Chicken Chat

Roger's Country DUCKS

2012-01-31T11:43:00.000-08:00

ANCONA-The Beautiful low maintenance BIRD..

2011-08-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

IT IS SO HOT in this TEXAS HEAT WAVE that................

babies are sharing puppy pools, and goats are asking to be milked randomly all day long and white dogs are rolling in the mud and the chickens have all but stopped laying

We now have fans blowing thru each coop and lots of extra water.

The Ancona Chickens are the birds that we are currently focussing on.

9 new little chicks just hatched out of the incubator TODAY. We plan on setting one more batch of ANCONA eggs before September.

Anyone who wants to have plenty of eggs and keep chickens on a budget should consider the Ancona. They would rather eat grass and bugs than anything else. We fill their feeder half as much as the rest of the flocks. They just keep on laying.

These birds eat very little and lay more eggs than any of my other breeds. But even the ANCONA finally had enough of this heat and called it quits when we reached a whoppin 108 degrees.

We have since increased our protein and artificial wind and now we are back in production. These birds are hyper and lightweight, and before the heat wave these four girls layed 4 nice size WHITE eggs a day and sometimes even 6. I still don't understand that one.... but it has happened more than once. How can 4 hens lay 6 eggs?

How to stop a KID from CRYING!!

2011-06-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

I have a very unconventional method of breaking broody hens. I have several coops of different breeds who are all very familiar with each other. Usually I can place a broody hen in a new coop, and the excitement of being in a new place with other hens, usually breaks the brood. I keep the broody in there for a couple of days, and then place her back where she belongs.

All of the chickens have been raised together from hatch so they are very familiar and friendly with each other. But in this case for some reason, before I knew it, the other hens had pulled out all of the broody hens head feathers. She looked like she was so uncomfortable and her head was all raw. I did not have any "blu kote" so I doctored her with bacitracin and put her in a very quiet place to heal.

This little KID has been missing his two sisters who left two days ago. On top of that, he is also being weaned from his mama. Have you ever heard a baby goat cry? OMG he sounds like a really sad baby. He gets to free range with his mom for a couple hours after she has been milked out, so I placed the bald ex-broody in the Kids empty little yard. She was so happy and relaxed and the KID, Jeffery Charles aka "STAR" is not so lonely any more!

Big BERTHA thinks she is a CHICKEN!!

2011-06-09T21:37:00.001-07:00

Bertha is a dear friends' lone surviving one day old GUINEA who came to live with a

chicken clutch at the JoyHouse.

She has been outgrowing her peers by leaps and bounds..... I wonder how long this peace and harmony will last.

Beautiful Flock Roosters! Soon to be homeless and flockless! Help!

2011-02-12T08:17:00.000-08:00

This is Rocky. He's a 1 1/2 year old Rhode Island Rooster, who needs a new flock. Yesterday, his flock just picked up and moved in to some other guy's new place. Ungrateful biddies! And now he has no one too look after. He's unaggressive toward humans, gentle on the ladies, and great and watching for predators. Besides all that, he's really nice to look at. In person is much better than it is in this picture. Won't you please give him a home?

This is Edgar, Rocky's son. He's about 9 months old, and his mom is a beautiful buff orpington. His beautiful orange color and his skill at escaping from butcher knives earned him a treasured position in Rogers Country, but now it is time for him to move on to his own flock. He has had a great teacher, and he is amazing to look at. Will you give him a chance?

Chickens for Sale

2011-02-04T10:29:00.001-08:00

Hello Chicken Friends,

I have already written a sizable post on my personal blog, so please mosey on over to see pictures and descriptions of chickens and rabbits that i am putting up for sale.

Beth

Local Artists Love Chickens

2011-01-09T06:13:00.000-08:00

More Recent Pics of Super Chicken Mama

2011-01-05T19:28:00.000-08:00

Kyckling's Growing Clutch

2010-12-14T06:01:00.000-08:00

I couldn't believe the cuteness when i passed by the brooder this morning. It's chilly, and apparently, all the babies were trying to get in to cuddle under mama's feathers.

Kyckling and her Twenty-Seven Chicks

2010-11-21T07:03:00.000-08:00

COFFEE! I NEED COFFEE!

2010-11-14T06:44:00.000-08:00

Repurposing Wasted Space in the Coop

2010-10-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

I have splinters in my fingers, soreness in my shoulders, pain in my ~~butt muscles~~ ~~gluteas maximus~~ fanny, and satisfaction in my heart.

Lately, i have had some serious chicken management issues . I got a little carried away with my incubator, without consideration for where i would house all these babies when they started growing up. Right now i have 57 chickens, 33 of which are recent hatches who refuse to go to the coop to sleep. So every night, i have to collect them and put them someplace safe to sleep. This is an evening ritual which quickly grows old.

Also it has a solution.

Once a chicken recognizes a certain place as home, he or she will go back to that place to sleep. Happily, one can teach a chicken where home is by locking it into "home" for about a week. After that, she will go home at dusk unless something happens to sort of reset her "home" button.

Many of these chickens will be butchered when they grow older, but in the meantime...
I want all the chickens to see the coop as home, but i don't want to lock the adult chickens, who have a well established home understanding, into "home" for a week, with 33 youngsters. That seems cruel to everyone involved.

Thus, i have been pondering.

In addition to our current chaos, we are also putting in place a plan to hatch youngsters every ten weeks, most of whom will eventually be butchered or sold. So this problem is going to be ongoing, though hopefully not ever quite as chaotic as it is right now. My incubator is now on a schedule - not just willy nilly.

Thus i have pondered further.

Then it came to me. Praise God that He cares about how i house my chickens! I think this idea might be helpful to other chicken people. I think it's really going to work.

This is an overhead rendition of the layout of our coop. I needed to find a way to make a roomy enclosure in which to house chicks 24/7 for a solid week - but still not cramp the style of those pushy grown-up chickens.

Then the fantastic realization struck me! The very best thing to do without compromising the space allotted for the adults, was to use the area under the roosting bars!

Eureka!

My chickens free range all day long, so the coop is only used (when all is normal) for sleeping and laying eggs.

Thus area under the roosts is completely wasted space, and when the chickens do use it, they generally get pooped on by other chickens. And that's never good (especially when the chickens have been eating mulberries).

So this morning, i got up and got to work.

I put a "poop board" under the roosts to act as a roof for the babies, and then, inspired by my curtains (lovely curtains), i made four separate panels of framed chicken wire that can all be moved around independently just by lifting. SO nice! They're not attached to anything, and that makes clean up and rearrangement much simpler.

Now, i am not a carpenter. I may be many things, but carpenter is really not one of them. I am however, resourceful, somewhat stubborn, and determined. The following pictures reflect all of these things - and the fact that i used almost entirely previously well-used materials.

The good news: it's all completely functional. And that was the point. Chickens aren't particularly picky about appearances.

And they're in it!

There are now 57 chickens in my little coop (most of them tiny), and tomorrow, i won't have to gather them up and put them back! That's a successful day.

Many good things come from what a man says. And the work of his hands rewards him.

~ Proverbs 12:14 ~

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

~ Philipians 4:6 ~

My Two New Loves

2010-10-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

Slovensky Cuvac dogs are protectors of poultry and sheep and goats.

Look at this sweet mama chicken with her own babies and still posing for this shot.... LOOK at the LOOK on her face!

I love this picture!

For Sale $2 each Conroe Texas

2010-10-06T22:11:00.000-07:00

2 day old chicks are so precious!

One Wellsummer,

One Catalana, and

two Easter Eggers

More Chicks

2010-09-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

My second very successful hatch finished up this morning. This is my 3rd incubator hatch ever and my second at 96%. I'm not bragging, mind you. I am very pleased. But i have simply followed instructions given to me by the more experienced. Clearly they were right. Out of 24 eggs, 23 chicks hatched healthy and strong. I haven't cracked open the 24th egg yet. It is in the fridge.

I never get tired of chicks. Here are more pictures.

A RIR/BO cross.

Maybe a BO? Not sure 'cause the daddy is no longer with us, but i suppose his seed might still be. Don't worry; those aren't carunkles on his face. I had just dipped all their beaks in water and food before i took these pictures.

A female Black Sex Link. You can tell she's a she because the top of her head is solid black.

This is a male Black Sex Link. See the big white spot? That's how we know.

Here is another male Black Sex Link, but his "spot" is much more convincing. Ha!

Group pics!

Oh, and this is Jelly, who is very excited about every new hatch of baby chicks!

These chicks are for sale, by the way. Anyone interested?

It's a WIN WIN!!

2010-09-13T21:59:00.000-07:00

My fellow chicken loving friend Benjamin David had a broody hen. He placed 13 or so eggs under her that had already been incubated for over a week, so she did not have to set on them for the full 21 days. FOUR hatched! Back at the JoyHouse Ranchola, from the incubator, same scenerio. Several eggs in the incubator but because of all the construction at the house, (this months excuse) only FIVE hatched. Raising baby chicks is a worthwhile pain in the boody, but 5 little chicks are not as easy or "worthwhile" to grow as when there are 15 or 30. It is so much easier to let the Mama hen do all the work. So we picked up the Mama and removed all the dud eggs that had not hatched..... and we gave her ALL the chicks. She is so proud and she now has NINE in her little CLUTCH and she is very proud indeed.

Pure Breed Fertillized EGGS $10 a dozen

2010-09-11T22:58:00.000-07:00

The Ancona is a rare bird. They are lightweight and great producers of a large white egg. These birds are flighty. They are beautiful black with white polka dots and a very large single comb.

The Catalana are a dual purpose bird with a very layed back temperment. They have white earlobes and lay a pretty cream colored off white egg.

Easter Eggers are a actually a cross breed with the blue egg gene present. All of the Easter Eggers (aka Americanas) are fathered by this beautiful Red Rooster. Easter Eggers can lay many colors, pink, tan, brown, green or blue.

