Six Month Chicken Update

You read that right, friends.  Today is the girls' half-birthday, and tomorrow they will have been with us for six months.  Wowza, y'all.  Some days I feel like they've always been with us, and others, it seems like the blink of an eye.

The girls are doing well with the cold so far, although I can tell you they really don't like snow all that much.  The waterer is not doing as well with the cold--the nipples freeze whenever temps drop below freezing.  This is disappointing, since when I was researching watering options, I read that horizontal nipples are less likely to freeze than vertical nipples.  Hopefully a water heater will solve the problem (as soon as we get electricity out to the coop), but in the meantime, I'm swapping out waterers each morning.

Toasty continues to lay about an egg a day.  I can't really remember when she last skipped a day.  Her eggs are getting bigger, too.  They're just a skosh smaller than the typical large eggs from the grocery store.  Toasty is the most verbal of the girls--she's always squawking about something.  Toasty Crunch is Bubby's favorite chicken to pick up.

 Rocky's egg production has slowed to about one every other day.  The other day we were out in the yard when all of a sudden Rocky took off toward the coop.  Looked like she was on a mission.  Turns out she was--when I got over there, she was ensconced in the nest box, awaiting the arrival of an egg.

 Still no eggs from Esther.  I have theories, but no conclusive, evidence-based reasons for the continued drought .  That's all right.  We will continue waiting, with varying degrees of patience.  Esther is the smallest of the girls and really likes to be up high--the other day, she flew up on to the outside roof of the nest box.  She also seems like the most nervous of the girls.  If the rest of us happen to wander away from her, when she notices, she flies and runs over to join us.

Speaking of wandering, I like to take the girls on walks around the perimeter of the yard.  Bubby says we need to get leashes (yes, there actually is such a thing) so we can walk them, but I've found leashes are not necessary.  They follow me.  I am amazed and amused by this behavior.  The girls dictate the schedule, but I'm definitely in charge of the route.

I never get tired of looking at those fluffy chicken butts.