I'm going to share my life story (as it relates to chickens). Warning, I'm extremely long winded when I write... this will take a while...
The OG-19
I started my flock in the spring of 2019 with 5 chicks from Tractor Supply and a coop from Amazon. My husband built a run for the ladies when they moved outside. We started with Miso & Buffy (ISA Browns), Maleficent (SLW), & Wren & Peggy (RIRs). We lost Peggy after a battle with water belly. I said goodbye to Miso after a tumor grew inside her. I lost Buffy after her body just began shutting down to a variety of complications. Miso and Buffy are the reason I will not purchase production breeds again. They were the sweetest girls, but to lose them so young was heartbreaking. Miso was a character. There was something different about her from day 1. I thought she just took after her "chicken mama" and was an introvert, but we determined eventually that she was blind in one eye. Miso was the most adaptable creature ever! She learned to "anchor herself" to things visually. She seldom went out in the open to the middle of the yard, but instead would skirt the fence, keeping it on her sighted side, to get around. It was clever, but it also meant that she took the longest route possible 50% of the time. No worries though, she was the fastest chicken in the flock! We called her Speed Racer. Another trick Miso learned was that she had to spin in circles to find the rest of her treat. For example, if you gave her a big piece of food and she shook her head to tear off a bite, she'd lose the remainder of the food when it flung outside of her line of sight. It took her about a year, but she figured out the food was still there even though she couldn't see it. So before she would dart off to steal another chicken's treat, she would do a quick 360 spin to check to make sure she ate all of her own treat. She was a sight to see. She was the bottom of the pecking order but she was so tenacious when it came to food that it didn't matter. As far as the other chickens were concerned, Miso was highly unpredictable. She'd careen into them while darting about for food. So the rest of the flock developed a certain level of respect for her. And when they shared food or water from a bowl, the other girls would never peck her on her blind side. Her counterpart, Buffy, was much gentler and calmer than Miso. She was the chicken that was always up in your business. She could be pet and held. She could come in the house and hang out. We'd leave the rest of the flock in the yard and let Buffy out to take a walk with us and the dog and cat. She loved assisting with yard work and made sure to leave no grub or worm or bug behind. She would walk over to large rocks or paving stones, and wait for someone to come lift it up so she could check for worms.
Captions: Miso (L) & Buffy the Vampire Layer (R). Miso has the pretty lacing on her butt. That head tilt was her signature look.
Maleficent is my first Wyandotte and the reason I have a love/hate relationship with this breed. "Meffs" as she is usually called was given this name after I determined she was a dragon and not in fact a chicken. Maleficent enjoys being around her people, but does not want to be touched. This is very unfortunate because she is the softest chicken ever! (And 3 more wyandottes later, she is STILL the softest). Makes it so tough to not want to snuggle her against her will. Meffs is also extremely strong compared to the other chickens- a trait that seems to be common amongst wynadottes. As chicks, I could carry two babies at a time, one in each hand. Except for Maleficent. It took 2 hands to hold her. As they grew I learned to carry 3 reluctant chickens at a time- 1 under each arm and 1 in my hands - as long as it wasn't Maleficent. Her wings are phenomenally strong, and she can break out of any grasp and will take your head off with an aggressive flap! To this day, it takes 3 points of contact to carry that hen. Hubs won't even try! In spite of her hatred of human physical contact, she always likes to be around. She has a certain sound she makes only when talking to me when no other chickens are around. It's adorable!
Caption: Maleficent loves to be around her people, as long as you didn't try to touch her! She once visited my classroom.
Peggy and Wren were my RIRs, and the reason I don't want any duplicate chickens in my flock. I didn't like that it was hard to tell them apart. In person, they weren't too bad. Peggy was much larger and rounder than Wren, and Wren was the smallest hen in the OG19 flock. Naturally, that meant Wren was top of the pecking order. The Reds were always more elusive than the "Browns" and the dragon. They just seemed more independent and less inclined to want human interaction. Wren is still that way to this day. She'd be perfectly content to not ever have to have humans in her life. She often can't even be coaxed with treats. Peggy was the same way until she developed water belly (ascites). Poor girl balloooned up and became uncomfortable. We probably waited to long to treat her because we were scared, but it came down to quality of life so we gave it a go and we drained her. She felt worlds better! From that point on, every few weeks, Peggy would seek me out for a draining. She would come find me and just give me a look. She learned very quickly that - although she didn't like what we were doing to her - she felt better afterward. It was remarkable, and a level of understanding (intelligence) I've rarely seen in an animal.
Caption: Wren McCormack (L) and Peggy (R). "The Reds" as we called them when we couldn't tell them apart, and my dog, Jasper.
