Tuesday, January 07, 2020

Madder than a Wet Rooster

An unexpected sight greeted Stacia this a.m. in the chicken coop. Phoenix was bleeding.   I checked and sure enough....
The problem with chickens is when they see blood (or red, or something odd) they peck.  And the hens were starting to peck at him.

We took him into the warm garage and cleaned him up. It appears it's frostbite. We didn't see wounds on his neck when we got the blood cleaned up. We were taking the precautions other chicken owners up here take...but his comb and wattles were just to big for these cold temps.
I'm moving my exercise equipment - enough with the
Chickens perching on them. 
That phrase "madder than a wet hen?"  It applies to roosters too. We could tell he needed help as he LET us hold him and wash him without pecking...just tracking with his head and giving me the evil eye.

We put Blu-Kot on him to keep the hens from pecking....and Vaseline as it's supposed to stop frostbite.  We've got him segregated in the garage at this point.

We headed to the coop and gooped up everyone with a comb.

It's sweet that he found Petunia's box (our lame chicken which lives in the garage) almost immediately. He's settled in with her. She doesn't seem inclined to peck him.  He was always very protective of her before we separated her from the riotous hens. He's a good boy.

Stacia spent this cold afternoon working on a sewing project. She's made a cute, wrap around shirt for Annie's birthday. I think I want one.


How cold is it? It was -18* on our way home from Bible Study.  Krista is leading our study on the book of Ruth. It was really fun to participate, rather than lead.

I'm wondering if the cold effects the size of eggs? I mean seriously - what's with THIS one? We thought maybe it was Petunia's first egg....but it came from the coop.

It seems we must have a late bloomer in the coop who has started laying today.

Hard Core Full-Timer

Most of you know Michael & I, along  with 3  Gherkins were full-time RV'ers for 2 years. That is, we LIVED in our trailer (and then an RV) for two years after Michael retired from the Air Force. We loved it and would do it again...may do it again in another season...who knows? 

We came off the road and bought a home when the Gherkin migration to Alaska began. By the end of Summer 2017 eight of our children moved up here. We, of course, joined them. We enjoyed the past two years with adult children moving in with us until they settled in their new homes. We love having Dad with us now. We do at times miss the road.  However, we love our state and we especially love our little niche in the Valley north of Anchorage. 


Full-timing in Alaska is for the hard core adventurer! It's COLD at -15 and -23 (temps in our valley on a recent morning). These folks have a WOOD-STOVE in their trailer....there was smoke coming out of their chimney.....so many concerns on so many levels...but it made us smile,  and fondly remember our time on the road and ingenuity of the  the people we met.

I haven't seen something like this in any other state we visited.