I've Taken Up Jogging

...and I can't say that I had intended to start jogging mind you. I guess it really would be considered more like running in short bursts. In the last few weeks, there have been several times when I have found myself running after a dog (Abby) who in turn was running after another animal - chickens, cats, chickens. You get the picture. Monday night was the latest sprint, this time 'round and 'round the chicken coop we went. I am sooo glad there were no video cameras rolling. Keith and I had recently put up a small fence giving the chickens access to more parts of the yard. We had been letting them have the run of the entire backyard until they shredded my hostas. Come to find out hostas must be like crack to chickens. So we put up this fence so that everyone could be happy. We felt quite proud of ourselves. Until...

I was in the coop doing a little clean-up - adding some bedding, getting clean water and adding more food to the feeder. All of a sudden I hear Abby barking and see a chicken flying by. Abby had jumped the fence and was going after the girls. My girls! I ran out of the coop and tried to catch Abby. I would have had better luck catching a wet pig. She zigged, I zagged. All the while I was screaming at her. Of course, I've been enjoying a summer cold so all that screaming wasn't really doing a whole lot for my already sore throat. She seemed to be in a totally different zone - oblivious to anything other than the chickens she was chasing. There was a cacophony of screaming, barking, squawking and howling coming from the backyard. I finally caught her for a moment and she wrenched out of her collar. Ugh! She had been groomed on Saturday and they hadn't put the collar on tight enough. This meant more running and screaming to finally catch her - grab her head, hold her between my legs so I could get her collar back on and drag her butt back to the house.

Then I ran back to check on the chickens. All three were in a corner of the coop - staring wild-eyed yet quiet and traumatized. Short a few feathers, they seem to be fine now. So much for thinking that Abby and the chickens could share the yard together in harmony. Oh well, lesson learned. Off to get taller fencing.

Rainbow after the storm

Another reason why i love living out in the country...

This is the view from our side door looking just south-east -
across the street at our neighbor's farm after a recent storm.

The girls enjoying a spring evening

Mama Cass

Grace Slick

and Elvis

We lost another chicken

Tuesday night, we lost another chicken. Blondie - one of the survivors of the Windy Acres Chicken Massacre of 2009. As with Janis, she seemed fined. Eating and scratching with the other hens. When I went to check on the girls after sunset, she was lying on the coop floor obviously in distress. Within 15-minutes she was gone.

After losing two birds within 3.5 weeks, we decided to try and find a vet that could do a necropsy. We wanted to make sure that we didn't have some disease running rampant through our little flock. Odd that although Indiana is a large egg producing state, there seem to be few vets that deal with chickens. We ended up at All Wild Things Exotic Animal Hospital. They have been extremely helpful and kind throughout this entire ordeal.

The vet just called and said that Blondie died of polycystic liver disease. She had basically bled out into her belly. Chickens, especially layers, can be prone to fatty livers. The vet said if you have to go, this is the way to go - quick and painless. This was really shocking. Fatty livers can develop from too much fat (and corn) in their diet. For the most part, the girls get the feed designed for layers. I had only introduced some scratch into their diet within the last month or so. We may decide to have some blood work done on the other girls, checking their liver enzymes and cholesterol. but the truth is, if they already have the cysts there is nothing that can be done. if they have fatty livers, it can be reversed with changes to their diet. So, the first change is no more corn!

We had been hesitant about adding more chickens this year. Now that we are down to just three birds - we will definitely be adding more soon.

Janis - Gone but not Forgotten

We've had some wonderfully warm and sunny days in the last week and so we have been able to let the girls run around the backyard enjoying the grass on days when we're home to keep an eye on them. They love the fresh grass and the new found freedom. Easter was a gorgeous day even with the non-stop wind. We had practically the entire family over for dinner and an Easter-egg hunt. 19 people getting together under one roof. I cherish those moments with my family.

So it was very disheartening to wake up this morning to find that we had lost one of our hens sometime during the night. All the girls were fine yesterday and when I locked up the coop at 10pm. When I let the girls out this morning, only four chickens ran outside. I opened up the coop door and there was Janis dead under the roost. There doesn't appear to be any trauma. I am very concerned and sad. We did have some heavy storms roll through the area around 2:00am. I don't know if she could have been startled and fell off of the roost - perhaps breaking her neck? Chicken heart attack? I just hope that the other girls are ok when I get home.

Janis was one of the bigger hens and definitely one of the loudest. She just loved clucking up a storm when I came to clean the coop or give them treats. Perhaps I shouldn't have named the girls after dead or troubled rock stars. Should I be concerned for Elvis and Mama Cass?

6 eggs???

We're not sure how it happened, but somehow we had six eggs from five chickens. Either someone was being an overachiever or one of the girls layed an egg later the day before - after we had already collected the days' eggs. We are a bit stumped. Generally the girls have been producing anywhere from 2 to 2.5 dozen eggs per week. We truly enjoy the surprise that each day brings with our eggs. Which hen will be laying? What size and shape will the eggs be? Where will the eggs be? The farm fresh eggs have become a hit with our co-workers with more people requesting to be on the "egg" list each week. We may have to really think about getting more chickens.

I haven't posted anything in a while. After losing Bogey, I didn't feel like writing much. We miss him so much. I made the huge mistake of watching "Marley & Me" last weekend. Not the movie to watch if you have ever had to make that ultimate decision for your pet.

