The leaves are turning, the goats have grown thick coats, and the hens are molting. Winter is on its way. This was the time of year that flocks were thinned and all hens over two years of age were harvested and canned for winter meals. The youngest hens were kept on, as were a favorite chicken or two.

This photo shows a family in Maine. It’s telling that the portrait was taken with a rooster, a hen, and a cat. No doubt that they were all loved pets.

It looks cold, doesn’t it? But you can be sure that those chickens didn’t have an insulated barn and heat lamps and did just fine! Your hens will be fine this winter, too. Shelter them in a draft-free, dry and clean coop, and keep them busy with cabbages and greens. When there’s snow and ice on the ground, shovel what you can and spread some hay so that they can step outside for fresh air and exercise. For more about how to care for chickens in cold winter weather, read my FAQ.

My collection of vintage poultry books and pamphlets have charming graphics, and they’re worth seeking out just for that, but they also are filled with excellent advice. Three things were consistently recommended: sunshine, greens and exercise. Even as flocks became larger, and feed was bought instead of grown on the farm, this advise still held true. In 1929 the Wirthmore Feeds company put out a booklet. You’d think they’d have a vested interest in confined birds that ate only their product, and a lot of it. But, no! The cover showed busy chickens outside on grass.

(As an aside, I so want that apron!)

Even inside the barn Wirthmore advised a system that encouraged the hens to scratch and mill about.

So, before you toss handfuls of mealworms and cracked corn to your girls, remember the advice from the Wirthmore Feeds company. What your hens need are exercise, healthy foods and fresh air. Sounds like words of wisdom that I should follow, too.

PS For a useful vintage egg record chart see this post.

Spencer Webb came over today to take a headshot of me (he’s the talented guy who took that shot of Steve and I.) He tried to get a nicely posed and composed photo of me sitting on the couch. Scooter jumped up, licked my nose, and then showed off his butt to the camera. He tried to take pics of me and the hens. They flapped. They pecked. They didn’t exactly stand still. Then I said, It won’t be any trouble at all, let’s get one of  me and the goats. Let’s just say that the goats did not perform like this.

illustration from "Nick, Nac, Nob, and Nibble" by Barbara Webster, 1930

As soon as Spencer recovers, he’ll send me the photos and I’ll share them with you.

Poor Biddy. All she wants is to broodily sit on eggs, but instead, each day a little girl takes them away.

The story goes on to recount how that same little girl puts duck eggs in the nest, which Biddy hatches. Ducklings are not the dear chicks that Biddy had imagined. When the ducklings go swimming she exclaims, To stand this I cannot, and leave them I must! 

Sorry, Biddy, parenting is filled with those lessons!

The Troubles of Biddy, written by Isabel Byrum was publlished in 1917. Illustrations by Margaret Evans Price.

I saw this box of signs at Brimfield,

and I knew exactly what I had to do.

You know how it is. Sometimes there’s a crowd waiting to get in, chatting away.

And sometimes there’s a polite line.

I have a sign in the Big Barn, too.

Now all I need is a Boys sign for the goat’s stall. I could have purchased one that said Gentlemen, but that wasn’t quite right.