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Rainbow Ranch

We FINALLY have a farm! After a lot of hard work moving all of those chickens, they are settled in and enjoying life. They free range on 1.5 acres with extra room behind the barn that is all wooded.


Right now we have 18 full grown chickens! 14 hens/pullets, 3 roosters, and 1 rooster who thinks he's a duck WAY too many to count. 
 


My Barred Rocks (Production Quality)
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Marge...

Marge FINALLY started laying on January 12th 2012! GO MARGE! celebrate.gif

 

 

Marge went broody June 27th 2012 and hatched out 2 babies on July 18th and July 20th - and took on 19 RSL chicks as a co-parent with Flora Mae (silkie)

 

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Jagger...

 

Jagger is my sweet BR cockerel. I brought him home October 13th 2011 @ 3 months old or so..

 

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We discovered that Jagger loves chicks. He loves to watch over them. He protects them from injury-causing hens. I think he believes they are his own.. I don't have the heart to tell him they are adopted. 

 

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Twerkie

 

Daughter of Marge & Jagger. She's Marge's clone!

My Heritage Type Barred Rocks

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Barbara 

 

We named her Barbara because it's just fun to say Barbara the Barred Rock. So I'm a bit of a goof, but it fits. We have two pullets that we call Barbara. Both are Barred Rocks. They were born just before Easter Weekend 2012!

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The other Barbara

 

These girls did really well in show, and they aren't even that old yet. The one pictured above won Best in Breed. I am very proud of them! Can't wait to breed them next spring.

 

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Roger I

 

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Roger II

 

We call both of the boys Roger. I can definitely tell them apart though. Roger II has a much longer tail. Roger I was very slow to develop his feathers. 

 

 

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My Silkies

 

Lorraine

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Lorraine was my first silkie. We brought her home on August 9th 2011 at 8 weeks old. She was so cute and so fluffy.  

*Update: First egg - March 24th 2012!**

 

 If any chicken was stupid out of any of my chickens, I would say it was Lorraine.

 

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Lorraine's awful molt of fall 2012. Hehehe..

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Pearl

 

Pearl started laying January 16th 2012!

 

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Steve

 

Steve is was our alpha rooster! He keeps the peace and protects his girls (not really). After we moved, he lost his head rooster title. Poor guy.. How long could he be above Jagger anyway? 

 

Steve is always on the lookout. He is wonderful at warning the girls of danger, but has never attempted to fight off an intruder (ie: the cat). He will not eat until his hens have stuffed their crops. He is such a gentleman.

 

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Phyllis 

 

Daughter of Steve & Lorraine Hatched 5-5-12

 

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Gretta

 

Daughter of Steve and Lorraine. Hatched 5-5-12

 

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George Jr.

 

Frizzled Silkie cockerel. Son of George & Flora Mae. Hatched 5-5-12

 

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Stevie

 

Daughter of Steve & Pearl. Hatched 5-27-12

 

 

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Edna

 

Daughter of Steve & Lorraine. Hatched 5-29-12

 

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Agatha

 

Daughter of George & Flora Mae. Hatched offsite, but she is with us now. Hatched mid-May 2012

 

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Milton 

 

Son of Steve & Pearl. Hatched 5-27-12

 

We have more silkies, but all are too young to name... Not sure which ones are keepers yet. 

 

 

 

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The Cochins

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Mabel

 

Mabel is a cochin. She has mixed colours between buff and partridge. She was born on July 30th 2011

 

She started laying February 28th 2012

 

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Honey

 

On to one of my favourites… 

 

She is named solely for her personality. Honey is the sister of Mabel. They are the same age. 

 

Honey was free. Dave gave her to me because she was not SQ. She has a bad left eye. It looks like someone pecked her, but it has never gotten better. Honey is my baby <3

 

She won me POW on April 27th 2012! Go Honey!

 

Honey laid her first egg April 17th 2012!

 

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Honey's molt of 2012

 

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Janet

 

And than there is Janet. She is a partridge LF cochin. Late Spring 2011 hatch as well. She seems small for a cochin.. and I did see her mother who was in the same pen as she was.. Ah well. She is beautiful, and lays the prettiest multi-coloured eggs. Went broody twice in 2012.

 

Janet laid her first egg January 26th 2012!

 

 

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My Other Hens (one of a kind)

 

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Ruby - Rhode Island Red

 

Now THIS is what a true RIR looks like. No offence to Penny (who I adore!) but there is something about this deep mahogany colour that is extremely pleasing to the eyes.  

 

Ruby's age is unknown. Born sometime in 2011.

 

 

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Harriet - Beardless Buff Laced Polish 

 

Funniest chicken EVER. Born late spring 2011

 

I find their preening activity especially entertaining. gig.gif

 

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Denny - Delaware

 

The head hen. The boss man. The queen of the roost. Take your pick. She is all of those things.