Basic Coccidiosis Facts

2010-09-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

Over on BYC, i answer questions about Coccidiosis often. And i have found that there are a lot of common misconceptions about how this disease - and the protozoa that cause it - work. Today, i put together a semi-formal fact sheet about coccidiosis in chickens and published it on my BYC member page. I thought i would share it here too. I hope it can be a helpful resource for someone. Please let me know if there is information missing that you think i should add. And feel free to tell me if you think i'm way off base - just be prepared to back your argument. ;) ~Beth

Basic Information About Coccidiosis in Chickens

About Coccidiosis:

Coccidiosis is not a germ-spread disease, like other things. It is a condition in which the protozoal parasites or oocysts, which naturally live in the chicken's intestines become too numerous for the chicken to handle and make the chicken sick. Thankfully, once your chicken has endured and recovered from coccidiosis, caused by a particular strain of this protozoa, it develops a resistance or immunity to that strain and will not get sick from it again.

The "oocysts" that cause coccidiosis live in the soil and reproduce in the intestinal tract of your chickens. Chickens develop their own intestinal populations of protozoa by picking up oocysts from the soil and from the feces of other chickens.

There are at least 7 strains of coccidia that affect chickens. Your soil may have one or several.

Coccidiosis is a species-specific disease.

This means that your dogs can't "catch" coccidiosis from your chickens or vice-versa. Sure, dogs (and pretty much all birds and mammals) can get coccidiosis, but each strain of coccidiosis affects only one species of animal.

How does medicated feed work?

Most medicated chick starter available to back yard chicken folks contains the ingredient Amprolium. Amprolium is a thiamin blocker. It works by blocking the absorption of the vitamin B1, which interrupts the development of the growing protozoa in the intestines of the chicken. Medicated feed can work if and only if your chicks are simultaneously exposed to coccidia protozoa. By this method, your chicks may be able to develop their resistance/immunity to coccidiosis, gradually without experiencing infestation. If you are using medicated feed and simultaneously, meticulously, removing each and every dropping from your brooder and keeping your chicks away from your soil, you are preventing them from building resistance to a deadly disease.

Does medicated feed prevent coccidiosis?

Maybe. If you don't simultaneously expose your chicks to soil and/or adult droppings, medicated feed cannot do its job. And even if you do, it may or may not work.

Are there natural ways to prevent coccidiosis?

Absolutely. For the back yard flock, natural prevention of coccidiosis is entirely possible. If you have ever seen a hen raise a brood of chicks, you may notice that she begins teaching her chicks to scratch in the soil for food immediately. As soon as those babies are dry, give or take a couple of days, exposure begins.
Subsequently, hen-raised chicks rarely get coccidiosis. So, method one: let your broody hen raise her own chicks. But, since most of us don't start out with a broody hen and her chicks, we need ways to mimic her methods:

1. If possible, allow your chicks access to the soil as soon as you get them. The sooner they hit the ground, the sooner they start learning to be chickens.

2. For many of us, #1 is difficult because of work schedules or weather or whatever. Another way to mimic this is to actually shovel small amounts of soil from the chicken run and place it in the brooder with the chicks. They will scratch through it and expose themselves to the oocysts in your soil. This should be done regularly so as to mimic daily exposure to the soil.

3. Once your chicks' feathers grow out, move them to the outdoors/coop situation as soon as possible. The sooner they are experiencing a full-fledged chicken life, the sooner they can solidify their resistance to coccidiosis.

What if they get coccidiosis anyway?

Medicate. I have not had an outbreak of coccidiosis for over a year, and i make every effort to raise my chickens without medication or drugs of any kind, but i still keep a container of Corid (liquid Amprolium 9.6%) on hand just in case. If i see symptoms, i medicate, no questions asked. I medicate the entire flock (of that age group), even if only one shows symptoms. This is done by mixing 2 teaspoons per gallon in the drinking water. Isolate the affected flock so that the only water they drink is medicated. Remix and change the water every day for 5-7 days. Most often, symptoms will disappear by about day 3 of medication.

How do i know if my chicks have coccidiosis?

1. Fluffiness. Fluffiness? Yes. Often, just one or two chicks in your flock will be the first to tell you that you have a problem. One of the two most common first obvious indicators of coccidiosis is one chick, all fluffed up, sleepily huddling in a corner or near a heat lamp. It sounds arbitrary, but when you see it, you'll remember it.

2. Bloody feces. Not to be confused with natural intestinal shedding, which sometimes looks like a small amount of blood mixed with the feces, coccidiosis will often cause truly bloody feces, sometimes containing more blood than feces.

3. Time line. If you're not sure whether you're dealing with coccidiosis, you can often verify by reviewing your time line. This is because an outbreak of coccidiosis in chicks generally occurs 2-4 weeks after the chicks first begin being exposed to the soil/adult droppings.

Can adult chickens get coccidiosis too?

Yes. They can. There are exceptions to the rule, but on the rare occasion that an adult chicken comes down with coccidiosis, it is usually because it has been introduced to a new strain of oocysts in the soil. This can happen if a chicken is moved to a new location or if adult chickens from another location are introduced, exposing the "native" chicken to new strains of protozoa. Adult chickens with a coccidial infestation generally take it much harder than a chick and may take longer to recover.

After the Medication

Amprolium works by limiting the absorption of vitamin B1. This and the enormous strain placed on the chicken's body due to the infestation, warrant extra vitamins and other nutrients after the medication is gone and the chicks have recovered from the coccidiosis. Scrambled eggs and vitamin supplements (often found at the local feed store) will help your chicks to become healthy and vibrant again.

The Opinion Portion

After hours upon hours of reading, discussions with other chicken keepers, and experiments and experiences with my own chickens, it has come to be my opinion that back yard chicken keepers make a huge mistake when they buy into the idea that you can prevent coccidiosis by keeping an immaculate coop/brooder. Any chicken kept in any natural or sort-of natural situation, in which it is exposed to the soil, must develop resistance to the oocysts that cause coccidiosis. It can do this gradually, by picking up a little at a time from an early age, or it can get really sick all at once at a later age, and have to be medicated, or possibly die. As a resident of hot and humid East Texas (a fantastic breeding ground for coccidia oocysts), i have had great success in preventing outbreaks of coccidiosis by simply exposing my chicks to soil and adult feces as early as possible and consistently.
I also do not use medicated feed of any kind. Medicated feeds were created for large population chicken "factories" where it is impossible to give chickens fresh pasture or keep them from being exposed to an overwhelming number of oocysts, from the sheer population of chickens in a relatively small area. If i were doing that (which i do not plan), then i would use medicated feed. I do not believe it is necessary for the back yard chicken keeper, especially when medications such as Corid so often do such a good job of nipping coccidiosis in the bud when it does show its head.

*The information presented here is based on personal experience and observation, discussions with other back yard chicken keepers who are smarter than me, and numerous on-line sources, which confirm the scientific fact portions of this page. If you are interested in reading more of the scientific mumbo jumbo (a.k.a. facts) about coccidiosis in chickens, this is a very helpful link. I don't agree with all of the application portion, but facts are facts. And the presentation is very helpful and easy to understand.

Easter Eggers

2010-09-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

This is Bingley! He is getting more beautiful as he matures.

He likes the "bed head" look!

He looks like such a wise Roo with his beard and frumpt up hair..... and his little Robin Hood hat of a comb. He is so lovely!

Look at these wonderful eggs!

Everyone EXCEPT the WELLSUMMERS are laying. This carton has BO= WA= EE =Catalana and Ancona eggs..

Lesson Learned

2010-09-04T17:44:00.000-07:00

You might remember my broody mama, Mathilde, and her brood of chicks. She has been living in the run with her chicks in order to protect her chicks from the motherly bathings of my dog, Jelly. A couple of nights ago, it got to raining pretty steadily. Mathilde and the chicks had shelter in the run, but they were still on the wet ground, and i wanted them to be able to get truly dry.

Normally, i would put her in the brooder, but the brooder was full of these little guys.

But i thought i would give a try to combining them. The babies in the brooder were only about a week and half younger than Mathilde's chicks. So, i put Mathilde and her 3 chicks in the brooder with the babies, and i watched her to make sure everything would work out o.k.

Well, i nearly broke down into tears as Mathilde looked around at all these chicks, her bird brain obviously trying to figure out where she miscounted, and after some serious thought, walked over to the corner where all the babies were hiding from the giant monster chicken, and attempted to cover them. It was beautiful.

I checked on them a couple more times before i went to bed, and when all seemed well, i didn't worry. I thought i had a solution.

Next morning, i went out to check, and to my great dismay, all five of my black sexlinks had been plucked. BALD. Apparently, Mathilde was trying to clean all that "dirt" off of them or something. I immediately ousted Mathilde and her chicks, and then sprayed the poor bald babies with blue kote. Here's what they look like now.

Poor things. Thankfully, none of them were truly hurt, just a little sore, and some rest and vitamins perked them right up.

RIRxBO

2010-09-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

I am so in love with this cross, i thought i would share. This is Edgar, on the right. He's a bit of a blur, since he won't hold still for pictures since his near death experience. But you can kind of see his coloring. On top of the terra cotta base, there's a gorgeous fiery orange, especially in his hackle and saddle feathers. It's superb!

This is Terra, who has been unimaginatively named for her beautiful deep terra cotta color.

These chickens are a product of a cross between my treasured Rhode Island Red rooster, Rocky, and one of several Buff Orpington hens. These pictures really don't do them justice, but i'm so in love with the color, that i'm thinking of trying to learn more about chicken genetics (a subject which tends to elude me) and see if i can get this color to somehow breed true. I'm pretty sure this would mean developing an entirely new breed. But hey, better to shoot for the moon, right?

Every time i look back up at that picture, i'm in love again.

Mother Hens

2010-08-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

Because of a family emergency, I had to leave the house in a hurry. With two dogs on chains and the chickens free ranging and even with a fire going in the burn pile, I loaded up four half dressed children and left.

My dear friends who were planning on delivering a chicken pen the NEXT day, sent me a text and were delivering it now. While in route home several hours later, I received another text telling me that the youngest black puppy had gotten loose and Josiah and Daniel found him in the chicken pen with the chickens and put him back on his chain. They also noticed the mama hen and some of her five day old babies and put them up.

I was sick to my stomach. My new puppy is not a chicken eater but he plays with anyone he gets a hold of until they die. I had just released the mama hen from her little cage with her six new babies and put them all back in the big girl pen, so she could introduce them to the flock.

Beth has taught me to get those babies on the ground and in the flock as soon as possible. This lowers the risk of "cocci" and also gets the other hens used to the babies while their mother is overly protective and possessive. It is a win win.

