Ralph emailed me this video
of his Cornish Cross chickens drinking out of our homemade chicken
waterer. Those
birds sure do look excited by their new toy! I love the
simplicity of his setup (and the turkey walking past.)
With
a few winter trips on the horizon, we’ve decided to consolidate all of
our chickens into the forest pasture. Our coop was built with young
broilers in mind, so it lacked a few essential accoutrements of laying
hen life — namely, a sturdy perch and a couple of nest boxes.
Mark took an hour last
week to give the coop a makeover. An egg crate and an old freezer
basket make quick and sturdy nest boxes while costing next to nothing
to install. In his usual ingenious
fashion, Mark tacked the nest boxes to the wall in such a way that
we’ll be able to reach in from outside the coop to collect the day’s
eggs.
During warm weather our five gallon
bucket waterer turns
the chicken pasture into the sort of operation you check on once a week
or less. Since freezing water can be a problem in the dead of
winter, though, Mark plans to experiment with making a heated version
of the Avian Aqua Miser. Our goal is to be
able to leave the farm for a week in the winter with as few worries as
when we take a long summer vacation.
One of my favorite parts of
our annual
chicken waterer photo contest is seeing everyone’s
beautiful chickens. Rosie’s Welsummer rooster and Aracauna, Buff
Cochin, and Blue Andalusion hens are some of the most handsome birds
I’ve ever seen. I was especially taken by the last — who has
ever seen a hen with silver legs and metallic plumage?
A little reading on the
Blue Andalusion turns up the fascinating tidbit that Mendel used these
unique birds in his studies of heredity. The breed is quite rare
since Andalusions don’t always breed true — half of the offspring of
a purebred Blue Andalusion hen and rooster will be either black or
white instead of gray. As an egg-layer, the Andalusion is so-so,
laying about 160 eggs per year.