Darned chickens. Went to lock them up last night and was just doing a quick check of them overall, just to reassure myself before we go away, but I also often just scan them, make sure their toe nails are not too long (with them not free ranging at the moment, they only have very soft soil that is great for making dust baths with but not so good for wearing toe nails down, so a couple of them ended up needing their nails trimming at the weekend). And there were 3 with dirty backsides.... hair cut time in the dark... great. thankfully hubby helped because the 3 that needed it are the 3 fluffiest monsters (heaviest and almost biggest we have at 3-3.25kg each) we have and eventually you will find a chicken under all those feathers, but its going to take a long time to do so.... so done the first 2 and pick up the 3rd to check her over and instantly see that this is much more than a haircut job. this is a wash and blow dry, plus the butt cut job.... she is covered head to toe in crap and stinks. I'm guessing that she fell off her perch the night before and couldn't see to get back onto it so spent the night sleeping underneath all of the others... and there is no way she is going to get all that off her feathers and there is no way I can leave her in that state. But I can't wash her there and then because it's dark and cold and the only thing the weather is good for is dying! So she was brought down and put into the closer to home/needs attention chook house so that I could actually catch her this morning.
So just what you need before you go on holiday - not only do I need to get the DVD drive on my laptop replaced (that was the fun and games on Friday - calling a warranty repair in and working out how they are going to get it to me before I fly out of the country) and then this morning I can't wash her because I'm waiting for a Dell engineer to bring me a parts only part out to me (it was the only way they could guarantee that I received the new part)…. so after he arrived, a new chicken that doesn't like being handled had to be washed and blown dry. She managed 45 minutes of being blown dry before getting bored (I don't blame her, I was as well) but she's not dry and that means she can't go back outside until she is because it is only 4C outside right now. So she's in the dog cage in the mud room with the electric heater on (else the mud room will also only be 4C) and I too am in wet clothing... she was amazingly well behaved all things considered but bathing and blow drying (I only actually have a hair dryer for the chickens) a chicken 2 days before I fly off the continent is not what I really needed to be doing. (She needs to stay in until or after dark to make sure she is dry, then overnight down here so I can check on her in the morning and then I'll return her to the flock she's part of tomorrow morning assuming that all is well. She could go into shock, she could get hypothermia, she could get a cold... etc all of that must be avoided if she is to survive because I have to have her back in the main flock before I leave but if she is ill or stressed then going back into the flock isn't going to be a good thing for her. Ahhh chickens.
To anyone who thinks having chickens is a simple thing - is it a simple thing having a dog or a cat? you have to worm them, you have to treat them for fleas and lice, you have to look after them, clip their nails, take things out of their eyes, get them stitches when they cut themselves badly. Well it's not that much different with chickens. You have to worm them, treat them for lice and fleas. you have to clip their nails, give them first aid after fights, you have to give them tlc when they are ill, and you have to occasionally bathe them as well. No different from any other animal, domestic or farm (you don't have to do this to any other animal either, but it is expected of you and I won't cover the other arguments...)