Tales From Chickentown

[holm25]

Great stories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PrairieChickens]

Thank you very much!

 

[holm25]

Your Welcome!!!!!!!

 

[EggresiveAli]

OMG Mo is lovely!

 

[PrairieChickens]

July 11th, 2014

The chicks that hatched in late June/early July are all doing very well! Although my husband has taken a lot of photos of them, he's yet to share them with me, so I haven't been able to post them yet. The only photo I've managed to snag from him so far is this one, which he posted in his online photo gallery.


"Are your feet hot too, or is it just me?"

In addition to Anna, the broody bantam who hatched out the five bantam chicks, we have another bantam cochin named O'Brien who is also prone to going broody. Unlike Anna, however, O'Brien is kind of neurotic and twitchy, and our efforts to relocate the finnicky little bird out of the nesting boxes resulted in her breaking of her broodiness entirely. Perhaps it's for the best, since O'Brien is not a reliable incubator of eggs, and has resulted in the deaths of several chicks on the verge of hatching.

Much to our surprise, however, we had a newcomer to the broody game. Our Barred Rock hen Marjoram went broody this week, and unlike O'Brien, she was more than happy to be relocated to the broody cage. I gave her a large clutch of eggs, which--if all goes well--will hatch around the end of the month. There's another difference between Marj and the bantams besides her size and the ability to relocate her... Marjoram, as it turns out, is a BITER. Spoiled by Anna and O'Brien's sweet and calm nature during brooding, I was not prepared for the savage, velociraptor-esque chomps I got when I went to handle Marjoram!


"This egg is mine. This one is mine too. Those eggs there--also mine.
Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine."

Marjoram going broody wasn't the only surprise I got this week. A barred rock/orpington mix that I was sure was a rooster turned out to actually be a hen! The nameless bird was incorrectly assumed to be a male, because her comb and wattle filled out so much more quickly than her fellow pullets, and her development seemed on par with that of the roosters from her age group. Our error was corrected when we spotted her in an amorous relationship with a tiny bantam rooster named Eddy, who apparently did not share our confusion. I suppose we've solved the mystery of the peculiar brown eggs that have been appearing in the juveniles' coop!

This is good news for her, since hens don't have to meet nearly as tough a cut as the roosters do to avoid becoming supper. Although she isn't very friendly or interesting, she won't have to worry about making the "list" this fall as our roosters start reaching fryer size.


"I refuse to reinforce the misguided concept of a gender binary."

The current population of Chickentown is 183. Here's a few of our inhabitants.


Although I haven't yet given a name to this lovely girl, this buckeye is a very special lady to me. I'd wanted a buckeye for quite a while when I got her, and finally acquired her during one of my purchases from My Pet Chicken. Despite the fact that I didn't have a lot of free time to devote to handling her and socializing her, this beauty has decided I'm allowed to pick her up, cuddle her, and feed her treats. (Though she is very particular about what treats will even warrant her interest.) She remains unnamed only because I have not yet decided on one that would suit her position as one of my favorite girls in the flock.


This handsome young boy goes by the working name "Snowflake", because his unusually coloring reminds me of snow falling against a dark background. His name may change as he grows and matures, but for now it will do. He is another favorite, always nearby when I'm outside, with a calm and curious nature. Although he went through a brief phase where he was terrified of me, he has since decided I'm a pretty OK creature to hang out with.... He just doesn't want to be picked up, thanks very much.


Although we have no shortage of red chickens in our flock these days, Tangerine still manages to stand out from the crowd with her smooth, red coloring and pale-colored legs. We're not entirely sure who her parents were, though we're pretty confident a production red was involved somewhere. One of my theories is that her mother was a speckled sussex and her father a P.R., but I don't know how the genetics would really work to produce this coloring. Another possibility is that her light legs came from an Easter Egger parent, though there is usually some sign of cheek puffs or a pea comb in such crosses. Regardless of her family tree, Tangerine is a sweet, mellow bird who doesn't get mixed up in flock drama, and is content to move through life with a zen and tranquil nature.


