Showing posts with label coop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coop. Show all posts

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Brooding Hens




Along with the flowers and the green grass of spring, all the little animal babies are beginning to arrive.

The goats were the first to bring new life to the farm, then came the brooding hens.

Now, these ladies are not to be messed with.

They are very serious about sitting on their eggs, and they will put up with no nonsense.

Especially from the humans around them.

No sweet talking them for them and forget about touching them.

The raptors from Jurassic Park are reincarnated in these hens.

Noise included.

All the feathers on the head stand on end - that's the first warning to come no closer.

The raptor noise starts, deep in the throat, if you pay no mind to that first warning.

Now, if you have a fairly pleasant hen normally, she will not attack with a peck.

She'll just keep up with the feathers and grumbling.

But a more aggressive one has no problem delivering a few pecks to the hand.

These mama hens pluck their belly feathers, deny themselves sun light and dirt baths, and stay in the coop to keep their clutches safe and warm.

They eat very little so they don't have to leave their nests.

This goes on for 21 days.

When the chicks arrive, they are a whole different hen.

And they are a joy to watch with their little followers scampering around the yard!







Monday, September 1, 2014

The Chickens



By the end of May, the chickens that were hatched on March 1st were almost three months old.

They had been kept indoors due to their small size and the cold nights that we have in northern New England.

So coming to a new home in a hay filled coop was going to be some different for them.

The long trip from my daughter's house didn't seem to bother them too much.

And they took to the coop like they had always been in it.

By instinct, I guess, they knew to go in to the enclosed part at night.

We kept them in the coop with the built in pen for a couple of days so they could get used to it.

Then we opened the door.

Three of them couldn't wait to get out and explore their new surroundings.

One of the hens was quite timid about leaving, but once out, they all stuck together.

They stayed around the outside of the coop for a couple of weeks until they got braver.

They are now free ranging all over the yard - eating all the bugs, seeds, and greenery they want.

Three hens with their rooster protector.

And do they have names - but of course - all pets do!






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