Chicken Update

photo by Jena

See this chicken? She's injured.
Broken right foot, missing a toe off of her left foot, comb almost completely ripped off.

She found an opening under the chicken tractor & tried to get out. Jason found her stuck there. We didn't notice an injury at first (adrenalin??).

Then the rest of the flock turned on her. Apparently, this is normal chicken behavior.

So we brought her into a dog crate in our garage. She's much improved in the 2 weeks since we separated her, but I'm worried that even when she's as healed as she'll get, she won't be well enough to put back with the rest of the flock.

Now that she's doing better, I've begun putting her in the laundry room during the days we're home, and sometimes overnight. She seems to get more exercise when she has more room to roam. Hoping it will promote healing in her feet.

She gets around pretty well, just very slowly & unsteady.

And otherwise she's just fine.

Anyone want a pet chicken?

photo by Jena

The rest of the chickens are doing well. We get around 5 eggs per day. Some of them are still small though. Once we're getting a steady production of large eggs we'll begin selling them.

With the start of Spring we started moving their chicken tractor around the property, starting close to the house. So far, so good.

They stay in one location 2-3 days, then we move them a bit.
In that time they usually strip the ground of grass, but it grows back once they're moved.

I worry about predators at night, but solar powered lights around the edges of the coop, chicken wire expanding out from the bottom, plus four outdoor dogs (especially Buddy) seem to be doing the trick.

Doesn't keep me from worrying sometimes though.