Gossie's Mixed Flock!

I want to introduce you to my 24 chickens and 2 geese. Note: A while ago, we had 6 roosters and 5 hens, so most of our hens will have feathers missing from their backs. We got rid of 4 roosters and they have yet to grow back their back feathers

Lemon

Lemon is a coronation sussex rooster that hatched in a kindergarten classroom in 2013. We took him home and he was bullied by the other chickens, so he moved into our garage. Because he was closer to us, we had more time to spend with him and he became very friendly. We moved him back out into the coop and this time they accepted him. Now he is one of our favorite chickens in the coop.




Mickey

Mickey is a silver penciled plymouth rock hen who hatched in the same kindergarten classroom as Lemon. She was very beautiful when she had all the feathers on her back and hopefully she'll grow more back.




Dot

Dot is a black silkie rooster who was 1 of the first chickens we got. We bought him at a poultry show in early May 2013. He is very friendly and loves to be held. He is very protective of Caroline, a silkie hen (more on her in the next paragraph!) and will do anything to help her. Once, he even sat on her eggs while she took a break! None of the other roosters really like Dot, so he and Caroline are in a separate cage together.
Note: This bird is NOT photogenic!




Caroline

Caroline is a blue silkie hen that was bought at the same poultry show as Dot. She doesn't like being held as much as Dot. She lays eggs more often than any other hen I know and she is known for faking broodiness. Finally though, she has really gone broody and she is sitting on 4 eggs due to hatch June 29.
Note: She's not much more photogenic than Dot!



Pancake

Pancake is a baby silkie that hatched from one of Caroline's eggs on June 28, 2015. She hatched with a little bit of bloody stuff on her bottom and Caroline kept pecking it, so we took Pancake to let the blood dry and after a few hours, we returned her to Caroline! She is the first egg ever to hatch in my coop.




Pip

Pip is a blue laced red wyandotte rooster we bought from a breeder. Sadly, when he was a chick, we had him in a wire cage and somehow, the wire bent his toes. He's not in pain though and he walks around perfectly fine, but he can't fly up to the perch and hold on anymore.



Snuggles

Snuggles is a blue laced red wyandotte hen we got from the same breeder as Pip. She is 1 of my favorite hens. She was injured when we had more roosters than hens and her isolation let me handle her more and now she's pretty friendly. She has yet to grow back her beautiful back feathers though.




Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams is a buff orpington hen. We bought her from a hatchery with 5 other hens and 1 rooster. They all had historical names like Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemmings, and Martha Washington. Sadly, all the other buff orpingtons died over a period of time. Thomas Jefferson's legs got paralized and Martha Washington didn't come out of the nesting box for 3 days. Abigail Adams is our last orpington survivor.




Penguino

Penguino is a black ameraucana hen we got in June 2013 from a breeder. She used to be very flighty and had a very severe case of anthrophobia (fear of humans). We built a bigger coop closer to our house and when she and the rest of the chickens moved in, I had more time to spend with her. Over a long period of time, she finally became friendly and now she flies onto my arm for scratch.



Scout

Scout is a buckeye pullet that we got May 4, 2015. She is pretty flighty and doesn't like to be held. Right now, she is part of a group I call, "The 3 Musketeers" They all look the same and no one can tell them apart. Because I can't tell them apart, I don't have any REAL pictures of her except for when she was 1 day old.




Cuddles

Cuddles is a part of "The 3 Musketeers" and when she was little, she used to climb into your hand and ask for cuddles. She still likes being cuddled, but since I can't tell her apart from the other 2, I don't which one is scared of me and which one likes to cuddle. She is a rhode island red pullet.




Maple

Maple is the last member of "The 3 Musketeers" She is a rhode island red pullet and she escapes a lot. We have a lot of maple trees on our property and we often make maple syrup, so we named her after our hobby.

(I don't have any pictures of Maple sadly.)

May

May is a golden cuckoo marans pullet we ordered from a hatchery. She is the smallest of our chicks. I can't wait until she lays her dark brown eggs, but I have a while to wait!




Malaya

Malaya is a black sumatra pullet. She is the 2nd smallest of all our chicks and is pretty friendly. I love her very much.




Tempura

Tempura is a golden buff pullet or a golden sex link. We ordered her from a hatchery as she is one of our biggest chicks. We used to have golden buff hens when I was little, so she is very special to me.




Sunny

Sunny is another golden buff pullet. We also bought her at a hatchery. She is smaller than Tempura and that is how we tell them apart.

(Sadly, I don't have pictures of Sunny either.)

Dottie

Dottie is the most friendly chicken I have ever met. She is a barred rock pullet who lived in a kindergarten classroom for 2 weeks and when she came home, she was obviously the most friendly. I walk into the brooder and she jumps up on my shoulder. She is the most jealous too. I can't hold any other chicks without her being held too.




Buttercup

Buttercup is a sicilian buttercup pullet. She was extremely flighty as a 1 day old chick, but now she is pretty friendly (after a TON of handling.) She is one of the most beautiful chicks we've gotten this year.




Stroopwafel

Stroopwafel is a white crested black polish pullet. I think she and Bubbles are so hilarious with the big poof on their heads! I can't wait until they grow up and it's even bigger!





Bubbles

Bubbles is another white crested black polish pullet. She has a bigger poof than Stroopwafel and it's more shapely.




Marbles

Marbles is a white cochin pullet. Her feathers are so silky. I always imagined white chickens to be really dirty, but she keeps herself pretty clean.




Rosa

Rosa is a partridge cochin pullet. She is bigger than Lacey and she has more feathers than Lacey.




Lacey

Lacey is a partridge cochin pullet. She is crazy. She pecks me all the time, she pulls on my clothes, she is just crazy and very funny. There is not a picture of her without her face in the camera.




Violet

Violet is a lavender orpington pullet. She is the only one who hatched in the kindergarten classroom. She is the youngest chick we have.




Gossie

Gossie is my brown chinese crested goose. He has had a rough life. We bought him online with 5 other goslings. 2 of them died during shipping. So we ended up with 4 goslings. We gave 2 goslings to our grandma who already had geese. We kept two and named them Gossie and Gertie. They lived happily together, getting let out in the morning and put away in the evening. One day, we let them stay out too long and Gertie was missing. We found her, but her injuries were awful. Something had punctured her air sac and in spite of everything we tried, she died. Gossie was so depressed, he looked at his reflection in our car and talked to himself. He didn't do anything else for at least 2 days. We knew we needed to get him a friend, so we went online and found him 2 females and 1 male named Rosie, Buttercup, and Charlie. Charlie and Gossie didn't get along, so we gave Charlie and Rosie to my grandma (the other geese we gave her had died) and we kept Buttercup. Other than the incident where a fox chased Gossie into the woods and gave him a minor puncture on his neck, they have lived happily ever after.






Buttercup

Buttercup's life has been pretty good since we got her. She was 2 years old when we got her and since then, she's been broody twice, both times nothing has hatched. She doesn't like being around humans at all.



That's my whole flock!

Such a pretty flock. I'm glad Gossie has Buttercup.

I got outside and took some pictures of our flock. Here they are:

Here is a better picture of Dot.



and here is Caroline sitting on her nest




Pancake is fluffy now



I can finally tell Scout apart from the others, so here is a picture of him.



Cuddles and Maple are still identical, but here they are together



Here is a picture of Malaya



Here is a more recent picture of May



And last but not least, I got a few pictures of Sunny!