Chicken Coop Update

Hello all. It seems that the girls miss Peggy & Jeanne's daily interaction and are protesting their absence by not laying as many eggs. Production has been down. We have attempted to lavish them with extra attention and treats and it may be working because today we are back up to 21 eggs as of 4:00 this afternoon. Matt and I cleaned the coop yesterday and let them out to "play" while we worked. Mostly they wanted to help by standing right where we wanted to clean. They do seem to be enjoying our January Thaw. We switched the light so that a regular light comes on with the timer instead of the heat lamp. It has been pretty toasty in there.

Jennie found one of the hens wedged under the fence with her wing caught last night when she and Keith closed up. The hen did not appear to be injured and was fine this morning when Matt and I went over. There was a nice hole dug out right under the ramp. We filled in the hole and put a big rock there, and later enhanced our barrier with concrete pavers. That should deter them from digging. Pete has been a bit "cocky". He went after Frank a couple of times, beating him with his wings. Then he got his dander up with me today and I had to kick him back, more than once. He better mellow out before Jeanne gets back or she'll cook him and eat him!

Even with lighter production, we do have plenty of eggs. So if anyone needs eggs or can sell some, please do. I'll try to move some this weekend. We are also getting very low on egg cartons, so any help there would be appreciated, too.

That's all the news from the coop.

Wendy,

Executive Assistant to the Mother Hen