State of the flock, October 2025

I think we only mowed the lawn twice this summer:  it was too dry to grow most of the time, and we had to keep our flock off of it.  Now it's grown again and we're leaving it a little long--just a couple inches--for the ducks and chickens to free range.  They all like grass and it will probably last them until January if they're lucky.  The two ducks are still getting several days of free range a week, but the eleven chickens only get a couple hours a week (not fair!) because they need supervision.  The chickens are laying us maybe three eggs a day now:  unexpected and very welcome.  

I'm considering sending the chickens back up to their yard at the allotment for a month or so before winter, to scratch it up and eat the weeds;  however, it still has all the achocha, one more squash and a self sown tomato covered in fruit--they can't go just yet.  I don't want them there during winter, but if an early frost kills the plants in their yard--they could go then.  Their yard at home is pretty muddy/pooey though I did get some free wood chips to spread around, hopefully to dry it up a bit.  Some sort of mulch is needed, especially in the wet months of winter.

Our Pekin bantam:  Cookie, aged 9.5 years, Sep 2025

We haven't had any deaths all year, despite having a very aged flock;  the ducks are about six years old, and the chickens range from two years to nine.  Some of the chickens are molting and the ducks had their molt in late summer;  hopefully this means everyone is getting ready for the winter and will see next year healthfully and happily.