Containment



Twice this past weekend, I looked out the window to see chickens digging in the garden, past the gates and wire and trellising...out in the no chicken zone.  Granted, our lean-to wire panels are nothing that a toddler couldn't move out of the way, and one of them now has a big hole (presumably from a startled racoon or similar backyard visitor), that has been handily - if not prettily - covered by a piece of plywood.  Hey, we're on a budget here.

 

 

The guilty girls.  The first time, Adrian went out and shooed them back to their part of the yard, but when I saw them in the back a second time, I realized they had to be hopping over the fence to get into the no bird zone.  The garden beds back there hold some of my winter greens, which the chickens could dig up in a very short time, as well as winter rye I've planted for the rabbits. 

 

This summer, the goal was to keep them from denuding the blueberry bushes and annoying the neighbour's dog (who barks every time she sees us in our kitchen window).  After I've taken some steps to protect my winter greens, I'll open the area up for the chickens, whose attentions will help to rid me of any pests in the mulch around the blueberry and black currant bushes - though they'll probably dig up more than a few of my strawberry plants at the same time.  Either way, chickens don't understand 'later.'

 

 

Jodie just turned 11 weeks old on the weekend, and she's fully feathered with what I think of as Araucana cheek feathers. She's not too pleased with me in this picture.

 

I've clipped the girls' wings before, but as I checked Celine's feathers I realized they'd had quite some time to grow back.  Jodie has her original flight feathers, so she'd likely encouraged her mother to  hop the fence for greener pastures.

 

It doesn't look pretty, but cutting only the ends of the wing feathers off is similar to clipping a human fingernail - the ends are not supplied with blood after they have grown out, and the clipping unbalances a bird, making flight awkward.  The birds eventually molt, and new, full wing feathers grow back in.

 

Nugget and Pilgrim don't have the full use of their clipped wings yet.  Here you can see Nugget's feathers being replaced by new growth, so all of the feathers lost in the yard out there weren't just from disputes about the pecking order.  I'd just realized that Pilgrim is looking a little ratty as her new head feathering comes in.

 

All four girls, walking the fence line with the neighbour's garden, and wishing they could get in there to dig up that dirt and look for bugs.  I'm glad to make certain they can't since there are also two dogs sharing the yard.