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Perfect Pie Crust to Use or Freeze – Recipes

...the dough frequently, and it will not stick to the counter. Do not try to flatten the dough with brute strength, but instead, roll, roll, roll. If the top gets sticky, pick up the dough and turn it over so that the floured side is now towards the rolling pin. If you have to add flour to the work surface, use only a light dusting. You will see bits of butter in the crust, but the whole should be smooth and pliable. At this point, the crust can be set into the pie plate. But, for crusts that I freeze,...

Setting Up Your Own Camera – FAQ

...USB cable. These cameras are generally used for video conferencing and video instant messaging, but instead of pointing the camera at you, just point it out the window. Unfortunately the camera has to remain indoors and close to the computer (maximum length of a USB cable is 5 meters). Also typically you can only watch the video from that computer. For more information see this tutorial at HowStuffWorks. Network camera If the camera has to be far away from your computer then you need a network camera. These self-contained cameras are not attached to a computer, they just need power...

Little Barn Coop Plans – FAQ – Housing

I have two barns in my backyard. The “Big Barn” is the barn with the Dutch doors that you can see from the HenCam camera (and you can see the inside of it from the BarnCam and GoatCam). It’s a lovely post and beam structure, bought as a kit, and put together by the manufacturer, Country Carpenters. Instead of the standard wood floor, I had a concrete slab installed. The other barn is a small shed. Ours was custom-built, but it is similar to the prefab buildings for sale at home centers. What makes this coop so charming are the...

Believe the Ears – HenBlog – Wednesday, October 7, 2015

...around agility courses? Clicker trained. It’s transformed how animals are cared for in zoos. An elephant needs a pedicure? Instead of using punishing restraints, use clicker training and she’ll offer her foot. However, it’s been slow to come to the horse world, where whips, spurs, chasing, kicking, yelling and severe tack remain the norm. People who go into clicker training with their horses do so because they want a kinder, gentler way. They don’t want to use force, they want the behavior to be mutually rewarding for both horse and owner. What could be better than teaching with cookies? But,...

Caper Goes to the Vet – HenBlog – Thursday, May 13, 2010

...of that target stick just about anywhere. So, instead of tugging and pulling, I simply had them go towards the stick. Still, Steve had to pick the boys up and put them in the van. The ride was surprisingly uneventful. A bit of meh-mehing. They were so busy learning how to stand up in a moving vehicle, that they didn’t try to dismantle the back seat. The drive to the vet’s office is only 20 minutes. We waited outside. The boys decided to do some landscaping for Dr. Sarah. These branches needed trimming. The boys noticed plants inside and offered...

Nesting Boxes – HenBlog – Thursday, June 15, 2006

It is raining again, which means that the hens are bored and a tad uncomfortable. Their feathers are bedraggled. Instead of lolling about in the warm dirt taking dust baths, they brave the rain for a few minutes, then crowd inside the henhouse. Instead of quickly laying their eggs and hurrying outside to find a curiosity or a tidbit, they want to hunker down in a nesting box. We have three nesting boxes for eleven hens, which is usually plenty. But Snowball and Blackie are broody, so they have staked out two and are immovable. That leaves only one box....

Sweet Clementine – HenBlog – Thursday, April 10, 2014

...so easily, and so that was good, too. I did a necropsy, which confirmed what I had deduced. Clementine was an internal layer. Instead of the yolks progressing down the reproductive tract, and forming eggs, they were dropping into the body cavity. This is not uncommon. Sometimes a yolk misses the fallopian tubes, and so drops into the body cavity, where it is reabsorbed, and so the hen is ill briefly, and then she recovers. Sometimes the fluids in the body cavity become infected. Dosed with antibiotics, the hen might stabilize, the unformed eggs solidify, and she can go on...

Hens Don’t Have Teeth – HenBlog – Friday, April 20, 2012

Contrary to what you see in the movie Chicken Run, chickens don’t have teeth. Like all birds, they have beaks. Which means they can’t chew – at least not in their mouths. Instead, they eat tiny rocks, which are stored in their gizzard. The gizzard is a tough and powerful muscle, and as it squeezes and churns, it uses the rocks to grind up the food. Today is one of those days that I wish I had a beak and a gizzard. Instead, I have teeth, which despite me doting on them day and night require much attention by my...

