My January post called “Chucks” had been started a couple years earlier. I never got around to finishing it, and over time most of my chickens featured in the post were deceased due to the variety of things that make a quick end to a hen’s life. So I had to remove all the photos and re-write most of it. This time I’m going to post right away. The photos are all from this week.
I named them all in my last chicken post, but I’ll do it again because it’s fun and I have photos of everybody this time.
Cyndi is the first hen I have ever been compelled to clip the wings of. Pedro built barriers higher and higher to keep her out of my vegetable garden. You can’t see in these photos, but I am now cleaning it up and planting the area in the photos below. Cyndi would jump over the fence and in 30 minutes have torn all my work to pieces. Neither Pedro nor me wanted to clip her beautiful wings, but we didn’t know what else to do. I watched some YouTube videos to teach myself how, then clipped one side. She was over the fence 5 minutes later. I clipped the other side and she has never been out again. She is still able to fly, but is unstable, and can’t go very high. She is able to fly up to the perches inside the house at night.
Changes you can see in the above photos are that we covered the “cage” in tarps. This provides some rain protection and also sun protection. Also, there is a newly built fence. This allows the hens to range the entire length of the house on this side. Something I have noticed is that with almost a year of “fertilizer,” that pear tree casting shade over the girls looks more lush this year. I’m anticipating a bumper crop of pears. And the bonus is: any pears that we don’t harvest will fall to the ground and be eaten by the chucks.
Here you can see the far side of their chicken run. The AC unit there on the ground is a favourite perch spot. The metal trash can holds their food and keeps it dry, but primarily keeps neighborhood animals out. On the right, you can see their cage covered in tarpaulins, and inside are two watering stations and two feeding stations. You see how the river rocks on top on the left have been buried beneath the wood chips that the girls have been digging up all year. Partially hidden is their house.
And the windows! Did you notice that our windows look different in the two photos?
When we bought the house, one of these three small windows was missing one of its double panes of glass. The people said it had cracked when the weed trimmer threw up a rock. Then a second one broke after a series of nights when Cyndi roosted up there. We have no idea what happened.
This is the primary bedroom, and the room has no air conditioning, and no windows that open. We took the opportunity to replaced the damaged windows with windows that open.
First of all: who has air conditioning in the whole house and yet fails to install it in the primary bedroom, of all places? Sleeping is the one time I want to be cool in the summer! Second of all, as you can see above, one of the windows had a bad seal, and condensation has formed between the double panes.
We wrote to the company and showed them photos and after checking with one of the managers, they agreed to send us a new sash right away. We finally received it, but the second one was cracked right through the middle. Dang it! I sent photos again and they have promised to send another window sash. What excellent customer service we have had from a company I had never before heard of, American Window Products LLC, of Wisconsin.
So that’s our hen community for the moment. They each have their personalities. Right now we are being plagued by Chief Josephine (I call her Jo, Pedro calls her Chief). Sometimes hens with no rooster will recognize the empty position and try to fill in. Chief Jo has been doing her best at crowing each morning, the moment the sky begins to lighten, which is about 4:45 am and too early for our preference. Luckily, she is not as loud as a rooster and it’s almost the longest day of the year. Soon, the impulse to crow her brains out will occur at a more reasonable time of morning. 🙂
Conscious Engagement 
love this!
Hi Vicki! Nice seeing you here. I’m glad to share my pretty girls with you. Hope I see you in September. ❤
Your hens are beautiful!! Also a great deal of work. Any question as to the price of fresh farmed eggs. 🙂 I’m glad the window company stood behind their guarantee. You have both worked so hard to bring that place into shape and make it your own. Thinking of you always, Hugs and love, M
Thank you, Marlene. We are both a little surprised at the prompt and complete service from the window company. To be honest, part of the reason why we chose them is because of the low price, and often that goes hand in hand with low service. This company has risen above, and I’m happy to advertise on their behalf. We are working hard and making great progress. With warmer, drier weather, we are now tackling the outside work and it’s so hard, but also fun. 🙂
I really like your thoughtful naming process; congratulations to Pedro on the building work
Thank you, Derrick. Pedro does so much building for us, and now that his shop is getting close to completion, I know we can expect more. He is eager to begin creating, and that makes us both happy. Oh yes, the names! We had a lot of fun with those.
