2009, The Year of the Chicken

Actually, I heard it was the Year of the Rat, but here at Possum Manor we are celebrating chickens.

We had a terrible thing happen when something got into our hen house, and we never want that to happen again. So, there is now plywood on the ceiling, they are being “locked” in at night, and we made a higher perch. They are laying about four eggs a day total, but by spring all should be laying each day. We plan on getting a few more, so we should be at a dozen eggs a day by summer. Our little rooster Cecil has really taken over the flock. He comes out of the hen house first, and if the rest are not fast enough, he goes back in and herds them out. He is still crowing all the time. Practice makes perfect.

We built the new perch on the carport. It is very sturdy.

Then we realized the door to the chicken area is not as big as the new perch. Duh! But we maneuvered it over the top and through all the chicken wire. It was not easy.

Here it is. These chickens have the Taj Mahal for sure. It think adding the plywood to the ceiling will not only make them more secure, it will make them warmer in the winter. There are two windows we can open in the summer, but this cinder block keeps this hen house nice and cool in the summer. I just do not want the fact that it is now more closed in to mean it will be stinky. We have a pretty clean smelling hen house. I only wish we could house break them.

This is the favorite nesting box. They use one other, and then they like laying on the floor in the corner.

These are the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day eggs. They are almost too pretty to eat.

Cecil is proud…so very proud.

Brando is bored….so very bored.