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It seems our male birds (Red the rooster and Handlebah the guinea cock) have both taken a romantic interest in little Squeak. Unfortunately, this is causing her comb and head feathers to take a beating (that’s where they grab hold). To help her heal, we’ve taken her into the house every morning.

She was very nervous about this until we got her set up with a little nest box. Now she’s gotten into a routine–we go out in the morning, she flies at my face, I duck, she lands on my shoulder, we walk to the house with her perched like a parrot on my shoulder, we open the crate, she hops down in, drinks water, and happily scratches around or sits in her nest box all day. Of course, she accepts any treats proffered. Today, after a few minutes sitting fluffed with a look of intense concentration and much heavy breathing and even soft grunting, she dropped an egg into the nest box. I think she likes the heated digs, especially since it was about 10 degrees F all day. Just before dark we walk her back to the coop to roost.

One thing about house chickens. The big fibrous poops, you wouldn’t notice. But occasionally she’ll produce a real barn-burner–the kind that you detect within seconds and need to remove from the house immediately, followed by a lot of candle-burning to obliterate the stench.
Once her head heals we’re going to try putting Vicks on it and see how those boys like a beakful of menthol.

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