#chickenhoarding

It's moist outside. My area is under a thunderstorm warning and it has been raining buckets this afternoon so the chickens are all squished together in the dog kennel in the front yard. It's like they didn't hear a word I said about social distancing. Chickens just don't listen y'all. Anyway. I thought they were adorable so I'm sharing because we could all use something that isn't virus related right now. I hope my feathered babies make you smile. Happy global pandemic Saturday my friends. I hope you're all healthy and safe. Remember don't breathe on each other and go wash your hands because we're all plague rats now. #poverty_hill #homestead #rainysaturday #thunderstorm #chickens #chickenstalking #backyardchickens #motherofchickens #crazychickenlady #stayathomechickenmom #chickenhoarding #thisiswhereikeepmysparechickens #backupchickens #chickenmath #livingininterestingtimes #globalpandemic #covid_19 #coronavirus #washyourhands #socialdistancing #begoodtoeachother #kindnessmatters #wereallplagueratsnow #wereallinthistogether #lovethyneighborfromsixfeetaway #ruralpa #myhappyplace #myhappylife (at Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-SYzQfAekh/?igshid=ly9woypvwflc

Do you ever get the feeling that you're being followed? #poverty_hill #homestead #chickens #chickensofinstagram #chickenstalking #chickenhoarding #iamthefoodgiver #backyardchickens #crazychickenlady #motherofchickens #chickenwhisperer #chickenshenanigans #chickentender #stayathomechickenmom #lovemychickens #chickenapocalypse #ruralpa #myhappyplace (at Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1xCAD9AcQH/?igshid=1skcgtfdqwedj

It's a beautiful day in Pennsylvania My chores are done, for now, and I came out on the front porch to enjoy the weather and play on my phone. But I keep getting distracted by chickens. I'll say that again. My chickens keep distracting me from my phone. I think I could have worse problems. Have a beautiful day my friends. Stay safe. #poverty_hill #homestead #chickens #chickenhoarding #backyardchickens #prettychickens #motherofchickens #crazychickenlady #stayathomechickenmom #happychickenslaythebesteggs #stayhomestaysafe #homebody #homebodylife #slowliving #homeiswheretheheartis #homeiswherethechickensroam #ruralpa #myhappyplace #myhappylife (at Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_k6t30A0LL/?igshid=rifvchd7s9i6

One of the necessary but not necessarily fun jobs when having roosters is spur removal. Today was that day and it was about as much fun as you can imagine. Leaving them really isn't an option here because you never know when a rooster might suddenly decide to attack even if they've never done it before. They might attack each other or they might attack a neighbor or a child. If they have spurs intact then you could end up with serious injuries rather than just a big scare and a good story. I don't want to take that chance so I proactively remove spurs. No it doesn't hurt them, I do it myself to make sure. Now once I caught them the whole process only takes about a minute per bird, including dabbing on bluekote and soothing ruffled feathers. But I had to catch them first. You can't run down a chicken, they're faaaaast. All you have any hope of doing is cornering and outsmarting them. Good luck with that because they aren't as dumb as people think. Any chicken that sees you coming, unless they are handled very often, is assuming that if they get caught they get eaten. They will put every bit of effort they are capable of into not being dinner. So imagine if you will the crazy lady chasing a rooster around the run just as the neighbor drives by on a riding mower. I already had bluekote all over my hands from the previous victim...er... volunteer. My hair is coming out of its bun because it keeps catching on the bird netting overhead and the roster is acting like I'm trying to murder him. I absolutely got the job done but I think next time I'm just going to do this after dark so the neighbors aren't traumatized. I think I'd better take them some eggs and explain. #poverty_hill #homestead #chickens #chickensofinstagram #chickenhoarding #backyardchickens #stayathomechickenmom #chickentender #roostermaintenance #motherofchickens #crazychickenlady #mypoorneighbors #despurring #ronnie #randy #theyrefine #ruralpa #myhappyplace #myhappylife (at Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3p6LVkAQXt/?igshid=bg2edgcdggcf

Here we have some lovely pictures of the chicken formerly known as Aislinn. Do you see those pretty curved tail feathers? Those are known as sickle feathers and to my knowledge only appear on roosters. I'm pretty sure my sweet Aislinn is actually my sweet Ash. He's still beautiful and loving and an absolute blessing but I don't think he's gonna be laying any eggs. I knew this was a distinct possibility back when I first brought him into the house to raise after that horrible raccoon attack. I know people love raccoons. I can even admit that they are adorable. However once you've seen how vicious they can be you'll never look at them the same way ever again. I still have nightmares about what that one did. Luckily Ash survived and is doing very well. He's the second largest in the whole flock now btw and still filling out. I'm pretty sure Ronnie is his daddy so he's half Barred Rock and half Araucana. He's all mine though and I'm thankful. #poverty_hill #homestead #chickens #chickenhoarding #chickenwhisperer #chickensofinstagram #stayathomechickenmom #crazychickenlady #backyardchickens #chickentender #barredrock #auracana #ash #hesbeautiful #illalwayslovehim #lovemychickens #ruralpa #myhappyplace #myhappylife (at Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3VUth4ALhF/?igshid=8sg4xkvmszsr