating they need. Roosters can suffer from frostbite on their combs and wattles in very cold climates because they do not tuck their heads while sleeping.

Belina gave us another scare earlier this year. We went out of town for my Grandmother's 90th birthday and left the chickens cooped up the whole time we were gone. Belina (the Buff Orpington) has been slowly demoted to 4th hen and when cooped up isn't allowed at the food and is pecked at and harassed constantly by evil Queen Soot (despite BB the Chantecler being #1 amiga). We returned from our trip to find a pale, very skinny, bedraggled Belina in place of the big, sassy, fat and happy hen we'd left. I'm happy to say that the last few months have been good to her, she's fitter than ever though her comb is still chalky and she still gets kicked around quite a bit.

Hens on the porch = lots of messy poop and potted citrus shown disrespect

Pocket and the chickens have been getting along quite well lately. She rarely chases any but BB who seems to enjoy teasing her, though she does eat a bit more chook poo than i'd like. I mean that CAN'T be good for her, no matter how delicious she seems to think it is. Just this morning all 4 girls were in individual holes taking dust baths. When i let Pocket out she strolled up to them, gave Soot a little sniff and strolled along again. I've even seen Pocket laying down with a dust bathing chicken right next to her. Just another chicken.

I haven't noticed many mites, lice, or other problems with the flock lately. I worry about the chalkiness of their combs, but not enough to do any research about it. I dust their nest boxes with diatomaceous earth whenever i change them to prevent nasty bugs, and i give them poultry vitamins in the water every once in a while for good measure. Otherwise, they pretty much manage themselves. We let them out, feed and water them, say hi occasionally and lock them back up at dusk. Chickens are sure easy going pets. I say that now, before i'm trying to move across state lines with them.... hmmm.........

Happy Halloween: A Quick Garden Reminder

I thoroughly enjoyed passing out high fructose corn syrup, pre-packaged cavity blobs to the neighborhood kids last night. Hey, if it were pc i'd make corn balls or pass out hard boiled eggs, but i'm sure they'd just be tossed out and considered 'poison' by the parents, so i join the rat race and purchase candy. Pocket enjoyed her chicken costume, though i couldn't keep the 'comb' hat on for most of the night.  There was much woofing of 'people at the door' warning, but it was good practice for her to see that she does not need to leap out the front door every time someone comes a calling.

Pocket and Belina, two birds of a feather

In the garden, things are a bit spooky too: no recent rain makes for difficult times in the germinating department. I have to water by hose (nasty, broken, too rigorous of spray hose) almost daily to keep the soil moist, my rain barrel is empty and clogged, and the tomatoes are covered with green fruit preventing me from tearing them out to make room for other veggies i want to put in. So, i stuff transplants around every nook and cranny i can to get them in on time:

• Kohlrabi
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Kale
• Herbs

And keep stuffing seeds in the rest of the cracks hoping that they'll decide to germinate and get happy before it's too late:

• Kale
• Beets
• Carrots
• Broccoli Raab
• Lettuces and Spinach

I recently sold my plumeria plant, but if you have a potted plumeria in your yard, you may notice it dropping some leaves with the cooler temps at night. The rule (for Austin, at least) is "In at Halloween, out at Easter." Plumerias need to come inside to be dormant for Winter in our area - so bring that sucker inside now. You can leave it potted, or pull it out and store it bare root. I usually stuck mine in the bedroom closet. It's now far too big, thus my selling it before the dormant season. I miss those beautifully smelling flowers, but it's absence made room for healing calendula plants.



I didn't plant pumpkins this year, i simply haven't the space. But now would be the time to harvest if you'd planted them in June/July. Did you plant pumpkins? Have any winners on your hands?