Gru is a very special bird, because his parents are very special birds. Gryffindor, an EE rooster, and Mrs. Hughes, a black Australorp, are the only two chickens I have ever seen in my life who appear to be in love. Not only do they roost and forage together, but I have more than once walked in on them engaging in a strange behavior I could only describe as "canoodling". They will lay down next to each other, either in the dustbathing area or in a corner of the coop, and rub up against each other while making strange, cooing noises. The fact that they produced offspring is no surprise, nor is it any surprise that Gru is a sweet, inquisitive, and friendly bird who always wants to know what his people are up to. At this rate, he's going to be quite a keeper.


Originally dubbed the painfully uncreative name "Cheekpuffs" Puff Daddy is a young fella from the same brood as Gru. Like Gru, he has a chill personality and curious nature, and while he shares most roosters' aversion to being held, he's a friendly bird who enjoys human company. An EE/Barred Rock mix, we're not sure which parent was which, since he easily could have been sired by an EE rooster OR a BR rooster.


Hedwig is the only remaining female from my very first incubator hatch. As one would expect due to her seniority, she was the first of my new pullets to start laying, and lays a lovely, mint-green egg! Hedwig has another peculiar quirk--unlike most of my hens, who like to pick a spot to lay and stick with it, Hedwig seems to enjoy finding new places to lay every day. One day, she will lay in her coop, another, she will travel down to the far end of the yard to lay an egg in the chicken tractor's nesting box. The next, she will lay an egg in the main coop, or in the straw pile next to the coop door. Fortunately, her eggs have been fairly easy to find, and because of their distinctive color, we notice pretty quickly if we haven't found her egg yet for the day.


Anna is our very own super-broody, having gone broody three times since November of last year. Her current brood is the first she's had the chance to raise alone, without the interference of the neurotic Mrs. O'Brien throwing off her groove. In addition, we gave her only bantam eggs to incubate this time, resulting in chicks who are much more her size.


This unnamed goofball is a Polish mix of some kind. Its mother was most likely Aretha, our Silver-Laced Polish, but despite its barred appearance, its father wasn't necessarily a barred rock rooster. Time will tell if this little oddity will develop a wider range of color, as well as if it will be a male or a female. For now, it's not keen on letting anyone close enough to find out!


Gainsborough, a longtime favorite of mine, had to be confined to the bachelor run for a few weeks due to his raging hormones making life miserable for the other juveniles. His hormones have settled, and he has been released on parole. He will probably never be as sweet and lovey with me as he was when he was a chick, but he is no longer in quite so much danger of ending up on "the List". If nothing else, he has several months yet to prove to use that he is a reformed rooster, and can be trusted to stick around as a long-term member of our flock.

 

[PrairieChickens]

October 18, 2014

Hello, have you missed me? It's been busy here in Chickentown! Here's some updates:

The population of Chickentown is now 196--I think. My brown leghorns and a handful of other chickens have gone feral, roosting in the trees at night instead of in the coops, and it's become very difficult to take an accurate tally of who is still around. Assuming I haven't had any casualties I don't know about, 196 is the number of inhabitants in Chickentown, including 11 chicks that belong to my friend April, but live in a coop on the premises since her town bans chickens.


Samurai, a chick from my first 'bator hatch who developed a deformed wing, was killed by a predator a few weeks ago. It was actually somewhat of a relief, since he was going to have to be put down soon anyway, and was actually scheduled to be butchered soon. Since Samurai looked to me as his only ally in a big, mean world, I was not looking forward to having to betray his trust. The only part of him the predator left behind was his deformed wing, so I buried it in the garden and said my goodbyes.


My husband wanted very badly to upgrade his car to a newer, shinier version. so to butter me up, he got me a gift... Chickens, of course! I got five straight-run silkies, two exchequer leghorns, and three Polish crested roosters. My husband got his car.

