Oyster Cracker holds a seed in her beak.

March certainly has come in just as always, like a lion.  The first few days of March have brought us colder temperatures, freezing rain and little sunshine.  Last night it dipped down to 19 degrees F.  I could not seem to warm up.  This morning, the air is still cold, in the twenties, yet the sunshine is brilliant.  I heard the girls calling early this morning. I think they could not wait to get up and play in the sun. They love to sit perched on a roost, a top a log or in a dust bowl where they close their eyes and absorb the sun.  They remind me of cats that find a sunny spot and curl into a ball to take a nap.  Sometimes, they are alone and sometimes they snuggle together in their sunny spots.  However, first eggs needed to be laid and their morning scavenger hunt for a bit of scratch, dried meal worms and sunflower seeds had commenced.

Each morning, as the chickens scratch in the run for treats, I take a daily assessment of each girl.  Are their combs bright and red and free from frostbite?  Is everyone out of the coop?  Do they all seem perky?  Are they acting normal?  Does anyone have a droopy tail or anything else out of the ordinary?  Are they making normal poop?  Thankfully, most days the answers are yes, business as usual continues.

Dolly’s feathers are almost completely grown in and you would never know that she had been wounded in the first place. She has resumed laying eggs again.  This is how I know that she has made a full recovery.  She is her happy peppy self and I imagine she should return to being broody in about a week’s time.  For Dolly, being broody is a year round never ending cycle.

Dolly decides on a box to lay her egg.

The days are getting longer.  The sunset is delayed a bit as each day comes to a close.  This weekend the clocks will “spring forward”.   The chickens seem happier as they seem to know that Spring is around the corner.  I love these times as the chickens will be able to spend more time out in the gardens.  I too will be able to spend more time with them.  One of my favorite things is waking the gardens up from their Winter slumber.  I spend most Spring days in the gardens clipping back last year’s growth and discovering delicate buds of life emerging from the ground.  The chickens helps me aerate the mulch and can’t help digging along side of me.  I love it when the flock stays close.  We talk, share found worms and often I am forced to take a break when my lap chicken, Oyster Cracker, is in desperate need of a snuggle.  I can’t wait for the “out like a lamb” days.

Photo Credits:  Tilly’s Nest