 

Denny is a Delaware hen. She was born in 2010 I believe. Not 100% sure. She molted in fall of 2011 and again in 2012. So she is at least 2 years old. If not older. 

 

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The Red Sex Links AKA Pennies.

 

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Penny. The favourite Penny. No really she is. Friendliest chicken I have. She has no fear of humans. Very sweet girl. All of the other Pennies were named after her.

 

She is constantly in your face and trying to steal your food. She does not frighten easily, and will fly right up on your lap if you have something that appeals to her.

As for laying, she is my best. All fall she gave me an egg a day right up until she started molting (before Christmas). She took two weeks off (to shed the feathers) and started up again when she was still all pins, and hasn't stopped for even a day yet! Penny is a working girl.  

 

Some of the younger Pennies..

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The Ducks

 

 

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Macy - Lilac Pied Muscovy 

 

Macy is our muscovy hen.  Born late August/Early September 2011.

I wasn’t planning on getting ducks at all. My Fiance was the one who wanted them. 

 

We had settled on either Muscovy or Khakki Campbell, but Macy just took my breath away. I loved her markings. I loved her eyes. 

 

Muscovies are quiet ducks. Very broody. Macy tried to set on eggs 4 or 5 times in 2012. Each and every time I stopped her, as we do not have a drake to fertilize the eggs, and I didn't think chicken eggs were a good idea. We will have call eggs for her to hatch come 2013. She'll finally get to be a mother!

 

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Khaki Campbell 

 

We had to rehome Ruth after he tried to mate our chickens one too many times. In his place, we added two female Khaki Campbell ducklings.

 

Born in the beginning of 2012, or very late December 2011.

 

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Bertha

 

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Martha 

 

We can tell them apart by their walk. Martha is a little bow legged, but gets around no problem. Just walks funny.

 

The Call Ducks - Blue Fawn

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Randy the drake

My favourite of the trio. He's quiet. I like that about him!

 

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Mandy 

 

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Sandy

 

 

Comments (25)

I love your flock!
they are very beautiful!
Thanks guys!
Congratulations, we've chosen one of your chicken pics for the Picture Of the Week. Thanks for posting your chickens to our "My Chickens" pages! You can find more info about our POW here: BYC POW process.


What a nice family you have thanks for sharng. Might I ask a stupid question? You keep saying the dates you got and the dates they layed first egg. How do you know this? We have 16 hens...and I still dont know what egg goes to who. This is all new and I am learning. Thanks
Adorable- Honey is sweet, she sounds like my Fuzzy. Which is a Buff Orpington, who is low on the pecking order and has the sweetest personailty. I have 15 girls-form 18 months to 2 months. Fuzzy is diffinetly a mama's girl- though she is a treat "whore". With a shake of a bucket of meal worms will bring her running.
They are beautiful. Thank you for sharing. I'm a newbie, have 6, 7 weeks old. Guess I'll be waiting for awhile for my first egg. Can't wait.
Awesome flock!! Im in the same boat as jeep381. cant wait!
Oh how I loved this. Loved all the info and wonderfully delightful detail!! Thanks and good luck with your farm. We are hopefully moving to a little more land but have a four plan so I have to be patient and accept my four chickens that the city allows.
Beautiful birds! I'm a newbie also and I have 6, ranging from approx 4-9 weeks. I've had them a week today. All pullets, 2 white lace wyandotte, 2 buff orpingtons, a speckled sussex and one that even the hatchery wasn't sure...She's similar to the sussex, but is brown and white (instead of brown and black) with a longer neck. I'm really starting to see their personalities.
Beautiful! Love the name Rainbow ranch!
Amazing flock of birds!!!!!!!
All of your birds are beautiful! Thanks for sharing their stories!
An enjoyable read! Thank you
@ Momma Cluck - we see the signs coming. Honey was mated for the first time (squatting and not running away) on April 2nd - she laid her first egg April 17th. I keep a spreadsheet lol. She also is the only one who lays on the ground. I am having a more difficult time telling a few of their eggs apart. For the most part they all lay between 2 nesting boxes now that they have been moved.

@ Everyone else - I am so honoured to get POW! You should have heard my shock lol. I was very proud I'm especially glad it was Honey <3 She is very deserving.
Beautiful stories! I shared this for friends to see on Facebook. I hope more people can start to love and care for chickens like you do!
Your flock is so beautiful. I bought my first chickens 2 weeks ago, 2 Rhode Island Reds and 2 light Sussex they are around 26 weeks old and I let them free range in my backyard. I hope I get to know my birds as well as you do yours.
What a wonderful post! Beautiful---you should be very proud of such a lovely flock!
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