Chickenheads

Well we hit the gun show last Saturday. I wasn't planning to go, that is David and Jon's idea of a good time, but then Jon decided to take Gina and her boys, so I was nominated to go with David. We met them in Prescott Valley and took in the sights. It was the 1st one in P.V., so we had to be at the debut. I thought it was pretty good, but David decided they had too many jewelry/craft booths, and not enough guns, so what do I know. We walked through the show before lunch, then took a break and went to Zeke's. We had a nice big western meal before going back to the show. Well, sort of. I took my knitting in, there was an area with nice cushy chairs. I got a platform seat to people-watch and finished a washcloth while I was there. I sat right behind a big blunderbus rifle, it was huge! It made an interesting spectacle, a big rifle display with me sitting behind it knitting. It might have taken the macho edge off the display, but oh well....

Today I moved the baby chicks from the dog kennel they've been in. We put chicken wire around it to keep them inside, but they grow pretty quick, and now they need more room. There are 10 of them right now, but Mom is taking 6 next week. I have a moveable cage that's built in a triangular shape, but it's old and needed to be tightened up. I spent the morning pounding in nails, stapling up the chicken wire and helping David build it a new door. It took a couple hours, but now they are tucked into their new digs. I scattered straw throughout the bottom, put their little box in, so they have a cozy hideaway, and cleaned up the water and feed containers. The containers are chicken feeders, so one holds almost 2 gallons of water, and the feeder holds 4-5 pounds of food. The idea is that you don't have to fuss with them as much.

After I put them in there, I checked on them about 1/2 hour later, and they were looking very hot and stressed. One chick was sprawled out, so I picked her up and put her head in the water. She was so shocked! Chickens are so dumb, that because their old water container wasn't in there, they didn't find the new one, even though it is in the middle of the pen, and they were walking past it. Dumber than rocks, really. Anyhow, the others saw her drinking and raced up to the water. None of them had drank anything that whole time... Now I've seen turkeys drown in the rain, looking up into it, but I honestly thought chickens could see or smell the water-sheesh. Now if I can just keep the skunks out of the pen, life will be good.