The soft shelled egg and the coop inspector

I was going out to clean the coop and check for eggs when I spotted 3 eggs in the nesting box. One was broken. I always give broken eggs to Noni so I went back into the house and one tiny squeeze over Noni's bowl and it popped! The egg white went over the side of her bowl. She ate the egg in 5 seconds. At least someone enjoyed the mess.  Then I noticed that it had no membrane and the shell was soft.

It was a soft shelled egg.

And I think I know who the culprit was!

Anyone recognize this hen?

Valerie!

She's laid them before not to mention no shelled eggs!

Bad chicken!

And after I fussed at the egg criminal I remembered I needed to clean their coop so set to work. I did little bits at a time using a kitty rake (I can't reach my hand into hay because I get red bumps.)

When I was finished, I had a cleanliness inspector, Sammy.

seeing how fresh the hay is

After Sammy finished she flew down and told me to get working on the nesting boxes next.

She didn't like my answer.

Hot Chickens

We were going to the coop to give the chickens some cool refreshing kale when we noticed that the coop door was closed and there were no chickens.  I opened the coop door up.  There were five hot chickens panting inside.

I freed the prisoners.  I think it happened because I had been closing the tiny coop door so they wouldn't lay eggs in there and when they went to bed the wind blew and closed the big coop door.  They were trapped in there for about 4 hours.

When they were out we hung up the kale and let them free range  while we planted flowers.  

I opened up the small coop door so that if it ever happened again they could escape.

Stump Garden

My friend, Hannah, came over to help me plant the stump garden.  We went to Lowes and got some plants and dirt to go into the stump. We put the peat moss in the stump first.  Then we got some wood shavings from the ground and hay from the chickens and put it in the stump.  Then we put the good planting dirt on top.  We dug holes around the stump for

my cucumber plant.  And....

My cookie flower (the flowers for some reason remind me of cookies.)

And...

My Black Eyed Susans.

Also....

 My Mosquito plant.

And in the stump, I have

Marigolds

and...

and Salvia.

All together they make this!

It looks so nice! I love the fencing that I found around the house!

The Hunt

I went outside with Buffy and Noni to give the chickens an apple when Noni and Buffy ran to the back of the coop.  Buffy started to bark.  I let her and Noni  into the coop.  Buffy was trying to fit herself under the wooden crate so I dug a hole from the back of the nesting boxes to the front. 

 I dug a hole for Noni.

Then three rats ran up into the chicken wire.  

My dad smacked one with a shovel.  It dropped on the ground and crawled under the crate.  Then he got his bb gun and shot two rats.  One was injured but still alive.  It dropped on the ground and tried to get away.

But Buffy got it!


Then we noticed one hanging from the ceiling of the chicken coop. It was wedged in there and we couldn't get it out.

We lifted Buffy up there.....

and she pulled it out.
Notice the big smile on her face?


Afterward she ran around with her prize.

After we got it away from her she ran to the back of the coop and started barking again.  She was smelling the one that had gotten away.  Then Noni started tearing up the shingles that were from predator-proofing the coop.  Buffy started grabbing the chicken wire and pulling on it.

I looked where Noni had bent back the shingles.  There was the rat that had escaped.  It was dead.  We got it out and threw it in the trash.  While we were taking the dogs back in I noticed blood on Noni's face.  We thought she had been bitten but it was just rat blood.  We threw Buffy into the tub ( Noni had a shower.)


This is what she looked like when she was still muddy.

They had a good hunt!

Accepted

It was time that Sage met her new mother, Sunset.  We brought Sunset and her egg inside and put her in a big dog crate.  We put Sage in there with her.  Sunset started pecking her.  Not a mean peck but a "hi, who are you?" peck.  Sage didn't take it like that.  She thought that this weird golden chicken was attacking her and she ran all around the cage.  Sunset was following her thinking, "where are you going?"  Little Sage squeezed through the bars.  I picked Sage up and held her until Sunset settled in the nest with the egg.  Then I lifted up her wing and poked Sage under.  There were a few peeps and then all was quiet.  I went out to get a more solid crate because Sage could squeeze through the bars of the other one. Sunset stood up for a bit then sat down on her egg with Sage under her.

 Goodnight

Rats In The Coop

I had been reading a chicken blog and they were talking about chickens getting overheated at 90* F. Here it was 92* F but felt like 101* F so I ran out to check on them. Buffy and Noni ran behind the coop and Buffy started to bark. I had just turned the hose on. I dropped it and ran over to see what was the matter. Buffy was pawing at the chicken wire behind the nesting boxes which held the coop up. I decided to let the chickens out. Buffy and Noni seemed so interested so I let them in the coop. Then Buffy and Noni ran behind the nesting boxes and started to whine. We had the coop up on a flat wooden crate. Buffy was trying to fit under it. Noni started to paw at it. I grabbed the hose, went into the coop and sprayed water under the flat crate and then behind it. Then 2 rats ran up and in-between the chicken wire under the the net roof. Then more and more and more rats crawled up! There were about 10 of them. I started to squirt them. They ran as well as they could to the top of the chicken penthouse to be safe from the hose but I still got them. I  went inside the run and closed the coop door so the water wouldn't spray on the precious egg and its hulking mother.  I chased one rat to a corner and it squeezed through the chicken wire and ran into the park behind our house. Then another and another until there were 3 rats left. They crawled onto the top of the playhouse.

I let Buffy up there and she ran in circles making rats fly off. When there were no more rats I called her and she just ran on the roof of the chicken coop making the chickens freak out. She did it over and over again until she made the mistake of running past me and I grabbed her.

When we went inside, Buffy and Noni smelled like wet rats (the worst!!) They had to take a bath. Afterwards they went crazy!

They enjoyed their brushing.

I hope the rats never come back!!