Hens in the Hizzouse

The girls made their big move today. I finished up the nestboxes and night perches, and moved in a bin for their greens and their food and water. The biggest hit is a kitty litter box filled with sand. The original idea was for them to enjoy dust baths in it, but they all promptly ran over to the thing and began eating sand like they were starving for it. Well, whatever floats their little feathered boats I guess.

I sat in the coop for a while with some of their favorite treats and enjoyed having them crawl all over me trying to get the most corn. Muriel, the (blonde) buff orpington, is the ringleader of the bunch for sure. Eunice, the (mostly white) Delaware, is the most affectionate. They do get excited over a handful of corn.

The coop is about 90% done and it will stay there for a bit while I work on other seasonal projects. I still want to run some buried wire out so that I can put in a lamp and have the option of a heat lamp in the winter. The back also needs a gutter and a rain-barrel to run into so I don't have to lug water from the hose all the time. I think the girls will also want a few more high perches, but I wanted to find some natural wood branches to use for those so that it provides a bit of entertainment and variation for their feet. Yes, I am still guilty that they will be shut in all the time. I have such great memories of my old girls running all over the yard, chasing bugs and digging in the dirt. Unfortunately I also have memories of them all ending up in bloody piles of feathers, so I will compromise by trying to make a cooped-up lifestyle as interesting as possible.


Garden phenomenon: while spending hours weeding in the back today, I kept hearing a sound like a fountain. Or a far away motor. Then I realized it was the enormous pink rhododendron near where I was sitting. I do mean huge. The thing is probably a 12-foot orb and it's completely covered with gobs of hot pink flowers. And every flower bundle has at least one bee. Big fat fuzzy buzzy bumble bees. Hundreds of them. Once I figured out what the sound was, it was like weeding in the middle of some apiarian horror movie. I just tried not to make any sudden movements.