Late last night I returned to the house well after dark. The mama chicken was in her dog crate and all I saw was two babies. I was very grateful for the two surviving babies. I thanked God for Josiah and Daniel! If they had not come over a day early, the puppy could have easily destroyed the entire flock.

This morning as I stood drinking my coffee and watching the chickens, I thought of the scripture.....'' how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings............" (last part of Matthew 23:37)

I am so very thankful to GOD for sending those precious wonderful young men to save the flock. Not only did they see the problem, they did everything in their power to remedy it. They put the dog back on the chain and they locked up the chickens.

I am not sure if some of the babies were hiding in the dark under a cinder block or in the dog crate deep under their mama's wings, but this morning five out of six of her babies are happy and alive and scratching around the coop. We only lost one!

Not only did Josiah and Daniel deliver a wonderful huge chicken run, they also saved the JoyHouse flock from a ruthless predator puppy who is on his very last paw.

More Wing-sexing and a Clarification

2010-08-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

It should be noted that these wing-sexing pictures are part of an experiment more than anything. Wing-sexing is not known to be accurate in the back yard flock, since some hatcheries breed specifically for the growth of the wings, so that their chicks can be wing-sexed. I have a personal wonderment that i am testing here, and i'm letting you watch. So i guess we'll see about it.

This is the second day in a row of wing pictures of my chicks that hatched Friday night through Saturday morning. For some of them, today is day three, and wing-sexing (for the sake of this experiment) is no longer valid after today.

For your entertainment - and because they're so extremely cute - i am including pictures of the actual chicks this time. *Chick numbers are probably not the same as yesterday's. I can only tell two of them from the rest.

Chick #1: My black sexlink.

Girl, for sure.

Chick #2:

The only brown one. I've thought this one was a girl, but i might be wavering. Time will have to tell.

Chick #3:

Girl, i think.

Chick #4:

Eva said she thought this one might be a girl, but i'm still going with boy.

Chick #5:

I think i have to stick with boy on this one too.

Chick #6:

Boy?

Chick #7:

Isn't she bashful? Girl.

Chick #8:

Girl

And here's a group shot. Aren't they adorable! I never get tired of baby chicks.

I think that some of my guesses today might be opposite from yesterday.

Eva said 5 girls and 3 boys yesterday. Today, i might agree with her. Maybe. I would love to be able to sex my chicks. But it's so hard to say.

Help me wing-sex my chicks!

2010-08-15T13:26:00.000-07:00

Eva has been trying to help me understand wing sexing. See Eva's wing sexing entry. She has emailed me several videos on the matter and tries to explain it to me, though my brain doesn't seem to necessarily be taking in this concept. The premise is that on days one through three of a chicken's life, we can tell the gender based on wing development. The girls have two rows of primary feathers, and the boys only one. If i'm doing this right, i've noticed that the boys also tend to have fewer visible primary feathers.

I happen to have eight new babies at my house, who started hatching on Friday - and who were all hatched by Saturday mid-morning. So today is day two of life for most of them, possibly day one and a half for some.

I'm not sure i know what i'm talking about here, but i'm giving it a shot and hoping for feedback. Here we go....

Chick #1:

This is a nice place to start because i know that this one is a girl. She's a black sex link, and this is her wing. She was one of the first to hatch, so this is definitely day two for her.

Chick #2:

This one, i think, is a boy. There are only a few obvious feathers, and i can only see one row.

Chick #3:

This one might just be younger than the others, but since this is at least day one and a half, and there is hardly any visible feather development, i'm going to call this one a boy also.

Chick #4:

Another boy. Maybe we'll call him Soup.

Chick #5:

This one throws me off a little because i CAN see some slight development of a second row of primary feathers - or at least i think i can - but i think this is a boy because there are way fewer primary feathers visible.

Chick #6:

This one has a clear second row of feathers. Female.

Chick #7:

Female. Eva says the girls' feathers also look a little more tapered, like they've been to the salon.

Chick #8:

Is that a second row? If you blow it up, it might be easier to see. I think this is a girl too.

So i see four boys and four girls. What do you think? That's exactly what i got when my dog had puppies, four boys and four girls, but they were easier to sex.

Wing Sexing Chicks

2010-08-10T06:57:00.000-07:00

I have watched and rewatched this video and I really want to be an expert at this. The feathers change so fast from day to day. There is a clear difference when the chicks are 2 days old so I am going to take more pictures tomorrow. The little yellow chick is almost 24 hours older than the others so that is why her feathers look so different in these photos.

After viewing this video link, and then viewing these pictures.... what do YOU think?

This is a BETTER LINK with more details and very helpful.

The top picture is "Blondie" the oldest... next is the little Bantam and then the dark Easter Egger. Notice the cute little beards on the dark EE and the Bantam..... Looks like Bingley is the father to both.... Blondie looks a bit less Easter Eggy to me...

Its Perfect!

2010-08-09T16:39:00.001-07:00

Chick number ONE is a pullet chick. The little Bantam and the Black EE are too fluffy to be able to tell yet so I will check tomorrow. Can you see the two layers on the wings? If you click on it and make it larger you will be able to see the white tips of the second "shutter" row of the wing feathers.

<< This is the sweet little Bantam..

Miss Charlotte only has 4 bantam eggs left and because I did not right on the eggs and because I think I set them 7 days later than the others, we called it quits. She hatched two Easter Eggers and one little Bantam. I put the 4 unhatched eggs in the styrofoam incubator and rearranged every bird on this land today.

We need two additional chicken pens in order to separate the Roosters and keep them from killing each other. They are so awesome! The Roosters are Ancona, Catalana and Welsummer and I am very interested in being able to produce pure breds in the future. But for now, we have outgrown our space.

After a lengthy discussion with Beth this morning I realized the only solution was to make a bachelor pad for all the roosters and give all the girls to "Bingley" the head hancho roo. He is a very very happy Rooster.

When Miss Charlotte was broody, she would not allow any other hen to lay an egg within 50 feet. When it was close to the expected hatch date, we moved her and her eggs to the baby chick brooder... it was tight but she was happy and so were all the other hens. After they all had a chance to hatch and when I realized we were finished, it was time to get Mama and her three babies out of those tight closed in quarters.

My Brother in Law had loaned me his awesome Finch Colony cage, and it makes a PERFECT wide open safe brooder for mama hen to tend to her new little family and still be close enough to the flock. Thank you James! Everyone is so happy!

Mama is so much better than a lightbulb

2010-08-08T20:10:00.000-07:00

Miss Charlottes First Baby Chick

2010-08-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

It is so much easier to let the mamas hatch and raise their young. This is Charlottes very first success story. She has been broody off and on for several months. In the henhouse she gets nervous and also keeps all the other girls from entering the nesting boxes. On one occasion her and the crazy bantam hen I call Patsy Cline were both broody and actually fought over the eggs and somehow moved them from nest to nest. They broke a few eggs in the process. Moving Miss Charlotte to her own "space" has given her much peace and has also been less stressful for the entire flock. Thanks for the advice Beth!

o yea I am addicted.....

2010-08-04T15:50:00.000-07:00

hatch set August 2nd - 4th and due to hatch on August 26th. That is how I roll. I add 22 days and sometime 24 days. I am a bit inpatient and this greatly helps my chances of having a successful hatch rate uninterrupted by well meaning me. I actually have to scotch tape the lockdown date to the incubator so that I will remember to leave them alone and let things happen naturally. Usually the chicks I "help" end up dying regardless or live a life with a crippled foot and limp around bottom of the pecking order. I will leave them alone. I will let them hatch or not hatch. I vow to stop interfering unless ....... there is real trouble... aaaauuuuggggg!

Beth's Hatch Report

2010-07-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

My hatch started on Monday, July 26.

I had 44 eggs that made it to lockdown.

Out of those, 30 hatched healthfully; 8 never pipped; 3 pipped, zipped a little, and died; and one cute little black sexlink completely hatched, but was never able to pull himself up off of the incubator floor, and he died right there. I guess that's what they call "failure to thrive." The remaining two hatched but didn't absorb their belly buttons right. I know that's not what it's called. One of them improved a lot with the application of wet paper towels and lots of time in the 'bator, so i sent him/her with the 30 i sold, just in case he/she makes it. The other also could not walk - and didn't appear to improve significantly in the belly button department, so that one had to be put down.

I know where some of my problems probably came from. Too many eggs. After about ten chicks had hatched and had nowhere to go - and were running around the incubator trouncing on the heads of other chicks who were trying to hatch - i knew i had to get them out of there and give the other babies a chance. So i HAD to do what i said i wouldn't do - and open the incubator.

I was very careful. I took the 'bator to the bathroom, and i turned on the shower on hot for a long time to steam the bathroom up good before i opened up the incubator. But still, i'm convinced that had something to do with my low hatch rate.

After that, i ended up opening the 'bator over and over again by the same method because i was afraid that chicks were getting shrinkwrapped or whatever.

So, lesson learned - next time i'll start with 24 eggs, and i'll leave the incubator alone until they're all done - or until 3 days have passed since the first one hatched.

It might be better if i just put the whole thing in a closet somewhere and don't even look at it for a couple of days. I'm not sure if i can do that, but it might be worth looking into.

I sold all the viable chicks yesterday, so here are the cute pictures i have to share of the darlings.

Here is what i call "chicken carpet." It's naptime, and they're all huddled up together in a tight mass. They look like a great big chicken fuzz rug....that wiggles a little.

I wish i had taken better pictures of these. I had six or seven nearly identical chicks, who were solid black with yellow throats, bellies, and wing tips. When they were standing up in front of you, they looked like little penguins. Very cute!

The box - for going to their new home.

30 chicks in a box (and lots of cute little baby chick poop)

just a cute picture of the very first to hatch

and this little guy with the giant shock of punk rock yellow on his head

the first ten hatches

the first little boy

the original 44 little lives

I miss them.

First Peep!

2010-07-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

Earlier this evening, we both heard a noise. Both of us looked up and looked around.

James said, "did you hear a MOUSE?"

I hadn't thought of a mouse. I thought that it was our youngest chicken outside, Little Guy, who still cheeps like a little one.

Then it dawned on me.

Maybe i should look in the incubator.

