I have been spending quality time with our Cypress Hens since school is closed. I go in almost every day (I miss Sabbath sometimes) and give them treats, and I let them out of the pen to peck and scratch. They’ve made a mess of the wood chips under the garden boxes, but they LOVE to scratch around and yesterday I saw one of the black hens peck up a live worm and eat it. I felt like a proud grandma that she’s learned to do that!

Fancy (our dog) and the chickens get along just fine. She’ll be lying in the shade of a garden box and the chickens are scratching and pecking right next to her. Sometimes I find her in their pen WITH them!

When it’s time for the chickens to go into their pen, I get some cracked corn and shake the container and they come RUNNING to the pen! (well, we usually have to work to get the last two in). If I take too long and they are ready for their treat, they start talking to me and following me so I will get the corn!

They are laying 3-4 eggs a day – brown and green. Most of them are small, but we’ve gotten a couple very large green ones. They are very rich and make a wonderful frittata.

Since there are no students to do the gardening this Spring, I cleaned out the garden boxes and Richard helped me plant them full of “Chicken Vegetables” – that’s vegetables that the chickens like to eat- lettuce, carrots, pumpkin, zucchini and butternut squash, swiss chard, cabbage and corn. When everyone comes back to school in the Fall, the gardens should be full of food to feed the chickens.

I sure miss seeing everyone and Fancy is SO lonely at the school with no kids to greet. She IS enjoying all the neighbor dogs who come to play in the field. She gets worn out running with them and needs a nap! We have to watch and make sure that there are no other dogs there when the chickens are out though.

Jeanette