Welcome to my sunny central Florida Chicken House.
Last spring our little 5 year old granddaughter Erin asked her "Grumpa" for chickens. As we only wanted a few hens and heritage breeds we ordered some RIR and Dominques. Our babies arrived on June 10th chirpping away. Right away we lost 4 of our "girls" fortunately Erin hadn't seen them yet as she lives in Virginia. They about a week old when our "little Mama" came to manage her flock. She did a great job of cleaning coop and feeding her babies. Within a couple of days some had names and were her favorites.
When the "girls" were about 5-6 weeks old they were visited by a beautiful but hungry hawk. One girl lost her head and another died of fright. Erin helped bury her biddy and hang lots of tiny flags and a mesh over the chicken yard. No more hawk visits.
About this time we were able to tell that our chickens hadn't been sexed as promised and 9 out of 12 RIR roosters and 4 Dominques. Grumpa said if it crows it goes! So Erin tells him "Coney" is mean, so he is the first to go. We also had a handicapped "Soccer Ball" Dominque rooster. Soccer Ball decided that he didn't like me to come into pen and attacked, he was next to go. In all 5 were eaten and the rest of the roos were sold.
We were now down to 11 pullets and started our egg watch. Thanksgiving week the girls laid their first egg. By the time Erin returned for Christmas we were up to 8 eggs a day. Most times we average 9-10 eggs a day and all our friends want eggs.
May 17, 2011
We are down to 8 girls, 3 RIR and 5 Dominques due to visit from neighbors dog. Who killed 5 of our girls and severely injured another. Our Liza (cause all she could do was "lies around" has survived and most of her tail feathers have regrown. she does have a marked limp and will probably always limp. She has this neat hop fly she does keeping up with the other girls during one of their chasing and running games. We would love to get our flock back up to 11 or 12 but have to wait until the fall. I am on standby to go to work the floods as well as some summer travel planned. This fall we will be looking for hens that lay dark brown eggs (sasy John, I want some Easter Eggers), we shall see.
Last spring our little 5 year old granddaughter Erin asked her "Grumpa" for chickens. As we only wanted a few hens and heritage breeds we ordered some RIR and Dominques. Our babies arrived on June 10th chirpping away. Right away we lost 4 of our "girls" fortunately Erin hadn't seen them yet as she lives in Virginia. They about a week old when our "little Mama" came to manage her flock. She did a great job of cleaning coop and feeding her babies. Within a couple of days some had names and were her favorites.
When the "girls" were about 5-6 weeks old they were visited by a beautiful but hungry hawk. One girl lost her head and another died of fright. Erin helped bury her biddy and hang lots of tiny flags and a mesh over the chicken yard. No more hawk visits.
About this time we were able to tell that our chickens hadn't been sexed as promised and 9 out of 12 RIR roosters and 4 Dominques. Grumpa said if it crows it goes! So Erin tells him "Coney" is mean, so he is the first to go. We also had a handicapped "Soccer Ball" Dominque rooster. Soccer Ball decided that he didn't like me to come into pen and attacked, he was next to go. In all 5 were eaten and the rest of the roos were sold.
We were now down to 11 pullets and started our egg watch. Thanksgiving week the girls laid their first egg. By the time Erin returned for Christmas we were up to 8 eggs a day. Most times we average 9-10 eggs a day and all our friends want eggs.
May 17, 2011
We are down to 8 girls, 3 RIR and 5 Dominques due to visit from neighbors dog. Who killed 5 of our girls and severely injured another. Our Liza (cause all she could do was "lies around" has survived and most of her tail feathers have regrown. she does have a marked limp and will probably always limp. She has this neat hop fly she does keeping up with the other girls during one of their chasing and running games. We would love to get our flock back up to 11 or 12 but have to wait until the fall. I am on standby to go to work the floods as well as some summer travel planned. This fall we will be looking for hens that lay dark brown eggs (sasy John, I want some Easter Eggers), we shall see.