11/30/20
I cant help myself and have already started dreaming of spring. I honestly dont think I will be adding birds this year because of some things happening in my personal life, but its fun to dream. Ideally this is my wishlist for spring (pullets):
An Easter Egger, an Olive Egger, a Buff Orpington, a White Leghorn, and two others that I can decide on (Silver Laced Barnevelders are so beautiful!)
I also want to purchase 6 hatching eggs from Highland Homestead (where I got Appa and Jazz from) and try to hatch out some Mille Fleur Bantam Cochins.
What's on your wishlist?
10/24/20
Here is our fall (early winter) update of the birdies:
All of them are doing well and healing from the bouts of illnesses we encountered last winter. This summer we were able to heal Amelia’s bumblefoot completely and Gretchen, Fatima, and Dixie’s are SO close to being healed. I can’t believe what a nasty infection bumblefoot is and how long it takes to heal. I lowered all the roosts in the coop and put lots of bedding down to hopefully help prevent any more infections. The birds came to me with the horrible feet, but any way to prevent it is better than treating it. They are parasite/worm free and seem to be in good health other than a couple sneezes that never seem to go away. I think I posted their whole story on here, but I will never buy adult birds again (because of the illnesses a few hens I took in brought with).
Lucy, Louise, and Loretta are all beautiful adult hens now, laying nearly every day this past summer. Loretta is very possessive of me and chases away the boys if they get too close. She also loves to sit on my shoulder whenever possible. Louise is a unique girl who spends most of the day with her head in the dirt looking for bugs. She walks with her eye about an inch above the ground and is always scooting around. Lucy is a gorgeous blue colored hen and very large, but still pretty skittish. She always has been even as a tiny chick. I can still pet and hold her sometimes if she is in the mood for it.
Jazz and Appa are huge big boys now, but sooooo sweet still. They both love to cuddle and be held/petted. I am looking for a new home for them as they are so big I am afraid they will hurt my little Nugget someday. They also have began going after the kids that live in my house. Oopsie lol.
I sold all of the Silkie boys (four was way too many unfortunately). Togo gets to free range every day with one other hen to himself in his new home. Anakin joined a flock full of other Silkie hens and gets to be their main squeeze. Aladdin joined a big farm where he protects his own Silkie hens. Lastly, Olive found a coop all to himself with some Silkie ladies and some big laying girls too.
I am not looking forward to the winter although the snow has been beautiful. The cold is just freezing and I feel bad for the poor birdies out there. We are winterizing their coop however, so they will have an outdoor enclosed space to roam around in. I also made a “poop board” which is like a second level below all the roosts now. I added more roosting space and took out some nest boxes to make more space inside. Soon, I’ll put up some warm flannel curtains over the big coop windows so less heat can escape during the night. I also cleaned it out and put down their official bedding for the “deep litter” method.
I’m already dreaming of Spring hatching, but I’m told my coop is to its limit! xD (P.S It’s not though!! We have not even maxed out our square foot per bird space!)
8/8/20
Little Loretta and little Louise have started laying little tiny eggs
7/26/20
I forgot to update this page! Out of the hatch from 4/4 I got just 2 chicks. They are the sweetest little birds ever. In a few weeks they will begin laying already! The first one to hatch was one of the lavender olive eggers. We named this sweet bird Lana. As she gets bigger and bigger I am leaning towards that 'she' is a rooster more, but hopefully not. The second chick to hatch that we got to see the whole process was the lavender Americauna. We named her Jasmine. She's an absolute cuddle bug and always wants to sit on me (mama). When they were just little babies they would climb into my clothes as if it was the mother's wings. They always want to be next to me. Still at 13 weeks of age now, they follow me everywhere I go and still try to sit on me. I love them so much!
We've been dealing with a lot of issues in the whole flock for the past month. I finally found an amazing vet and was able to get answers on the symptoms my birds have. Each day, 3-5 times a day, I am out in the coop administering medicine. At first the birds had a variety of parasites that we treated right away. Next, some also had tapeworm (gross) that just finished its treatment. They all had cocccidia of varying degrees (the younger ones were worse than the older ones). The littles have been treated for this and now the rest of the flock is being treated. We also have many different respiratory viruses making their way through. They have been on a good antibiotic for two weeks now and I'm finally not seeing any sneezes anymore. Lastly, 4 of the hens had bumblefoot. Gretchen and Dixie have it the worst and need antibiotics for this as well and their feet after a month of treatment twice daily are finally starting to look better. Amelia and Fatima have a minor case that is getting better each day.