The Three Amigos of 2021
We went for 2 years as just a flock of five ladies. Then in 2021 I preordered 6 day old chicks (6 different breeds) from a local hatchery. Unfortunately, they had some issues with their hatch, and lost a lot of chicks. Then they refused to sell the those chicks that made it for fear that they were not healthy may not live long. The only breeds they sold were what they considered to be the hardier breeds. This included Gold & Silver laced Wynadottes and Australorps, so that's what I ended up with. (The Australorp being the only breed from my original order of 5). Since I didn't want "duplicates" I got just one of each- GLW, SLW, & Black Australorp. I hoped the lacing pattern on my SLWs would be different enough to tell them apart. It is... usually.
It was fun to have chicks in the house again, but I also remembered what a PIA it was to have them indoors. Since our first flock of chickens included a dragon, it made sense that this flock would also be a mixed species batch, and so Duckie earned her name because she thought she was a duck. She even honked like a goose for a period of time in her adolesence. The SLW became Morticia (aka Morty) as part of a "theme" of naming our wynadottes after strong, alternative female characters. Tooty Bell was named by my MIL. Duckie grew to be the most gorgeous satiny-black chicken. She was gregarious, social, and quickly became the friendliest chicken in her clutch (meanwhile, those wyandottes decided to be feral chickens). However, Duckie did not have much interst in laying eggs. I was convinced she identified as a rooster (her friendliness was borderline confrontational). She finally laid her first egg around 10 months old, but never laid with an consistency. Tragically, Duckie was to be my first chicken loss. She was not even a year old, and I came home from work to find her deceased in the run.
This was the start of 2022 being a roller coaster year for the flock of Fluster Cluck Acres. We had been planning to get chicks in April, but after losing Duckie in February, I bumped up our chick acquisition date to March.
Caption: (L to R) The Three Amigos- Duckie the Australorp, Morticia the SLW, & Tooty Bell the GLW, Duckie in all her glory, and the duplicates (Morticia in the foreground, Maleficent in the rear).
The Feed Store Seven of 2022
I started with 5 chicks from a feed store- Black Laced Red Wyandotte (turned out to be blue laced which was what I really wanted
), Rhode Island Blue, Blue Rock, Red Orpington, & BCM. Unfortunately I was way too excited when I got the chicks and rushed home with them without paying attention to the chicks they gave me. As soon as I got home it was clear the BCM was not well. That poor little chicky did not make it even 24 hours. That same day we lost 3 year old Peggy to (we suspect) whatever had been the original cause of the water belly and/or EYP.
I ended up going back to the same feed store and getting more chicks about a week later. This time I got a Lavender Orp, cream legbar, and speckled sussex. I paid closer attention this time, and made sure they gave me all healthy active chicks. We ended up battling pasty butt with the SS and the legbar for quite some time, but everyone ended up pulling through. These chicks were an intersting batch to brood. My red orpington was growing like a weed, and my legbar didn't seem to grow at all, and the two of them became inseperable. Keeping with our theme, Hubs suggested Velma for the new wyandotte. The Blues (don't know which is which or even if they are what they're supposed to be) became Chicory (because she's colored similiarly to chicory) and Siggy (named after the little boy in What About Bob). The red orp was Lucinda (named after David Koechner's Hummer in the Krampus movie). The lavender was Pussy Willow becuase she looked and felt like a fuzzy pussy willow bud. The legbar... which turned out to be a sparrow, was appropriately named Captain Jack Sparrow. And the SS became Specs (Mind you that's not short for speckles, it's short for spectacles- Hubs makes glasses for a living).
(to be continued...) my good pics from 2022 on are on my other computer so I"ll update with those and also introduce you to the December 2022 flock. In the meantime, here's a map of my chickens I made for my mom so she could tell them apart when she visits.
Caption: The Entire Adult flock (not pictured- the 5 December chicks in the brooder in the coop). You'll notice that "Lucinda" was renamed to "Lucifer" because SURPRISE! IT WAS A BOY!
Chicken Math at it’s finest!
Just like what happens every 10% of the time, we had a puller that turned out to be a cockerel. Lucinda became Lucifer. And as if that wasn’t a clear enough sign that the universe wanted me to make more chickens, Velma went broody! And that’s how we ended up with the 2022 Christmas Clutch!
Velma hatched 6 December babies. Sadly, Velma decided she ONLY wanted to hatch and didn’t want to raise. We lost one chick to the cold before we realized Velma wasn’t taking care of them. So we brought them inside to raise them. We ended up with 4 cockerels and 1 pullet and of those we kept the son of Chicory the Rhode Island Blue (Charcoal “Coal”) and the daighter of Willow the lavender Orpington (Ash).
