Good morning! Another blue sky today.
Too many visitors
White, who is blind in one eye, lives in her own little house. This morning it was full of zebra doves that had gone in for her food — far too many of them. White was probably having a hard time, so I opened the door to let them out. White can go outside too; she won’t go far. The doves left little by little, but some got scared and flew upward instead, never noticing the door down below. I repeated this until I got every last one out. That was a disaster, White.
Calcium-boosted eggshells
Today I brought something for the chickens: eggshells. These are what’s left of our own hens’ eggs. At home we usually eat the ones that are already cracked, so not a single egg goes to waste. I wash the shells and let them dry, and then they crumble easily in your hand.
I pile them up and crush them into small pieces. That makes them easier to eat, of course. But there’s another reason: some chickens try to eat the eggs in the nest boxes. So I teach them, “Eat this, not that.” It’s the same thing, but not the same thing — and for some reason the crushed shells seem to look tastier to them.
I just keep crushing and crushing. It’s fun when they crunch nicely, but if you overdo it your hands get sore. I do this in my spare time.
When I scattered the shells, the laying hens came over — along with a few chicks who had no idea what it was. Chicks, you don’t need this! Chickens know very well what their bodies need, so it’s mostly the hens short on calcium who come to eat.
Sad news
I have some very sad news today. The big white rooster I introduced the other day — the one I picked up by the road — has passed away. His leg was broken, and while I was focused on treating it, he developed pneumonia. The temperature has been swinging a lot lately, and I think that may be why.
I kept him warm and fed him by hand. If he had to die, I hope that dying with a full belly in a warm place was a happier ending than being hit by a car by the roadside. Still, I’m very sad.
Chickens are strange creatures — sometimes so fragile, sometimes so tough. Some, like Kirin, somehow keep going strong, and others are gone very suddenly.
I’m sorry to bring you sad news today. Thank you for watching.