It has been a huge struggle. It's hard going out in 90+ degree weather 4 times a day to catch chickens and get medicine into them. It takes me hours each day to do this and disinfect everything. Chickens bring a lot of happiness to my life and I don't regret taking in the birds that gave this to my whole flock, but WOW has it been hard to fix these problems. And the saddest part is that they won't be fixed forever. Bumblefoot can happen at anytime, and respiratory viruses don't just go away and disappear. They will have flare ups and issues for their entire life. I get angry thinking of the people who sold me these birds and the absolute terrible conditions they must have kept them in. Dixie, Gretchen, Miranda, and Maren must have lived through hell and back. I'm happy that they can live out the rest of their life on my little farm and be happy, healthy birds. Please sent positive vibes/prayers our way! Also be so aware of the birds you add into your flock. I will NEVER buy an adult bird again. I will also never buy chicks from breeders or hatcheries that aren't certified.
Lastly, an exciting thing happened yesterday- Loretta (barred rock) laid her first egg!! It's so tiny and cute!!! I had a feeling she might as she's been squatting lately and her comb/wattles have gotten very big. We have to celebrate the positive things and take each day one by one!
5/3/20
Sometimes I get all caught up in the babies and forget to show how beautiful the big birds are. These two are named Amelia and Miranda- they are my two Maran girls. Both of these girls lay beautiful dark brown eggs. Amelia went broody last summer and I’m waiting to see if she will again or not and if Miranda has it in her too. Both of these girls are much bigger than the others and absolutely beautiful.
I am always interested in how I celebrate and desire the differences between each hen and each egg they produce. I go out of my way to bring in layers who have unique eggs, and love my hens who look unique or have different personalities. Yet ironically, most of us don’t apply this to humans. It’s hard learning to love yourself and celebrate your differences, but it’s one lesson my hens are teaching me.
4/4/20
Yesterday at about 5:44pm I set my first ever batch of eggs in the incubator. There are 8 eggs total. The incubator only holds 7 so I took out the automatic egg turner and am turning by hand because I couldn't decide on an egg to get rid of. They are all breeds I don't have and most that I've never had. So here are the breeds I got! Two lavender olive eggers F1, one black-barred olive egger F2, one lavender Americauna, one mint egger, one bielefelder, one black copper Maran, and one blue buff columbian orpington. Eeeek I am so excited! I'm just hoping this hatch goes perfectly and that I won't screw anything up!
3/31/20
I am happy to report that I won a Brinsea II Mini Advance Incubator and 8 beautiful hatching eggs! I just got the incubator set up today and am getting the hatching eggs soon.
I am so excited! This will be my first time hatching eggs in an incubator. I usually trust it to the broodies, so I feel a bit nervous, but I'm hoping all goes well. The eggs will come from some or all of these breeds: Black Copper Maran, Lavender Ameraucana, Black F2 Olive Egger, Lavender F1 Olive Egger, Mint Egger, and Bielefleder. Soooo cool!
P.S Don't look below where I said I was "done with chicks" for this year.
3/28/20
Hello! Welcome to my member page. I began raising chickens in 2009 until 2014. I had to take a break to go to college, but as soon as I got my first "real" job I got chickens again! This will be a blog of sorts with updates on the chickens and pictures.
I began in July 2019 with four adult hens and one rooster:
1. Nugget (banty mix approx. 6 years old)
2. Antoinette (Silver laced Wyandotte approx. 3 years old)
3. Adelaide (ISA brown approx. 2 years old)
4. Fatima (Sapphire Gem 1 year old)
5. Amelia (Black Copper Maran 1 year old)
These girls have got me back into the chicken world and back into gardening which was something I used to do as a hobby. My job is very stressful and I am happy each day to come home to the birds and relax with them. My stress seems to melt away! They have helped me get back to the simpler things in life and back to my country roots. They were laying about 2 eggs a day, but we needed some more to provide for our family.
