Chickens for bug control and food recycling.

[Beekissed]

Nice pictures Bee! But brrr...Aliza made my feet feel cold!

That was the day I got a sunburn, so it's warmer than it looks in these pics. Just very breezy, chilly when the clouds covered the sun, but mostly a warm day. She was very chilly in parts after her third session of puddle stomping of the day(change of clothing each time ) but a hot bath warmed her right up.

She drank dirty puddle water twice that day before I could stop her, walked a million miles in those Good Will boots ($2.99 ), changed clothes three times, walked her puppy, fed the animals, gathered eggs twice, played all evening long in the house, zonked out that night and slept like the dead.

And that's just how us hillbilly girls roll....

 

[catjac1975]

When my grandsons are here, 3 days a week, we go through 2-3 clothes changes daily. Our ground was only frozen about 10 days this winter. They love to dig, play in water, make mud and "cook." There are beautiful sticks and rocks everywhere. One likes to through them in the river the other keeps them to add to his nature collection.

 

[Nyboy]

Grandmas always have a special bond I miss my Nana

 

[Beekissed]

I've always felt like kids weren't really having fun unless they got dirty...getting wet AND dirty is double the fun. I wish we had a little creek here on the land for her to play in...that can keep a kid busy for hours and hours.

NY, I miss my grandma too. I think she would really like the things I'm doing and what I've learned about chickens and gardening. And, I could pick HER brain about it all too.

 

[Nyboy]

You are so right about water and little kids. When I was house hunting, there had to be water on the land. Sure it goes back to being a kid playing in the creek caughing frogs and getting dirty

 

[Smart Red]

I remember once my daughter was telling my granddaughter not to get dirty. I wiggled my bare feet in the dirt. She did the same. By the time we were both raising dust and getting dirty, her mother sighed and I reminded her that kids clean up just fine.

 

[Beekissed]

That's clean dirt! A kid really needs to ingest a goodly amount of that kind of dirt to be healthy, IMO. Folks are so germophobic nowadays and it shows a direct correlation with how sickly all the kids are now.

 

[baymule]

Bee those pictures are precious! They need framing and hanging on the wall!

 

[Beekissed]

Egg count is finally starting to improve and soon I'll be overrun with eggs, which is nice because I have plenty of folks standing in line for them.

The chickens are very busy on bug patrol already, though I can't imagine many are out there while it's still this cold...they must be finding something or doing a good job of faking it.

Egg increase is starting earlier than last year, most likely due to the warmer temps than this time last year....this time last year we had about 2 ft. of snow on the ground. Might make for an earlier breeding/brooding season here, for which I'm hopeful.

This young male is busy as a one armed paper hanger with all these hens, so I'm penning him for awhile and letting him rest up before he gets to breed my chosen hens. Just need to finish revamping his breeding quarters...blowing out a wall to increase space, giving him outside roosting accommodations(should I go leopard print for the roosts?), sliding doors on the pen and an attached run. You know...modernizing his living space(a nod to HGTV), turning it into a real love nest.

Soon...baby chicks running after busy mamas!!!

 

[Smart Red]

I found my first egg of the season two weeks ago Monday. Today I gathered 18 eggs from 20 hens.