Coop Ventilation – HenBlog – Friday, May 23, 2014

...feel heavy, it has its own problems. It sounds counter-intuitive but when air is cold, it can’t hold moisture, and so the damp stays where it is near the floor, and doesn’t move with the air out through the vents. Large-scale poultry operations understand the science of air flow.This is one reason that commercial barns are heated – to move the moist air out. For many reasons, I don’t like heat in the coop. Instead, I want a coop designed to be healthy for my hens regardless of the weather. In the winter, not only is the air not efficiently...

Brood Coops – The Vintage Hen – Thursday, March 21, 2013

On Saturday, March 30, thousands of chicks will hatch at Murray McMurray. Twenty-five of them will be shipped on the next day and arrive at my post office first thing on Monday morning, April 1. When I ordered the chicks in the middle of the winter, I’d had images of their arrival at the beginning of a new season, with fresh green grass on the lawn and crocuses coming up in the woodland. April Fools joke on me! This is what my front yard looks like. Instead of putting the chicks into a heated brooder, I had hoped that I’d...

Handling The Chicks – HenBlog – Thursday, April 18, 2013

...on my lap while unfamiliar hands pet them. In contrast to the good behavior of the Gems was what happened to a group of chicks raised on a farm and used in an educational program. They were handled daily by children. At the end of the season the farmer gave the pullets to myself and a few other backyard chicken keepers that he knew. Instead of being acclimatized to people, they wanted nothing to do with us. Every one of those chickens had behavior problems. Now, it’s likely that if you have a few chicks and are handling them gently...

Twiggy Keeps Laying – HenBlog – Friday, November 14, 2014

...Twiggy is the only hen in my flock to not yet even begin to molt. When a hen molts, she ceases to lay. Twiggy is not ready to stop yet. But, look at the tip of Twiggy’s tail. Those are old and worn out feathers. She has got to stop laying. I’ve told her so. She’s not listening. A hundred years ago, Twiggy’s breed, the White Leghorn, transformed poultry farms. Instead of being marginal animals, cared for out the back door by the farm wife, chickens became the centerpiece of a farm’s business plan. A farm with a large flock...

Why I Don’t Use Avian Vets – HenBlog – Monday, December 17, 2012

...them all. The vet did not do any blood work, and the diagnosis was one that could have been determined with a quick on-line search. If you do need medical care for your flock, I recommend that Instead of finding an avian vet, look for a large animal practice, preferably with a vet on staff who keeps a flock of chickens on her own farm. Every few years I run fecal samples to make sure that my chickens don’t carry a load of parasites. The avian vet, two towns over, insists that first I need to bring the “patient” in...

I Like Mules – The Vintage Hen – Monday, December 9, 2013

A mule looks sort of like a horse with long ears, a long face, bristles instead of a mane along the neck, and a wisp of a tail. I’ve never ridden one, but I’ve known a few, and I like them a lot. I’ve done several pack trips through wild mountains here in North America. We dudes were on horses, but many of the pack animals were mules, especially the one entrusted with the bulky and awkward and all-important cookstove. I’ve known wranglers who prefer riding mules. The head cowboy on a trip through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in...

The Best Scrambled Eggs – HenBlog – Monday, February 17, 2014

...a splash of milk and a pinch of kosher salt. The eggs went into the pan (Lily got the bowl to lick) where they cooked over medium heat. As the egg set, I moved them gently about with a spatula.   In about three minutes, just as my hands were thawing out from the barn chores, I had perfect scrambled eggs.   If I thought I’d have to separate eggs for yolks, and then find a use for the extra whites, I would have had cereal instead. That said, sometimes even I embellish scrambled eggs with cheese and/or sautéed vegetables....

Spa Treatment Update – HenBlog – Monday, December 15, 2014

...for the backyard chicken keeper. I’ve written why here. Instead, you have to be able to observe your birds and make decisions on your own. The honest truth is that most of the time hens show signs of illness only when they are suffering from something fatal – cancer, peritonitis, internal laying, ascites, etc. In those cases, euthanasia is a kindness. But, once in awhile, the hen has a problem that can be alleviated, and almost always, the cure is my Spa Treatment. Simply put, it is a warm epsom salt soak and a dose of olive oil. Read why...

