I’ve been told that yoga will help my bad back. I’m not a yoga sort of person. I’ve tried classes before and I have to say that so-called calming meditation makes me tense. However, slow yoga stretches do help. I’ve signed up for another class starting in November. I’m hoping that the instructor doesn’t ring chimes and talk in a monotone.
If that class doesn’t work out, maybe I have a yogi right in my backyard?
Sugar Maples are the trees that get tapped for maple syrup. They are also the quintessential New England foliage tree that blaze orange in the fall. My animals don’t care about that. All they know is that Sugar Maples are delicious. I had to prune a branch that was leaning on a fence. I put it in the Little Barn run.
Candy hopped right over. Stand close and you can hear her crunching and munching.
Edwina stopped sunbathing to investigate and declared the leaves quite tasty.
I gave a branch to the goats who liked the leaves and the bark.
The goaties also appreciated a flexible and fragrant scratching stick.
Lily, however, doesn’t see what all of the fuss is about. She prefers her sticks dry, fat, and thrown through the air.
Pumpkins were on sale at the supermarket, so I bought two for the girls. I’ve read that pumpkins are a natural wormer but I’ve yet to see evidence. I’ve read the claims, but no one has done a fecal test on a flock with roundworms, fed pumpkin, and then done another fecal to prove that it works. (If you can point me to research, please do!) But pumpkins are plenty good for your hens, anyway. The carotenoids in the squash are as nutritionally important for the chickens as they are for us. When the hens eat pumpkin their yolks turn a deep dark orange, quite in the Halloween spirit! But the best part about feeding pumpkins is the entertainment that it provides for your flock and for you.
The Gems were immediately interested in this big orange thing in their midst.
They soon began pecking a hole in the hard shell. This keeps them busy and out of trouble. It’s always a good thing when Agatha has something to keep her occupied. This is the best type of treat for your flock – one that’s stimulating and long-lasting.
I put a pumpkin in with the retired girls. Candy likes gnawing on the shell.
But the old hens were nonplussed. Tina walked right by.
Edwina kept on sunbathing. She knows that pecking a pumpkin is hard work.
So I got out a cookie cutter and my rubber mallet,
and made an opening for the hens.
Edwina said that it was now worth getting up for. I do spoil the old hens.
Buffy’s most recent miraculous recovery was due to The Spa Treatment, and especially to the tonic of epsom salt and juice that I dosed her with (1 teaspoon of epsom salt in one ounce of juice.)
The easiest way to give medicine to a sick hen is by diluting it in their drinking water. This is the way to give antibiotics to an entire flock. But, if your hen is weak, she might not drink it, or not get in enough to help. That was certainly the case with Buffy. I knew that she needed to have a full dose all at once. You can’t pour medicine down a hen’s throat, because it can get into the lungs and kill her. So, I use a plastic syringe (available at all pharmacies) and squirt in a little at a time, letting the hen swallow each mouthful. This takes a bit of skill and patience but is really not that difficult. To show you how to give a dose of liquid medicine to a chicken, I made a video. Here it is:
Since everyone liked the last post, I have a few more photos to share.
One of the joys of walking through the barns at a county fair is seeing the pride that people take in their animals. We were there on the first day and so got to see people decorating the stalls.
I’m always amazed at how the dairy cow’s whites are so… white! This one is getting a clipping after her bath.
These are working farm animals. They arrive dirty. This ram didn’t have a clean spot on his body.
The bathing and clipping takes skill and patience.
Once the work is done, the sheep wear protective coats.
Some sheep have snazzier outfits than others!
I’ve never seen a goat with a coat on. I’ve a feeling these girls are quite opinionated about the fashion they’re willing to wear. Simple silver collars are all that they will put up with need.