In December I added 4 layers that are all about a year old:
6. Maren (Speckled Sussex)
7. Miranda (Cuckoo Maran)
8. Dixie (Welsummer)
9. Gretchen (Cream Legbar)
These new girls were much more friendly, but came with some problems - lice, bumblefoot, frostbite, and a respiratory infection. I wasn't too happy with the person who sold them to me, but I figured they wouldn't get the treatment there so I would help them. I had just gotten rid of lice in the first flock from their home as well. Nothing works to get rid of lice except Elector PSP in my opinion. Anyways, I treated the new girls with elector psp and got rid of their lice on the first day. I also treated the bumblefoot, and the frostbite had already healed itself with time (which is why Dixie is missing parts of her toes :[ ). The respiratory infection continues to be a struggle, but I am under the impression it is viral. I have treated with antibiotics to no avail, but it seems the infection is less now.
In January, we decided to get chicks for the spring. They were born January 24th I believe. They are all Silkies
10. Anakin (gray)
11. Princess Leia (white)
12. Dahlia (Moorhead partridge)
13. Olivia (black)
The chicks are growing very quickly and are such sweet, calm birds. They love to eat from your hand and will sit near you. They were just moved out to the coop this past week (at 9.5 weeks old) and are loving all the space. Anakin began to crow today (3/28/20) and I'm pretty sure Dahlia is a boy as well. Oh well. Can't have all the luck!
Now, I said the Silkies would be the last chicks this year until next spring... but then Coronavirus hit and we realized how much eggs we eat daily.. and our little flock that lays about half a dozen a day can't keep up. So I impulse bought 3 layer pullets.. which wont help with our current situation so has no actual benefits other than being adorable... haha. I bought them on 3/26/20. In my defense, when I called the farm store, they said they had Buff orpingtons, barred rocks, and easter eggers available, which were EXACTLY the three breeds I really wanted! Only when I got to the store after work, the buff orps and easter eggers were sold out lol).
14. Loretta (Barred rock)
15. Lucy (Rhode Island Blue)
16. Louise (Sapphire Gem Splash)
So our total birds sits at 16 of all various ages and ailments. I've got a hen who thought she was a rooster, bumblefoot that keeps coming back, and a baby silkie with a crazy tiny crow... we'll see what this spring/summer has in store! At least with all this social distancing I will be stuck inside and can spend time with them each day I really don't see the bad thing about quarantine :'D My job has me working from home now, and it is 100 millions times less stressful.
Recent pictures 3/28/20:
Nugget (aka the best roo ever)
Fatima
Antoinette
Adelaide
Amelia
Silkie babies
9.5 Weeks old
Dahlia
Olivia
Gretchen
Maren
Miranda
Dixie
Gretchen's Bumblefoot Surgery
New chickies:
Louise
Lucy
Loretta
I cant help myself and have already started dreaming of spring. I honestly dont think I will be adding birds this year because of some things happening in my personal life, but its fun to dream. Ideally this is my wishlist for spring (pullets):
An Easter Egger, an Olive Egger, a Buff Orpington, a White Leghorn, and two others that I can decide on (Silver Laced Barnevelders are so beautiful!)
I also want to purchase 6 hatching eggs from Highland Homestead (where I got Appa and Jazz from) and try to hatch out some Mille Fleur Bantam Cochins.
What's on your wishlist?
10/24/20
Here is our fall (early winter) update of the birdies:
All of them are doing well and healing from the bouts of illnesses we encountered last winter. This summer we were able to heal Amelia’s bumblefoot completely and Gretchen, Fatima, and Dixie’s are SO close to being healed. I can’t believe what a nasty infection bumblefoot is and how long it takes to heal. I lowered all the roosts in the coop and put lots of bedding down to hopefully help prevent any more infections. The birds came to me with the horrible feet, but any way to prevent it is better than treating it. They are parasite/worm free and seem to be in good health other than a couple sneezes that never seem to go away. I think I posted their whole story on here, but I will never buy adult birds again (because of the illnesses a few hens I took in brought with).
Lucy, Louise, and Loretta are all beautiful adult hens now, laying nearly every day this past summer. Loretta is very possessive of me and chases away the boys if they get too close. She also loves to sit on my shoulder whenever possible. Louise is a unique girl who spends most of the day with her head in the dirt looking for bugs. She walks with her eye about an inch above the ground and is always scooting around.
Lucy is a gorgeous blue colored hen and very large, but still pretty skittish. She always has been even as a tiny chick. I can still pet and hold her sometimes if she is in the mood for it. Jazz and Appa are huge big boys now, but sooooo sweet still. They both love to cuddle and be held/petted. I am looking for a new home for them as they are so big I am afraid they will hurt my little Nugget someday. They also have began going after the kids that live in my house. Oopsie lol.