Lily is on Bed Rest – HenBlog – Monday, May 18, 2015

...tire the mind and thus calm the body. It will be interesting to see if the deer and predator situation changes now that Lily is not patrolling the backyard. Scooter is confused by all of this – instead of Lily protecting him from hawks outside, one of us hovers over him. He can’t play zoomies with his best friend, and the mealtime routine has changed. Yesterday he sat on the steps and yowled. (This video is from a previous howling session, but it’s what it was like.) Have you had a dog on extended bed rest? What did you do?...

Beauty All Around – The Vintage Hen – Friday, October 18, 2013

...no one could get out of their houses to go trick or treating. This year, though, the beauty is here, and instead of being fleeting, it gets more and more stunning as the days pass. This is a tree in my front yard.   Here it is a week later.   What makes this so gorgeous are the layers of color. Look closely and you see patterns in bright green, shocks of orange, and that glowing yellow. All against a dark trunk and blue sky. I mean, really. Really. Even those of us who have lived in New England for...

Digging Dandelions – HenBlog – Wednesday, April 18, 2012

I have a large lawn. I don’t need it to be perfect, but I do try to keep the lawn free of dandelions. The problem with dandelions is that although they’re pretty from a distance, their leaves spread out and kill grass. Eventually you have lumpy, dull greens and bare patches of dirt instead of lawn. I don’t use chemicals to control the weeds. I know someone who did, and all of the fish in his pond died. Other things, important things, like bugs and microbes, die, too. Besides, even though I don’t want yellow dandelions in my lawn, I...

Love, Chickens and the Ikea Effect – HenBlog – Thursday, February 14, 2013

Last week I heard a piece on the radio about the Ikea Effect. Basically, the Ikea Effect says that labor done by the purchaser adds to a higher valuation of the product. Food manufacturers could easily make cake mixes that require only the stirring in of water, but instead, they formulate the product to require eggs: cracking an egg and mixing it into the batter makes the consumer feel that she has baked a better cake. When we work to build a bookshelf (however crooked it turns out) we value it more than a similar shelf that we haven’t made....

B is for Bantam – The Vintage Hen – Saturday, December 20, 2014

  In all of my years of chicken keeping, I’ve only kept two types of bantams – silkies and white leghorns. Any Sebright owners out there? Does the poem ring true?   Note the typo – lav instead of lay. Please share this series with your hen-loving friends! The icons down to the right make it easy....

Snoring Horse – HenBlog – Monday, November 16, 2015

...leaf blower. Or maybe a horse in pain. Or a piece of machinery inadvertently left on. The other thing about wearing CIs is that I have minimal directional hearing. Especially with an unknown sound, I don’t have a clue where it’s coming from. I walked down the aisle, on alert. That’s when I saw Lano, sprawled out. His eyes were open and he was making the most awful noise. I didn’t panic. I let my brain make sense of the scene. Instead of finding a disaster, I had come across a totally ridiculous and hilarious horse. He was snoring. Enjoy....

Pecking Order – HenBlog – Thursday, July 19, 2012

...can circle around it and no one gets trapped in a corner when trying to eat. Add a second waterer outside. When providing treats, set them out in several places. Chickens get bored, and hens kept in small dirt pens will get in trouble. That’s why I don’t give treats like corn that they quickly gobble up, but instead provide a compost in the run so that they have an interesting place to scratch for hours. That’s also why I give them pumpkins in the fall, hang a cabbage in the run when they’re closed up due to snow, and...

A Busy Week – HenBlog – Monday, November 23, 2015

Across America, people are getting ready for Thanksgiving. In my house we don’t do the big family meal, with turkey and the fixings. Instead, on the weekend following Thanksgiving we have the Pie Party. It’s an event that I invented, and for my family and friends it has become a much looked forward to tradition. (If you type Pie Party into the HenBlog search bar, you can read about all of the parties from past years.) The party is all pies. That’s it. A lot of pie. This year I’ll have more than 30 guests, and each one eats half...

Rewards, Not Threats – HenBlog – Friday, February 5, 2016

...going forward was also all about threats and pain. He moved with reluctance. Instead of walking on when Laura squeezed with her legs, Lucky braced and worried about what was next. Because he didn’t move, Laura did what she’d been taught – she kicked – and when that didn’t get Lucky to move, she used the whip. What Lucky had been anticipating and bracing against came true. Both horse and rider were frustrated. We changed that dynamic, too. Like with the girthing up, we stopped punishing and started rewarding. By the end of the lesson, a gentle press by Laura’s...