To be continued… next up is the Sobriety Clutch…
The OG-19
I started my flock in the spring of 2019 with 5 chicks from Tractor Supply and a coop from Amazon. My husband built a run for the ladies when they moved outside. We started with Miso & Buffy (ISA Browns), Maleficent (SLW), & Wren & Peggy (RIRs). We lost Peggy after a battle with water belly. I said goodbye to Miso after a tumor grew inside her. I lost Buffy after her body just began shutting down to a variety of complications. Miso and Buffy are the reason I will not purchase production breeds again. They were the sweetest girls, but to lose them so young was heartbreaking. Miso was a character. There was something different about her from day 1. I thought she just took after her "chicken mama" and was an introvert, but we determined eventually that she was blind in one eye. Miso was the most adaptable creature ever! She learned to "anchor herself" to things visually. She seldom went out in the open to the middle of the yard, but instead would skirt the fence, keeping it on her sighted side, to get around. It was clever, but it also meant that she took the longest route possible 50% of the time. No worries though, she was the fastest chicken in the flock! We called her Speed Racer. Another trick Miso learned was that she had to spin in circles to find the rest of her treat. For example, if you gave her a big piece of food and she shook her head to tear off a bite, she'd lose the remainder of the food when it flung outside of her line of sight. It took her about a year, but she figured out the food was still there even though she couldn't see it. So before she would dart off to steal another chicken's treat, she would do a quick 360 spin to check to make sure she ate all of her own treat. She was a sight to see. She was the bottom of the pecking order but she was so tenacious when it came to food that it didn't matter. As far as the other chickens were concerned, Miso was highly unpredictable. She'd careen into them while darting about for food. So the rest of the flock developed a certain level of respect for her. And when they shared food or water from a bowl, the other girls would never peck her on her blind side. Her counterpart, Buffy, was much gentler and calmer than Miso. She was the chicken that was always up in your business. She could be pet and held. She could come in the house and hang out. We'd leave the rest of the flock in the yard and let Buffy out to take a walk with us and the dog and cat. She loved assisting with yard work and made sure to leave no grub or worm or bug behind. She would walk over to large rocks or paving stones, and wait for someone to come lift it up so she could check for worms.
Captions: Miso (L) & Buffy the Vampire Layer (R). Miso has the pretty lacing on her butt. That head tilt was her signature look.
Maleficent is my first Wyandotte and the reason I have a love/hate relationship with this breed. "Meffs" as she is usually called was given this name after I determined she was a dragon and not in fact a chicken. Maleficent enjoys being around her people, but does not want to be touched. This is very unfortunate because she is the softest chicken ever! (And 3 more wyandottes later, she is STILL the softest). Makes it so tough to not want to snuggle her against her will. Meffs is also extremely strong compared to the other chickens- a trait that seems to be common amongst wynadottes. As chicks, I could carry two babies at a time, one in each hand. Except for Maleficent. It took 2 hands to hold her. As they grew I learned to carry 3 reluctant chickens at a time- 1 under each arm and 1 in my hands - as long as it wasn't Maleficent. Her wings are phenomenally strong, and she can break out of any grasp and will take your head off with an aggressive flap! To this day, it takes 3 points of contact to carry that hen. Hubs won't even try! In spite of her hatred of human physical contact, she always likes to be around. She has a certain sound she makes only when talking to me when no other chickens are around. It's adorable!
Caption: Maleficent loves to be around her people, as long as you didn't try to touch her! She once visited my classroom.
Peggy and Wren were my RIRs, and the reason I don't want any duplicate chickens in my flock. I didn't like that it was hard to tell them apart. In person, they weren't too bad. Peggy was much larger and rounder than Wren, and Wren was the smallest hen in the OG19 flock. Naturally, that meant Wren was top of the pecking order. The Reds were always more elusive than the "Browns" and the dragon. They just seemed more independent and less inclined to want human interaction. Wren is still that way to this day. She'd be perfectly content to not ever have to have humans in her life. She often can't even be coaxed with treats. Peggy was the same way until she developed water belly (ascites). Poor girl balloooned up and became uncomfortable. We probably waited to long to treat her because we were scared, but it came down to quality of life so we gave it a go and we drained her. She felt worlds better! From that point on, every few weeks, Peggy would seek me out for a draining. She would come find me and just give me a look. She learned very quickly that - although she didn't like what we were doing to her - she felt better afterward. It was remarkable, and a level of understanding (intelligence) I've rarely seen in an animal.
Caption: Wren McCormack (L) and Peggy (R). "The Reds" as we called them when we couldn't tell them apart, and my dog, Jasper.
