At 13 weeks, the chicks appear to be chickens although they still sleep in a pile on the floor in a corner of the coop and they’re still months away from laying eggs.
It’s been a tough winter so far--the coldest since the 1970s blizzard years I’ve heard. The chicks went out to the coop during a thaw before New Years and it has hardly been above freezing since, with most days not getting out of the 20’s and nights in the teens and single digits. I worry a lot, but the birds seem to be handling it well for the most part. The coop is utterly draft-free--my biggest worry there is how much ventilation I should provide during these bitter nights. They do seem comfortable in the coop--apparently they feel like I do when I’m in my Carhartt’s with hat and gloves.
They like to pick off the snow from my legs and boots.
There have been some issues. Early on I noticed a lot of feathers from all the birds on the floor of the coop and I suspected feather-picking. I never spotted the culprit, although if it was only one chicken, it had to be one of the Orpingtons. I checked them all over carefully for bald patches, found none, and increased their protein with black-oil sunflower seeds and backed off on the carb-heavy scratch mix. The loose feathers seem to be decreasing, and I haven’t seen anything that resembles aggression in anybody.
Another thing I worry about a little is that they refuse to go out into their run if there’s any snow at all on the ground (and there nearly always has been this winter), so by their own choice they’ve been cooped up all winter. This has got to increase their boredom which will certainly contribute to the feather problem above. On the other hand it’s just as well they aren’t pining to roam since the inch of ice we got last week has totally incapacitated the electric fence and a hawk hit a window during a strafing run just a few days after they initially went out.
The latest issue is that one of the Orpingtons (I think it’s Goldi but I confess to no longer being able to tell them apart) has developed a reddened face and a constant head-flicking that goes along with a low-pitched sort of growl-cluck. She seems uncomfortable, but I can’t tell what her problem is. Yesterday, I looked her over, decided that perhaps her face is irritated from the cold and spread a little Vasoline on her skin (recommended to prevent frostbite), which of course irritated her even more.
Everybody else seems happy and healthy. Since I’ve lost track of the Orpingtons I haven’t been able to determine a pecking order. I notice Belle and Zen tend to hang back, one or more of the Orpingtons is always first to venture outside if they dare to go, and that Rachel is happy to approach me. They’re not exactly hand-tame anymore; they always retreat to the far corner when I come in, but if I stand still they come right up.
The groundhog predicted an early spring this year. We’re ready!
