Our Flock

Perhaps we should have broken down our flock sooner.

We have :

three Australorp - one of them is a rooster that's been nice so far (all black)

three Barred Rock - one of them is a rooster that's not very nice (black and white ones)

three Buff Orpingtons - one seems a little "special" (beige/tan ones)

two Silver Laced Wyandottes (black and white ones)

one Gold Laced Wyandottes (black and tan/gold)

two Rhode Island Reds (dark brown)

two ISA brown (lighter brown)

From left:  Australorp, Buff Orp, Silver Laced x 2, Rhode Island/Australorp/Buff together, Barred Rock x2, Rhode Island

From left: Rhode Island, ISA Brown, Buff Orp, Silver Laced, Australorp rooster

In the coop from left: ISA Brown, Silver Laced, Buff Orp from behind, Australorp, Barred Rocks, Rhode Island in the dark shadow

Barred Rock in front, Buff Orpingtons giving you "the eye", and an ISA brown behind her.  The two black ones are Australorps

You don't belong here

We had guests over yesterday that said one of our chickens was down by the road.  I was surprised that one would be alone or that they would be very close to the road but didn't think anything of it since all of them were safely in the coop at bedtime.

Then this morning my youngest son called me outside.

Our closest neighbors have 4 barred rock hens, no roosters.  The next closest neighbors really aren't that close.  We have no idea where this guy came from.  His neck looks like it's been plucked of feathers and his tail is a little beat up.

I went out a few minutes later and he was gone, no idea where he's run off to.

We've been flocked

Our community does a Library Fundraiser where people pay money to "flock" someone's house.  The Flamingo flock arrived at our home for a few days.

Do you see something wrong here?

On the 4th of July I went to lock up the chickens and was happy to see that none of them were on the ground or trying to sit on the nest boxes.  But there's definitely something wrong in this picture.

Chickens are finally free range

They got their first taste of freedom!

16 birds, 2 are males.  

And we finally have nest boxes

We still have another two months before our birds start to lay, but I'm about a month late getting nest boxes installed in the coop. I decided to go with the bucket idea this time.  They are right above the chicken door so if I ever install an automatic opener, I hope these aren't in the way.

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.

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.

More manageable chicken numbers

We've known for about a month that we had too many roosters.  I originally thought that we should have about 5-8 hens for each rooster, but then read that you should have about 10 hens per rooster.  We had only had about 20 hens in all, and when Clyde was still around, we had 9 boys.  While I would rather give the boys to homes that would keep them as pets, there just aren't homes for them since everyone is dealing with the same issues that we had.

Every week or so, someone would pull up our driveway and ask if we sold chickens.  I would always tell them that we had a few roosters that we needed to get rid of, and if they promised to kill them as quick and painlessly as possible, I would sell them.  It was always hard for me because I felt so guilty giving the birds to someone that was going to eat them, but I knew I couldn't keep them, and I didn't have any other options.

After a few visits from strangers, we sold our last birds yesterday.  The man came on Friday asking if we sold birds but he needed someone that would do the killing and plucking, I managed to find someone that would do it on Saturday, so he came back for them.  He asked us to lead him over to her house and since I was curious to see where the woman lived, I went along.

I've met the woman a few times and she was the one that helped to band the goats last spring, but I'd never been to her house.

While they killed and plucked the birds, I stayed pretty far away but the set up was interesting as long as I didn't think about it happening to a live animal.

I did get pictures of the equipment, but even as I write this, I feel bad to post them.

So, we are down to 4 roosters, with plans to get rid of one more to someone that wants to breed him.

We have two pure bred Buff Orpington roosters, one of the larger black and white roosters (that doesn't crow as often as the one we got rid of), and the gray rooster.

There is one more hen that I think we need to get rid of and we need to see what Silkie Sue's current chicks grow up to be, but hopefully things will go smoothly from here on out.