Back to cute little animals and ranching activities, which everyone can enjoy! I still have seven outdoor birds, five laying hens, Bruce the rooster, and Gertie the Guinea. They always surprise and entertain me, as you can tell from how many blog posts I manage to take up with Poultry Tales. But, they are my buddies!
I mentioned earlier this week that they’re creatures of habit. But, sometimes they do change their minds. All of last year, the chickens preferred to sleep on the branches in the chicken run. They would all line up, and when we had lots of them, it was quite a sight. Now that it’s winter, though, many of them have decided to roost in the roosting area of their henhouses. That’s all fine. I’m sure it’s warmer and dryer.
Star now has a lot more tan on her body. 
She looks darker in some lights.
But, when the chickens spend more time in the henhouse, there gets to be more poop in there. The nest boxes had become noticeably more poopy as of this week. I’d prefer cleaner eggs, and I’m pretty sure the hens prefer cleaner nests, since I found an egg just sitting on the roosting area yesterday.
Buttercup is incredibly beautiful in person. 
She shades from red to gold to brown
So, today I put on a mask (hey, at least I own a lot of them!) and cleaned out their little world. I didn’t realize how much bedding and such was in there until I removed it all. The tub got pretty heavy! I’m hoping we can use the material in compost.
Naturally, it was harder than it could have been, since all the things I could find to scoop out the material were exactly as wide as a nest box. I know I own a bunch of garden trowels, but they must be put away very well.
As soon as I was finished, Springsteen, the homebody, RAN in and checked out the white henhouse. Then she RAN to the red one. Much clucking occurred. She’s a good housekeeper. Or maybe it was her egg-laying time, since she hadn’t laid one yet.
While it was a messy job, I enjoyed it, because I got to spend time with my bird friends and Vlassic. I hope you enjoy these close-ups of some of the younger chickens. It’s neat to see how they change as they grow up.
And can you believe good ole Bertie is over a year old? We will have had her a year next month, and she was four months old when we got her.
The Hermits' Rest 
awww your chickens are cute what breed are they? mine are two plymouth rocks, one leghorn, 3 brahmas, three astrolorps, one hamburg, one dorking, two marans, cornish, and one more for the life of me is not coming to me, just did a head count and have 15. they make great pets.
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I’m down to 6, thanks to a raccoon. Easter Egger rooster, and 5 hens: barred rock, Jersey giant, blue star, Ancona , and Wellsummer.
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What beautiful birds and fab names. My dad keeps half a dozen hens but sadly won’t name them 😑
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Well, I can sorta see that. They tend to die on you.
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They look healthy and happy. We plan something like this in the near future.
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We have really enjoyed the chickens, other than when things come and eat them.
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Oh no!
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