shed
shed at Alektorophobia is a file of 3 stories. The newest of them: “Found lumber roost bars too wide for your feathered friends: cluck-tastic or fowl play”, “New Feathers, Fowl Feelings: My Silkie Hen Is Not Egg-cited”, and “Oviduct Woes and Ugly Hens: Three Losses Too Many”. Oh, the eternal chicken coop dilemma, found lumber is a cluck-tastic budget move, but those roost bars might be more fowl play than feathered friend approved. So, I added two silkie chicks to my otherwise mellow flock of a Brahma, a Leghorn, and a Silkie hen with her roo, Tony. Chickens. Everything there is to know about chickens and the fear of them. The list below is every shed story on Alektorophobia, newest first.
Found lumber roost bars too wide for your feathered friends: cluck-tastic or fowl play
Oh, the eternal chicken coop dilemma, found lumber is a cluck-tastic budget move, but those roost bars might be more fowl play than feathered friend approved. A standard 2x4 laid flat is the gold standard for happy chicken feet, and that wide lumber you found sounds like it could be a perch for a pterodactyl, not a hen. In NE New England, your birds need to wrap their toes around something to keep warm, and a too-wide bar means cold, unhappy feet. Trust me, I've seen the chaos of bad coop design before, just ask anyone who survived a midnight fox raid, a narrow escape, and four very shaken chickens. Go grab a proper 2x4 before your girls stage a rebellion.
New Feathers, Fowl Feelings: My Silkie Hen Is Not Egg-cited
So, I added two silkie chicks to my otherwise mellow flock of a Brahma, a Leghorn, and a Silkie hen with her roo, Tony. Everyone was happy... until they weren't. My Silkie hen is giving the newcomers the cold shoulder, a mild peck here, a dramatic avoidance there. Tony, bless his heart, tried to play dad and sit on them, but the chicks promptly retreated. For now, the babies bunk in a cozy shed spot while I supervise their daytime free-runs. It's all very "cluck-tastic" and non-violent, but will they ever be one big, happy feathered family? Should I nudge them toward a group roost?
Oviduct Woes and Ugly Hens: Three Losses Too Many
Well, today just plain sucks. We lost another hen to her own reproductive system, and it's the third one. The vet said there was nothing we could do; it's the hazard of being a hen. I clean their shed daily, I'm on top of supplements and vet visits, and I track their laying like a hawk. But I can't out-clean a broken egg inside her body. We bred them to lay this much, and it's killing them. That's the maddening part. I know tomorrow I'll be back at it, doing my best for our feathered friends. But today? I'm just angry. It feels like fowl play, and not the fun kind.