New Chicks

Here are pics of the new chicks.

Brahma and Cochin


Brahma and Cochin kiss


Standard Partridge Cochin


Polish Trio


Maran and two Houdans. The one in front is a rooster, or so we think. It is always trying to kick us when we put our hands into their brooder.


Standard AND bantam partridge Cochins


Buff and Whites (Cochins)

See how tall they are after 4 days.

More Polish shots. A Buff, white-headed black, and golden


Poopy Cochin butts


The Polish are so funny (not the people, the chickens)


A baker's dozen

Tragic End

I have been slacking. Lots has happened and here is the short version.
We had a chicken that lived in the garage because the others decided to eat on it's feet. The rooster, being a large cock of nearly 13 pounds, ruined the girls' back feathers when he mounted them. We gave the two of them to my wife's mom for mother's day. Mr. Fancy Pants became like a dog for them, following anyone who wandered from the house. Bridget's mom wanted to have little chicks, but the Brahma girl was still less than a year old, and not at all broody. 6 weeks passed, and something ate them. Wild dogs were the suspects as the corn is tall and one was killed in broad daylight. It was over a week before we heard the news, and it turns out the in-laws were so attached to the birds that they want us to raise new ones for them.
Of course we are happy to do it.

A New Year (17 days late)

A new year already?
On January 1st the egg total for the day was six! Last month when the laying began, the chickens laid exactly six dozen (72) eggs. There are already more than that this month! BUT there are still only twelve in the fridge because we eat at least two a day and the cats get one. We have given a few away and cook with them often. It's amazing how different they are from the store bought ones.
Bridget noticed one thing right off the bat - the membrane between the shell and the albumen is extra tough. You have to really whack them on the bowl and then, if you aren't careful (sometimes even if you are), the tiny shell bits from the high impact fall into where we all don't want it. You bite down on your nice tender basted egg, after already savoring several previous tender bites, and deep in the crease of your back molar you feel the grating crunch of calcium. Eggshell soufflé, mmmm. So you have to pull them apart to keep the eggshell on the membrane. Also, they sort of 'POP' as you open them and rush out of the shell. All of this is because they are SO fresh they haven't formed any air pocket (ala boiled egg dimple) to notice, and the membrane hasn't dried out.
When we first were getting eggs we had some store bought "free range brown eggs" to use up. I did some cooking and needed four eggs so I mixed them for comparison. The difference in yolk color was like the difference between fresh squeezed orange juice and the cheapish of cheap frozen concentrate. Come to find out, the taste comparison fits that picture too. It is hardly fair to compare them because for the most part, your general store eggs are AT LEAST 2 weeks old and our eggs are not even a week old.
Other notable events -
I saw the rooster getting busy with one of the reds. Jumped up, wiggled for no more than 3 seconds and it was over. Typical.
On our second Christmas day (two families, yadda yadda), I popped out to look in on the chickens before we left and saw blood on the head of Matida (Brahma). On initial inspection it looked like several of them were bleeding from the head but further observation proved otherwise. Matilda was pecking Enid (other Brahma) in the foot and it was bleeding profusely. Being the top bird, she then pecked everyone else with her bloody beak and hence all the head blood. We separated Enid (into the garage) and after trying to put her back two days later with the same bad results set her up with some nice digs in the garage until she really heals and I can have more time to observe them when she goes back to the flock. She has laid an egg every day, so I assume she isn't too stress about it. She can still hear the others through the garage wall.
That's all, done.

Attack Rooster

Christmas day I was shoveling the snow in the chicken run (the chickens seem to dislike ANY accumulation of snow) and Betty was in the run too, eating chicken poop, when I noticed Fancy Pants (rooster) looking at the dog with his head down. I watched as the rooster suddenly got the nerve to do one of the jobs he was programmed to do - protect the flock. He leaped into the air at Betty and with much wing flapping landed on her back. Betty lowered herself to the ground in submission and the rooster leaped off and Betty headed towards the exit. Once more the rooster made his move and attacked the dog with his feet out and ready to rip. I hollered "hey!" and then called Betty to me. Then I got between the two and shooed the rooster away. After seeing that Betty was uninjured, I proceeded to pick the rooster up and carry him around for 5 minutes. He settled down and didn't fuss so I let him go and he gave Betty no more trouble.

Now that the rooster's got his balls, I will have to watch him at all times so I don't end up with torn pants or worse from his leg spurs. But now I know for sure he will do what he needs to do to protect his girls.

