Hooligans Strike Again

I have a million and one things to tell you but I'll confine my stories for fear of seeing some eye-rolling out there. 

First I'm announcing new little chicken names.

Meet Goldie.  Isn't she just the prettiest girl.

The name is self-explanatory.

Again, try as I might for a good photo of the other three, it just didn't work.

The two reds are Marigold and Helen Reddy -- Helen has been the most assertive of the new girls sticking up for herself with the older girls.  She's a bit larger than Marigold.

And Fluffie is the fourth.  Little tufts of feathers adorn her feet.  So cute. 

Without realizing it we have stopped calling the four, "the little girls" and refer to them as "the new girls".  They're integrating well, except for treat time.  That is still an issue; they let the older girls dominate and in the afternoons, after free-range time I segregate them to allow for treats.

And the new girls have started laying, or at least a couple have.  Blue-green eggs.

And then there are the donkeys.  Oh my.

I've just about had my fill of those four and would gladly allow them to relocate.  Yes, it's a temporary mood, but right now they can do no right.

A couple of weekends ago we went on an annual long weekend to Camp Michigania, just outside of Petoskey, Michigan.  Our housesitter extraordinaire, Judy, was here to care for the whole crew.  She told us via text the donks had nibbled the new manger so I was prepared (or so I thought) when we got home.

I'm surprised the darn thing was still standing!!

Then a couple of days ago, I let the chickens in after their free-range interlude and came upon this sight.

On the left, they ate through the chicken coop through to the insulation.

Why this odd behavior you ask.

Right about the time Judy came to housesit, the donks were pulled off the pasture for the fall.  There's not much out there at this point for them to munch and if allowed to graze out there will take what's left down to dirt.  Their feed has been upped accordingly.  But they're not happy.  And I'm not happy.

Last evening I threw about 3x the normal amount of shavings down for bedding and it was gone by morning.  Yup, they ate it.  This is somewhat normal this time of year but usually I can start to get a base layer down to build on.  Nope.

If anyone would like four donkeys...