I love a chook…oops sorry chuck update. Great names for very pretty chooks.
The improvements are so good. Wing cutting is traumatic for people. If you want a garden it is necessary. There was an article in a self sufficiency magazine a long time ago where the woman said that keeping Bantam hens would be good as they would remove the pests from the vegetable garden and add fertiliser. Obviously never had chooks in her garden lol.
Too much fertiliser may have a good or negative effect on the Pear tree. It can make the tree grow too fast and can result in structural problems, weaken and predispose the tree to insect or disease infestation. Also may reduce tolerance to drought or temperature extremes. Watch the flowers to make sure of fruit production. Too many Pears may result in sloppy poos too 😂
The only thing I would do is have a deeper laying boxes with a lip so the eggs won’t roll out and be a tasty treat for someone.
I would like to have chooks but it’s too hard now as I would have to build a new house and yards. Too many native animals enjoy chickens as well 😢
Looking forward to another update Crystal
It’s funny you mention the nickname. I had never called them anything but chickens my whole life until I had a reader who consistently referred to them as “chucks” in her comments. I thought that was so funny, so I adopted her name. I have noticed in the past that you say “chooks,” and that’s the first I have heard of that nickname too. I get such an education here on WordPress.
I appreciate your understanding about clipping wings. It was hard on both of us. At first I decided it would have to be done, but then I had to convince Pedro. I showed him how quickly she got out, and how often, and how the garden got destroyed. He still asked me to try any other method, since his attempt at building the fence higher didn’t work. Finally it was when he realized Cyndi could not get herself back into the run that convinced him. He was worried for her safety. Between the two of us, we finally agreed that we had no choice. It has been effective, and she seems fine. But yes, it was traumatic.
I hope the fertilizer works well for the pears and not the opposite, since there isn’t much we can do about it. Slopppy poos are usually what we get from the hens anyway, ha ha! The laying boxes already have a lip. You can’t see it because I recently filled the boxes. The ladies kick the pine shavings so much that they empty the boxes to bare wood, then the eggs crack because there isn’t enough padding. So I bury it deep to buy several days before they dig down to the wood again. Such brats.
I am looking forward to my garden updates and shop updates. I think y’all are going to love those too. 🙂
Keeping nesting material in the boxes is always hard. I was lucky I used to take the shredded paper form the office I worked in for the nest boxes. Paper wasn’t such as an attraction as the straw I used to use.
Been waiting for some of Pedros shed output posts too as well as garden updates 😀
I love how creative you are with the names you give your hens, Crystal. They are gorgeous.
Thank you! Several people have mentioned how beautiful they are, and I’m glad others see it like I do. Chickens are so gorgeous. You just have to keep their pen basically clean, or give them a big enough space to spread their poo all around so it’s not overwhelming. Then it’s easy for them to keep themselves clean. They do love to take dust baths any time of year that the dirt is dry enough to do it.
What a wonderful chick report. They have a glorious life with you, and vice versa.
I am glad I got this report out as quickly as I did, because my old matriarch, Jamie, died two days later. She dug a hole to take a nap in, as she often did. Then about an hour later I went out to visit the ladies, and she was dead. It looked calm and peaceful and likely due to age and nothing else. Ah well. We are pretty sure Two is next, as she is beginning to behave like Jamie did: moving slow and acting like life is mystifying. After Two goes, we will have 7 instead of 9, and that is a much better number for a back yard in the city, and still plenty of eggs! Since Jamie and Two are not laying anyway.
Yes, I think we all love each other.