Today’s Run: Rest Day
I think I have the funniest chickens ever. I am sure they are just like everybody else’s chickens (assuming that everybody else HAS chickens) but because they are mine, that makes them special and everything they do hilarious!
I have been reading up on heat distress in chickens. Seeing as it has been very hot here in Mississippi, I have been concerned about my hens. They pants, hold their wings out from their sides and seek whatever shade they are able to find. In a word, they are miserable. Poor things.
Back to Heat Distress.
I found out that chickens cool off by rolling in dirt. Oh! The explains why they have been digging in the yard so much. I mean, I knew they liked to roll around in the dirt but I did not realize that it was so important to their well being. I just thought they liked dirt.
We were a Lowe’s yesterday, and I purchased a bag of top soil and a cheap round container (the type you put under flower pots). I filled the container with the top soil and set it out for the hens. At first they were afraid of it (they are not chickens for nothing!) but once they figured out what it was…look out!
Larry, one of my red hens (the other two red hens are Daryl and Daryl) got to the dirt first. She lay down in the dirt. She rolled around in the dirt. She moved the dirt up next to her until she was buried as much as she could be and closed her eyes. She was content. She was happy. The other hens were NOT!
I had a line of hens waiting their turn for the dirt!
Now mind you, hens do not make a very straight line but they were definitely waiting their turn for that dirt! If they were able to tap their foot impatiently, they would have. They finally got fed up with Larry and “encouraged” her to leave so someone else could enjoy the dirt. Told you they were funny!
By the time it was “bedtime for birdies” Jeff was in what was left of the dirt. Someone had kicked out most of it. Poor Jeff. She was bound and determined to enjoy the little dirt that was left.
Good for her!