Chicken Coop News

Well, Esmeralda (she needed a name if she was to receive this level of care) is doing well in her private room in the garage. Food and water all her own, no one pecking at her, a little space heater on to keep her toasty as the nights get colder again. She is quite lively. Her primary care physicians (Matt & Wendy) checked out the wound today and do not feel she is ready to return to the flock yet. I won't go into the details, but it is still not a pretty sight. I have been advised to locate some purple spray, which is an antibiotic used on dogs in Florida who have been stuck by wild pigs. This advice from Jeanne's Florida daughter. So we will try that, and I'll look for some on Thursday as I return from downstate.

I plan to purchase feed then also with our egg money. I think I will return to the old place for the feed, as theirs is courser and I have read that they like it better that way. I will get at least one bag from JK Feed, then stop at the place that orders organic and put in an order for that. We probably have enough to get one bag of organic and one of regular at this point. But we also need a new bag of scratch. So unless someone wants to add some cash, we may need to wait until the next round to get the organic in enough quantity to make it worthwhile starting. We have exactly $40 in our egg money. Regular feed is about $12 a bag at JK Feed, ($11 at Hilltop, but not course enough) scratch is $8 at both places, organic at Hilltop is $25 a bag. So if I get two regular at JK which totals $25 and one scratch, plus the purple stuff, I will be spending about $35 of our money. Some of us are not in a position to put extra cash into this right now, so maybe it makes sense to keep the girls on what we know for at least this next round and work toward funding the more expensive stuff when we can get a more affordable plan. It is possible for me to get it for $20 a bag downstate, but I would have to haul it here. Could help with ice in the winter.

Then there is the issue of Pete. Several of our members are ready to let him go. He scares small children, has been known to attack from behind, though not recently. Jeanne's swift kick set him straight after he body blocked her three times. But he is rather rough with the girls, and it may be that winter confinement makes it even harder on them. He may have drawn blood on the first hen, thus enticeing the others to go after her and finish her off. We don't know. So I am asking for input on this, and also asking if anyone wants to begin finding a new home for Pete. He is beautiful and behaves better than some roosters, however he does not help much with the overcrowding they experience through the long winter. Let me know

Frank fixed the broken heat lamp and we have strung it over the water container to prevent the freezing that occurs on really cold nights, so it is on tonight. If it is not too cold I am just leaving the red light on. However, I did buy a timer. It is sitting by the egg log in the house. The heat lamp can be plugged into it, and it should be set to go on at about 3 AM and off at 8 AM. This would give them less light before roosting, but still keep the water from freezing and keep them laying eggs. We are averaging 18 a day now. I hope someone else will figure out how to get into the package and set the timer. Thank you in advance.

We are out of town Wednesday and Thursday. Matt & Wendy are doing chicken care and Keith Sr. (Keith Jr helped with cleaning on Monday) is taking a turn at coop cleaning on Thursday. We are not planning to sell any eggs this week, at least until the weekend, so there will be enough for members needs. 

from Peggy, physicians assistant and food delivery provider