On a different note, the Brahmas are laying fairly regularly so we are up to 4 eggs a day IN THE DEAD OF WINTER! The Red Stars are laying large dark brown eggs and the Brahmas are laying light almost pink eggs that are still fairly small. Pretty sweet considering the lack of supplemental light.
Oh how I long for springtime.

EGGS!!

The first eggs are here. Wednesday December 5th, 2007. I suspected it was CindyLou as she was sitting rather low in the nestbox when I checked on the chickens at 9:30ish that morning. She got up and made some unusual squawks and I thought "This is the day. The Guide said the chicken would be laying low in the nest."
When I got home that night, there it was: small, slightly speckled, brown egg. It was cold and I hoped it wasn't frozen. When I took inside, I gave it the spin test* and it proved to be unfrozen. I took pictures (of course) and then put it into one of the bejeweled cartons Bridget has made for the eggs. Another egg the next day another after work. The third day, I got home around noon and found a very warm egg. Three eggs in three days. I blew out the first eggshell, and cooked it with the other two as basted eggs. Mmm-mmm.
By this time I'm sure it is one of the Red Stars, but just not sure which one - Marjorie Sue

or Cindy Lou

. Saturday I watched the clock, and at 11:30 announced "I'm going out to see if I can watch an egg get laid." Bridget jumped up and we bundled up to face the 15 degree weather. Careful not to slip on the ice that covered everything, we walked to the coop, looked through the window into the hen house and there was Cindy Lou sitting in the left nest. She stood up and there was another small light brown egg. We took turns holding it in our cold hands. It was almost hot.

*The spin test is how you tell a boiled egg from an uncooked egg. You spin the egg on it's side like a propeller, stop it and immediately release it. If it is raw, it will start spinning again due to the centrifugal force of the liquid inside the egg spinning when you stop it and then transfering that motion back to the egg when you let go. Boiled (and frozen) eggs just sit there. Try it!

Ouch!

As usual, this event happened after work one day.
My normal routine is to let the dogs out of their crates and put Jenny Basenji on the zippy leash, then run like hell around the yard with Betty running free. Jenny always sprints to the four or five places where she has scared up a rabbit once - in hopes of flushing one out again. When I say once, I mean once in the past year and a half. She never forgets where the chase took place and goes to at least two of those spots before stopping to pee and then runs to the next. The laughable thing is that when Jenny does actually manage to find a rabbit, she gets so hyper focused on where the rabbit was, that she doesn't see it take off with Betty chasing it on the opposite side of the trees (bush, flower patch, lawn mower, etc.). So then Betty gives a half-assed chase before I call her back with a "leave it" and she comes back to see what Jenny is so worked up about.

This time we were rounding the garage to the chicken coop area and I did not see that Blackie O. was out. Before I knew it, Jenny had grabbed her by the upper wing! There was much squawking and Jenny bite down on my thumb as she lunged to grab the chicken after I freed it. I managed to get Blackie O. back over the fence without too much fuss and she has since been out nearly every day, so there must not have been any serious injury. As for my thumb, there was a red spot under the nail for a few days - no serious injury.
One day, my wife said she came out to see that crazy chicken walking towards Jenny who was tied out. I personally doubt she would have actually gotten close enough to be eaten, but Bridget is not convinced we won't be less one chicken if we don't clip some wings.

The Chicken who Flew the Coop

For the last few weeks, Blackie O. (Black Star hybrid) has been escaping. Yes, I know the run should be enclosed, but we don’t want to stoop over when we’re walking around with the chickens. This week, I came home to find Blackie O. outside the run, and three others (the 2 Red Stars and one of the Wyandotte) walking the top of the fence. I haven’t been able to observe them long enough to see an escape, or to see if they are chasing each other around. Blackie could be just going AWOL to get away from Matilda (Light Brahma) who seems to be the current leader of the Order of Pecking. Many times, I will find Marjorie Sue (Red Star) on the fence, but she has yet to visit The Other Side.
Now here’s the kicker. Today, Blackie O. was out but nowhere to be seen. I called “chick-owns!” like I do when I come around. Blackie O. came running from behind our house, and after a few seconds of walking around outside the fence she just flew herself back into the run. The dilemma is I can’t decide whether to clip her wing (and the other 3 who are most likely to be able to fly out) or just add 2 more feet of fencing around the yard. Clipping may not work according to anecdotal reports, and the fencing may not be high enough. And The Momma (that is, my wife) just pointed out that in the winter, there may be drifts of snow leading like a ramp up and out of the run anyway. I hope my research is correct and our chickens won’t much care for walking in snow.