Winter is leaving the Kuegler mini-farm slowly.  There is no snow left in our yard, or falling from the sky for that matter, which is of great relief to the chickens.  Though the temperatures are still cool (with highs in the 50s), the girls seem to be much happier with the weather.

A brave chicken shows some skin

However, with the arrival of spring comes the disappearance of feathers.  Our girls are molting right now, which makes their appearance a little less than beautiful.  They have bald spots on their necks, backs, and even (ahem) bottoms.  So, currently they are a little less photogenic.

A benefit to the arrival of spring is the appearance of more eggs.  A typical day yields about 10 eggs from our 15 chickens, which means that our friends benefit from the arrival of spring also.  The kids have discussed putting an “egg stand” at the end of our driveway this summer.  We’ll see how long that lasts. . .

Finally, with spring here comes the arrival of chick ordering.  Let me state for the record that I am very glad that I went to purchase feed and shavings most recently.  When I entered our farm store, the owner let me know that he was taking orders for chicks and asked if we’d need anymore.  I told him we were quite happy with our brood of 15, though I wonder if my dear husband would have debated putting an addition on the coop and ordering a dozen more. . .