I had a terrific time on the West Coast and now I am finally home.  I missed my family and those chickens.  My husband, the chicken sitter, tells me that they all were good and he was able to take care of them without any problems.  I think he actually might have even enjoyed it.

I got in really late and woke yesterday morning to a dusting of snow on the ground.  Even though it was cold, I was excited to see my chickens!  As usual, when I let them out there was a race through the door.  They didn’t even seem to notice me.  I was a little bit saddened.  Maybe, they had forgotten me.  No sooner had that thought entered my mind when Chocolate came over and gave a quick nuzzle. However, even he soon left for the scratch that I had just thrown into the run.  Just like I always think my kids grow when I am gone, I swear my chickens grew too.  Their combs are becoming a deeper shade of red as they enter adulthood and complete chicken puberty.  Does this mean that as my chickens age, they too don’t need their mother as much?  At least, they won’t ask me not to kiss them in front of their friends!

We are expecting rain for the next few days and since the chickens spend the majority of time inside the coop I wanted to tidy things up.  So despite a fine drizzle in the afternoon, I cleaned the coop.  To my surprise, I found no red mites at all.  The food grade diatomaceous earth did the trick!

Today the chickens are 20 weeks old.  This means eggs any day now.  I added fresh straw to the nesting boxes and even added the nesting blend that I ordered in the mail.  It smells so good, like aromatherapy for chickens.  Who knew such a thing existed?

So, returning to this rainy, cold, soggy weather sure put a damper on the weather high that I was experiencing after returning from Southern California.  However, I do have to say that despite the current nasty Cape Cod weather, my heart was warmed from seeing my families again, and that is something that no matter the place can only happen with them.