Chicken Update

The young girls have moved into their new chicken run. It is not the prettiest run I have ever seen, but it is functional and new. It took 100 feet of wire. Each 50 foot roll carries a price tag of $25.00. Our friend and neihgbor is also building the coop. It will cost less than buying one from another place, and though I built the first one, I do not want to go that route again for some time!Until the coop is finished, the girls have been shuttled back and forth from greenhouse to run each day. They have outgrown the dog crate and the greenhouse, so they will now occupy a shanty (a very large cage made for birds that is covered with some tarp and wood siding) until the coop arrives. They are fully feathered now, and the weather is not too cold at night for them to occupy the new temporary coop shanty.

You would think I would have the coop BEFORE the birds, but that would be too easy. I have always done things the hard way, it seems. Runs in my genes, I think...

My Fashy Wears Cashmere

I have a hot water bottle. I LOVE my hot water bottle. When you are living the frugal life and trying to get back to basics, I think a hot water bottle is among the must-haves. It is soothing for any number of ailments, aches, pains, or sore necks. It warms your bed, your toes, your tummy, or anything else you need warmed.

My hot water bottle wears a cashmere sweater. I LOVE the feel of cashmere on my feet under the covers at night. I repurposed a thrifted (purchased at a thrift store in like new condition for $3.99) cashmere sweater with some snazzy argyle detail into a couture sweater for my Fashy.

When I went looking for a hot water bottle, I had no idea it would be so difficult to find the old standard like we had when I was a child. I did a lot of internet surfing to find one that looked promising. Then I read about Fashy bottles on a Ravelry forum, and loved that they are made in Germany and not in China. I ordered one through a seller on Amazon, and I. AM. HOOKED!

I put hot (but not boiling) water in it at bed time, slide it under the covers near my feet, and at 6am, it is still warm. It keeps me toasty all night, and soothes the day away. Electric heating pads are not recommended for prolonged use, or for use in bed or while sleeping. With hot water bottles, I don't have to worry about electrical currents, or any other such safety issue.

I highly recommend a hot water bottle (HWB) in every household! (This was not a sponsored post.) I looked high and low, and I think Fashy is the best bottle out there right now. It is not the old rubber standby, but is a soft, flexible silicone type material that really holds the heat and makes it last a long time. Now, it just needs a name besides Fashy. And Amilia and Mr. Nature are getting their own, because we have all been converted to HWB maniacs.

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz.............

Chicken Treats, Healthy Eats

Sorry for the corny title...I am very tired and perhaps a little punchy this evening. Do you have chickens? We now have 10; the five from 2009, and the five young chicks which are almost fully feathered now. We are at the point where it is time to blend the young girls with the older ones, or to decide to keep two separate flocks for an indefinite period of time.

To this end, I have been trying to decide if it is a good idea to combine the flocks. In general, it is recommended to wait at least 30 days when bringing new chickens in so observations regarding their general health can be made. Our chicks have been here for 45 days, and they are very healthy.

Our older girls have always been healthy, but we do often have trouble with droppings that are more wet than not, and this results in dirty feathers on the back end. They have had this off and on since the day we first got them as baby chicks. This problem can be a sign of mites or lice, but not necessarily so. It can be a signal for the need of a dietary adjustment, or may simply be that they sit where they went.

I have no reason to believe that there are any mites or lice about, nor have we observed any on the birds or in the coop. We are getting the normal yield in eggs, and the girls seem happy enough. Since they have been this way from the very beginning to some degree, I tend to think it is just how they are. However, the new chicks are not the same in this regard, and before we do any combining of birds, we have decided to take a proactive approach.

We began today with these steps:

The above photo shows 2 cups oats, 1/2 cup millet, 1 cup yogurt, 1/2 clove of minced fresh garlic, a handful of ground up raw pumpkin seeds, and a bunch of carrot greens cut into small bits, all blended together in a bowl. We will give a similar feed to them once each day for this full week. We also put a clove of fresh garlic, cut in half, in their waterer.

They have been penned in a run for most of the winter and the ground had hardened so that they could not get much out of their usual dirt bath area. We used a garden claw today to make sure the they have plenty of soft, loose dirt in which to bathe. They took a nice, long dirt bath this afternoon. Next weekend, if the weather is warm enough, they will have water baths. They will each be dunked into a warm bucket of water with vinegar and a bit of salt mixed together, then dunked into a warm rinse water bucket, and then dried thoroughly before nightfall.

That should do the trick, and then we can make the final decision on whether to blend or not to blend...