Although I had hoped for friendly silkies when I placed this order, the friendliest chick in the brood turned out to be my leghorn cockerel! Named Leonard after a character from Big Bang Theory, Leonard follows me devotedly and cuddles on my shoulder for naps. Surprisingly, his female counterpart Penny wants nothing to do with me, but that's ok--I hadn't gotten the leghorns expecting them to be friendly.


Leonard's got it all! He's friendly, handsome, and delightfully quirky. I knew within a couple of weeks that he was the boy because of his reddening comb and wattles, but as if to eliminate any remaining doubt, he started crowing at just 3 weeks of age! A no-crow collar may be in his future, since as much as I love him, I don't look forward to hearing him sing me the song of his people outside my bedroom window at 5 AM once his vocal chords grow in.


Another noteworthy member of this brood is "Rosie", a silkie chick of uncertain gender. Rosie is calm, sweet, and friendly--oddly, the first silkie I've own to live up to the reputation! She and Leonard will often snuggle up together on my shoulder for a nap if I give them the opportunity.


David Crowie is the friendliest of my Polish roosters. Practically a clone of the famous Chicky Gaga, except for being male, David is outgoing, brave, and eccentric. Like most Polish I've owned, he loves to chase cats, something my cat Athena was not happy about. Fortunately, neither one has any apparent interest in harming the other!





In other news, I tried my hand at hatching some shipped eggs recently. Out of 13 leghorn eggs, only 5 made it to lockdown, and only one ended up hatching. The lonely leghorn hatched too early however, and hadn't fully absorbed her yolk sac. I didn't expect her to survive the night, but although she was unable to do anything but lie on her back in the incubator, the chick held on. After a day or so in the incubator, I set up a very small brooder--a box no more than 25 inches square with a desk lamp for heat. Since the chick was completely unable to walk or even stand, I saw no need for anything bigger. I took her out frequently to help her exercise her legs, letting her push her feet against the palm of my hand while I held her steady with the other, and offered her regular sips of wet mash. Though she barely sipped at the "broth" of her chick starter soup, the fact that she was willing to try to eat at all was a sign she wanted to live.

Much to my surprise, the next morning I found my little warrior standing up in her tiny brooder. Though she was still unsteady on her feet, she took slightly longer sips of chick starter soup, and wobbled about her small space with increasing determination. I set up a larger box for her, and gave her a friend--a black mutt chick from the same hatch who was already twice her size, but very calm and gentle. I had to choose very carefully, since in her weak state, innocent pecking could have easily killed her.

Over the course of the day, the chick's progress seemed to backslide. By the time I went to bed, she was unable to stand properly and seemed to have lost her appetite. Her feet folded under themselves and she wobbled uncontrollably. Having seen several chicks waste away from various conditions, I recognized this as a sign that the chick was on her way out. My pessimism wasn't helped by the fact that another chick in the hatch--a home grown white plymouth rock--had been born severely deformed, and I had to euthanize it to avoid a slow death of starvation. I was quite certain that the leghorn chick would join it soon, but couldn't bring myself to give up on it just yet. Perhaps I was just squeamish about having to euthanize a second chick, but I decided that if the chick survived the night, I would evaluate her condition in the morning. If not, then nature had taken care of matters for me.

Morning arrived, and I checked on the little chick. Much to my surprise, I saw her toddling around the brooder on solid little feet, eager for a sip of her chickstarter soup when I offered it to her. As the day progressed, the chick grew stronger and stronger, even climbing onto her crocheted pouch on her own to nap under the heat lamp. The final sign that my little warrior was going to be ok was when I saw her scratching around with her buddy, eating the dry chick starter up off of the brooder floor. Though she is still the size of a newborn chick and half the size she should be, I am confident now that she is going to be ok. I have named "her" Xiao Yongshi, meaning "Little Warrior".


