My Fabulous Flock of Five in Central North Carolina
Meet the Flock:
Bertha:
Ia Buff Orpington Hen (BO). Hatched June 15, 2015.She is the friendliest chicken of my flock. She is always trying to come in through the back door. She eats out of my hand and allows me to pick her up. She started laying right before she turned 6 months old. She lays large light brown eggs pretty regularly and went broody a few months back. s
Ryder:
is a Partridge Silkie Hen with a hatched June 23, 2015. I recently found out she is a stubborn broody to break! She is more reserved and always seems to behind the rest of the flock. She does eat out of my hand. She lays light brown small eggs. She didn't lay till she was almost 9 months old. I started to think she may be a he!
Miley:
Is my Polish Hen. Her coloring is mottled with some leakage, not a recognized color. She was sold to me as a Tolblunt Polish but she is not that color. She hatched sometime in late November, 2015. She is so goofy, loves screeching all day long, and walks around with her wings out for hours. She really is a diva! She lays white eggs and for a while when she started laying they looked like torpedoes. My husband thinks her boiled eggs taste funny compared to my other hens eggs. She was a skittish and flighty as a chick but comes running any time she sees me. I am thinking about putting her top feathers in a pony tail. She can not see at all and I never see her eyes because of the feathers.
Betsy:
Is my bantam frizzled Cochin hen. She hatched October 2015. I purchased her as a laying Hen. She lays tiny eggs. She is the smallest hen in my flock. She recently started laying eggs on my back porch on a bench. She hides behind the pillows and I think she is on her way to going broody right now.
Nugget:
Is my Blue Laced Red Wyandotte (blrw). She does not have the traditional comb of a wyandotte, a rose comb. She has a single comb. I purchased her a few weeks ago. She was hatched April, 2015. She lays large light brown eggs. She has been pretty quiet since I got her. She wasn't use to dogs and still is a little nervous around mine. She will jump to steal a treat right out of your hand.
Three out of five of my chickens I got as a chick and raised them in the brooder in my garage. The brooder I used was a old horse through setup with a heating lamp, water, feeder, and roosting bars. All the chicks came from local farms or breeders. I traveled the farthest, two hours, and spent the most money to get my polish chick. She was worth every penny and they all are beloved pets to me.
*** Disclaimer: I originally had 2 silkie chicks but one turned out to be a rooster and I had to rehome him. I live in a housing development and can not have roosters where I live. ***
If I am out in the backyard they all follow me around hoping I have treats for them. I usually do! They also follow my husband around. It is so funny watching them run in the yard. They love meal worms, tomatoes, oatmeal, sunflower seeds, yogurt. They are not big fans of lettuce. Now that they are older they eat all kinds of things they wouldn't before. Bertha caught a lizard a few weeks ago and the rest of the chickens chased after her hoping to get a piece. Bertha was to quick and ate it all
!
They love to dig in the yard and for awhile I was blaming my dogs! They free range in my back yard from dawn to dusk. At dusk they are locked in the coop at night. Although we live in a housing development predators have been a issue. I use to leave my coop door open at night and lock them in the run so I didn't have to left them out in the morning. One night a raccoon dug under my run and killed my favorite chicken Lucy. She was a BO and was the sweetest chicken in my flock. I found hr the following morning dead in the run. It was a very graphic and I was heart broken. For a while after the incident the chickens started sleeping on my back porch. I got sick of carrying them to their coop and placing them on the roost so I confined them to their coop and run for a week. We haven't had a issues since than. They all seem to put themselves to sleep at night now. Bertha and Miley are always last to the roost. I also have 3 dogs, 2 Shetland Sheepdogs, and 1 Mini Australian Shepard. They all live happily together! Especially my Aussie who loves all the treats that come out the chickens behinds.
The Run and Coop
After Halloween I had a few pumpkins and thought my chickens would love them. First I put a whole pumpkin in the run and they didn't bother with it. Than I decided to cut the pumpkins into smaller pieces, left in the run, and they still wouldn't touch it. Than my last desperate attempt I cut the pumpkin even smaller and put the seeds in a separate pile. They never ate the pumpkins. I will try again next year but learned if it is cooked they will eat it, they ate leftover cooked squash.
I know that Top Hen in my flock is Bertha. I saw small scabs, almost looked like specs of dirt, on Bertha's comb which were peck marks in the past. Being a first time chicken owner, and a worrier at that I mistook them for mites! I deep cleaned my coop before finding out what it really was. Lucy use to peek Bertha to get out of the nesting boxes even though there was two. Now that my flock has changed a little since we loss Lucy and I got Betsy and Nugget. Bertha still seems to be at the top. I have seen Bertha jump on the back of my other hens like she was mounting them. I think she does that to show who's boss and because I don't have any roosters.
Bertha, Myself, & Blue
*** Disclaimer: I originally had 2 silkie chicks but one turned out to be a rooster and I had to rehome him. I live in a housing development and can not have roosters where I live. ***
If I am out in the backyard they all follow me around hoping I have treats for them. I usually do! They also follow my husband around. It is so funny watching them run in the yard. They love meal worms, tomatoes, oatmeal, sunflower seeds, yogurt. They are not big fans of lettuce. Now that they are older they eat all kinds of things they wouldn't before. Bertha caught a lizard a few weeks ago and the rest of the chickens chased after her hoping to get a piece. Bertha was to quick and ate it all
!
They love to dig in the yard and for awhile I was blaming my dogs! They free range in my back yard from dawn to dusk. At dusk they are locked in the coop at night. Although we live in a housing development predators have been a issue. I use to leave my coop door open at night and lock them in the run so I didn't have to left them out in the morning. One night a raccoon dug under my run and killed my favorite chicken Lucy. She was a BO and was the sweetest chicken in my flock. I found hr the following morning dead in the run. It was a very graphic and I was heart broken. For a while after the incident the chickens started sleeping on my back porch. I got sick of carrying them to their coop and placing them on the roost so I confined them to their coop and run for a week. We haven't had a issues since than. They all seem to put themselves to sleep at night now. Bertha and Miley are always last to the roost. I also have 3 dogs, 2 Shetland Sheepdogs, and 1 Mini Australian Shepard. They all live happily together! Especially my Aussie who loves all the treats that come out the chickens behinds.
The Run and Coop
After Halloween I had a few pumpkins and thought my chickens would love them. First I put a whole pumpkin in the run and they didn't bother with it. Than I decided to cut the pumpkins into smaller pieces, left in the run, and they still wouldn't touch it. Than my last desperate attempt I cut the pumpkin even smaller and put the seeds in a separate pile. They never ate the pumpkins. I will try again next year but learned if it is cooked they will eat it, they ate leftover cooked squash.
I know that Top Hen in my flock is Bertha. I saw small scabs, almost looked like specs of dirt, on Bertha's comb which were peck marks in the past. Being a first time chicken owner, and a worrier at that I mistook them for mites! I deep cleaned my coop before finding out what it really was. Lucy use to peek Bertha to get out of the nesting boxes even though there was two. Now that my flock has changed a little since we loss Lucy and I got Betsy and Nugget. Bertha still seems to be at the top. I have seen Bertha jump on the back of my other hens like she was mounting them. I think she does that to show who's boss and because I don't have any roosters.
Bertha, Myself, & Blue