I sold all of the Silkie boys (four was way too many unfortunately). Togo gets to free range every day with one other hen to himself in his new home. Anakin joined a flock full of other Silkie hens and gets to be their main squeeze. Aladdin joined a big farm where he protects his own Silkie hens. Lastly, Olive found a coop all to himself with some Silkie ladies and some big laying girls too.
I am not looking forward to the winter although the snow has been beautiful. The cold is just freezing and I feel bad for the poor birdies out there. We are winterizing their coop however, so they will have an outdoor enclosed space to roam around in. I also made a “poop board” which is like a second level below all the roosts now. I added more roosting space and took out some nest boxes to make more space inside. Soon, I’ll put up some warm flannel curtains over the big coop windows so less heat can escape during the night. I also cleaned it out and put down their official bedding for the “deep litter” method.
I’m already dreaming of Spring hatching, but I’m told my coop is to its limit! xD (P.S It’s not though!! We have not even maxed out our square foot per bird space!)
8/8/20
Little Loretta and little Louise have started laying little tiny eggs
7/26/20
I forgot to update this page! Out of the hatch from 4/4 I got just 2 chicks. They are the sweetest little birds ever. In a few weeks they will begin laying already! The first one to hatch was one of the lavender olive eggers. We named this sweet bird Lana. As she gets bigger and bigger I am leaning towards that 'she' is a rooster more, but hopefully not. The second chick to hatch that we got to see the whole process was the lavender Americauna. We named her Jasmine. She's an absolute cuddle bug and always wants to sit on me (mama). When they were just little babies they would climb into my clothes as if it was the mother's wings. They always want to be next to me. Still at 13 weeks of age now, they follow me everywhere I go and still try to sit on me. I love them so much!
We've been dealing with a lot of issues in the whole flock for the past month. I finally found an amazing vet and was able to get answers on the symptoms my birds have. Each day, 3-5 times a day, I am out in the coop administering medicine. At first the birds had a variety of parasites that we treated right away. Next, some also had tapeworm (gross) that just finished its treatment. They all had cocccidia of varying degrees (the younger ones were worse than the older ones). The littles have been treated for this and now the rest of the flock is being treated. We also have many different respiratory viruses making their way through. They have been on a good antibiotic for two weeks now and I'm finally not seeing any sneezes anymore. Lastly, 4 of the hens had bumblefoot. Gretchen and Dixie have it the worst and need antibiotics for this as well and their feet after a month of treatment twice daily are finally starting to look better. Amelia and Fatima have a minor case that is getting better each day.
It has been a huge struggle. It's hard going out in 90+ degree weather 4 times a day to catch chickens and get medicine into them. It takes me hours each day to do this and disinfect everything. Chickens bring a lot of happiness to my life and I don't regret taking in the birds that gave this to my whole flock, but WOW has it been hard to fix these problems. And the saddest part is that they won't be fixed forever. Bumblefoot can happen at anytime, and respiratory viruses don't just go away and disappear. They will have flare ups and issues for their entire life. I get angry thinking of the people who sold me these birds and the absolute terrible conditions they must have kept them in. Dixie, Gretchen, Miranda, and Maren must have lived through hell and back. I'm happy that they can live out the rest of their life on my little farm and be happy, healthy birds. Please sent positive vibes/prayers our way! Also be so aware of the birds you add into your flock. I will NEVER buy an adult bird again. I will also never buy chicks from breeders or hatcheries that aren't certified.
Lastly, an exciting thing happened yesterday- Loretta (barred rock) laid her first egg!! It's so tiny and cute!!! I had a feeling she might as she's been squatting lately and her comb/wattles have gotten very big. We have to celebrate the positive things and take each day one by one!
5/3/20
Sometimes I get all caught up in the babies and forget to show how beautiful the big birds are. These two are named Amelia and Miranda- they are my two Maran girls. Both of these girls lay beautiful dark brown eggs. Amelia went broody last summer and I’m waiting to see if she will again or not and if Miranda has it in her too. Both of these girls are much bigger than the others and absolutely beautiful.
I am always interested in how I celebrate and desire the differences between each hen and each egg they produce. I go out of my way to bring in layers who have unique eggs, and love my hens who look unique or have different personalities. Yet ironically, most of us don’t apply this to humans. It’s hard learning to love yourself and celebrate your differences, but it’s one lesson my hens are teaching me.