Sure enough!

Our first hatch is a little male black sexlink, and the end of day 19.

I know he looks like he's dead right there. But he's not. He's just a newborn/newhatch, and he's still working to get out of that dadburned shell.

I keep going over to the 'bator and cheering him on. When i do, he perks up and peeps a whole bunch and works some more to get out of his egg. It's great.

Oh, that inspired me to look around a bit, and i have about ten more eggs pipped. I may not sleep for a couple days.

Day Eighteen

2010-07-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

I feel nervous. Today is day 17 of my first incubator incubation. Each of these 17 days, i have faithfully turned each egg several times per day. I have candled my eggs on days 10, 14, and 17. I have drawn on my eggs, made notes on my eggs about my eggs. I have fussed with the temperature and humidity but not stressed out too much about my eggs. Every day for 17 days. I actually schedule my sleep around these eggs.

Tomorrow is day 18.

Lock down.

On day eighteen, i will carefully position all my eggs for hatching, i will add water to raise the humidity, and i will put the lid on my incubator. And then i won't open it for possibly five days. I won't get to touch them or turn them or write on them because they will be busy. Forty-four little lives inside those eggs will be busily trying to get out.

I really hope they all do it fast so i can hold them.

See, because even if ten of them are hatched, i have to leave them inside to wait for the other 34 to give it a shot. Opening the lid to rescue the ten could cause the humidity to drop and sabotage the efforts of the 34!

Oh dear!

On the more technical and educational side, this has been an experience for me because i have learned SO much. When we got the incubator, and right before we put eggs in it, i did some reading - about temperatures and humidity levels and whatnot. I was basically trying to get a general picture and not feel like i was flying blind. I know that everything is a learning experience, and supposedly "you shouldn't expect your first hatch to be that great," but ....well, i'm going for 100% hatch. Why go for less?

Anyway, over the past couple of weeks, i have read and talked and asked questions, but today i read 16 pages of this incubation humidity thread on BYC.

It's a lot of reading, but really helpful for my understanding. One of the things i learned is that one of the reasons for so much conflicting advice in the incubation world might be attributed to elevation differences. It seems that elevation may play an important role in what humidity levels work for you.

I also read on this thread or someplace else, that your egg should lose about 12% of its weight between day one and lock down. So since i did weigh my eggs before i set them, i decided to weigh them today. My average weight difference was about 10.8%. That's not exact, but it definitely makes me feel more comfortable about my hatch this weekend. I think i'm on the right track. Whew!

Seventeen days of doing it all wrong would really stink!

In other news, my battleax, Mathilde, is broody again. So, this evening, i carefully chose 14 eggs for Mathilde to set and hatch. Oddly, when i gave her these eggs earlier, she just sat there. Upon the sight of an egg, a broody hen will normally be very quick about tucking it underneath herself in just the right spot. But for some reason, she froze. Just like this.

So i left her alone for a few minutes to get comfortable with her new family, but when i came back, she was still sitting there. In this trance. I decided to help her out and started tucking the eggs underneath her body. About 4 eggs into that is when i figured out that this must be Mathilde. That girl can bite very hard. In a minute i'll go back outside and check on her (hopefully i'll beat the threatening rain storm). And hopefully i don't have to help her anymore - i'm not really in the mood for the pain right now. Ha!

A Story About Two Little Chicks

2010-07-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

A long time ago, a hen named Kuku, hatched out two beautiful little chicks.

There was Edgar. Edgar had a hard time getting out of the shell and i helped him out. They tell you not to do this sort of thing, but it seemed the only option at the time. Edgar did very well after a little bit of assistance. At the time, we thought Edgar was a little lady, and we named him Lily. When we figured out that he was not a Lily, we transferred his name to his female hatchmate.

This is the true Lily. She is a female black sexlink, the only one i've had to live to maturity.

Edgar and Lily were the only chicks hatched to Kuku, and they stuck together like glue from day one.

They have come to be SO close and SO independent that i have a very hard time taking pictures of them. Most of the time, when i try, i just get someone's tush.

Then, a few days ago, when i opened up the coop in the morning, Edgar was sitting in the floor of the coop, and didn't look like he was going anywhere. When i tried to check on him, he hurriedly scampered away, but with a very very bad limp. Oh no! There is a deadly and contagious disease that sometimes presents this way in chickens, and at first my mind started to panic on me. But, be still my soul, it turned out not to be so bad. I isolated Edgar, gave him his own food and water so he wouldn't have to walk so much, and decided to watch and wait. I was very pleased to see that Edgar was eager to eat and very vigorous. And after a day or so, he was carefully using his bum foot. Hallelujah! Maybe it was just a sprained ankle.

After a few days in isolation, i decided to open the door to his area and let him decide when he wanted to join the flock.

When i came back to check on him mid-morning, i found him still in his isolation spot, but with company. Lily had joined him. She had missed him so much! Since then, they have hardly left each others' side, stuck more to each other than they were before. Edgar is still resting a lot, so Lily rests with him. And today, i was finally able to get pictures of the lovely couple.

Haha! After i passed by the first time, they traded places. I guess Lily needs Edgar to protect her from me!

Two of the most beautiful birds i've raised so far.

This has been the story of Edgar and his limp.

Thanks for reading!

Summer Slaughter Link

2010-06-26T20:09:00.001-07:00

We finished our biggest slaughter yet today. I wrote it about it over on my personal blog. Come see.

http://iwannabeafarmer.blogspot.com/2010/06/summer-slaughter.html

My wonderful HENS need saddles

2010-06-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

First you cut a piece of fabric 8 inches by 8 inches. (I used the bottom of a pair of blue jeans that I had made into capri pants and it worked perfect. )

You need to trim the wing holes leaving a 3 inch place for the neck.

You will also need a ribbon to run under the neck area and around the hens wings.

This was a very easy project. I will do a much better proffesional job next time when I actually pull out the sewing machine, but my Golden Buff is very appreciative regardless.

Broody Brooder and Broodette

2010-06-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

These three girls have been broody for 4 weeks-- when given fertilized eggs to sit on-- they fought over them and poked holes in them --

Even when given fake eggs to sit on they continued to fight and move the eggs from this nest to that nest -- all the time keeping the other non broody hens away with nowhere to lay their eggs--

Beth suggested cool baths for three days in a row --to break the brooders-- but with a baby on my hip and my kids in town-- I have no time at all to spare -- I had to come up with something fast--so I put all three in a smaller side cage.

While these girls eat and drink and stand around wondering what to do--

everyone else can get back to their nests!

chicky chicky chicky

2010-06-05T20:59:00.000-07:00

Little Mama's clutch was on day 19 yesterday. This morning, we started getting pips and had chicks emerging by noon. Of 12 eggs, i counted 6 hatched chicks at 8:00 this evening.

Interestingly, every single one so far is blonde. So of our RIR, BO, and BR hens, it must be that the Orpingtons are laying the best.

Here's some more chicky love.

Sweet dreams chicken people!

Free Rooster

2010-06-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

EDITED: Goose went to live at his new home this morning. Thanks for all the responses!

This is Goose. He's 8 1/2 months old, hatched September 16, 2009. He's a RIR, and he needs a new home. He matured very slowly but has turned out to be a really beautiful guy, and i would like it if someone could rescue him from the impending freezer camp to which he is destined. I think he would be a great rooster for someone's back yard flock of lovely ladies. Please respond if you would like to come and take him to a greener pasture than this one.

Experiments in Broodiness

2010-06-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

So far this year (and ever) i have had four broody chickens hatch eggs and raise babies. Right now, i have numbers 5 & 6 sitting on eggs, and number 7 in the nest box keeping a porcelain faker very very warm.

When i got my first two broodies, i read and read and read on BYC, and i learned all i could about what to do with broodies. I got the general idea, and then i decided to figure it out myself. I'm here to bring you up to date on my discoveries thus far.

The first four broodies, i allowed to set their eggs right in the nest box. All had successful hatches, but i found that when open to the rest of the flock, they spend a lot of time defending their eggs - sometimes to the death....of the eggs. Not to mention that since the nest boxes are 3 or 4 feet off the floor of the coop, i had to get creative with chicken wire to keep the babies from falling to their deaths once they were hatched.

So, when in the heat of the summer, two more girls turned broody, i decided to employ the use of my outdoor brooder and see how much better my results would be if kept them semi-isolated, away from the interference of the flock.

This is my outdoor brooder, with the door open.

I started with a buff broody, and i just put the eggs in a nice neat little arrangement in the clean pine shavings in a corner of the brooder. Then i put the hen in . She clucked around, checked out the roost, and then her need to sit on eggs overwhelmed her, and she sat down. Little Mama is now on day 16.

Four days later, i tried the same thing with a RIR broody in a different corner of the brooder. For some reason, Rhodie didn't notice the eggs at first and just hung out on the roost for a long time. I was thinking i was going to have to confine her to an even smaller space within the brooder. So i got my trusty covered kitty litter box (which has turned out to be very handy for chickens). I put shavings in the bottom half of it, stuck it in the brooder, and put the eggs inside. Then, while i was going for the lid and figuring out how i was going to keep her from coming out of there, she discovered them....EGGS. I think she just hadn't noticed them before. But then when she watched me move them into this big special nest, something finally clicked, and she got very clucky and back to her broody self. Whew! And there she has sat for the last 12 days.

Pretty much everything has gone well.

At first, Rhodie forgot to get up to poop, so i started standing her up from time to time, and she seemed to get the idea. Little Mama, however, kept a pristine nest, got up and had food and water as needed, and had no problems until today.

Today....well actually, last night, i noticed that she had pooped on her eggs. That seemed weird this late in the game. Then this morning, when i went to clean them (she was up on a roost at the time), she pooped on my hand too. Little Mama seemed to have a little case of cabin fever, so i let her and Rhodie out for a while before letting the flock out of the coop. Their very first stop.....a dust bath.

I kind of felt bad. Poor girls! They just wanted to freshen up!

I made the main flock wait until the girls were done taking an extra long break, and then Rhodie went back to her nest. Little Mama needed more convincing.

Here's Rhodie's kitty box nest.

Here's Little Mama's poopy nest. It looked so good before. I have since cleaned up the poopy eggs as well as i could with a dry cloth.

