Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Just Call Her 'Dusty'


Chickens and dust baths go together like peanut butter and jelly. My chooks prefer to use the pine mulch we worked so hard to chip this winter while I prefer they use the area behind the barn or, better yet, the driveway.

Sweet Pea was a good girl and used the driveway this evening. She had a hard time deciding where to plant her fluffy butt but once she did she really went to town. She spent a good 15 minutes stirring up the dust. Roo stood guard until she finished despite the fact that he was missing the frog hunt going on at the edge of the pond. He's a good rooster and looks out for the girls.



Roo let out a few crows as Silver lead the rest of the flock around the pond. You can hear Silver in the background.

When Sweet Pea was finished she was a White Plymouth Rock! Doesn't she look pleased?

5 comments:

  1. Isn't dustbathing the most fun thing to watch! Mine like to do it in the flower bed off the patio. The dirt is really loose and they just go to town. If you didn't know anything about chicken behavior, you would think they were having convulsions or spasms!

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  2. When I saw one of ours do the dust bath, I thought it was in torture. The look on its 'face' was pure torment. I thought it was dying! I can't remember which breed it was (I'm bad). Your barred rock Roo sure looks like our cuckoo marans! Don was talking about roosters heading for the roaster today . . . I think we have too many.

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  3. Susan, yes they do look like they're going into convulsions. The first time I saw one sunbathing I thought she was dead! LOL

    Ruth, too many roosters is a real pain in the patoot! I'd like to butcher two more of ours but with my son involved, it's not possible. We have the standing rule that any roosters that show aggression toward people must go. We've been working with Roo to make sure he understands who's at the top of the pecking order (us!) So far, so good. I've read that 1 rooster for every 10 hens is a good ratio.

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  4. We just have the one rooster, George, and promised our daughter he would be our one chicken pet. Glad to hear the butchering was not too big of a deal. I'm hoping our butchering goes smoothly, although I'm on the fence about it since we have all hens but one and the extra eggs wouldn't really hurt anything...

    I LOVED your magazine cover. Very funny, very creative. :)

    Dust-bathing sure is funny to watch!

    Ron

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  5. Dustbaths are funny to see. We have a rooster pheasant who hangs around and dustbathes near our chickens. They give each other a look, and my roosters get a little annoyed with him.

    I have heard the 1-10 ratio too. I think I will keep Bob, the Crevecouer rooster, Stiggy, the ameraucana and Khan, the largest of the Marans.

    I don't feel like butchering right now!

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