Success with integration

Although I had to catch each of the chicks and put them in the coop, and then had to close the door behind each one because they kept trying to escape, they were all up roosting with the big birds when I checked on them the first night. 

The second night they went in on their own. Now I just need the courage to let them free range during the day with the other birds.

Silver Laced Wyandottes, odds against me

Well, it looks like the odds are against me with the Silver Laced Wyandottes.  A couple weeks ago I tried to see if I could determine their sex based on their combs.  The brighter red and larger they are, the more likely that they are boys.  At that time, I thought I had 6 boys and 6 girls.

Today, since they are now three months old and a few are larger than NormaJean and her siblings, I decided to move them to the new coop with Clyde Jr., Silkie Sue, and the smaller hens.  After I got them all moved over, I sat down with them and started looking closer.

Laying Gold

The girls started laying regularly again about a week or two ago.  Every afternoon or evening when I collect the eggs, I think that it feels like I'm finding gold.

This afternoon, even though it was bright and sunny outside, three girls were busy laying me some more gold.

Some changes in the coop

One of the guinea fowl, the one that escaped the neighbors last summer, has started roosting in one of the rafters in the coop.  I was surprised that they didn't start doing this a long time ago.  Once in awhile another guinea or two will join her up there and I have to be careful at night because I'm worried they'll poop on me when I'm in the coop counting the birds or moving some of them to the roost.

MaryAnne, what are you doing?

The birds will sometimes wander up into the trees in the front of the property to look for bugs and treats.  They nearly always travel in a flock though, sometimes three or four of them and sometimes almost all of them.

But this afternoon I came home to find MaryAnne blocking the driveway.  She was by herself and just strolling back and forth looking for treats on the ground. 

We lost Big Red today...

Big Red had been looking worse over the last week.  She'd gone back to being swollen and walking a little more upright, but now the swelling was all over her body.  I found her laying behind the feed trash can one night, which is the complete opposite of the corner she normally sleeps in.  I knew she wasn't doing well, but I guess part of me hoped she would get better.

Then I came home and the oldest immediately came running out to tell me he'd found Big Red laying on her side in the chicken ran when he got home.  He had thought she was dead but when he picked her up, she was still breathing so he brought her into the mud room.

She was sitting in a box, not moving, but still breathing.  I wrapped a towel around her and picked her up, she didn't even attempt to fight me and instead just closed her eyes.  I knew she was dying and I felt horrible that she might be in pain or suffering.  

I called the vet and took her down.  

They put her to sleep for me because I know I am not able to put an animal down myself, and we brought her home to be buried.  The oldest dug the hole for me and I set her down.  We've now lost a few birds and I knew that Big Red was older and sick so it wasn't unexpected, but I still feel horribly about it all.

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Chicken Aprons

We finally downsized the flock a little by getting rid of some of the roosters, but the damage was already done to several of the girls.  I ordered a few chicken aprons and last night I got five of them put on the girls who have bare backs.

Silver Laced Wyndotte Freedom

Wyndotte's first taste of the outdoors

Norma jeans sits at the window giving me looks every time I get near the coop.  I know she doesn't understand why she's locked up all the time and she simply wants to go find some bugs and treats.

Since I was spending some time outside with the hens this weekend, I decided it was a good time to let the Wyndotte chicks come out of their coop and to experience the fresh air.  They are two months old this weekend and I will probably keep them separate from the big girls for another month.

Blood, Blood everywhere!

This afternoon I decided to spend some time with the birds handing out treats.  I've been pretty sick and didn't like that I hadn't been able to do my usual chores that get me around them, so I was determined to just hang outside for awhile.

Then I happen to look down and see a huge drop of blood. 

I immediately started looking for feathers or a trail of blood, thinking a fox had grabbed  a bird.

Why color eggs for Easter....

We now have eggs that come in green, olive, brown, tan, and PINK!  The picture doesn't do the colors justice.

Painting toe nails

I've been wanting to figure out what color egg each of my bird lays for awhile, but haven't put the time and effort in to the project, until now.

I've been putting one bird in each of the two cages we have and I leave her in there with food and water until she lays an egg.  So far three girls have laid light brown eggs, which wasn't what I was expecting.  Right now I've been checking the black and white speckled girls that came from Clyde's hatching last spring.  They all look very similar so I needed a way to be able to tell them apart once I figure out what color eggs they are laying.