Cuckoo Marans Egg – HenBlog – Thursday, March 19, 2015

...white egg laid by Twiggy, and it’s not the smoothly beige eggs laid by the two Red Stars. Hers is the odd brown one. What a surprise, then, that the other day she laid a dark brown egg! I’ve put it in this bowl so that you can see it in comparison to other eggs. The white one is from the Andalusian, Misty. The spotted one is from Jasper, the Welsummer. The light brown eggs are from Nancy Drew and Beulah. The dark egg – that’s Veronica’s!   It’s dappled instead of being uniformly brown. But that’s okay. Thanks, Veronica!...

Trimming The Goats’ Hooves – HenBlog – Wednesday, September 18, 2013

...reward. In this case, cut up pieces of apple.     I’d be lying if I said that all goes according to plan. They are goats. Pip would rather sit in my lap than stand, and Caper would rather turn sideways. But, it’s a lot easier than trying to wrestle the boys immobile while plying sharp shears. In any event, with Steve clicking the goats for standing properly, and with me fearlessly wielding the cutters, the job gets done fairly quickly. Too quickly for the boys. That’s the thing about using training instead of restraint, it’s enjoyable for the animals....

The Broody Hen – HenBlog – Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Those of us with only a few backyard hens appreciate each and every egg that our girls lay. As daylight lengthens and the weather warms, our younger hens lay an egg a day. For a while we bask in the riches. And then it stops. One hen, or two, or more go broody. They huff up, they sit in their nesting boxes, in bad temper and they stop laying eggs. Instead of having cartons of eggs in the fridge, and the resulting “problem” of what to do with them, (will it be a custard? bread pudding? frittata?) there is an...

Nesting Box Drama – HenBlog – Tuesday, September 10, 2013

...instead of in them, where she’d been quite content to go for the last few weeks? I’ve found that hens are sensitive to the angle of light coming into the boxes. The morning light is lower and hitting her favored box differently. Phoebe’s corner is darker and more inviting. Also, the pullets have been in and out of the boxes, the non-layers trying them out. They’ve kicked out much of the shavings. Phoebe’s hay was more inviting than a thin layer of shavings. So, I deeply bedded the nesting boxes.   I also returned the wooden eggs that I thought...

A Life Transformed – HenBlog – Tuesday, December 17, 2013

...favorite animals, and yet I was tense, trying to make sense of what people said to me, trying to listen and respond. Instead of being a good trip to the barn, I left exhausted and sad. You might think that that shouldn’t affect the riding, that horses don’t care if you can hear. They don’t. But the experience of keeping a horse is also tied up in the interactions with the humans at the barn, and I couldn’t do it. Now that I have CIs, I can talk with the other boarders at the stable, I can hear another horse...

Worms – HenBlog – Thursday, January 21, 2010

...probably around 1890. It was unlikely that the soil harbored parasites. But, every time I bring in a new animal, or visit a friend’s farm and then wear the same clothes in my backyard (I should disinfect, but don’t, it all seems so benign at the time), I run the risk of introducing harmful pathogens and parasites. My first line of defense is that I’m fanatical about keeping my coop runs and paddock clean. There’s no manure build-up to host eggs and larvae. I provide the flock with food-grade diatomaceous earth (see the blog archives for more about this.) Instead...

Where's the Tail? – HenBlog – Tuesday, November 21, 2006

...growers try to control the molt. They want their hens to all start and stop at the same time, and they want it to happen as quickly as possible. They practice “controlled starvation” to bring this about. But that’s still iffy, so they’re working on chemical means to initiate the molt. Enough said. That’s not happening with our girls. Instead, I look at the molt as nature’s way of giving the hens a break from the resource-depleting job of egg laying. And isn’t it nice to know that even the beauties among us have a bad hair (feather) day? :)...

Early Summer Blooms – HenBlog – Monday, May 31, 2010

So far it’s been a lush summer. Lots of rain, but it’s not been the sort of cold drenches that kills off tender plants.Instead, we’ve had gentle rain and then sunny heat. The peonies bloomed, and without driving rain or high winds, they’ve stayed upright and full-petaled. The daisies are in bloom under the one peach tree. The goats look longingly at these plants. That’s the electric goat fence, which is effective in keeping them out. The lily in the pond bloomed. The Beast lurks under it, in the lily pad’s shade. This old-fashioned climbing hydrangea shares the trellis on...