For those that recall Zip's ordeal with the lice (I mistakenly referred to it as mites before, but they are in fact poultry lice), that ordeal is yet ongoing. I went from "All Natural" spray to Sevin dust, and all to no avail. Though it diminished the population, it failed to eradicate the pests completely. I've moved on to a new method--for the sake of his lungs as well as mine. We're giving Ivermectin a try now, and I will post on the success--or lack of--as treatment progresses.

Here's some random stuff from around Chickentown:


My dad discovered a stash of 9 green eggs on the floor of his garage, left there by a single sneaky hen. The hen continues to lay her eggs on the bare concrete of the garage floor, but now that I know they are there, I can collect them promptly. The 9 eggs we found in the picture have gone into the incubator, since we weren't comfortable selling them and already had too many eggs to eat on our own.


Apologies to any who may find this image morbid, but I was so very proud of it that I had to share. We processed 8 roosters a week ago, and I roasted one up as soon as it was relaxed enough to cook. For those used to store-bought chicken, the meat was sparse and tougher than they might expect, but I found it to be flavorful and very tender considering the free-range nature and the age of the bird in question. The fact that I am able to provide food for myself and my family through my chickens helps me to justify their continued existence in Chickentown. Though I'm sure the roosters we had to butcher weren't happy about the arrangement, they still lived a far better life than any factory-farmed chicken, and went out of this world more kindly than they would have to a predator or commercial slaughterhouse.


As I mentioned earlier in the post, some of my chickens have gone feral. In order to continue getting eggs from them, I have set up nesting boxes around the yard. As you can see, they've been rather successful at enticing my leghorns to lay where I can find the eggs. (the brown eggs are from my plymouth rocks, who are certainly not feral, but nonetheless appreciated having a spot to relieve themselves.)


An old English game bantam and d'uccle bantam take up residence in the pecan tree. They roost here at night, and are essentially wild. They're not alone, either... all three of my brown leghorn hens, a welsummer/cochin mix named Fred, an unnamed barred rock mix (that should be too fat to fly that high), a OEGB rooster, and a lakenvelder named Pigeon all prefer to go to roost in the tree at night rather than come inside into the coop. Since they are out of the reach of our primary predators here (and I couldn't catch them even if I wanted to), I leave them to it.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Chickentown has indeed been busy. I love Leonard. I enjoyed the David Crowie cat chase series of photos. I'm sorry about Samurai.

Poor Zip, I'm glad lice are not too dangerous for chickens, but I am sure everyone will be happy once the lice are gone. I used Ivomec on some flighty chickens because it was easier to administer, and it did work for getting rid of lice. By the way, in the future if you need something for pest control you may want consider using a product with the active ingredient Spinosad, since you prefer more natural approaches. Unfortunately with wild birds bringing pests in occasionally, there is always the chance we will need more pest control tactics in the future. I recently learned about Spinosad and was surprised how little was on BYC about it, so I started a thread with some info. Here is the link if you want to check it out: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-treating-chicken-mite-infestation-that-works

 

[PrairieChickens]

My husband and I wrangled the worst-infested chickens Sunday night to check on their condition (next treatment is on Wednesday), and we found zero lice. None, nada, zilch! Not even any signs that they'd been chewed on by the little beasts! Considering how bad the infestation was when we treated them last Sunday, I was really surprised--and happy--to see such a turn of events. I am intrigued by Spinosad. I used Comfortis with Boomer when I had him, and it worked really well. I didn't know it also had applications for poultry as well! Definitely worth looking into.

 

[PrairieChickens]

I gave the quarantined chickens their second application of the Ivermectin. Thorough inspection revealed no lice on any of the birds, even though some have obviously been badly infested based on the proliferation of nits on their feather shafts. At last, Zip will be able to meet Pip, and I will be able to move the girls where they need to go.

