Chicken farmers should not wear red nail polish

Their bills are very strong. Their main food is still the 18% protein chick feed but they tear up the grass bugging pretty well too. They especially love blueberries (fresh picked and wild, please). I have resorted to letting them have their treats from a cup rather than by hand because I received a small blood blister in gratitude. They also like dried cranberries. I tried to call them in from the rain last night by rattling fruit in their cup. Half believed in their bedtime snack. The other half had to be persuaded with a hand toss. The next improvement of the tractor must be to move the cross perch to the far end so that when I have to climb in to persuade, I don't have to climb over the perch.
Saturday was their first night out. I put the rubbermaid tub on its side with wood chips in it. I don't know if that's where they snuggle at night. I hope so because it's been getting into the low 50s. We lay out the tarp full length when it rains so only 2' of tractor is open to the sky and the sides are fully covered. They seem to stay dry. On sunny days, we fold the tarp over so they get plenty of sun.

The girls are really growing. They have very little baby down left, only a little around their necks and butts. I can see and feel their crops as they bulge with grasshoppers and crickets. We haven't been able to persuade the grasshoppers to fly into the tractor so we use a net or stomp on them around the house. What a sight that must be: Oma and Opa stomping on grasshoppers! Several chicks greet us on the perch looking for a special grasshopper treat. We gave them left-over (cooked) corn on the cob: gone in 5 minutes. Even raw and unshucked doesn't last long. Tonight I shared my over-ripe peach. I'm sure the US could cut the garbage to almost nothing if everyone had a few chickens. Maybe their psychiatrist bills, too. They are very calming and fun to watch.

A couple of nights ago we woke to loud chirping. It was 2 porcupines finishing off the popcorn put out for the bluejays and squirrels. Tonight one didn't wait till dark. I was able to get to about 10 feet before it waddled off.

Eggs and things

We were filling the RTV with composted horse manure from the Penn State mushroom farm that was delivered about 2 weeks ago to our compost area by the side of the house. Suddenly eggs were falling our of the compost as it dropped from the tractor: 1" by 1.25", very leathery, bumpy, most had some discoloration, a few were folded over or collapsed. One was cracked and dripping so we pried it open, thinking what ever was in it wasn't going to make it anyway. Snake! We eventually found over 20 eggs and reburied them in a compost nest up the hill a bit. No wonder the snake had been hanging around our hill. We found a small snake, 36" long and maybe 1.25" diameter, tangled in the blueberry netting, too late to save it.

As we reburied the snake eggs we found an interesting nest of the Baldfaced Hornet (Dolichovespula maculata. It's a mound of dirt,8" high, covered by a paper nest. The entry is at the dirt line. Wasps are black and white and about 3/4" long.


Chicklets will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. They stayed outside last night til almost dark and about 70 degrees. (We went to the PFHT picnic and then stopped in Harrisburg for an Appalachian Brewery dinner.) They were huddled up against the wall, tight together. Their feet were cold and not one gave me any trouble about getting caught for the tub.
When I let them out this morning, downy feathers flew all over the place. The girls raced around as if they'd never been outside before, even without their usual blueberry breakfast. Maybe I was late getting them out. Maybe they are just getting cramped in their tub. They are definitely growing real feathers. They have pantaloons and their ears are visible now.
A couple can fly up to the roost. We held a grasshoppers so they have to be on the perch to get it; no problemo! Those who know the trick haven't figured out how to stay on the perch while they eat. Instead they fly down to show off their treat and are immediately mobbed. Birdbrain?


When I open their door, I am mobbed by a half dozen chicks who want blueberries, or whatever else I'm serving, or, if nothing is available, they'd like to jump out and find their own. I've let a few do that; one followed me around between my feet pecking at bugs I kicked up. They don't like to be far from their sisters however. Most are a bit more wary and let the others mob the door.

They use the tube-drinker easily so that's what we use in the tub. We gave them some potato peelings, Swiss Chard hunks and egg plant peelings. Potatoes were OK, but blueberries and grasshoppers are better.

Tonight bedtime was a little more difficult than last night. It's lighter and a little warmer. Most came right in with blueberry treats. The last one, apparently doesn't like blueberries or maybe she doesn't like to be stepped on to get one. She was peeping mournfully just out of grabbing range. Finally I let the bird who kept flying out of the tub to my knee call the lone star in the tractor. She came in when her sister told her to.
The Baron is still conducting his war against the groundhogs on our property, and so far this year he has taken 8 of them with his .22 rifle. Still with all that we know there are at least 4 more groundhogs running around on the meadow right now. The battle continues. It's Sunday so he won't shoot, and they seem to know it.

