I Built A Bridge!

[ItalyChickie]

Hi team! Sorry for the silence, this whole back to work for everyone time is super busy.

Teila, hope things have calmed down for you by now! I also could use a holiday...

I'm with Dusty and LuLu, dem broodies sure do be crazy!!!!

I love them anyway though!

Liz, opera singing, how exciting!!! It must be such a thrill... performing always is, but I think singing is just magical. (I'd put a "swoon" emoticon, but there isn't one.)
As for your hens on strike, it could very well be not just avoiding Diego, but just the whole adjusting to a new situation thing. It happened with mine when I rehomed extra boys, I thought they would be happier, but apparently they grew to like them... or at least some of them. Hopefully they will all settle in though. Looking forward to the pullet pics!

TG, you are an amazing chicken mom!!! That Abel is one lucky baby. And of course they are all adorable.

MM, I can't believe you never tried a persimmon before! We have two trees, and everyone - including the chickens - loves them. Seriously... Bonnie would spend days over there pecking at them still on the tree... I have to get them early, or there would be none left!
Sounds like your hubby is doing a great job getting ready for Valentine (and possibly goats, whom I can't wait to meet if you do get them.)

In my news, I am happy to report that there has been no more snow, or freezing, or running around melting water for the chickens... phew! back to Rome-normal winter climates! (Which is kinda like early spring in other, colder places.)

I also have another new layer, Lilla (Liquirizia's hatchmate, blue orpington) and plenty of eggs these days, finally enough to sell!
Hmm, it's been a while since you have seen Lilla I think, so here she is:



No other news of note, so here are a few random pictures.

Gandalf is teaching the new girls how to lay an egg... too bad nobody was actually around, but he still spent half an hour in there clucking away that this is the best spot...



These chicks really never ever stand still... all the pics I have are blurry like this:



though every now and then I do catch one, at least:



I don't think I ever showed you what that accidental naked neck/araucana turned into? Here she is (and yes, at least it's a she!) - I think she grew on me, I find her kinda cute now... no egg yet, can't wait to see if it's blue!



And one more boy that needs to be rehomed is getting beat up by Pallina the warrior princess. (She totally won that fight and made him run off to the coop!)



A couple of pullets figured the rope was a comfy place to hang out:




I think that about covers it... have a great weekend everyone!

 

[Teila]

Hey Team, I also have to apologise for my silence due to work

Liz glad to hear that things seem to be going smoothly at your place. LuLu also had some tiny scabs on her comb but they were from Blondie being a Broodzilla. Any chance there has been some pecking going on? I am pleased you are enjoying your singing.

Pooman immediately after my mite infestation Cilla developed sour crop. A breeder in the Aussie thread suggested that mite infestation and sour crop can be related. You have my sympathies; while I was vigilant before regarding mite, I am now super vigilant, they creep me out!

MM good to read that things are also going smoothly at your place; apart from a bout of stomach flu .. eeeew!

IC I want a Blue!!!
Beautiful pics!

I got nothing really to report.
I did stumble across the best broody-breaker …. Cilla!
After a couple of weeks of wanting to be broody Blondie was joined by Cilla in GodCilla mode! Two days of having to put up with Cilla in an adjoining nest box and Blondie was broken!

Two more days of locking Cilla out of the nest box and Cilla was broken.

For I don’t know how long, this is the first time that I do not have any broodies and do not have to lock down/juggle nest boxes! Peace reigns! Blondie has even started squatting again but I think she may also be coming into a molt, dropping a few feathers here and there.

Other than that, I am melting! 07:00am 27C (80F) and expected max of 35C (95F) extreme humidity and no breeze, not nice for humans, puddy cats or chickens; the only ones not complaining are the gold fish!

 

[lizgarf]

Hi everyone!
Glad to hear you're free of broodies, Teila! Enjoy the relative quiet! I believe i have some blues for you. See below.
Nice to get the updates, IC! Your Lilla looks a bit like a combination of my Cindy and Maryanne.

Things here are fine. Bettina and Jan venture out to the yard some days and stay in the coop others. Our weather has been mild, so that's not the issue. I think the molt is hard on both of them. Bettina looks as fluffy as can be, but when I touch her, I can feel lots of pin feathers still coming in. Brahmas are feather-making machines! Grace and Rousseau are still devoted layers, and Marsh and Lucy have not caught up. Hoping to keep enjoying the lack of broodies for awhile!

I finally took some pictures of the birds. Without the pressure of having to post ads for the boys, I had gotten out of the habit! But, everyone is lovely and deserving of pics, so here we go:

Jan, early on in her molt (Lucy behind her). She held on to that one last tail feather for a long time!