Here is their little eating and drinking station in the middle of the brooder.

Rhodie was back to fussing at me for my existence in her presence pretty quickly.

Little Mama, however, seems to be turning her back on me for forcing her back into the brooder. She was enjoying her sabatical a little too much.

For comparison's sake, here are the meaningful stats so far.

First hatch:

Greta and Mathilde brooded together and raised their chicks together, so i lumped their numbers together as well. They started with a total of 14 eggs, hatched 9, and 4 survived to this date. They are now 10 weeks old.

Second hatch:

Kuku started with 5 eggs, successfully hatched 2 chicks, and both survive to this date. They are 7 weeks old.

Third hatch:

Kyckling started with 5 eggs and successfully hatched all five. Either she has a poor maternal instinct, or a couple of occasions in which she was accidentally locked away from her chicks caused her broody radar to turn off. Only one of those babies survives to date, and he is now 5 weeks old.

Current (4th and 5th) hatches:

Little Mama started with 13 eggs. She dubbed one of them a dud around day ten, and is still sitting on the remaining dozen. Hopefully the poop on the eggs from today won't have an ill effect on the chicks inside. We will see.

Rhodie started with a dozen and is still sitting on a dozen. Also hoping the poop exposure won't cause a problem.

Rhodie's and Little Mama's chicks are sold as soon as they are hatched, so i won't get as much data from them. Still, it's interesting to see what will happen.

These are my experiments in broodiness so far.

If you sometimes cook a chicken and Welcome to new readers.

2010-05-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

If you sometimes cook a chicken

Recently, i was forced to butcher a beloved hen because of some injuries.

I hate that, but if i'm going to do it, i would like to also enjoy eating the meat. Meaning, i want it to taste good.

I stumbled upon a great thing to do to flavor a chicken.

Put it in your crock pot on low and stick one cayenne pepper inside.

The whole bird was flavored wonderfully, and it wasn't too spicy hot. It was great.

There's your tip for today.

Welcome to new readers

I noticed, today, that this blog has several new followers who i don't think i've met. So i thought, maybe we should write something, so they'll have something to follow. And i also just want to say Howdy! and thank you for reading. Please feel free to add your comments and educate us with your experience.

I love my BABIES!

2010-04-26T22:31:00.000-07:00

One of the most enjoyable things about raising chickens is the way they effect the grandchildren. I get so much enjoyment out of watching their little faces light up as they listen to a chick peeping from inside a shell or seeing their excitement as they watch them hatch.

The grandchildren have learned how to be gentle and compassionate.

My Graceson and my Tobias have taken a special interest in the chickens. I can see that they each have inherited the "farmer gene" and will someday have animals of their own.

About Coccidiosis and medicated starter feed

2010-04-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

Coccidiosis (kahk sid e oh siss) That's my own personal throw-down pronunciation guide there, so i hope it makes sense.

I recently blathered on BYC about my recent experimentation concerning coccidiosis and the use of medicated feed. I thought i would share it here also.

This is mostly a direct copy/paste from my post on BYC.

I live in the "soupy south," as SpeckledHen called it. And i have used medicated feed (in the past) for every group of chickens coming through.....and every group of medicated chickens came down with coccidiosis and had to be medicated anyway. So i started reading everything i could find on coccidiosis in chickens, here on BYC, more professional articles and studies - whatever i could find on the web. I wanted to really understand (as much as my not-a-scientist mind could understand) how coccidiosis really works.

I also talked with SpeckledHen, who always has good, educated things to say to back up her opinions, and i decided to try an experiment.

The previous groups of chicks who came through always got sick about 2 weeks after hitting the ground, and that lined up with what i read about the time it usually takes to overwhelm a chick's system.

But it has seemed that the older a chicken is when she is exposed, the worse it hits her.

So with my most recent addition, i stopped feeding medicated feed. I had to switch to game bird grower to get something without amprolium, but i'm o.k. with that. (props to those of you who are grinding your own feed - awesome!)

In addition to feeding non-medicated feed, while the chicks were still in the brooder, i started giving them small amounts of the soil that my flock regularly poops in - in their brooder, so they could scratch through it and get exposed asap. Also, on the very first sunny warm day, i put them all on the ground in the run and let them "free range." Then, as soon as they were feathered in - and as long as it hasn't been raining - i started letting them run the run all day every day. They've been doing that virtually every day for about a month [about six weeks at the date of this chicken chat post], and i have - for the first time ever - had no outbreak of coccidiosis.

I'm no scientist, but i think a lot of people are going about this all wrong. From what i've read, the way to protect a chick from being overwhelmed by cocci protozoa is by exposing them ASAP, just like a mama hen does.

Keeping their environment perfectly spotless and keeping them from being exposed to chicken poop - even though it seems to be the right thing to do - is what seems to be making them more vulnerable in the long run.

This is preliminary. I will want to do the same thing with several more groups of chicks - during different parts of the year - before i get on a really big soapbox about it, but this is my experience so far. I definitely don't think the medicated feed is helping anyone; i'll tell you that. And i will gladly pay extra to give them a feed without it.

Even the game bird grower i've been feeding has antibiotics (not amprolium - just antibiotics) in it, and i hate that too - but i talked to my feed store, and they agreed to order a different feed with actually NO MEDICATION at all in it - just for me. They currently carry nothing that has NO medication. Then i will be happier. Since my chickens free range all day, i don't worry too much about the fact that it's manufactured. The feed i give them is meant to be just a supplement to what they get in pasture.

I think my chickens should be able to say no to drugs.

ETA: One more thing - medicated feed is meant to help the chicken build resistance to the cocci protozoa. If you are feeding medicated feed, it can't do its job unless you expose your chicks to the protozoa - meaning the soil and the poop. If you don't expose them, the medication can do NOTHING to benefit your chicken.

2010-03-22T07:52:00.001-07:00

Five new baby chicks this morning. And one good mama chicken.

I am very pleased.

The other mama hen is hatching her babies right now. So far we have two and at least one slowly cracking egg. It kills me not to watch every second.

God's creation is so amazing! It's so unbelievable that that egg and that mama made new life. How can anyone believe it's an accident?

Miss Charlotte Jane and Elizabeth

2010-03-14T08:08:00.001-07:00

Pride and Prejudice..... Miss Charlotte is a "not very likely" pure bred Wheaten Ameraucana picked up at the Conroe Chicken Show because the man did not have change for a $5 .... Jane and Elizabeth are pure breeds that I hatched from eggs last year. Jane is a Wheaten and Elizabeth on the far right, is a Wheaten Blue. The only difference is the coloring on the tips of the tails.

Elizabeth has a crippled foot caused by me putting her down in a cage and smashing her foot, or her walking too close to me when she was little and me stepping on her. I can not remember which one caused the injury, probably both. (Yes I have learned to be more careful) I rarely get a photo with all three together. These are the girls that I wanted to breed. Darcy was the Rooster that died along with all my dreams of breeding Wheaten Ameraucanas. I love my chickens yes I do.

Magnus and Hansel

2010-03-11T20:15:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, Eva and Beth and Kate and Jeremiah went on a little road trip to meet a fellow-BYCer, Sheila and her neighboring chicken-owner-friend, Terry - and to take home some full grown Buff Orpington Roosters. Even though Google misled us, and our trip there took twice as long as it should have, we had a great time and got to see a lot of breeds we don't normally lay our eyes on. These pictures are not in story order, so i will narrate each picture for your reading pleasure. If i get some of the breeds wrong - because i wasn't actually taking notes on this trip - i apologize now. I'm going from memory.

These are Sheila's Golden -Laced Wyandottes. Pretty, huh?

This is Sheila, holding Eva's new roo, Hansel.

This is a very small picture that i'm not too sure about, but those are probably Buff Orpingtons in front of Eva's vehicle.

This is me, Beth, holding my new roo, Magnus. As you can see, i am QUITE pleased!

This is a somewhat violent, but beautiful, Barred Rock roo.

If you click on this picture, you can see it larger, a smattering of beautiful chickens at Sheila's house.

Me and Magnus again.

This is Sheila and Terry holding the roos Eva and i had picked out. Very nice ladies and very kind hosts. We had a lot of fun checking out all their chickens comparing notes and hearing what they're proud of and the way they do things.

This is a really gorgeous roo, with the Golden Laced Wyandottes, i mentioned earlier. Sadly, i cannot remember the name of this breed. But the green sheen is oh so pretty in the sunlight.

This is Beth, checking out the selection of Buff Roos.

Another bird i can't remember the breed of.

This is the head of a guinea. Weird, huh? This bird is VERY interesting to look at.

The hen on the left in this picture is a Lakenvelder. Sheila has a couple of these, beautiful specimens. Just as a side note, on the Lakenvelders, Eva's birthday is coming up, and she was VERY impressed with these chickens.

Here, Sheila is sharing with us, her pride and joy, some chicks of a rare bantam-breed. They are SO pretty. And i really should have been taking notes so i could tell you what breed they are.

Here are some of the bantam cuties. See the little crest on their heads. Adorable.

Here's that guinea again. We couldn't stop looking at her.

And the pair of Lakenvelders.

Here's the guinea. When you see the whole body, you can understand why we couldn't stop looking. God is SO imaginative.

Silver Laced Wyandotte on the right (i think).

Here is the breed i (Beth) fell in love with. New Hampshire Reds. The picture really doesn't do that beautiful color justice. I expect these will soon be added to our flock, here in Rogers Country.

New Hampshire next to a Buff Orpington.

New Hampshire next to a Barred Rock and a White Rock.

Sheila feeding them raisins through the fence.

I'm pretty sure this is a Barred Rock. Sheila has something else there that looks really similar to a Barred Rock but isn't.

And that's our trip. We didn't really get pictures of the Mexican Restaurant where we ate or the trip where we got really lost. And sadly, we were out of reach of our cameras when that beautiful Barred Rock rooster faced off against a very aggressive Australorpe rooster at Terry's house. But we had a great time. I'm sure that proper pictures of Magnus and Hansel will be forthcoming. They are truly gorgeous specimens.

43 Baby Chicks

2010-03-05T20:53:00.000-08:00

With the 4 wooden crates that James and Beth gave me and my neighbors jigsaw---

I was able to make this cute little brooder for the chicks... They had started out in the house in ONE tote and when that became FOUR totes --- it was time to quickly get them OUT OF THE HOUSE.

