This was the view on the GoatCam this morning:

I’m surprised that I didn’t get an email or two from worried viewers urging me to run out to the barn to check on a dying goat. Pip does look like a beached whale. Is that bloated belly about to pop? No worries. This is what I call Pip’s “dead goat imitation.” Despite the fact that I knew he was just sleeping, I still went out to make sure that he was okay. As soon as the goats heard the back porch door open, they were up on their feet.

What? said Pip. Look, I’m positively svelte. Starving, in fact.

And itchy.

My small town (population around 5,000) celebrates Old Home Day on the Saturday before July 4th. It’s one of the best things about living here, and I make a point of staying put over the holiday. I’ve missed fewer than a half-dozen in the more than twenty years that I’ve lived in this town. There’s an ice cream social, a pet show, a frog jumping contest, a country fair with booths selling cotton candy, trail maps, and crafts (I was there with my Vintage Chicken Photographs postcard book and bags made from feedsacks.) There’s a ceremony honoring citizens, and the Minute Men fire off muskets. There’s even a soap box derby and a dunking booth!

It wouldn’t be a celebration without a parade. Ours doesn’t allow politicians. There are no marching bands. A horse and an American flag leads off.

There are floats. Sort of.

The Cub Scouts throw candy to the cheering crowds people (it seems as if half of the population is in the parade, so there aren’t that many folks lining the route.)

People dance down the street (this group raises money to support the school.)

There are vintage cars and our new fire truck (driven by the only on-call, volunteer firefighters in the county.)

It’s so exciting that most everyone takes a nap in the afternoon, and then returns to town for the Chicken BBQ at the fire station and then the CAKE WALK. A cake walk is like musical chairs, but the winner gets a cake.

The cakes are donated by people who go to the cake walk. This year, 89 were dropped off at the town hall. For 50¢ you get a chance to win. I won!

On July 4th I’ll be at a friend’s cookout. I’m bringing a huge green salad (my lettuce is at its peak) and deviled eggs. Do you have plans? Let me know!

The rabbit hutch was old, and this past week of high humidity and heat finally did it in. Ants were using it as a highway, and earwigs moved into the hay. Everyday I replaced the hay and everyday the insects returned. Phoebe let me know that she had no intention of going into the hutch unless forced. I didn’t blame her.

The old rabbit house was thrown out and replaced with a clean, dry and comfy (or so I thought) newer hutch. The chickens checked it out and declared it excellent.

Ancient Twinkydink said that it was about time that she was given a ramp into a nesting box. She’s now laying an egg in there every three days. Not bad for an 8-year old hen!

Phoebe said, The chickens are welcome to it! She saw no reason to go into the hutch during the day. Rabbit pellets are uninteresting to her compared to what else can be found. There’s usually greens and woody things to chew on in the compost pile.

Inside are more greens in the treat holder.

There’s room to run, which gets the goats going, too.

Like Candy did, Phoebe uses the corner of the pen as a litter box. Bunnies are tidy. (The goats and chickens could learn something from her!)

It’s been hot and humid, and the concrete floor of the coop is cooling. Phoebe found the perfect spot underneath the nesting boxes. She convinced Buffy to vacate the premises, and none of the other hens think to bother her there. There’s plenty of room to sit up and groom.

She’s moved the shavings to the side so that she can stretch out and stay cool.

Letting Phoebe making use of the full coop and run during the day is fine with me, but I wanted her to sleep in the hutch at night. I didn’t want her on the floor with the chicken manure. I worried that in the morning, when all of the chickens came off of the roosts, that it would be too crowded and that she’d be subject to pecking. I wanted her in her hutch, where she’d have hay to eat at night (rabbits stay busy in the dark.) But, those are all of my worries and wants. Phoebe didn’t share them. She wants to sleep on the concrete floor. She likes the company of the hens. She likes the hubbub in the coop in the morning. I listened to her arguments (for a silent rabbit, she’s quite clear in her communication) but was still not entirely convinced. Then my son pointed out that the mosquitos were bothering her at night in the hutch, but that they weren’t in the coop (the hens eat them.) Phoebe had made her choice, and finally I was fine with it. She can sleep in the coop. I’ll leave the hutch in the run. It’s a good place for her food and hay. Who knows, maybe she’ll decide that in the winter the concrete floor is too cold and she’ll move in. I’ll be listening to her. She’s a smart rabbit.

