Calcium for Chickens

Here's the chicken question for all my hen experts/friends.
Do you all give your girls added calcium?
I'm not just concerned with the egg shell quality but also with their physical well being as the calcium is depleted from their bodies.
Is the calcium added to their feed enough?  If I add another form of calcium to their diet, what is too much?

They're only 7-8 months old so I've been told their calcium level should be optimum right now, but I'm assuming that egg production depletes their system even at this age.

I have been saving our egg shells, letting them dry out, and grinding them up to add to their feed.

Had only one instance of the girls attacking one of their eggs.  Occasionally I'll find an egg on the coop floor and yesterday morning, as I walked in they discovered an egg on the floor and ate the whole thing up.  If it happens again, I'll have to resort to a different method.

Anyway, can some of you share your knowledge and experience.

Golda Finds the Nesting Hot Spot

Golda has clearly indicated her preference for nesting areas.  The primo spot (in her opinion) is the hay aisle of the donkey shed.

The other day I let the donkeys out into the pasture, then allowed the chickens out into the donkey yard (as is the new normal routine).  I was doing some clean-up and left the hay aisle open.  Golda saw her opportunity.

 If you look carefully you'll see her at the bottom of the straw bales on the right.  She started working on her nest immediately.

The other three were a little upset, standing on the other side of the aisle fencing.  Golda didn't seem pleased to have them there and was making an aggressive sound I've not heard before.  I left her alone, and sure enough, there was an egg.

So, clever me says, OK she must want straw bedding (I use shavings).  I cleaned out a nesting box, stuffed some straw in and she wouldn't touch it.  For days.  No one would.  Out comes the straw and back in go the shavings.

Yesterday we went through the same routine.  Hay aisle left open = 1 egg.

Golda in Peril

A few days ago, Golda, one of my favorite hens, almost met her fate.

I decided to wander out and give treats to donks and hens in the early evening, taking the dogs with me.  The two dogs raced up the driveway ahead of me as I biked.  When I approached them, I saw a loose chicken dive into the weeds with dogs in hot pursuit.

Now wait a minute, that must be one of the hens from next door.

Initially I didn't think I could do much to intervene between dogs and hen.  Then I ran for a whip, thinking I could screech (what I do best in panic situations) at the dogs and distract them.  Suddenly I see Golda appear from the weeds and dogs weren't going for the attack.

I scooped her up and she nestled right in.  Unscathed.  It was a miracle.

About two hours later I returned to the coop to lock up and the little girl was loose again.  I knew I had locked her up in the hen pen!  She didn't want to be picked up this time and was walking the boundary of the pen when, what do you know, there was a gap between side and end fencing for her to slip back in.  So I put a monkey wrench in her next great escape plans and slipped a motorcycle tire in that spot (we have them in the donkey yard to play with).

 Rick tightened that section up first thing the next morning.

I have to tell you the whole incident left me anxious for quite some time.
The hens have become an integral part of our menagerie and I thought I had lost one.
Took a while for my heart to resume normal operation...
The puzzler then was, what stopped the dogs.  Somehow I don't believe they know the chickens are not fair game for them.  But what else stopped the kill.

Rules of the House

The rule of the house is:  if the chickens have been let out into the donkey yard, dogs stay inside the house.
There are no deviations from that rule; it is written in stone.

Except when one of us forgets...

This morning it was Rick.  Chickens had been out about an hour or so. I was noodling on the computer in a room that faces the driveway when I saw one of the dogs scampering up the drive in the general direction of  four girls.  I ran from the room yelling, "NO!".  Rick heard me, realized the severity of the situation and came flying up from the basement.

Luckily Dudley hadn't gone far and was easily captured.

Gunner was enticed back -- by the offer of a ride in the car.  Treats don't normally get his attention, but hearing the car start and the door open did the trick.

Quite the opposite with the other black dog -- food is always his motivator.  Always.

A happy ending to the story.  Chickens got locked up and dogs got a brief car ride.

Sexy Donkeys

When farrier Koren came over last, she exclaimed upon seeing Gabby, "She looks sexy!" And indeed she does.  Finally fully shed out, she is a sexy, sexy girl.

Obviously you agree.  She is sleek and sassy looking.  As I've mentioned, her personality has taken a turn for the better.  She's now more social and invites rubs  -- it only took five years! However, she'll never quite be the apple of my eye as Fran is.

  





Fran is my love muffin.  I can throw straw and the other two ignore me, but not my Fran.  She'll take rubs and lovin' before
going for the meal.














And then there's Luigi, or "Weej" as I normally call him.

He never gets the sleek summer look that the girls achieve, but at least I can see that beautiful, Eyeore-like face without the winter fluff.

He is a gentle soul and is the most delicate take-the-carrot-out-of-your-fingers kind of guy.



How could one not love all three!

Chicken Explorers

A couple of days ago I decided to allow the chickens to free range, well, within the confines of the donkey yard.  We can't let the girls wander hither, thither, and yon because of the dogs.  But for a bit of time they were allowed a bit of freedom.

Sheets were hung on the front gate to prevent them from hopping through the bars.

Quite elegant looking, don't you agree?


They had quite the time investigating weeds, but apparently donkey poop was not of interest.

All four girls were totally intrigued with the straw chaff left by three wasteful donkeys.

Ruby Dee, in the back, is our first girl to lay.  Two little eggs are in the frig now.  As I took the second one out of the nest box today she craned her head up to look in the empty box and appeared quite perplexed and, could she have been dismayed?  I felt quite the scoundrel.

A lovely close-up of Golda Meir.

Let me add a little side story here.  After I let them loose, I settled in nearby to do some brutal trimming on one of the lilac bushes.  Its just a few feet from a wild mulberry bush.  Well, golly, now two days later I am covered in bug bites.  And I mean covered.  Rick believes they might be chigger bites.  I read that chiggers like to live near berry bushes.  Hmmm...  
Itching like crazy.  I'm vowing to never trim that goll darn bush again!

Competition and Jealousy in the Animal World

Isn't it interesting.  Competition and jealousy raises its head everywhere.

Take the dogs.
Well of course when it comes to anything remotely related to food the two dogs demand to be noticed.   But I suppose they don't try to edge each other out because they know they'll get a turn. Perhaps they're a little more aggressive when it comes to lovin'.  If Dudley is being rubbed by Rick, Gunner will climb into my lap or (try to) push Dudley away.

The chickens.
Poor Ruby Dee always seems to get shorted when it comes to treats.  It's become a habit that in the morning right after letting them out of the coop, I provide treats outside.  Bananas are their all time favorite, but they'll make do with apple, grapes and watermelon.  Equally relished are dried mealworms.  But for some reason my little Ruby Dee has not gotten the hang of grabbing a bite and running, as the others have.  She's still working on a piece by the time the others return for more.
Poor Ruby.

The donkeys.  Oh my, the donkeys.
They are gluttons when it comes to brushing.  I'll be in the midst of brushing Francesca, and Gabby will sidle up between us.  Again and again.  Stealthily (or so she thinks).
I'll, with difficulty. make the rounds of all three and Fran will get back in line.  "Please, another turn. It feels sooo good."

Excuse my negligence, but you'll have to make do with that shot of the donks.  It's not recent, and doesn't show how they've lost some (but not all) of their winter coats.  I'll work on snapping a current shot.