Goats Gambol – HenBlog – Friday, February 26, 2010

My bedroom window looks out into the backyard. When I woke this morning, delighted to see the sun (a brief respite before more snow and rain) I lucked out and saw Pip at the very moment that my husband opened his stall door to let him out. I think that Pip was as surprised to see the sun as I was. Instead of a inch of standing water on top of ice, there was bare ground underfoot. Pip leapt. He ran. He bounced. In short, he gamboled. I grinned. And I thought, how often does a person get to use...

Hungry (but fussy) Goats – HenBlog – Monday, January 25, 2010

It’s raining. The chickens have heads of cabbage to keep them busy and full. The goats hate to get wet. They’re stuck inside and bored. I have one of their favorite foods in my fridge’s vegetable bin – Italian flat leaf parsley. I thought I’d be nice to them and feed it to them instead of cooking with it. I carefully made my way out to the barn. I have to stomp through the snow because the shoveled path is too slippery. The boys look delighted to see me. I offer the parsley. They sniff, but, they don’t even nibble....

Waiting… – HenBlog – Thursday, January 14, 2010

...already de-wormed. Their paddock is virgin goat territory. So, instead of hitting them with a wormer, I’ll pay for a fecal, find out exactly what is (or isn’t) inside of them, and only treat for that. At least, that was the plan. Yesterday I pulled on my boots and my coat and grabbed a plastic bag. It was cold, but I didn’t bother with gloves. After all, how long would I have to wait? The boys are pooping machines. They were very happy to see me. They were out of hay, and let me know it. I gave them a...

Who Was Here? – HenBlog – Thursday, January 7, 2010

...been there since before the Revolutionary War. In fact, the Minute Men marched down it to the infamous bridge in Concord where some say the war started. It’s name comes from the fact that it is two rods wide. The stone walls are still there. But now, instead of fields on either side, there are woods. Perfect places for little animals to live. Someone besides us was also out and about yesterday. I imagine the pitter-pattering tiny feet, the furry belly dragging in the snow, the tail marking a fine line behind. I’m not a tracker, and my Guide to...

Odds and Ends – HenBlog – Monday, October 26, 2009

...integrate the punk rock girls into the big barn, they are doing fine in with the HenCam flock. They’ve even discovered that they are in the middle of the pecking order, not the bottom. Joy! No one has pecked their heads for a week. However, they’ve turned the roosting routine topsy-turvy. They now sleep where Marge and Petunia used to perch. The leghorns, instead of being on the second rung, now crowd into a nesting box. The social order is settling out, but it’s not done yet. I’ve got a long list of names for the new girls but am...

Links – HenBlog – Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Every morning I get a report listing what internet searches have led people to HenCam. A lot of you are looking for information about building coops, some like animal webcams, others are researching chicken breeds. Then there are the folks who find my hen house when they’ve actually been trolling for something else. In England, bachelorette parties are called “hen parties.” Personally, I’d rather hang out with my chickens than get silly drunk at a bar, however I doubt that the soon-to-be married are going to watch HenCam instead of have an embarrassing night on the town. (Too bad…) Yesterday,...

Kindergarten – HenBlog – Friday, May 4, 2007

...mind – and then pluck! Last year, many of the girls had bare butts because of Snowball. It stopped over the winter, but she has started up again. A time-out and explanation might work for a real kindergartner, but not this girl. At the same time that Snowball had resumed de-flocking the flock, I bought two new bantam white leghorns. These hens are so pretty in their perfect white feathers and bright red upright combs, that I call them “the party girls.” But, instead of having a good time, they’ve been harassed by the other hens who are bigger and...

Broody Hens – HenBlog – Monday, June 18, 2007

It’s that time of year when half of my emails are about broody hens. A broody hen is one that stops laying. Instead, she is fixated on sitting on the nest as if she is going to hatch a clutch of eggs. A broody hen will sit whether there are eggs under her or not. Her feathers will fluff up and she might pluck a few out, all so that her body temperature rises, so if there were eggs there, they’d be the right temperature to develop into chicks. Broodiness varies by the hen and the breed, but it can...

Phoebe’s Day – HenBlog – Tuesday, November 5, 2013

...safely tucked away from nighttime predators. I didn’t want to chase her in, so instead I trained her to come. Knowing what she wants and being consistent is the key. Every night she watches me close up the Big Barn and put the goats away. She kicks up her heels and does one last tear around the pen, and then she runs inside for her treat. Banana chips. I feed her two, then close up the pop door and say good-night. A bag of banana chips is $1.19. If you’d like to send Phoebe a present and support what I...

