Dust bathing

Everything is a-okay.

Long time no blog.

The ladies have made a miraculous recovery after deeply mourning Betty (okay, so they didn't seem to notice, but it does seem much quieter out there).

What is noticeable to the hens and anyone else who takes a deep whiff, is that it's time to clean the coop. That's on the agenda for this weekend! The non-stop rain has kept things too wet for much composting -- that's my theory anyway. Maybe we'll take some action packed photos documenting the coop clean up. I know you're all (that's you Andrew) on the edge of your seats.

RIP Betty

Betty died tonight. We had just gotten home & found her struggling. Andrew told her she was a good chicken & then she literally keeled over. Poor Betty. Rest in peace.

Betty is ailing

Betty has been struggling for a few days now. At first we thought she was egg-bound, but if that was the case she'd be nearly dead. We're giving her antibiotics in her water in the hope that it'll at the least make her comfortable, if not help her get better.
Keeping her quarantined has been tricky but we don't want to megadose all the girls just 'cause Betty is sick.
This is the not-fun part of chicken ownership.
I also need to call animal control to figure out the protocol for what to do with a dead hen - just in case. :(

Some visitors from the south

The ladies were visited by Sam and Colin yesterday. Colin almost climbed inside the coop, but Sam discovered an egg! Both youngsters went home to Cincinnati with an egg and, from the looks on their faces, enjoyed the tasty treats our girls give us every day!

Babies!!

The Easter chicks have arrived at the TSC. So cute. Remember when our girls were as tiny? 
Now's the time to start thinking about gettin' a little flock of your own!

Girls gone wild

The ladies explored the back yard for the first time today. At first they were too scared to even cross the threshold from their run to the wide-open back yard, but Andrew carried Betty out to the middle of the yard and soon the other two followed. They seemed to enjoy themselves. Chickens don’t really have so many moves, so they were just doing their old scratch and scrape, but in a new locale. It was pretty cute, nonetheless. And the sun was shining and it was warm enough to be outside without a coat. After about 15 minutes they headed back to the compost heap. They had work to do.