But life does seem to go on. Spring is in the air. The weather has turned a bit warmer. Keith said that one of the girls was outside lying in the sunshine. It's time to start thinking about garden planning and spring cleaning. I am actually one of those weird people that almost look forward to the idea of cleaning everything out and starting fresh. I want to open the windows and let the stale winter air out of the house. I even want to clean the chicken coop (truly weird). Knowing Indiana though, I have to temper my enthusiasm with a dose of weather reality. They are calling for the possibility of snow showers next Sunday. So for now, I will treasure each moment above 50 degrees, enjoy the feeling of the sun shining down on me, and gaze in awe at the garden and seed catalogs piling in the mailbox.

Goodbye Bogey

Last night we had to say goodbye to the best dog in the world. Bogey was 15 years old and was suffering from arthritis and hip dysplasia. The pain just became too much for him and his ability to get up or down by himself was almost completely gone. Bogey aka Bogart had been a loving, gentle, and proud dog. He would look completely mortified when we had to help him get up after a fall. As the vet told us, we had to know that he no longer looked forward to each day. He only had peace when he would finally fall asleep and even that proved difficult in the last couple of weeks, as the mere act of lying down would cause him great pain. We knew we couldn't let him go on like this but I just found having to make this decision so difficult. My heart was breaking at the thought. But I know he was no longer happy.



In 1995, Keith headed out one day to get cat food for our old cat Whiner. About 30 minutes later, he came home saying "you have to go back to the pet store with me". They were having animal adoptions that day through a foster care group. Keith had seen Bogey and fell in love. He was a Black Lab/German Shepherd mix and his original name was "Rock". The agency said that his owner had given him up for adoption because he wasn't getting big enough. We brought him home and Keith renamed him Bogart (Bogey for short) after his favorite actor Humphrey Bogart.

Bogey was solid black and awesome. Bogey was easily trained. He was the perfect mix of loving dog and protector rolled into one. He could jump and catch Frisbees and probably could have competed in agility training when he was younger (had we had the motivation to be that agile along with him). We used to take him everywhere with us - even camping when we went four-wheelin'. He would always perk up and get excited if we asked him if he wanted to go for a ride. He always looked more intimidating that what he really was. He used to scare the delivery men quite a bit - especially the Chinese food delivery.

We have always had dogs in my family, but this was Keith's first dog. Anyone who knew Bogey knew what a great dog he was. We couldn't have asked for a better dog and I sincerely feel we will never find another like him - he was truly special. We love our other dog Abby very much but we have known she was crazy from day one. She is named after the movie Young Frankenstein (AB Normal). She misses Bogey very much too. Last night she sat by the front door looking out the window and pretty much moped all night. It will take a long time for our family to heal from this loss.

We were blessed to have had Bogey in our life. I know that now he is in a much better place where he can run all day chasing rabbits. Old man, you are loved soo much and we will miss you every day.

Brrrrrrrr...

It's been a little while since our last update. The holidays and the extreme cold had us hibernating inside the house - trying to avoid having to venture outside at all costs. Keeping the coop warm has been a challenge. Many days we kept the girls inside as they didn't really like the cold and snow anyway. A water bowl with a warmer has definitely helped. All the girls started showing a bit of damage to their combs, so we tried to protect them with some petroleum jelly. They just loved being chased around in freezing temps (think it was 10 degrees that day) just so I could glop some Vaseline on their heads (yeah right!). We really should have video taped the entire endeavor. Even the eggs were freezing because we couldn't grab them till after we got home from work. BTW, a frozen egg looks like an Egg Slushy on the inside.

Elvis has been returned to the flock. They other girls still pick on her a bit and so she tends to stay off on her own. Away from trouble I guess. Egg production has increased despite the winter chill. Once we moved Elvis into the Hen Hospital, all the girls started laying and they have stayed that way with her back in the flock. We are getting 3 to 5 eggs everyday. In fact we have had 22 eggs since Sunday. I think it might be time to start thinking about selling them and not just giving eggs away to friends and family. I started keeping a daily journal on egg production and coop conditions. With feed and bedding costs, maybe we can get an idea as to what the price should be for a dozen eggs.

Elvis Has Left the Building...Again

This time, we had to make Elvis leave the building by moving her to our "hen hospital" in the shed. Yesterday Elvis had blood around her comb. I don't know if it was caused by an accident, the cold or the other chickens. I was able to get some anti-biotic ointment on it and hoped things would better in the morning. When I went outside today, she was worse and there were drops of blood all over the coop. I knew we had to separate her if we were to have any chance of saving her and keeping the other chickens from pecking at her. So we set up our old dog cage in the shed and moved her out of the coop. I have read all the chicken books and I haven't seen any mention of comb injury or what to do about it.

One of these eggs is not like the others

The hens have been keeping busy since the premier of the First Egg. We are generally getting about one egg per day. I imagine this conversation between the girls...."no, today is your turn, I made one yesterday". These are eggs #2 through #6 and as you can see, the 6th egg was a DOOZY! And yes, it had a double yoke. We had a very nice breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon the saturday before Thanksgiving.

The girls just don't like their nest boxes. We have moved them around and yet they still they lay on the floor. So I guess we will try to rework the boxes to something they might like better (no roof?). While away for Thanksgiving, my great-nephew took care of the chickens. They layed another three eggs plus another soft one. That's three soft-shelled eggs so far and 12 good eggs in a little over two weeks. I hope that means that another hen is laying now and not an issue with their diet. I have added more oyster shells but may have to add more vitamin D too. We also added a light to the coop to increase their daylight hours to 14 as winter draws near. We have the light come on at 6am and off at 8am, then on again at 6pm and off for the night at 8pm.