Wow, I have neglected this column! It's December 1st and we harvested pounds of greens from Andy's new beds in the greenhouse. The forecast is for not getting above freezing for the week so we were pretty severe in our harvesting.
We currently have 20 hens and 2 roosters, Chip and Turkey. They have a 3 room mansion that consists of the Poultry Pavilion, the run and the coop. We had 4 roosters but I kept them all out of the coop for a couple of weeks since I suspect they ganged up and killed a hen. Plus Turkey attacked Yvonne and then me. Being in time out solved the problem - predators took 2 and Turkey learned his lesson. I let Turkey back in and kept Chip out for a week and then took pity on him. They now seem to be behaving. The youngest hens are starting to lay little eggs. The old guard seem to have retired - no eggs for over a month from Sally who is now molting and looks awful. Nothing from Miss Peacock for a year. I kicked her out with the roosters but then they starting to gang up on her so back she went. She's less of a grouch now. We have several Olive Eggers that look too similar to identify individuals but one is Elvis because of her pompadour. Miss Peacock's look-alike (Barred Rock) went from being Baby to Daisy. I hope they all figure out that the heated water is in the coop. These are not rocket scientist chickens.