One bit of "bad" news: turns out that both of the Ameraucana roosters I bought are actually girls! It's a mixed blessing: on the one hand, it means I got two free Ameraucana hens, which considering day-old pullets are $20 each is a pretty big deal. On the other hand, this means I can't start breeding Ameraucanas until I successfully raise a roo to adulthood. I'm stalking MPC's overhatch announcements to see if I can snag another blue Ameraucana rooster. In the meantime, I am going to introduce the stunning Mr. Gru to my Ameraucanas in the hopes of producing some very pretty Easter Egger chicks.


Unfortunately, I haven't taken a recent photo of Gru, which is a shame because he's quite a beautiful rooster. Photos don't easily capture the intensely iridescent nature of his feathers, but he sure is a handsome fellow. His chicks won't be even remotely purebred, but they will sure be pretty!

I also have to order another Black Copper Marans rooster, since the chick I thought was male turned out to be another hen as well. This was no sexing error on MPC's part--I had ordered a male and two females, and one chick had died shortly after arriving. Apparently, that was my male, and I will have to order another if I hope to breed BCM's OR Olive Eggers. ~.~ It's a setback, but not a total bust. After all, I have a good population of hens, which is the most important part.

So far, no signs of development in the Jersey Giant eggs. I may not be successful in my attempts to produce a OEGB/JG mix. lol

 

[PrairieChickens]

I went on a photo-taking spree today, and got current photos of most of my birds, including the handsome Mr. Gru. I had to move Zip out of the Amerauacana/BCM run because he kept attacking Gru, and Gru was too sweet-natured to fight back. Zip is chillin' in the Junior run until I have a setup where he can be introduced to Pip. For now, he gets to keep the kiddos company.

"Darnit! Another pen!"

Anna has gone broody again. This makes 4. Unlike the last three times, however, I had the foresight to save some of her eggs back. A couple of them are getting ready to hatch in my incubator right now. Rather than having her sit on eggs this time, I plan to just tuck a couple of her chicks under her--it'll be the first time she'll raise her own chicks, despite raising three broods.

Hen at work.

I am more grateful than ever for the massive influx of new layers, since most of my older girls have stopped laying. Their hiatus isn't due to the shorter days, however... it's due to some of the most unkind molting I've seen in my flock yet!


Even the mighty Gryffindor is looking rather scruffy...


Chicky Gaga on the other hand, continues to look fabulous.


With a flock as large as mine, it's impossible to note when every single hen lays her first egg, but I am pleased to announce that my blue cochin Rain laid her first egg yesterday. It was just a little thing--a petite 1.4 ounces--but it will surely be the first of many.

"I'm all about that bass, 'bout that bass..."


And in a closing note, I will tell you about Mr. Boots. One of my many mutt chicks, Mr. Boots surprised me with his calm and complacent nature--as a juvenile, he allowed me to scoop him up and cuddle him, and I thought perhaps he might be a female. I tagged him to make sure I could keep track of him, and watched as he matured into an absolutely adorable little rooster.

As he transitioned into adulthood, however, Mr. Boots went through a phase where he didn't want to be handled anymore. He became just as standoffish and shy as any rooster, and as such, ended up segregated in the Bachelor Coop with the rest of the unexceptional roosters. There he would have remained for the rest of his days, had he not made one life-altering decision. As I filled the roosters feed and water, Mr. Boots approached me and turned a hopeful gaze my way. It was a look I recognized, though I'd never seen it on a rooster's face before--he wanted to be picked up! Dubious that his look was genuine, I extended my hands towards him anyway, and Mr. Boots allowed me to scoop him up into my arms. He melted into my arms, and allowed me to hold him as I finished tending to the rest of the roosters. I ended up carrying him outside and letting him join the rest of the flock, and now every day since, he will go to bed in the rooster coop at night, then ask to be picked up and let out in the morning. I of course am happy to oblige.

Mr. Boots, a bantam cochin/barred rock mix