It is so nice having them outdoors where they belong. The only

problem is that I am unable to keep as close of an eye on them.. If I go for a couple hours with out checking on them, someone has a bloody tush or a little peck mark on their neck. I grabbed the Rooster Booster cream and started tending to all the bo bos.

I began by bringing a few chicks back in a tote to the house to doctor them and let them rest, and to allow the Rooster Booster cream to dry before putting them back with the others. This became so often that I finally took the Rooster Booster bottle outside and I bent into their brooder and stayed there... half in half out.... for about 20 minutes just grabbing chicks and dabbing all their wounds.

The brooder sets up high and I have to climb a stool to get up there, and when I tried to catch them they all run to the far back wall just out of reach. In order to get them I have to literally reach and stretch and almost crawl into the brooder.

It is rediculous but much faster than bringing each bird into the house. I can imagine what the neighbors were thinking as they drive by my home and see this big wooden box with my bottom half hanging out of the side window. OMG And to make matters worse, this stuff is hard to get off of your hands, and even after several washings, it still makes your eyes burn and your mouth numb with the slightest touch.

This morning when I went back out to check on them, what do you think I find, MORE bo bos?Good grief. I am so tired of my stained hands and my numb lips. I remember what Beth and Sammye both use, and since I need to buy more Rooster Booster anyway, I am going to buy the spray on kind and make my life so much easier. I can't find it anywhere so Sammye lets me use hers.

I decide to cover each chick with this Blu Kote and be done with all this

pecking business once and for all. I was creative this time, and as I covered each little darlin with the spray, I moved them to the colony cage where they will be living next week. This helped them to dry and also helped me to make sure I covered each and every one of them.

I thought the spray would be less messy but I was wrong. What a great time to remember the box of latex gloves in the house.

I have a BROODY!

2010-03-02T06:57:00.000-08:00

*asterisks are for educational value

The day before yesterday, i noticed that one of my pullets wasn't getting off the nest. At first, i thought she might be ill - you know, egg bound or something. But then i started to figure it out. She's broody*!

(*when a chicken is broody, it means that she has decided to hatch some chicks. she's in the reproductive way.) Having never observed or supervised a broody hen, i did some hurried research on the internet. I was told that the main way to tell if she's really broody - as in actually likely to stay on the nest until those eggs hatch and then raise her chicks - is to see if she stays in the nest box overnight. So, we determined that if she stayed overnight and seemed to be really in it for the long haul, we would give her Monday's eggs to hatch.

In the mean time, we let her "set" these eggs. They're porcelain. I know....cruel.

I learned a lot in my research, so i'm passing it on to you as best i can. *If a chicken were on her own out in "nature," she would lay a "clutch" of eggs, and then when she thought she had enough, she would stop laying eggs and start sitting on them. Since we TAKE the chickens' eggs every day, and since we can't predict (or at least i don't think we can) when a chicken is going to go broody - so as to leave her eggs in her nest - we have to provide her with eggs to hatch when we realize she's broody (that is, if we want her to hatch real chicks). BUT it's important to mark the eggs so that you can keep track and make sure that she only has the originals. The other chickens have no respect for her "condition," and they will go right into that nest with her and lay more eggs around her, which she will instinctively gather into her clutch. This makes things complicated, and it could cause some of the eggs she's supposed to be incubating to die because there wasn't enough room to keep everyone warm. Therefore, we take the unmarked eggs away each day - and also because we want to EAT them.

So, yesterday, we (as in me and myself) collected 14 eggs. Then i used a pencil to draw big stripes all the way around each egg, so they would be easy to identify.

Aren't eggs pretty?

Then, after i was satisfied that the girls were done laying, i went out to the coop and kicked out everyone except my broody mama, and shut the door. We're still working on a name for her, but for now, we can call her "Hattie." By this time, Hattie had been on the nest for more than 24 hours with very little food and no water - and no.....relieving herself. So, as per the advice i was given, i forced her to get off the nest and eat and drink and (hopefully) poop. Pooping is gross, but it's important - for everyone.

As i come to this part of the story, i must digress. One thing i have learned since i have started raising chickens is this. Knowledge is power, and you should collect as much as you can so that you can be educated and knowledgeable and successful. But when it comes down to it, it's you and your chicken, and you and your chicken might not exactly be the "textbook situation." So you have to go with your gut...a lot.

After Hattie ate a little and drank a little (and sadly didn't poop at all), she started looking at me like this.

Do you know that look? I do. That's the look that is eye-balling your shoulder - or possibly the top of your head - for a place to perch. And then, true to her look, Hattie flew up and sat on my shoulder. And stayed there. I don't have pictures of that because it's very difficult to take a picture of the hen on your own shoulder, so you'll have to take my word for it. It's also pretty difficult to properly take hold of the hen on your shoulder - so i was trying to entice her to go back to her nest. I did this by showing her one of the porcelain eggs. Would you like to know what she did with it? She tried to gather it under herself - while on my shoulder! Apparently, she thought my shoulder would be a nice place to nest. But as much fun as that sounds like it would be, i don't think it would work out.

So finally, i kind of dumped her on the ledge in front of the nest boxes.

Here's where the story takes another turn away from the "text book." The experts told me that if i tried to put her on a different nest than the one she settled in, that she would abandon the eggs and go back to her original nest. Well, Hattie hasn't read the text book, apparently. She went to a different nest and settled right in. This makes me think that i might be able to move her wherever i want - but we'll see.

Once she got in there and settled down, i gave her one of the porcelain eggs, which she promptly gathered under herself. I was reasonably convinced that she was really broody, so i started "feeding" her real eggs.

Once she stopped gathering them underneath her, and then i remembered the porcelain egg. So i reached under her and found it and pulled it out. Then she started gathering eggs in again. And then stopped again. So i thought, "maybe she's all out of space." So i reached under her (she's very docile with me) and felt around. Nope, there's room. I actually rearranged them a little bit for her and helped her fit them all.

And then she did this cute little rock-around thing as she was getting adjusted. And now she has them all safely covered and warm. All fourteen eggs.

On March 23, the excitement should begin around 4 pm. Stay tuned!

Chicken Guard Puppies BUY ONE get one FREE

2010-03-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

ADORABLE PUPPIES 50 CENTS EACH......

FUTURE AWESOME TRAINABLE TEACHABLE CHICKEN GUARD DOGS!

GET EM WHILE THE PRICE IS RIGHT.. HOW CAN YOU RESIST?

MEET the BOYS

2010-02-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

These are all the boys....

Barred Rock- Easter Egger - possible White Leghorn - Rhode Island Red - Buff Orpington - Buff Orpington

In this bottom picture front to back left

BR RIR WL .....then on the right..... 2 BO - EE (in front)

The RIR and EE were the only ones hatched - BR and BO were purchased from the American Feed Store because Beth needs roos from both breeds and the WL was one of the 8 roos shipped with the order from Ideal just to keep the pullets warm. Beth got 7 of those and I kept 1. I hope he is pretty. I sexed the two I hatched and in comparing their combs with the ones sold as cockerels and with the poor little white guy tossed in my order, they all look the same. I am so hoping I know what I am doing. What is the worse that can happen.? I could end up with all roos.... there is a lot worse things in life.

Dobbin Easter Eggers

2010-02-24T21:48:00.000-08:00

These chicks are all Easter Eggers from Dobbin. The yellow one is a Roo and the other three will be hens one day!

My favorite little girl is Oscar... this cute little green legged fuzzy sweety pie....

Their Father was a Beautiful BIRD

Eggs..................................

2010-02-24T11:45:00.000-08:00

Well, our EE finally laid an egg! she was our smallest of the bunch. It was so small and more blue than green. Today 2-24-10 we got a VERY large egg! I screamed when I saw it. It was SO big, we are not sure who laid it. We are sure it was a big black one though. Our little group we entered into the flock awhile back still hasn't be welcome. They stay in the coop, none go to the run.

Every Chicken Flock needs a good CHICKEN GUARD PUPPY!

2010-02-22T13:24:00.000-08:00

If you are in NEED of a puppy please comment on this post and Beth will read it and get back with you. They are very sweet and they all have puppy breath.

Life is like a Box of Chocolates!

2010-02-20T21:02:00.000-08:00

If you want chocolate colored eggs in your dozens, and you can not afford the pullets who lay them....... no problem.... get 3 more crazy chicken mama's involved and WALLA...

6 months from now these WELSUMMER chicks will be laying dark brown awesome eggs.

While you were sleeping..........

2010-02-20T06:33:00.001-08:00

The Rescued Hatch continues to amaze me. I woke up this morning to three more babies.

Another BA, RIR and "Dobbin" are here! They are so sweet. Now we have NINE.

2 BA - 1 Fuzzy Mutt - 5 RIR - and Dobbin.... click on Mr Bennet's for more info on her daddy.

Manly version of sexing baby chicks.

If this video is correct, I have all pullets and only one cockeral. WOW!

Last year out of the three RIR that Juliet hatched.... all three were ROOs so this is fantastic!

And then there were FIVE

2010-02-19T05:07:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Jeanne gave me 26 fertilized eggs 23 days ago. I had two broody hens. The broody bantam quickly abandoned her nest and let all her eggs go cold before I knew it... The broody buff was awesome and kept 17 eggs warm and toasty for 10 days.... then QUIT. Praise God my dear old XBIL James had brought over his incubator and I was able to "rescue" the hatch.

As time went on some eggs were eliminated (mildew spots etc) and 22 days later we have 5 beautiful baby chicks. Four pullets and one cockeral. PERFECT!

In the bator are 7 very quiet over due eggs and 2 pipping ones. Woo HOO! I hope they are pullets too...... Four Easter Eggers are due to hatch

Saturday.

They were the eggs that I drove all the way to Dobbin for on an earlier post about the goergouse Easter Egger Roo that got away.

Stupid Bird!

2010-02-16T16:23:00.000-08:00

My wonderful awesome XBIL loaned me his incubator--- I have the "fever" bad. What else can I hatch - what else can I hatch... ? I have not even hatched a thing yet and I am already planning future hatches. I might be a bit "touched" when it comes to chickens, and I am ok with that.