The three amigas. Clockwise from top left: Maryanne, Ginger, and Cindy. Ginger has really great iridescence, but that's always hard to catch! She basically has BCM coloring with Marsha's shape, and the sparkle to go with her movie-star namesake. Cindy has about two copper flecks on her front neck area, and looks to me like a blue cochin. All have good personalities, though no lap hens yet. Ginger has mostly outgrown her rebellious stage.


Here's Maryanne showing off her gingham pattern:


And Diego, showing off his ultraviolet highlights:


And, more Diego and Maryanne, because they're so pretty:

 

[Teila]

Howdy Bridge Club

It looks like work is going to turn me into a weekend BYCer .. making me earn my pennies!

Love the pictures Liz! *Teila commences foot stamping and holding of breath .. I WANT A BLUE!!!

So, the news from Bambrook Bantams ….

Woot woot, still broody free!

After nearly melting last weekend, we went to the other extreme the past couple of days and we nearly drowned! A couple of days ago my neighbour’s son was loading a canoe onto the roof of his car; in hindsight, probably not a bad idea to keep one close

On Thursday, I was working and Cilla was announcing her displeasure that Blondie was in her favourite nest box. Knowing Cilla as I do and after checking that no-one was, in fact, trying to kill her and that she was not being stalked by some horrendous chicken eating monster, I returned to work.

Cilla continued to vocalise her displeasure but seen as Mum was ignoring her, she decided to up it a notch and started crowing!

So, here is my 2 year old, mother of two hatches, egg laying bantam hen doing the whole neck stretch/arch, build up to it, grand finale crow! OK, any self respecting rooster would have been rolling in the pen laughing, but she gave it her best; bless her little feathered feet! And, her plan worked, she got my attention .. granted, I do not think she was impressed that said attention was me laughing

Princess Blondie is definitely molting and there is no blessing her little feathered feet, more like little needled feet, feathers all gone and newbies coming through.

With the assistance of the wet weather, LuLu the Frizzle is doing Droople impersonations and apparently, Dusty’s days just go from bad to worse; one day, when I go out and ask her how she is doing, she is going to surprise me and not whinge

As you know, Syba and Chimee are indoor cats who have an outdoor play run to keep both them and the wildlife safe. Anyways, on Wednesday, cats were on their side of the run and the gals were on the other side. Dusty and LuLu were terrorizing something, which turned out to be a Gecko, before I could save him, he made the decision to run under the fence … Oh dear, the poor little fella’s day went downhill from there, he had escaped the meat-a-saurus’s by marching straight into the lion’s den!

That was a bit sad. I like Gecko’s. We have one that has lived on our front door for 5 years now. We know it is the same Gecko because he has a forked tail and we have nick-named him Two Tails. While we try our hardest to protect them from chickens and cats, if they make their way into the house, they are usually fair game. Two Tails has managed to get into the house twice now and luckily, both times we have managed to get him back out again before the cats spotted him.

My final silly chicken story for this post … I have some elephant ears (plants, not real ears

) in the garden and they are one of my favourites. Sadly, this time every year, the caterpillars get into them and can strip a new leaf in a matter of hours. I check them as often as I can and dispatch the CP’s .. found a big juicy one and gave it to Dusty when I thought no-one else was looking. Bzzzzt, Blondie was watching! I don’t know how Dusty was feeling, but after a couple of minutes of watching her run round and round and round the garden with caterpillar in beak and Blondie on her tail, I was getting dizzy! Dusty actually had no cause to whinge on this occasion cos Mom stepped in and distracted Blondie long enough for Dusty to enjoy her treat.

It is a long weekend here .. Australia Day!

I hope you are all well and I take comfort that no news is good news

Time for me to check my saved searches on Gum Tree (Craiglist equivalent) my new, blue, frizzle is out there somewhere

 

[lizgarf]

Hi folks,
Things are super busy, but I wanted to take a quick moment to share that little Cindy became a woman today!!! Woohoo for the first grandchick's egg!
Here it is, next to Rousseau's egg. I'm assuming hers will get bigger soon, as she's considerably bigger than Rou. I also thought it would be darker than it is, what with the marans genes, but maybe that'll come later too?


And, because it's fun:



Hope you're all well!!

 

[Teila]

Howdy Folks

Liz aaaaw, congratulations to you and Cindy!

That is an adorable picture! Love it!

Super busy here also, while I sometimes get to read posts during the work-week, no time to reply.

Also, I got Zip, Zero, Zilch on the news front! Everything cruising along nicely!

