My ladies are my chickens. We have a few roosters, but they ladies outnumber them by far. They rule the coop.
We have both standard sized hens, and bantams; smaller breeds. Here are two of my ladies saying hi as I was collecting some eggs today. They are always very curious and looking for some extra attention; And snacks!
The white is a frizzled Easter egger, names Mrs. Frizzle, yes the Magic School Bus Character. I loved that series when I was young and have been showcasing the books to my preschool aged son, but so far for him it's just all dinosaur books. Though perhaps I can find a Magic school Bus dinosaur themed book, there just has to be one.
and
The black is a French Copper Maran, Minnie; short for Professor Minerva McGonagall. Yes, yes, yes we have lots of fun names for the chickens. Some named by my preschooler Benji; our two roosters are Chikoletta (Paw Patrol) the 2nd and Ninja, "because he has black feathers and looks fierce."
It will take more than a few posts to adequately introduce all our chickens and their fun personalities. So stay tuned to meet them all.
One of the hardest parts about owning chickens is keeping them safe. They are a prey animal and very low on the food chain. Their hen house and run is very safe and secure. Josue spent a lot of time building it carefully to keep predators out. For the doors we use gate latches that allow for a carabiners or a padlock to be used. Carabiners should be too difficult for a raccoon to figure out. Raccoons love chicken. Well their favorite part is drinking the crop (pre stomach of sorts), and sometimes will just behead chickens and drink from their throats to empty their crops and discard, leaving the parts is humans like to eat most. So we have locks on all our doors just as a little extra.
We have a perimeter barrier also. Hardware cloth secured onto bottom base of exterior wall, and then brought out over two feet and secured. This helps with predators who will try and dig into the chicken coop.
Such such this bobcat, looking for an afternoon snack.
Luckily bobcat was not able to dig in and ran quickly away at the sound of Josue's footprints.
We walk the perimeter to look for signs of digging or anything we need to be aware of.
We also have a full roof that keeps predators out and protection from the elements.
We are out there checking on them multiple times a day. They love when the children throw them snacks!