The Three Amigos of 2021
We went for 2 years as just a flock of five ladies. Then in 2021 I preordered 6 day old chicks (6 different breeds) from a local hatchery. Unfortunately, they had some issues with their hatch, and lost a lot of chicks. Then they refused to sell the those chicks that made it for fear that they were not healthy may not live long. The only breeds they sold were what they considered to be the hardier breeds. This included Gold & Silver laced Wynadottes and Australorps, so that's what I ended up with. (The Australorp being the only breed from my original order of 5). Since I didn't want "duplicates" I got just one of each- GLW, SLW, & Black Australorp. I hoped the lacing pattern on my SLWs would be different enough to tell them apart. It is... usually.
It was fun to have chicks in the house again, but I also remembered what a PIA it was to have them indoors. Since our first flock of chickens included a dragon, it made sense that this flock would also be a mixed species batch, and so Duckie earned her name because she thought she was a duck. She even honked like a goose for a period of time in her adolesence. The SLW became Morticia (aka Morty) as part of a "theme" of naming our wynadottes after strong, alternative female characters. Tooty Bell was named by my MIL. Duckie grew to be the most gorgeous satiny-black chicken. She was gregarious, social, and quickly became the friendliest chicken in her clutch (meanwhile, those wyandottes decided to be feral chickens). However, Duckie did not have much interst in laying eggs. I was convinced she identified as a rooster (her friendliness was borderline confrontational). She finally laid her first egg around 10 months old, but never laid with an consistency. Tragically, Duckie was to be my first chicken loss. She was not even a year old, and I came home from work to find her deceased in the run.
This was the start of 2022 being a roller coaster year for the flock of Fluster Cluck Acres. We had been planning to get chicks in April, but after losing Duckie in February, I bumped up our chick acquisition date to March.Caption: (L to R) The Three Amigos- Duckie the Australorp, Morticia the SLW, & Tooty Bell the GLW, Duckie in all her glory, and the duplicates (Morticia in the foreground, Maleficent in the rear).
The Feed Store Seven of 2022
I started with 5 chicks from a feed store- Black Laced Red Wyandotte (turned out to be blue laced which was what I really wanted
), Rhode Island Blue, Blue Rock, Red Orpington, & BCM. Unfortunately I was way too excited when I got the chicks and rushed home with them without paying attention to the chicks they gave me. As soon as I got home it was clear the BCM was not well. That poor little chicky did not make it even 24 hours. That same day we lost 3 year old Peggy to (we suspect) whatever had been the original cause of the water belly and/or EYP.I ended up going back to the same feed store and getting more chicks about a week later. This time I got a Lavender Orp, cream legbar, and speckled sussex. I paid closer attention this time, and made sure they gave me all healthy active chicks. We ended up battling pasty butt with the SS and the legbar for quite some time, but everyone ended up pulling through. These chicks were an intersting batch to brood. My red orpington was growing like a weed, and my legbar didn't seem to grow at all, and the two of them became inseperable. Keeping with our theme, Hubs suggested Velma for the new wyandotte. The Blues (don't know which is which or even if they are what they're supposed to be) became Chicory (because she's colored similiarly to chicory) and Siggy (named after the little boy in What About Bob). The red orp was Lucinda (named after David Koechner's Hummer in the Krampus movie). The lavender was Pussy Willow becuase she looked and felt like a fuzzy pussy willow bud. The legbar... which turned out to be a sparrow, was appropriately named Captain Jack Sparrow. And the SS became Specs (Mind you that's not short for speckles, it's short for spectacles- Hubs makes glasses for a living).
(to be continued...) my good pics from 2022 on are on my other computer so I"ll update with those and also introduce you to the December 2022 flock. In the meantime, here's a map of my chickens I made for my mom so she could tell them apart when she visits.
Caption: The Entire Adult flock (not pictured- the 5 December chicks in the brooder in the coop). You'll notice that "Lucinda" was renamed to "Lucifer" because SURPRISE! IT WAS A BOY!
Chicken Math at it’s finest!
Just like what happens every 10% of the time, we had a puller that turned out to be a cockerel. Lucinda became Lucifer. And as if that wasn’t a clear enough sign that the universe wanted me to make more chickens, Velma went broody! And that’s how we ended up with the 2022 Christmas Clutch!
Velma hatched 6 December babies. Sadly, Velma decided she ONLY wanted to hatch and didn’t want to raise. We lost one chick to the cold before we realized Velma wasn’t taking care of them. So we brought them inside to raise them. We ended up with 4 cockerels and 1 pullet and of those we kept the son of Chicory the Rhode Island Blue (Charcoal “Coal”) and the daighter of Willow the lavender Orpington (Ash).
To be continued… next up is the Sobriety Clutch…