Today is Cilla and Dusty’s second birthday and we will have a little chicken party with Sardines in place of a birthday cake.

I think today will be a good day to break out the camera … stay tuned for some pictures

 

[tommysgirl]

short update:

Stella is Broody...going to buy chicks at the feed store...unsexed bantams... to give her in a week or so.

I brought home the Coach and finally am the owner of a bantam cochin. Pics to come

I have found homes for many chicks and pullets.

I am moving closer to the quantity and quality of flock that I want but since my heart belongs to my first girls purchased and hatched..it will be awhile in coming.

 

[Teila]

Hey there TG good to hear from you; sounds like you are on track.

Looking forward to the pictures! Aaah, welcome to bantam cochin ownership, they are little sweethearts!

Sorry, lots and lots of photos to come ... we had fun!

In lieu of birthday cake ... Sardines!





"Look Mum, Headless Zombie Chickens ......."


"Did we scare ya!?"



Dusty doing Yoga by the pond-side .. apparently this one is the 'Black Swan':


"Hey Goldfish, did you know it is my birthday?!"


The greenery around the ponds is starting to fill in now:


"OK, I may be molting but it does not stop me striking a pose"

 

[lizgarf]

Aw, happy birthday, Dusty and Cilla! I am so impressed with Cilla's behind! So much fluff! Lovely pics.

Good to hear from you, TG! You know how the song goes, If you can't be, with the one you love, honey, love the one you're with! I'm glad your girls still have your heart! And, I'm also a fan of the bantam cochins. If Rousseau counts as one, then she's hard to beat in terms of disposition, cuteness and egg production! Unfortunately Cindy seems to have inherited her lungs.

So, I was actually totally wrong! It wasn't Cindy who laid first, but Maryanne! She proceeded to lay 3 days in a row (including at 5:30 pm on day 3), took one day off, and has laid two more since. Ginger started yesterday, and her first two are giving me hope that she's going to be my coolest egg-layer. Mauve eggs are the new blue! And, Bettina took me totally by surprise and returned to laying yesterday, leaving a pretty hilarious long, skinny, egg in the nest! Yay for spring!
Of course, not everyone is on board. Cindy is definitely trying to lay, but hasn't succeeded yet. Marsha is on strike again, who knows why. Frida still hasn't returned to laying - maybe she's holding out for Cindy. And, I'm not holding my breath for a prompt return to laying from Jan after her molt.

Here are some pics of the new eggs.
Top 3, from left to right are Bettina's, Ginger's, and Maryanne's. The whites are Grace's, who still holds the record for egg to body-weight ratio.


Ginger's purple-specked #2, laid in the not-so-secret backyard nest:


Otherwise, things are good. I finally caught up on all the fruit-tree grafting I needed to do. The weather has been insane - warmest, driest, January on record. But, rain is supposed to return this week! Please, please! It's hard to focus on work when it feels like summer! But, focus I must - at least for another few weeks, and then this crazy period may finally be back under control.

Happy February!

 

[tommysgirl]

great chick pics @Teila . Mackerel is a favorite canned fish around here. I like the sardines for myself

@lizgarf Your eggs are lovely! I have had girls give me those long pointy ones before. They won't fit in the carton.

We are supposed to get rain this week

But I admit to loving these lovely days too. I have mistaken who laid what egg too. Right now I am getting a seriously pretty pink egg from either Daphne or Maggie. I haven't caught either in the act yet but they are the only two in that pen who could have been laying them.

There is going to be a coop feast today when I get home...Super Bowl Party leftovers...the birds love party leftovers

Meet Tammy Taylor:


She has no where near the clown shoes of Teila's girls but her feathers are out of this world soft. She is still a bit freaked out by me but hoping the bribes I have will help us to become buddies soon.

I am placing an order this week for chicks from a mid west breeder. I am getting some for other people to make it 25 but for me I am getting 9 mottled houdan chicks

With Amazing Crests

that I will have a broody by April when they are headed my way.

Update on my fall hatch...The three mamas with the three chicks...Posie is going to live with a chicken loving girl friend of mine along with another pullet and hen who is nearly 2

Buster is the resident cock of the walk in my big pen and Wilma turned Waylon is currently hanging with three that I am going to give to my Aunt.

Abel is doing great but I am afraid s/he is not a pullet

Jury is still out as he is just 5 weeks old but here are some pics;








The hatchmates are also mixed breeds and they have very prominent and very pink combs. Able has a bit more wattle than I would like but I am not throwing in the towel yet Magnus turned into Maggie after all!