After my experience with the American Robins and the mites, you might think that I’d wish all of the wild birds would leave my yard, but that’s not how I feel at all. I just don’t want them on my porch or in my barns. Yes, there’s an inherent risk that my hens will be in contact with their wild feathered cousins and contract a disease or parasites. But, prudent management (without going overboard and locking the hens up) minimizes the likelihood that my flock will be endangered. I’m happy to provide homes for bluebirds.

I’m delighted to see them reducing the insect population to feed their babies.

Those little ones are voracious and demanding!

I love seeing flashes of blue in the backyard.

I’m looking forward to watching the local bird population from my nest and mite-free porch.

(note: photographs taken by Steve)

Chickens are charming because they are innately curious, busy-body birds. They’re in constant motion, investigating new things (is this shiny droplet food?), socializing, scratching, pecking, dozing, and chasing (each other and anything small that moves that might be edible.) Unless they are outside in a large and complex environment, they get bored. Boredom, as with all animals, leads to trouble. With chickens, that trouble leads to bad behaviors, like pecking each other, and pulling out feathers (their own and others). Chickens that would otherwise be high-status hens become bullies. Chickens that would otherwise be wallflowers are cornered and pounded on. When that happens, you end up with a flock that has more in common with its dinosaur ancestors than with the delightful farm animals that you’d imagined.

In many backyard situations, chickens are housed in a too-small confines, with a dirt yard and nothing to do. They’re fed treats, like cracked corn, that they fill up on quickly. This is bad for their systems, and they get fat, which leads to egg-laying issues and disease. Add boredom to the mix, and it can be a lethal situation. But, proper housing and management can alleviate all of these issues!

Assuming that you have enough space for your flock, (I’ve written about minimum coop and pen sizes here) what follows are ways to keep your hens from being bored.

Uppermost in a chicken’s mind is eating. A hen is hard-wired to search for food by looking and scratching. It’s not enough to provide pellets out of a feeder, as that need to hunt and peck will end up being focused on something else (like a hen at the bottom of the flock’s status or eating feathers.) Provide places to scratch and things to peck that will last hours, if not all day.

Watermelon, pumpkins, and other large, hard-shelled foods can be put out for your hens and will keep them busy for hours. These foods are also a healthy addition to their diet (unlike the sweet high calorie feed blocks that I don’t recommend.)

Provide a decomposing log for them to peck at. Move it around once a week or so to expose the soft ground and bugs underneath.

What keeps my hens the busiest is the compost pile inside of the chicken run. This photo shows a mess of green weeds that I’ve just put in there. The girls will pick out bugs, eat the greens and shred the rest. They’ll dig down and turn over the compost. It is an endlessly fascinating place for them. They’ll get good things to eat and stay busy, and I’ll get rich, loose dark dirt in a month.

Provide something new for them to investigate. Simply putting in a pine branch will make their day.

Although chickens don’t fly (at least not well, it’s more like the dancing hippos in Fantasia) they do like to get up off the ground, and they like height options. Provide outside roosts. (Not every chicken gets to have conversations with goats, but they do like interacting with other species.)

They also like stumps.

Dust baths are essential both for health and for the social life of the flock. The run should have a loose pile of dirt to get into.

You have to give your flock things to do during inclement weather. Just like children can drive a parent crazy on a rainy day, so too, your chickens will need distractions when stuck indoors. A kitty litter box half-filled with sand and some food-grade DE will give them something to do.

Greens tucked into a suet feeder will also keep the chickens out of trouble.

And, of course, you can always set up a rousing game of cabbage tetherball.

It doesn’t take much to engage your chickens in activities that will keep everyone happy – including you, because, really, being a spectator to the antics is part of the fun.