TeaChick's Chicks

[Scott H]

All right, read this link...


http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/species_a_to_z/timberrattlesnakeform/tabid/18669/Default.aspx

 

[chickenboy190]

Oh okay then. Who knows then....

 

[TeaChick]

I think human females need to take the example of the timber rattlesnake:
"Although timber rattlesnakes can live more than 20 years, females do not breed until they are five to 11 years old, and then not again for two to six years." (quoted from the link above)
Wait until a quarter of the way through life expectancy (at least 20 for humans) and then wait until your children are old enough to take care of themselves before you reproduce again (at least 5, preferably 7-10 for humans). That should slow world overpopulation.

Obviously this is never going to happen; hence practices like eugenics, etc. <SMH>

 

[Scott H]

So if you see one, you've seen an endangered species! And they are little danger to you or your chickens.

 

[SunsetMeadow]

Well then

 

[TeaChick]

Okay, my long awaited update!!!!

JK; I know no one sits at their computer

like this

waiting for my updates!!! lol

Anyway, I've been getting more than 4 eggs a day, but I have to see what's in the nesting boxes this afternoon to know how many of the ones I collected this morning are from yesterday versus today.
To start where I last left off:
Well, I last posted on Saturday, but there wasn't much to tell besides egg count, b/c my new chickens were still in their box.

Saturday, I was working in the hen house; nobody wanted to lay in my nesting buckets (they deliberately laid in front of them). Oh, well. In my adjusting, I dropped two eggs.

So, I stuck those in the fridge.
I fed everyone and put them in to roost.
I decided that I would cook up the broken eggs (and the other two eggs) to give my new chickens a dose of the antibodies that my current chickens have; IDK if that works or not, but I figured it couldn't hurt and it would be a nice treat for them at the least.

Sunday morning, I went out to let them out and the box was beginning to stink a little bit.
I made the eggs (added coconut oil, garlic, and oregano) and I put a little outside the hen house for my established flock and put the paper plate in the box for the new chickens. I waited outside for a little while, then I put water outside the hen house and left the box open for the new chickens to come and go as they please.
They didn't get far at all away from the hen house door.
I spread pellets around the chickens' area and there was a little skirmish between Eddie, a leghorn and Sandy (I think) on one side and Marigold and "Buddy" (recently renamed Will Riker) at the entrance to the hen house.
Bedtime was not quiet by any means, but they all went willingly into the hen house and slept there. I think Marigold slept in the top nesting box and Dinner in the box, and I think that Riker slept on the under-slat of a pallet of the back wall (does that make sense?).
Anyway, I had put them in there earlier than usual; I don't think that went as well as I would have liked. =(

This morning, I couldn't let everyone out early, but, when I did go to let everyone out, my new chickens were as high as they could get and in the farthest corners of the hen house from the door.
I put some feed outside, but they stayed in most of the day. I put out some feed again, spreading some closer to the hen house door and they did come out for a little while in the afternoons.
I plan on waiting until everyone is in the hen house on their own tonight. Then I'll spread the usual can of feed in the hen house so they're kicking up the litter and have something to do until I'm able to let them out.

IDK what egg count was for yesterday or today; I have to see how many I've gotten and figure from there as best I can which eggs were laid yesterday and which ones were laid today. I collected some in the afternoon yesterday, so I know those were from then. This morning I collected some more, but IDK which ones were laid last night and which were laid this morning. I'll collect again tonight and try to discern what was laid when. =D lol I guess I doesn't really matter.

I plan on setting eggs this weekend, but we'll see how things go. =) Things don't always go as planned with a hundred kids, a hundred dogs, and a thousand chickens. ;-)

 

[TeaChick]

Almost forgot pics of my new chickens:

She isn't new; this is Caramel laying in the top nesting box. I just put this one in here for the fun of it.

This is Dinner Sometime in March. He's the smaller of the two new roos.

This is Marigold and Will Riker (formerly known as "Buddy") behind the hen house.

We named him Will Riker because he was Jean Luc Pickard's "Number One" on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I think we'll call him Riker.

I named my new pullet Marigold because, as chicken colors go, she's between what I would call yellow and orange. And I like the name. ;-)

So there are the pics of my new chickens. =)
I'll post more later; they're about three and a half months old, so they'll grow and mature and look a bit different.

 

[TeaChick]

I posted yesterday's egg count, but it didn't post. IDK; my compute was acting weird yesterday.
I got 4 eggs (two of each).

Today, I got 6 (three of each).
A friend gave me an incubator she'd made today, so I'll be using that to hatch eggs.
I'm going to use the one I made one more time, but it is heated with my heat lamp, which I'm going to need for the chicks that hatch (I hope), so I'm going to have to disassemble it (and change the bulb) to use it for chicks. Having another incubator is great; I'll be able to keep hatching.
My friend had room in her incubator, so she's setting some eggs for me too (15 white Leghorn and 3 gold Comet).
I'm setting 14 gold Comet eggs and 4 white Leghorn eggs; I took the leghorn eggs from the fridge, just to fill in the carton. I'm setting them tomorrow morning, so I'll take pics then.
I'll take pics of my new incubator too and I'll set eggs in it and take pics of them and post about those hatches when I start them. I'll have to wait until I have enough eggs (IDK exactly how many that will be yet).

 

[TeaChick]

Jan. 24, 2014:

Egg count yesterday: 6 (three white), but I broke one. =(
My new chickens have been following my girls as they walk around the yard. They were out of sight of the hen house yesterday!!! They're learning the lay of the land, and I think they like it here!!!

Egg count today: IDK, 4 so far (one white).

Goldie has been laying on the blankets since we got the new chickens. Ugh! I picked her and the egg up and showed her putting the egg inside the nesting box 2-3 times, but she didn't care. I gave up yesterday; now, I just pick up the egg as soon as I know it's been laid. Silly chicken! Just lay in the nesting box like all the other hens!!!

My new chickens were in the front yard. They're hanging out closer to the established flock, but Eddie and a few of the hens still scare them off, so they aren't really part of the flock yet.
But they're so sweet. They were all around by my feet as I was getting groceries out of the car this morning, mostly Marigold, but the boys were there too.

The established flock don't really let them eat when I put out food. I give Marigold some in my hand, but the boys don't really eat from my hand unless they're really hungry, and Marigold was pecking my hand bad this afternoon. No more hand feeding.

On the whole, a good day in chicken land. =)

 

[TeaChick]

I feel like things are going slowly with the new chickens integrating into my established flock.
Please tell me what to do to make it go more quickly or tell me that it's supposed to go this slowly.



I put feed out in front of the hen house for the chickens, the old chickens guarded it from the new ones. So I set a container with some cottage cheese inside the hen house. The flock don't think they're supposed to eat inside during the day, but the new chickens know that's where to get the cool treats.

@ old flock

@ new chickens

<---- That's me. ;-)



ETA: Oh, and Eddie's being a butt to me, so I'm beginning to think about Eddie stew instead of roasted "Dinner in February".

And, it's beginning to irritate me that my DH re-re-named my Jr. roo. It's one thing that I allow the names of my chickens to go through him for approval, but for him to, not only re-name my chicken b/c he didn't like the name I gave him, but also re-re-name him b/c he came to realize a name he likes better.....

Ok, I feel better after the rant.