HenCam Technical FAQ – HenBlog – Saturday, March 7, 2009

...web camera and attach it directly to your computer using a USB cable. These cameras are generally used for video conferencing and video instant messaging, but instead of pointing the camera at you, just point it out the window. Unfortunately the camera has to remain indoors and close to the computer (maximum length of a USB cable is 5 meters). Also typically you can only watch the video from that computer. For more information see this tutorial at HowStuffWorks. Network camera If the camera has to be far away from your computer then you need a network camera. These self-contained...

Win a Book! – HenBlog – Sunday, January 25, 2009

I have been thrilled to get emails from librarians telling me how much they love Tillie. My book is being used for story hours! HenCam is seen on library computer screens. People are talking about their favorite chickens (which is just the subject matter that I think librarians should be sharing with their public!) Instead of a “chicken in every pot” I’d like to see Tillie Lays an Egg in every library. To that end, I’m going to donate a copy of Tillie to a library (school or public) of the winner’s choice. All you have to do to enter...

Egg Laying in Winter – HenBlog – Monday, January 19, 2009

...a timer in the big barn. Hens need 14 hours of light to lay. I’m giving them that with a 60 watt bulb. Instead of no eggs, I’m getting 1 or 2 a day from six hens. Better than none. The girls in the hencam barn, without the light, stopped laying entirely. It looks like this outside: but I know the tide has turned, because of this in the hencam barn today: I think that it’s Lulu’s. But it might be from Marge. I’m thankful, not only for the egg, but the optimism that this snowy, icy winter isn’t permanent....

Coco Joins the Flock – HenBlog – Tuesday, November 11, 2008

...been my plan, since that barn has a lot more space.) So, instead, Ginger, who used to live with some of these hens in the big barn was switched over. I felt bad for her, kind of like when the teacher in school makes the good kid sit near the bullies, “to be a good influence.” Anyway, Ginger can hold her own, and didn’t even get a feather mussed in the transition. Yesterday I put all the chickens out on the lawn again, but this time I put Coco in the Hencam barn run. I made sure that she knew...

Perrie – HenBlog – Friday, August 1, 2008

...she was molting, as hens stop laying when they molt. She lost some tail feathers, but nothing else. She was eating and acting normal. Then, two days ago, I noticed that Perrie had minor diarrhea. Yesterday I noticed that she was sitting on a roost instead of going out on the lawn with the other girls. Although Perrie didn’t show any respiratory distress, the runny poo and the quiet behavior was enough for me to isolate her in a dog crate. I wiped her butt with a paper towel, but didn’t see anything amiss. Decided I’d give her a bath...

Thank You Birds and Bugs – HenBlog – Monday, June 23, 2008

...son made when he was five. Everything is “wrong” with this box – from the color – black – to the size of the opening. Yet this bird calls it home. (This weathervane, by the way, is on top of the HenCam barn. Made by this company in California.) Early this spring, we had to deal with Asian Ladybugs in the house. Tens of thousands of them had over wintered in our window casings. Some were confused and came indoors instead of finding their way outside. Yuck! But, it was worth it. My birch tree in the front, which always...

Huffy Hen – HenBlog – Thursday, June 12, 2008

...feathers stick out. She looks twice her size. Instead of a gentle happy cluck when you come into the barn, she rasps an angry greeting. A hen who has always been pleasant to the others will go out of her way to chase them. Unless you want to hatch chicks under your hen, when she goes broody it is a big pain. Not to mention that she stops laying eggs. If you have only a few hens, you’ll certainly miss that egg at your table. What to do? Try to break up the broody spell by unceremoniously kicking her out...

What I Do for My Hens… – HenBlog – Wednesday, May 21, 2008

I gave Buffy a bath today. I’ve got a dog grooming sink (4 foot x 1 1/2 feet) in my laundry room (instead of a utility sink, clever, huh?) See April 9th’s blog for a photo of Buffy in a bath. This time the tub was filled with sudsy warm water. The lice leave a crusty white crud at the base of vent feathers. I wanted to get that off. It took three changes of water and quite a bit of time. Then it took 45 minutes to blow dry her! She rather liked that part. Buff Orpingtons have a...