Keep an eye on your girls!

 One of the best things about having animals, is the time that you take to sit back and enjoy them having fun.  It brings a smile to your face, lowers your blood pressure, and calms you right down.  You also learn about their personalities.  Each chicken I have is completely different from each other in personality, and yet they all get along.  Birds of a feather, right?!?

I have six girls right now, all egg layers.  Moth is appropriately named, because she is drawn to trouble like a moth to a flame.  Penny is my little sweetheart.  She is named after the copper coin because of the color of her feather.  She loves to be held and will trip you up if you try to walk past her without giving her a hug or a pet on the back.  Fig is similar in colors, although a bit more independent.  The hugs, she can take it or leave it.  Shadow is the leader of the pack and usually the first to lay an egg. My chubbiest girl is Thistle and her buddy is Moth. Moth hates to be touched.  She looks at me like I'm a complete stranger.  Fern is another sweetheart.  She used to lay brown eggs until this past winter.  Then it appeared that she was molting, but she wasn't recovering very well.  She grew very thin and would sway when she walk, which gave the appearance of being drunk.  I tried everything for her.  Nothing seemed to work, until I tried Gatoraide.  I would give her a cup of it everyday.  Until this point she wasn't eating or drinking, but the Gatoraide she would drink.  Then I started giving her freeze dried grubs.  She loved it!  She never gained her full weight back, but she is the most regular in laying eggs.  The funny thing is...her eggs are now white.

That's the thing.  If I hadn't learned their personalities and had some time to watch them, I might have lost Fern.  I saw there was a problem, tried a few things, and finally it worked.  So, I guess the moral to the story is by watching your chickens, you give to them and in return, they give so much more to you.

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