2 weeks old today

The chicks have several new toys and tricks. We propped a stick up to the upper perches; less than 1 minute after the door was closed one chick had climbed to be the Queen on her top post. She was rewarded with a blueberry or two.
Last night they really seemed intent on taking dust baths, so tonight I screened a pile of dirt and poured it in. The pile started out to be about 12" in diameter and 5 or 6" high. First they pecked at the little dirt balls but once the girls got naked in their bath it flattened out quickly. They can still scratch around and find plenty of dust. When they went back in the tub for the night, not one scratching sawdust flinging mess occurred. Perhaps the water dish will stay cleaner if they take earthdust baths instead of sawdust baths.

Some of them have black spots in their fuzz that looks wet, but I think it's real feathers. Their tails are much more pronounced and they can really fly. When I'm trying to put them away for the night into their tub (which will only fit them all for a little while longer) a couple insist on flying up to watch from the tub handles. The first half are easy to catch with a "Here girls" but the last half learn quickly and aren't snookered by a green pepper seed or a blueberry on the finger. I had to sweep the last 3 to me with a perch stick tonight. However, they do leap into the Baron's hand to be released in the morning.

They are already great buggers. I had some mosquitoes and a couple of little flies pecked from my wrist tonight. Grasshoppers or moths are special treats; as soon as we call "here girls" and they get a view, we are mobbed. They'll try to catch flies on their own, but just can't move fast enough yet. However, the girls know the difference between good meat and bad, at least when the bad meat is a bee.
Another interesting action that must be inate is their reaction to shadows overhead. Planes and birds both send the flock under the tarp. Could be a hawk or an owl, I guess.

Traveling chicks

We went to a Pennsylvania Forest Stewards training weekend and didn't have a chick sitter so we piled all the girls into their Rubbermaid tub and off we went to Towanda/Wyomissing/Sugar Run. If they'd been older than 1.5 weeks, or if the temp had been in the 80s at night, or if I'd asked someone to chick sit, they wouldn't have been traveling girls. They stayed in the car or in the shade and drank bottled water. Usually I came back to a chick sitting above the crowd on top of the feed jar, casually surveying her realm. She didn't especially like being dumped off.
All worked out well, but when I tossed them in their tractor today, they ran around, flapped their wings and chirped for joy. They flapped and stretched, and ran all over the place. I put 2 round sticks on the first red brace. They seemed to enjoy racing up the stick or hopping over it. They can walk on the red braces like balance beams and easily fly over them too. We fed them blueberries and called "Here girls" as we poked a berry through the net. I think it's more the fingers through the net that gets them excited than the "here girls".
A couple have discovered how to use the small-mammal drinking bottle. They stick their beaks right up the tube, pushing the ball aside and letting the water drip down their throats. I painted the tube-end with nail polish to help catch their attention. The bottle would have made life much easier in the car but they hadn't figured it out yet. Of course, once one learns something the rest bombard her for lessons. We caught a couple of nice soft grasshoppers: chaos reigned. The chicklet that caught the grasshopper ran all over the tractor, showing off or maybe trying to keep her catch. Everyone else tore after her to grab it away, stepping on sisters, flapping over crowds to catch up, or simply to see what the ruckus is all about. The poor grasshopper changed beaks 4 or more times on a typical race, much the worse for wear.
When I called them, "Hey, girls" to go in for the night, some actually came to me. When I put the first several back in their overnight tub they immediately scratched the dust all over themselves, dust bath-like. We're using the water bottle hanging from the side now instead of the water dish. One daring chick preferred not to be caught. She stayed just out of fingers' reach, crying loudly for her sisters. I finally lured her in with a blueberry. I wonder if Tyson or the Colonel know this trick.



While we were gone something big and/or persistent ate and/or dragged away all the bones from all 4 of the carcasses we had at the bait shoppe by the Toy Shed. The last groundhog should have been nicely cooked and easily tracked by nose by now, but it was nowhere to be found. Even the bones of the older kills were gone. The game camera shot this coyote on Friday and several raccoons and lots of crows and vultures on Saturday and Sunday morning. Persistence is the name I guess.

While surveying for gypsy moth egg cases along the eastern Lower Jennifer Trail, we flushed 3 ruffed grouse. As usual, we were as startled by their noise as they were by ours.