The children are learning to deal with it or get out of the way.

Currently..... my HUGE beautiful Black Australorp JT has fertilized 8 hens. (3 Easter eggers, a White Rock, Barred Rock, Silver Laced Wyandotte and two Black Australorps) He really thinks he is something. I also have the Rhode Island Reds in another honeymooon suit and plans to fertilize the buffs with a beautiful Easter Egger Roo.

All of this alone time with the hens has gone to JT's head. He has decided to challenge my spot as head Roo. He has attacked me so many times that he has sealed his fate. He has a one way ticket to Freezer Camp as soon as he is finished taking care of business.

I have practiced the Rooster taming methods suggested on BYC to no avail. The first time he threatened me was at the Mardis Ranch ..... He even chased a sweet little princess up a trampoline. He was finally sent my way to do with him as I please. All this time he has been fine and submissive.

The only problem I had was when I let him free range with all of the others ...... My Bantam Roo James showed this black giant "wassup" .... JT and James (feathers all puffed) head to head as JAMES jumped and attacked .... jumped and attacked. It was very funny. I broke it up before JT was able to squash my bantam roo with his big foot.

I went between them and chased JT back towards his pen. While I was trampling through the "swamp" my mud boots got stuck in the mud and one of them sucked right off my foot.

I nearly broke my ankle as I crashed, bottom first, into the cold mud. The standing water was already icy and I lost my breath .... JT actually chuckled as he ran ahead of me .... I sat there in the mud laughing. It was so funny!

Then I had no choice ..... and I went for it.

I caught that DAD GUM Roo in his little doghouse, and carried him around for about 30 minutes forcing him to submit to ME- THE HEAD ROO!

I spent so much time out in the back 40 in the mud that before I knew it, it was 6:30 and my homegroup started showing up. There I was, greeting all my friends with a huge rooster under my arm, both of us covered in mud.

JT and I had made a lot of head way that night and we both knew who was the Alpha bird. Life was great! But now ..... after introducing him to 8 hens, he is back to his old tricks. Actually, he is worse than ever. He has started ramming the fence every time he sees me .... this has escalated to this stupid bird literally jumping on my head with his feet as I fill his feeder and waterer. How ungrateful.

Good Grief I am DONE!

kids viewpoint

2010-02-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

Matches made in HEAVEN and 17 eggs

2010-02-05T22:26:00.000-08:00

My Favorite X BIL loaned me his incubator!

Now, while I am waiting for these two to get "after it" I am hatching some RIR purebreds and RIR crossed with BA.... they should be pretty.

I also introduced the famous Black Australorp JT to 5 girls today. He is now sharing his bachelor pad with Bambi Shrek and Tundra (all EE) and Belle the BO and Crackle the WR. The EE will make more EE but the BO BA mix and the BA WR mix will be interesting to see what happens. The plan is to leave them where they are for about a month to increase the fertility percentage of the eggs...... One Roo 5 Pullets... I do not see any reason for less than 100%....

These two pullets became broody at the same time a couple weeks ago. They were both setting on wooden eggs. I was able to round up some fertilized eggs for both of these little Mama's. This made Claire really happy and content, but Sparkle headed for the hills.

If you count the shell less egg that I caught the girls cleaning up, and the one I found in the grass close by....... we collected 17 eggs. 4 of these eggs were GREEN which means one of the young EE pullets has also started laying.

All of the normal eggs are hard shelled and the girls are offered extra calcium as a side dish, so from what I gather, the shell-less eggs are from pullets who are still fine tuning their equipment.

a tale of two biddies

2010-02-03T21:20:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, my loving man completed work on new nest boxes for our chickens.

They went from using a kitty litter box (the kind with a roof and a door) to this.

From 2010-02-03

A state of the art, multi-layer, nest box condominium. Nice, huh?

Here's the problem. Remodeling is so hard on a chicken.

Here's the good part. Chickens are followers. If you can convince one of them that this is the place to go for laying eggs, everyone else will follow.

So, you see my task at hand.

The poor darlings start 9-ish in the morning, and there are currently three of them who have been previously waiting in line to use the nest box because they're apparently on the same schedule. Well, this morning, with the old nest box removed and everything just different, they were walking around in circles squawk-squawk-squawking, looking for the missing nest box.

I knew this would happen; therefore, i was on egg watch most of the morning.

I was hoping that i could convince them by mere suggestion, to settle in to the new boxes. So i put the first two squawkers in the boxes to check out the new digs.

From 2010-02-03

MYRTLE: Psst! Hattie! What do you think?

From 2010-02-03

HATTIE: Looks like she got us a three-holer.

From 2010-02-03

MYRTLE: Lacks a little in privacy, don'tchathink?

From 2010-02-03

HATTIE: Well, it wouldn't if you would keep your head on the other side of that wall and pay attention to your own business. EXCUSE ME PLEASE.

About then, Myrtle decided she'd had enough of this and flew the coop...or at least the nest box.

From 2010-02-03

HATTIE: Myrtle? Where'd you go?

From 2010-02-03

MYRTLE: I'm blowin' this joint!

And with that, Hattie followed the stubborn and rebellious Myrtle out of the coop to wander around and eventually come back, their egg-laying instincts forcing them to find a safe place to lay.

Which is when i knew i had to take more drastic action to help them get used to the new digs.

From 2010-02-03

MYRTLE: I told you we should've blown this joint.

HATTIE: Myrtle, shut up and lay an egg already!

However, Myrtle did not lay an egg right then. Instead she busted out of that joint, true to her word, and issued some scathing edicts from the rafters, which echoed throughout the eggland woods.

From 2010-02-03

But in the end, Myrtle did lay her egg.

From 2010-02-03

The one on the left is legit. The other one is to fool the girls.

In fact, we got all the previous layers and one newbie today. FIVE EGGS.

Hallelujah. I'm 1/4 of the way to 100% production.

Mr. Bennet

2010-01-30T11:07:00.000-08:00

This morning Kate and Jeremiah and I woke up at 6am ish to prepare for our great adventure.

Beth had forwarded some information on a FREE EE Roo in Dobbin Texas. This was such exciting news... another Roo! Not only another Roo, but an Easter Egger Roo. This means that this Rooster would theoretically be able to breed with any hen and produce more EE that would be able to lay eggs many colors....from pink blue or green....or brown. OMG was I excited.

We also were able to get 4 fertilized EE eggs for our brooding buff.

What a great day! New Roo.... 4 EE eggs... looking forward to February 18-20th hatch....

We get home and unload everyone, set the eggs under Nanny the Buff, and go back to the Roo with the camera.

The pics where all through the cage, and who wants to see a cage in the pics... you can not see what a pretty roo he is... the name Mr Bennet fits him well.

So we open the cage to get a better look, snap a few pics and ......... he flies out and gets chased all across the yard by Enoch and he jumps the fence and runs across the street and finally makes it to the woods and he is GONE!

So.... in a nutshell, (or an eggshell) ..... This morning we all got up early and drove out to Dobbin Texas and picked up 4 fertilized Easter Egger eggs for Nanny to sit on and Cut n Shoot has a new ferrel Rooster. Where is Mike Rowe when you need him? (dirty jobs caught Miami ferrel chickens last week)

Myrtle #2

2010-01-28T12:55:00.000-08:00

I'm so happy!

Yesterday, i was having a hard time telling which of two different rir were the one trying to lay, and whoever it was, she laid it from the roost, and it cracked on the floor.

Today, i was on intense egg watch.

As soon as Myrtle started squawking around and roosting like she was about to do something, i put her in the nest box and blocked it off with a live trap (that was just the easiest thing to do at the time). Forty minutes later, i had an egg. But i was surprised about this one. It was a different shape than all the others. More rounded, not so pointy. But i figured she's a pullet, maybe things will change as time goes on.

Well, then about 2:00, i saw an identical rir squawking around and acting like she was going to lay an egg. So i used my best instincts and put her in the nest box just like i had done the other one this morning.

A little while later, an attentive buff orpington who had been keeping her company in the coop, came out singing the egg song. So i went in and removed the blockade from in front of the nest box. But little Myrtle stayed there for a few minutes. I kept doing yard work, and ten minutes or so later, she appeared at the door of the coop with a little SQUAWK! Like o.k. i'm done!

So i went in, and low and behold, another egg - pointy like all the other eggs i've collected before today.

So now i know! This morning's was Myrtle #2, and today was her first egg!

Congratulations Myrtle #2!

And Congratulations to Myrtles #1 & #2 for finally learning to lay their precious eggs in a safe place!

WOOHOO! We're on our way to egg abundance!

JT Fitzwilliam and Bingley

2010-01-27T09:46:00.000-08:00

These Roosters are all so pretty, but earlier this week Head Hauncho Bantam Roo had a mysterious bloody comb. No Way Jose!

The only thing new in the coop was Fitz, but if I was going to go through the trouble of introducing him to the Monster Roo JT, then I might as well include Bingley. To sinch the deal, as I was drinking coffee and staring at the chickens.... Bingley chest butted pullet MC and then another. Okee Dokee.....

Now, after being carried around all morning and then forced to participate in a photo shoot, JT is in a small humbling cage, Bingley and Fitz are in the Roo Coop n Yard... and James is back to his rightful place as Head Hauncho of the entire Flock!

JT

2010-01-27T09:42:00.000-08:00

JT aka Monster Roo!

Fitzwilliam

2010-01-27T09:39:00.000-08:00

Fitzwilliam aka The Goose!

Bingley

2010-01-27T09:28:00.001-08:00

Bingley the EE Roo

i canNOT believe it.

2010-01-24T18:40:00.000-08:00

Friday, i put in the temporary nest box.

Yesterday i locked them all in all day, and nothin'!

Then tonight, when i went to lock them up, i found it.

One little pullet egg, sitting on the shelf that holds the roosting bars.

Cracked a little, so who knows where it was lain from....

But i got my first egg.

Here it is.

From EGG

Isn't it beautiful!

Here it is next to a store-bought inferior comparison.

From EGG

Here it is next to a cat food can.

From EGG

Now with the store-bought.

From EGG

Here's its little crack.

From EGG

Cracked in a bowl.

From EGG

With the store-bought.

From EGG

And then, yum...

From EGG

That's right. I had eggs for dinner. Who wouldn't?

