The chickens and ducks have been confined to their separate yards for the past several weeks, though luckily not under lockdown, unlike the last two winters. They both have had short periods of free range, but I am trying to keep the grass alive (and what few vegetables are still left in the kitchen garden).
We currently stand at eight chickens, four newly adopted last September and laying well. The other four are much older and three are not laying (and the fourth, youngest, very irregularly). If they make it to April, our two oldest hens Rock and Cookie will be 7 years old, breaking our house record for elderly chickens. We commemorate all our chickens' birthdays on the same day, for simplicity's sake: 1 April; it is however the actual hatch day/birthday of both Rock and Cookie whom we bought from a local breeder.
And Girl Duck and Boy Duck, also known as Brown Duck and Black Duck (even though he's not black) are back into their breeding season, which seems really early: Girl Duck started laying a few eggs in December (!) when they were still free ranging, but seems to have stopped since they've been locked in their yard. Or maybe she has a secret nest I can't find. I think she lays eggs when she's free ranging because she can find enough slugs and bugs for her protein needs, while her corn/wheat feed alone is too low for making eggs. When it warms up a little bit more and the grass starts growing again, I'll let them out and hopefully she'll lay a few more.
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