Draining Rainwater from the Outdoor Run

It has been an eventful holiday season in the ole chicken coop. Heavy rains along the coast brought unexpected flooding. We live on a slight downslope. Water drains from the forested open space behind our property and on down the hill. Standing water has never been a problem but, then again, we’ve never had 10 inches of rain in such a short amount of time. During the heavy rains, the empty gopher holes looked like little springs with clear water bubbling up and out. Wonder where the gophers are hiding?

Making its way downward to the ocean, the water spread across the outdoor run and stayed there. It was two inches deep in areas. The hens spent much of their time on the milk crates and the ladder. Luckily, the indoor coop has a cement floor that stayed high and dry but these birds are used to being outside and only go inside to lay and to roost at night. For two days, they waded about in confusion. Eventually we made a small trench through the outdoor run that provided an escape route for the sitting water.

Ameraucana and Buff Orpington are Laying Again!

The good news in the chicken coop had us all cheering (even the hens). Our dear Daisy, a pretty Buff Orpinton, was ill last spring. See “Daisy is Ill”. She hasn’t layed since then. Daisy is one of my favorite hens: gentle, tame, calm. I consider her a pet. After her first molt in the fall, she began laying those beautiful brown eggs again. I think that she is as happy as we are. Tulip, the Ameraucana, also finished her molt and has resumed laying her green eggs once again. What a pleasure to find those lovely pale green eggs among the brown.

Golden Laced Wyandotte is Molting

There are more falling feathers in the mud of the chicken coop. Petunia is experiencing her first molt. The golden laced Wyandotte, the prettiest and the meanest of the six, is shedding her golden fleece. She and Sweetpea mope around, listless and lethargic, with bare bottoms and necks, waiting for their new coats to grow in. When they do, they’ll look renewed and refreshed and will hopefully resume laying again. We’ll all be happy, then.

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Oh Yukk! The hens’ run is a mess! We’ve had light rain for seven days straight and the ground is saturated. Most of the run is covered with lucite panels but the ground is soaked. Poor hens are walking around in mud. They’ve been using their ladder more than usual to get up off the ground. Don filled some of the holes created by dust bathing in the run to try to get it to drain off but it is still quite mucky. I spread a bit of alfalfa around this afternoon to soak up some moisture.

Rain has obscured the view of the Pacific

Chickens are incredible resistant to weather. While I am complaining about a little steady rain, back East the chickens are wading around in snow. In cold climates many people raise only chickens (like our Wyandottes) that have smaller curly combs on top of their heads (called rose combs). Smaller combs mean that less comb is exposed to the  freezing temperatures in the winter. I’ve seen a few of our hens tuck their heads under their wings to sleep. Kind of like pulling blackout shades, warming your comb, and warming the air you breath all at the same time. Clever girls!

Local wild turkeys are soaked in the rain

Our California wild turkey neighbors have found a vacant lot to hang out in. At least our hens have a cute little henhouse to hide in should the weather get worse.

Wishing you all a happy, joyful, and festive holiday! May your tootsies stay warm and dry.

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One of my sons checks in on my hens on occasion. He emailed me to say the I hadn’t posted anything lately. I answered that not much was happening in the henhouse. Most of the six hens show signs of molting (loosing their feathers and growing new ones) and aren’t laying eggs. In fact, we’ve only been getting about one egg per day and it looks to be from the same hen. You see, all their eggs look slightly different. They have different shapes and are different colors so we can tell who is laying and who isn’t.

Barred Rock Molting-Pinfeathers are Growing in

Molting is a yearly occurrence for most breeds of chickens. Feathers are made of keratin, a kind of protein, and the annual transformation of shedding and replacement takes its toll on the hen’s physical condition and disposition. When the hens molt, their combs shrink and become a pale pink.  Some hens experience a change in personality, becoming unusually cranky. Molting could go on through January so I’ll have to forgo omelets until the hens are back in form.

Our hens are approaching two years of age now. Several are going through their second molt. Tulip, the Ameraucana, is one that has molted twice. Her molts seem to last forever. She stops laying those pretty green eggs for a couple of months. Sweetpea, the barred rock, is also suffering (I mean experiencing) her second year of molting. Sweetpea, is a good layer and I miss her large, rather long, light-brown eggs. Sweetpea is one of our most affectionate hens. She jumps onto our laps and tucks herself into the crook of our arms and settles in for an extended stay. Last fall, when she first molted she wouldn’t let us touch her. I read that when birds molt, the incoming new feathers make the skin sensitive to the touch. This year, though Sweetpea is a little stand-offish in her molt, she still has enjoyed some gentle handling.

Sweetpea's bare bottom

Daisy, the Buff Orpington, needed to molt. Her light flaxen plumage had become ragged and dull. I can’t wait to see Daisy in her new feathers. Rosie, the Rhode Island Red, has stopped laying and dropped a few feathers here and there. I see her growing some back on the bare spots on her head that the other hens had denuded. I think that Rosie will be one of those hens that does not fully molt. They say that the better layers molt less and for a shorter length of time and I think that Rosie is one of those. Luckily, we have temperate winters here on the Central Coast. My poor hens are walking around with bare bottoms and naked necks. Hopefully they’ll be strutting their new look soon.

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When our sweet Buff Orpington, Daisy, was sick last summer (see “Daisy is Ill“), I was given some very practical advice by Brigitte Kessler-lichtensteiger, a chicken rancher in southern Ontario (and cousin-by-marriage to my niece). She suggested that I save and dry egg shells left over from cooking, grind or smash them, and feed them back to the hens. The extra calcium would strengthen their shells. I’ve been doing this every few weeks since August and I think it has made a difference. The shells of all the hens seem to be stronger and smoother.

Egg Shells Drying

After doing a little research, I found some material that supports Kessler-lechtensteiger’s theory here. “According to researchers at Mendel University, a hen must deposit 25 mg of calcium on the developing egg surface every 15 minutes during the 20-hour period in which the eggshell is formed. A prolific laying hen producing approximately 300 eggs per year will deposit 24 times more calcium into her eggs’ shells than the amount contained in her bones. With research like that, it is not a surprise that laying hens may need supplemental calcium even if they are being fed a nutritionally complete laying feed formula. Eggshells can provide that supplemental calcium.” I found this on eHow but is substantiated in other articles on the internet as well.

I confess that I am of Scottish descent and it is hard for me to waste anything. I’ve been putting egg shells in my garden compost for years and have been feeding my six hens oyster shells to supplement their calcium intake. Now, in addition to the oyster shells, I air dry egg shells for about a week or put them in a warm oven for 1/2 an hour. I then put the broken shells in a little food processor and give them a whirl. After drying, the shells break down easily so this only takes a minute or two. When I fill the chicken feeder, I sprinkle this powder in with the feed, and mix.

With laying hens having to produce so much calcium each day, it only makes sense that food high in this essential mineral will enhance the hens’ ability to produce strong shells and keep the little darlings healthy.

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