It only seemed natural that I go with a finger nail painting method until I find something that's more long-term.  I tried white polish on the first girl, but the next morning I could barely tell which one she was, so I had to go to something a little more bright.

Just another adventure on the farm.

The new coop

I just found the pictures of the new coop that was built a couple months ago.  Apparently I never posted them.

I was pretty proud of my nest boxes this time.  I will probably add some curtains just to make things cute.

The roost bars are three bars that are each about 8 feet long.  I think this is plenty of space for them to roost.  I got smarter and have them spaced a little further apart so they won't poop on each other.  :)

I've noticed some birds have trouble getting up to the higher two bars, so I'll probably add a ladder to the lower bar at some point.

We're at it again

I shared with some people that I wish I could get some more hatching eggs, and a fellow chicken farmer offered to give me some eggs just so she could test the fertility of them.

We already have too many birds, I know this, but it's addicting, and with our recent loss to the foxes (two this week), I think I just want to be safe and have birds laying like crazy this spring and summer.

So I accepted.  We met up today and she gave me 18 eggs.

They are pure bred Dominiques, pure-bred Buff Orpingtons (we actually bought a few chicks from her last year and the three that survived the foxes are gorgeous), a pure-bred leghorn,  and two pure-bred Polish eggs.  I'm not a fan of the Polish birds because they look funny, but I know it wouldn't be hard to find someone to take them if they hatch.

I decided to throw all of my green eggs that we got from the coop today (and three that we got in the last few days and have been sitting on the counter) into the incubator as well, in the hopes that maybe the chicks would grow up to lay olive eggs, which are pretty popular among the chicken crowds.

That's 10 of our eggs plus 18 of hers, which makes for a very full incubator.  I'll candle them in a few days to see if there are signs of life.  This is so exciting. :)

Grow Chickies Grow

The chicks are getting bigger and have a lot more feathers now.....

Norma Jean is protective

Norma Jean is a very different mom compared to Silkie Sue.  Each time that we go down near their area in the basement she plants herself in front of the chicks and puffs herself up as large as she can.  She's definitely protective and will attempt to attack our hands in order to keep us away from her babies.  

Luckily, I was still able to get her and the babies out of their pen and into a storage tub so I could clean everything up.  She could easily have hopped right out of the tub, but she wasn't about to leave her babies.

My first sewing adventure

Despite my great intentions, I still haven't made anything, until now.  The coop has been very cold and the wind hasn't been making the chickens very happy so I bought some material to liven things up and I made curtains.

Just a little freezing on the farm

We had our first accumulation of snow here, and then things melted just slightly, and froze again.  It was a cold morning with a lot of ice and I'm not sure anyone on the farm has experienced this before, other than me.

A cut of hot water was needed to get into the goat pen

Every branch was draped in ice

I've been thinking about how the roof to the chicken run needs a major update and cleaning, this morning confirmed that for another icy reason.

The Chickies are doing well

We ended up having 12 chicks hatch, which is amazing.  We only had 2 bad eggs out of the 14 Silver Laced Wyandottes which I think is great odds.  All of the New Hampshire eggs were bad.  I did send an email to the seller and she said that she would send me more in the spring if I paid for the shipping.  I'm not sure if I want to do it all over again with the same seller, so we will see.

Just asking for trouble

A friend of mine emailed a few of her chicken people (that includes us) to see if we wanted to order any chicks for an April delivery.

This is going to be trouble.

The place she is ordering from has some pretty birds that I have been interested in so I know I will end up getting some.  I'm not not sure what the smartest move is.  If I wanted pure bred birds to breed, I need to keep them in separate chicken runs so they won't mix and have mixed breed birds, but if I do that, then I should focus on just a few breeds and I like having a pretty variety.  Decisions are tough.

The breeds I am looking at that I think I would like to have are:

Columbian Wynadotte

Black Jersey Giant

Silver Laced Wynadotte

How can you not see how gorgeous these birds are?  They're all known for being good egg layers too.

The only other one they had that I have thought about is a Blue Orpington.  I have a few Buff Orpingtons now and I think the Blue's are pretty, but they're also $13 more than the first three that I like and I feel like I'm not that serious of a chicken breeder.  I'm not a chicken breeder at all!

Blue Orpington

Tomorrow we are going to a chicken show for the first time.  It's about an hour away but I thought it would be interesting to see and there is a chance I could buy something.  I don't think it is too likely, but there's always a chance.