The New Henspa

But first....

 

Here's what I found in the old big henhouse tonight when I went out to do chores:

 

This, Friends, is a befouled waterer.  The nastiness on top is from starlings.  The nasty water you see in the rim is all that was left of it.  It was INSIDE.  When I went in to collect eggs, three starlings were flying crazily inside.

 

It was 60 degrees today here in Tonganoxie. 

 

I think the birds are trying to tell me something. \

 

You see, we have a forecast that says tomorrow night it is going to plummet to the thirties, and we have a warning of a mix of wind, rain and snow.  There are actually counties in Kansas that are under a blizzard warning.

 

I cleaned it up and refilled it, and the birds were glad to get a drink of clean water.

 

 

And here are the three turkeys; as you can see, Rosie and Helen are getting some color and are looking very well.  They both had colds when they came here, and were dosed with VetRx.  They have their ruffs up, so they think the cold is coming, too.  They are supposedly half bourbons, but don't look like it to me, really. 

 

 

This was late afternoon, but look at all the light in the new henspa.  There are now 22 birds in there, I have been moving birds little by little.

 

They absolutely love the roosts Keith built, and all line up on them at night.

 

 

The white hen is a frizzle cochin/silkie mix, and the hen on the left, one of the mille fleur D'Uccles.

 

 

These are the Naughty Girls, Muffy and Bitsy, from the little henhouse.  They will be three in the spring.  They were beginning to look pretty forlorn in the cold, and stuck to themselves daily, not moving around much.  They had a hard go of it when I put them in the henspa three days ago, but look now... they are coming out into the center of the floor and moving around. 

 

I've always liked these two little girls.

 

 

I put this picture in for one reason... only a few hens had gone to roost... but Snowball, the little hen on the left, was comfortably set in the "crook" of the roost, where the boards came together.  I think she looked so... satisfied.  You see, she was born in the little henhouse, where the roosts are literally only inches high, and she spent 6 months this year in the doghouse in the pasture pen, on no roosts at night.  She clearly likes what Keith hath wrought.

 

 

 

Fleura says "Nighty Night"

 

I have to go back out to the big henhouse, because here it is 9:32, and I can't remember closing the big pophole.  I sure hope I did, as the possums begin gathering at dusk. Maybe I'd better wake Lilly Ann up!