Charlies Angels

Having been asked questions about raising our chickens, I thought it would be good if I just answer the questions here. Particularly aimed at Peggy from Alaska, a Foto Friday friend who asked some of the questions.
My brother Charlie lived in the trailer next to us and likes to raise chickens as a hobby.
Charlie's chickens, who we also refer to as 'our' chickens, Charlie's Angels, or 'the girls', numbered around 40 until he gave 20 away a couple weeks ago. They are White Leghorns, Buff Orpingtons, and another variety that escapes me.. they are black and white striped.. interesting. These hens are heavy and lay 2X sized eggs.
We have a small chicken coop where they normally like to roost at night. It has doors that close to keep them safe, and a fenced in area or chicken yard attached. We keep their feed inside the coop and have several big trash cans with lids that hold straw for nests. They have access to about 8 nesting boxes, but choose only 3 of them..go figure!?
They are fed commercially grown feed (laying mash) and cracked corn, but they also get the table scraps, and of course, they free range all day too. Keeps the insect population down in the garden ya know? They get all the damaged veggies and fruits all summer. It's really nice to have them follow you when you are trying to pick the raspberries in the spring and the Japanese beetles are trying to compete. You just flick a branch of berries and the beetles fly into the grass and the chickens pounce on them .. By fall, there are few beetles left to compete.
In the winter, they get day old bread from the "thrifty" bakery as well as their commercial feed and table scraps. It seems to keep them going, and encourages us to eat veggies and salads..:)
We also discovered that they LOVE pasta and rice..strange creatures, eh?
They get fresh water by bucket daily.
Since we are doing demolition on the old trailer, they have been roosting up underneath it and eating the insulation. They seem to have a taste for it for some strange reason. It hasn't hurt them a bit, eggs don't float ... just odd creatures.
The chickens don't stop laying in the winter even in sub zero temps. I have to say that they do cut back substantially, but we always have 1-6 or whatever with an occasional stoppage for a week or so. Right now with 20 hens and all the stress they have been experiencing, they still give 6-8 eggs (cackleberries)/day, which means they all aren't laying every day like in the summer.
Their stress amounts to losing half the flock, Charlie's absence while our new home is being prepared, having me as the caretaker and cackleberry thief.. They are just now starting to trust me.
I can't imagine paying $8 a dozen for the eggs there in Alaska. What do you feed your chickens? What kind do you have..? Now I'm being the nosey one. Where do you keep your flock?


One other thing they get fed is eggs with the shell when feed is low. Charlie buys a big bag of rice and cooks it up so it's soft.. then he smashed eggs into it.. not cooked.. just gooey eggs with lots of bits of shell. The chickens LOVE this... and it's a healthy meal for them.

Chicken Duty again

Charlie left this morning for Michigan and our brother Bill's home. He's going to visit there while the new trailer is placed in the next couple weeks. We haven't heard whether he arrived or not.. but are not worried at the moment. Hopefully Bill will call tomorrow to let us know all is well.

I have 'chicken duty' in his absence. I'd be a lot better at it if I wasn't allergic to the dust and mold and fungus that abound in the coop. Tonite I'm very stuffed up. I collected ten eggs. This past week the flock was divided and a friend of Paul's took half. Hopefully Paul will take the remaining chickens and if Charlie wants to raise them again, we can start next spring.

Still having some orthopedic problems.. keep praying. I have office in the morning and need to be solid on my feet and not floundering as I have been the last couple days. I may remove a chair from our infusion room to make more space so that I can use my stool on wheels to go between patients.

Tomorrow will not be a difficult day with only three patients scheduled and I'm not sure about one of them.. she may not come. I see on the schedule on Tuesday that there are ten and little time for a break. It will be a difficult day for me and I'll need a lot of prayer support for myself physically.

Well, it's about time for me to begin complaining about the weather..for another winter season. It's in the low 30s tonite and the high tomorrow is to be about two degrees warmer. UGH. Also, rain is in the forecast along with snow.... yes, I said SNOW ..AACCKKKK!!!!!!!! I pray it isn't so. Actually it's a chance of snow, but I don't like it anyway. Snow brings driving problems and ice .. aaackkkkk again.

Oh.. to be TOTALLY retired. Snow in October is not particularly uncommon, especially since November is right around the corner.. I can remember as a child going out on Trick or Treat night in the snow.. not MUCH snow, but snow nonetheless. It would be unusual to have six or eight inches of the nasty white stuff at this point in October. So much for global warming. I don't believe any of that garbage. Anyone with half a brain wouldn't accept that as gospel.

So tomorrow I shall be praying that the weatherman just needs a new dartboard, eh?

I really must get back to bed.. it's nearly 1:30 am.. and I have to be on my feet in a few hours.

Uncle Charlie got into the act today. No swing set any more, so the kids decided to use the Jeep for some riding. The battery wasn't charged, but they had Uncle Charlie to push.. Annabelle steered, and giggled...

David said "whoa! I need to check the gas.. good to go"

"Wait! I need to check under the hood.. yep.. it's all good"

CHARLIE ON THE MEND

I should probably note that Charlie has been ailing for a week now with acute bronchitis. He finally saw the doctor this week to get some strong antibiotics. He's doing a little better.
I don't think I've ever seen him looking quite so ill. Well, for those of us who know how he feels about 'the girls'.. he couldn't gather eggs nor feed them- that is pretty sick. I was glad to do so and went home later with 18 fresh ones. Jane came later and took him to his pharmacy, and also collected about the same amount again.