Chicken update.

People are always very curious when they find out that we have chickens. Often they ask if we bring our chickens inside when the temperatures get very low, but no one asks if they get to come inside and enjoy the air conditioning when we're having a heat wave. In fact, chickens are much more susceptible to heat than they are the cold, but thankfully our flock seems to be doing well as we head into our fourth week of temperatures in the nineties. 

Holly is the sweetest, most domesticated of the group. Cochins are naturally people chickens, so it's not surprising. If you walk away from her, she'll run after you.

Cookie is curious about the chickens, but she knows that she'll get a good peckin' if she gets up in their area. Mark always says that he's going to bring Holly in the house, so I can sit on the couch together with all of my white pets.

Up until recently, 3 out of 4 were laying eggs. That is until Cricket went broody again. She's more interested in hatching an egg than laying more eggs.

Besides the lack of egg production, the other problem is that she never leaves the nesting box, making it a challenge for those that are laying eggs. So when nature calls, Holly or Ivy will just barge in and squash next to her. I guess it's kind of like four roommates sharing one bathroom.



Poppy hasn't laid in several months due to some unknown illness. It mustn't be anything life threatening because she seems fine other than looking anemic. Mark has treated her for both fungus and mites, and she's gained some of her weight back. She's also had to adjust to her two sisters being replaced with three new roommates. She's closest with Cricket, or at least she tolerates her the most. Occasionally she likes to boss Holly and Ivy around, just to remind them that she's still first in the pecking order.



Speaking of Ivy, she's the feisty one of the bunch. She may not be first in the pecking order, but she's the noisiest and the hardest to get back into the coop.



But she does love her owner the best, so she has that going for her!