Coop Additions and General Chicken Love

2010-01-22T21:23:00.000-08:00

These pullets are maturing so much faster than i had planned for. So yesterday, i fashioned this free choice egg shell feeder out of an oatmeal container.

From snaps shots and coop improvements jan 22 2010

Then this morning, EVA says her pullet laid an EGG already! Hers are the same age as mine, and some of mine have really been looking ready, so i kind of panicked. We don't have any nest boxes yet! James is planning to build them very quickly, but i was thinking we had another month or so.

SO, i got a (clean) covered cat litter box out of the attic, filled it partially with pine shavings to make it nice and soft, and put it in the coop with three porcelain eggs i got from one of the feed stores in town....cost me $3.25.

From snaps shots and coop improvements jan 22 2010

Tomorrow, i'm planning to be away, and so i am also going to leave the chickens in the coop so i can know for sure whether anyone is laying eggs. I really don't want to lose all those wonderful eggs to hidden forest nests. I'm hoping they're smart and will get the idea very quickly about where they're supposed to leave those eggs for me.

And here's a few more pics of the gang with their big ol' grown-up girl wattles and combs. I'm so proud.

From snaps shots and coop improvements jan 22 2010

I can never get them all standing still at the same time.

From snaps shots and coop improvements jan 22 2010

Aren't they wonderful. Sometimes i just have to go outside and get me some chicken love, and it makes my day go so much better - and more smiley too. =D

HOT OFF THE PRESS!

2010-01-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

20week old Buff pullet named BELLE in Cut N Shoot TEXAS lays an egg with NO SHELL! Neighbors and friends alike have gathered from all across the state to witness this Ginormous event!

cheekins

2010-01-20T14:39:00.000-08:00

chickens

2010-01-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

Lola and Lacey like to "free range" on the front porch .... look-ing for dog food.

The Goose after only 48 hours.. flew the coop.

Claire the golden buff is hard at work.. Sparkle and Juliet are FAKERS

Bambi is an Easter Egger and Cracker is a WHITE rock.

Jackie is a Black Australorp..... Jane is a Wheaten Ameracauna and Miss Charlotte is another Easter Egger

RED-Soupy-ADAM-Bingley-Goose

2010-01-20T12:56:00.000-08:00

Little Red Soupy Adam Bingley Goose has had such a great life... almost as confusing as his name.

He was hatched at my home.....then given to Beth.... showed pullet like signs so was sent back home.... then turned into a rooster and went back to Beths..... then I started looking for a RIR roo to breed my hens with.... Beth got wind of it.. and Walla.....

Confused unsettled with no flock of his own..... back were he was "born" aka hatched...

Welcome Home Goose...

Mr Darcy

2010-01-18T16:58:00.000-08:00

JT

2010-01-14T15:49:00.000-08:00

JT is the newest addition to the JoyHouse flock and the first to inhabit the Rooster Coop.

He belongs to the famous Breeze from the Mardis Flock. JT has decided to become aggressive and a problem to the Mardis women. He even threatened the wannabevet Eva on our last encounter. He thinks he is something else and the head hauncho... My job now is to show him WHO is boss and hopefully we can get some pure bred Black Australorps this spring too!

Of course the JoyHouse girls are supervised by the Bantam Rooster James. He does a fabulous job and is very secure in his position. Even so, he spent about 4 hours making sure that JT knows how things are around here. It was very funny to see James defending his turf.

I love James.

"I don't know what happened to Enoch's Dog Food!"

Another Post About Chickens for Dinner

2010-01-02T19:30:00.000-08:00

Warning: This post may contain pictures that not everyone wants to view.

Previously, i shared my initial experience with the sending of chickens to the land we call freezer camp. I have heard that story was very entertaining. I'm glad i could amuse you. =D No, really, i AM glad i could amuse you.

Recently, the time became urgent to purge two more young roosters from our flock and refill our freezer. Since the imminent moment was to arrive during the holidays, i thought this would be a good chance for my hubby to get his initial experience. Of course, he had the benefit my previous escapades, so his experience isn't quite - or even nearly - as amusing. But it has some amusement.

As you might recall, my main trouble with my first experience was the logistics of putting the bird in the right position to come to a quick and painless death, and then keeping him there, and actually doing it QUICKLY. One of the problems before was the absence of sharp knives. So we bought some sharp knives. My previous solution had been the use of twine twisted around the rooster's feet and then around two nails on a tree. And after the first ridiculous event, that arrangement worked well for me. But this was not hubby's preferred method.

Many people use something called a killing cone. Basically, imagine a megaphone nailed narrow side down to a board or wall or tree or something. We don't have a killing cone, but we were going to substitute an empty 2-gallon size bleach bottle. Somehow, the bottle i've been saving for months, now fails to exist. So the hubby went looking for something to substitute. So, instead of a killing cone, we ended up with a killing rectangular prism. It doesn't have quite the same ring to it, does it?

From james first butcher 1 2 10

It doesn't work quite as well either.

From james first butcher 1 2 10

This is James trying to fish the poor thing's head out of this perpendicular hole. He protested a bit. But there's something about being up side down that helps a rooster submit.

Then next comes the part that makes me giggle. As i said, when i attempted this previously, i had a horrible and ridiculous time trying to cut the artery with my sad excuses for knives. So anticipating trouble, my loving man used our brand new, sharp, non-serrated knife, and made a very deliberate and wide cut - to make sure he got the artery.

To our great surprise, that wonderful knife made a perfectly clean cut all the way through the neck in that one move.

From james first butcher 1 2 10

And then, as you might have guessed, our killing rectangular prism didn't really confine the boy quite like a cone. And the body ended up here.

From james first butcher 1 2 10

Right, the ground. That's right where i wanted it. Geez.

But, after that, things went pretty smoothly. Hubby did the plucking.

From james first butcher 1 2 10

This is his new favorite activity.

And then he handed the chicken off to me while he went for the other. Reportedly, the second one went without incident and without ending up on the ground. I wasn't there to document this because i was inside using sharp knives on the first one.

It turns out, i'm developing a pretty good system of my own for this little process. And in less than 3 hours, we (two super-newbies) were all done except for some minor clean-up.

Two cleaned, resting birds.

From james first butcher 1 2 10

Four feet for a chicken-foot-loving friend.

From james first butcher 1 2 10

Two gizzards and two necks and two hearts - for making chicken stock.

From james first butcher 1 2 10

Oh, oh yes, and three proper tools for which i am extremely thankful.

From james first butcher 1 2 10

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T10:13:00.001-08:00

Even James and his girls, and Darcy Elizabeth and Jane enjoy the traditional Christmas GREEN BEAN casserolle

Weekly Exams

2009-12-21T06:34:00.000-08:00

When i had my first flock of buff orpingtons, someone told me that i should give them a weekly exam to make sure everything appears to be going o.k. with them physically. So i did. And i was super faithful - every Monday - when they became a new number of weeks old, i would examine each chicken before bed time.

Now, with this flock, i've gotten lazy. I guess 25 or more birds seemed too overwhelming - and sometimes i'm a little TOO hands off. But i'm starting to realize why the weekly exams are really important.

One of my girls died several weeks ago, and now i have another sick - and i think that if i had been doing weekly exams, i would've noticed long before they started huddling in the corner...and then maybe i could've intervened earlier - giving them a better chance. When you intervene earlier, often the remedies are also much simpler.

Here's what the exam should entail:

Give them a good looking over and just see if anything seems amiss. Then, more specifically, check several key areas that might tip you off to any emerging issues.

The keel: Feel the keel (the pointy part of the breast bone) with you hand. Unless your chicken is very fat, you will be able to feel the keel. If you can pinch it - the actual bone - between your thumb and finger, your chicken is way too skinny and may be starving for some reason.

The vent area: Pretty much always, the vent will look normal. If the vent is inverted, that will be obvious that something is really wrong. But also, if there is runny diarrhea stuck to the feathers around the vent, that can be a sign (combined with others) of intestinal distress or crop problems.

While you're looking at the vent area, pull back the feathers and see if you see any creepy-crawlies. This is an area where they like to hide.

The feet: Check the skin and scales for signs of scaly leg mites. Scaly leg mites cause the scales on the legs and feet to be raised and hard - and painful. The earlier you catch it, the easier it is to remedy and cause less pain for your chicken.

The crop: If you check right before bed, the crop should be at least partially full. If you check in the morning before they eat, the crop should be empty.

Under the wings: I think my chickens like this part even less than the vent check, but under the wings is another very warm and cozy area where creepy-crawlies like to congregate. While you're in there, look for any signs of build-up around the base of the feathers - this might indicate the presence of mites also.

This exam takes a lot longer to write about than to accomplish. Once you have the hang of it, depending on the cooperation level of individual chickens, you should be able to spend less than 2 minutes on each healthy bird. Of course, if you do find signs of distress, you'll want to spend a little more time on the chicken to look for additional clues to the problem.

They love me!

2009-12-15T13:49:00.000-08:00

Today, i was sitting at my computer when i started hearing some very insistent rooster squawking outside. When i went to check it out, i found that my dog had made a way of escape for some of my chickens to go free. About a third of them were outside the run where my dog was trying to apparently herd them back in through the 1 inch gaps in the chicken wire.

So,

i tied up my dog and let all the chickens out for the day.

They adapted quite nicely.

I had forgotten what a wonderful feeling it is to walk out the door and have chickens hear your voice, tuck their heads, and run toward you. Although, 25 of them doing that at the same time is a little intimidating, it was a really nice feeling.

It's good to have fans, even if they're 1 foot tall with feathers and indiscriminate pooping habits. And they may not love me, but they do trust me and look forward to seeing me. And that's good enough.

=D

James

2009-12-14T21:03:00.000-08:00

James is the best rooster in the entire world! He really is.

He looks after his hens and pullets and calls them when he finds a worm or any tasty treat.

He sits on eggs if you need a break.

He even cuddles chicks under his feathers.

So......

when James started acting sleepy during day....

it was time to cut off all hen-house lights at night....

When James started "marching" around the grass..... it was time to check his feet and consider roofing the chicken run.

And when James was all caked up on his behind.... it was time for a bath.

Now he is wheezing and sounding congested..... so it is time to live indoors. What can I say...? It's James.