Violetsfeathers Flock

In 2011 I asked my mom if we could get chickens eventually her and my dad said yes so we started choosing breeds from Murray McMurray hatchery. The black australorps were especially pretty and I wanted some Cochins too but my mom said their feathered feet would get all poopy.
Eventually we decided on:
2 GL Wyandottes
4 SL Wyandottes
And 4 black Australorps.
We picked them up at the hatchery March 5 but one of the chicks was different. He was an extra and my sister and I begged mom to keep him, she did.
When we got home we counted the chicks and there were 12! They had given us an extra Australorp too. I named the two GLW Ginger and Cinnamon and the only australorp with a gray head Violet, the extra chick (a silver spangled Hamburg) we named Wilbur because he was the smallest. When they were older we sold 3 Australorps to a neighbor the two we kept were Shadow and Violet. When they were still young a raccoon walked into the coop and took shadow.
Wilbur turned out to be a boy and would sometimes attack us. My sister wouldn't let us sell him, but he did a good job of watching over the hens.

In the spring of 2012 Violet, My favorite hen went broody and we let her lay on 3 eggs, 2 of them hatched and we named them June and Benny. We took Violet and her chicks to Minnesota where we go every summer. Benny was a boy and June was a girl. We left Benny in Minnesota thinking he would fight with his dad. When we got home Violet abandoned her (she was at least two months old) and the other chickens didn't like her, our dog and cats chased her, (they didn't chase the other chickens) so we sold her to the same freind we sold our other Australorps to.
Also, when Violet was broody Cinnamin was broody too, we didn't take her to MN and she disappeared while we were gone

2013 we got chicks again, this time bantams. 2 Buff brahma bantams
2 Mille Fleur Bantams
2 quail D'Anver bantams
And 4 black Australorps (which we sold)
We eventually sold the Mille fluers because they weren't our favorite. The buff brahmas turned out to be boys, Flame and Pumpkin. We sold Flame, Pumpkin was my favorite.
The D'Anvers were both girls, Muffin and Pearls.

2014, I think we had 2 SLW, Ginger, Violet, and Wilbur. Pumpkin, Muffin, and Pearls. We did not get chicks this year but I saw a freinds chicken in the fair (a white Cochin bantam hen, and named her marshmallow) and immediately fell in love. I got reserve champion in showmanship with Pumpkin.
I kept asking my freinds dad if he would sell me one of marshmallows chicks next year.

Violet died :'( and one of our SLW died too. In October we moved to Minnesota with a SLW (Speckles), Ginger, Wilbur, Pumpkin, Muffin, and Pearls.

In February 2015 my freinds dad finally sold me a white Cochin bantam pullet which I also named Marshmallow.

Wilbur also died in February from a ear infection that wouldn't respond to treatment.
The fair laws in Minnesota say you can long show chickens born that year so dad ordered me some chicks from my pet chicken. We kept a Black australorp, a polish, 2 Mille fleurs, a mottled Cochin, and 3 buff brahmas. All girls. Well that year avian flu broke out so they canceled chickens at the fair so I didn't get to show.

This year, 2016, Marshmallow went broody Dec 31. At first I tried to break her but gave up and ordered some blue/splash and lavender Cochin bantam chicks for her from a breeder, the breeders chickens haven't even started laying yet so I gave four eggs to Marshmallow, they will hatch this Friday! (March 5)

And so the story continues...

The history of Marshmallow.

I first saw marshmallow at a county fair, my freind was showing her, I named her marshmallow and after the fair when I would go to my freinds house, she would come running whenever I clapped my hands and called "Mushmewow!"
I aske my freinds dad if I cloud have one of her babies next year, he said yes. But then I moved to MN (I was in IA before) and we didn't keep in touch as much, I still went to IA with my dad to work on the house and visit freinds. Turns out, my freinds dad sold all of marshmallows babies so he sold me one of the older hens instead. I compared face pictures and this chicken was not the original marshmallow, but I named her marshmallow anyway. (Marshmallow lived her whole life in a coop, she didn't know what grass was and she didn't know to scratch and look for bugs in it, she just sat there)
My freinds and I played in the woods the day I got her and I would set her down on a log and come back to check on her every 15 min, she was always there, she didn't know how to be a chicken!
When I brought her home our dog, Toby, tried to kill her through the fence. I have her a bath and after that he didn't try to kill her anymore, I guess she smelled like my freinds chickens.
Eventually, she learned that grass was a good thing and loved it when I took her far away from the other chickens to look for bugs. She also came running when I clapped my hands and called her.
One day I put her in with our bantam roo and hen to watch them (she had already beaten the hen in a fight when the roo wasn't there)
They seemed to be getting along okay for the first couple days I tried it so I left them together while I was at school, when I got home Pumpkin and pearls had pecked a hole in the back of her neck the size of a quarter. We put salve on it and eventually it healed.
I gave her many baths trying to get the oil off her feathers, it came off eventually, but her feathers were awful.

Eventually Pumpkin, Pearls, and Marshmallow got along and marshmallow started to free range with them a little bit. Then I noticed she had bumblefoot, it happens when a chicken cuts their foot on something and it gets infected, it's a staff infection.

I treated her by soaking her in stuff and Epsom salt, then blow-drying her belly and wrapping her feet every other day. I did this for about two or three months. Eventually it did go away.

Marshmallow didn't come as much when I called her anymore, she started being a chickens and hanging out with the others. Sniff. Then winter came and she didn't go out side anymore. She went broody December 31 and I did try to break her but instead I ordered chicks for her. The chicks still haven't been layed yet so I gave her four eggs to hatch because I didn't think she should wait any longer. They will hatch this Friday (March 5). I take her off the nest twice a day to run around and eat. Lately she seems more cheerful, I think she knows her eggs will hatch soon. I hope she is tamer in the spring and comes when I call her again.

Pearls is sick, she was droopy and cold, so I put a heat lamp on her, in the morning she was okay but later today mom found her all sick so she brought her inside to warm up and gave her fruit. She got better but she wobbles when she walks, she will be sleeping inside tonight. Pearls recently got a small bump at the corner of her eye and when you look at her pupil from a certain angle it is white. Mom thinks the bump is pushing on her brain and causing her to wobble.

One of Marshmallows eggs is cheeping!!!

Pearls died yesterday