4/4/20
Yesterday at about 5:44pm I set my first ever batch of eggs in the incubator. There are 8 eggs total. The incubator only holds 7 so I took out the automatic egg turner and am turning by hand because I couldn't decide on an egg to get rid of. They are all breeds I don't have and most that I've never had. So here are the breeds I got! Two lavender olive eggers F1, one black-barred olive egger F2, one lavender Americauna, one mint egger, one bielefelder, one black copper Maran, and one blue buff columbian orpington. Eeeek I am so excited! I'm just hoping this hatch goes perfectly and that I won't screw anything up!
3/31/20
I am happy to report that I won a Brinsea II Mini Advance Incubator and 8 beautiful hatching eggs! I just got the incubator set up today and am getting the hatching eggs soon.
I am so excited! This will be my first time hatching eggs in an incubator. I usually trust it to the broodies, so I feel a bit nervous, but I'm hoping all goes well. The eggs will come from some or all of these breeds: Black Copper Maran, Lavender Ameraucana, Black F2 Olive Egger, Lavender F1 Olive Egger, Mint Egger, and Bielefleder. Soooo cool!P.S Don't look below where I said I was "done with chicks" for this year.
3/28/20
Hello! Welcome to my member page. I began raising chickens in 2009 until 2014. I had to take a break to go to college, but as soon as I got my first "real" job I got chickens again! This will be a blog of sorts with updates on the chickens and pictures.
I began in July 2019 with four adult hens and one rooster:
1. Nugget (banty mix approx. 6 years old)
2. Antoinette (Silver laced Wyandotte approx. 3 years old)
3. Adelaide (ISA brown approx. 2 years old)
4. Fatima (Sapphire Gem 1 year old)
5. Amelia (Black Copper Maran 1 year old)
These girls have got me back into the chicken world and back into gardening which was something I used to do as a hobby. My job is very stressful and I am happy each day to come home to the birds and relax with them. My stress seems to melt away! They have helped me get back to the simpler things in life and back to my country roots. They were laying about 2 eggs a day, but we needed some more to provide for our family.
In December I added 4 layers that are all about a year old:
6. Maren (Speckled Sussex)
7. Miranda (Cuckoo Maran)
8. Dixie (Welsummer)
9. Gretchen (Cream Legbar)
These new girls were much more friendly, but came with some problems - lice, bumblefoot, frostbite, and a respiratory infection. I wasn't too happy with the person who sold them to me, but I figured they wouldn't get the treatment there so I would help them. I had just gotten rid of lice in the first flock from their home as well. Nothing works to get rid of lice except Elector PSP in my opinion. Anyways, I treated the new girls with elector psp and got rid of their lice on the first day. I also treated the bumblefoot, and the frostbite had already healed itself with time (which is why Dixie is missing parts of her toes :[ ). The respiratory infection continues to be a struggle, but I am under the impression it is viral. I have treated with antibiotics to no avail, but it seems the infection is less now.
In January, we decided to get chicks for the spring. They were born January 24th I believe. They are all Silkies
10. Anakin (gray)
11. Princess Leia (white)
12. Dahlia (Moorhead partridge)
13. Olivia (black)
The chicks are growing very quickly and are such sweet, calm birds. They love to eat from your hand and will sit near you. They were just moved out to the coop this past week (at 9.5 weeks old) and are loving all the space. Anakin began to crow today (3/28/20) and I'm pretty sure Dahlia is a boy as well. Oh well. Can't have all the luck!
Now, I said the Silkies would be the last chicks this year until next spring... but then Coronavirus hit and we realized how much eggs we eat daily.. and our little flock that lays about half a dozen a day can't keep up. So I impulse bought 3 layer pullets.. which wont help with our current situation so has no actual benefits other than being adorable... haha. I bought them on 3/26/20. In my defense, when I called the farm store, they said they had Buff orpingtons, barred rocks, and easter eggers available, which were EXACTLY the three breeds I really wanted! Only when I got to the store after work, the buff orps and easter eggers were sold out lol).
14. Loretta (Barred rock)
15. Lucy (Rhode Island Blue)
16. Louise (Sapphire Gem Splash)
So our total birds sits at 16 of all various ages and ailments. I've got a hen who thought she was a rooster, bumblefoot that keeps coming back, and a baby silkie with a crazy tiny crow... we'll see what this spring/summer has in store! At least with all this social distancing I will be stuck inside and can spend time with them each day
I really don't see the bad thing about quarantine :'D My job has me working from home now, and it is 100 millions times less stressful.Recent pictures 3/28/20:
New chickies:
