AsianChickenLady
In the Brooder
- Aug 27, 2021
- 2
- 27
- 11
Hello, peeps. My name is Mi and I love my chickens! My hubby and I did a thing (several, actually-- productive living, yay) during the onset of the COVID pandemic... We started our very own flock and even built a neat little chicken coop. Until I married my husband, I didn't know much about animals and nature. I can't even begin to tell you how much living in the mountains of North Carolina has been a blessing to this Florida city-dweller. Anyways, back to the chickens!
I currently have 4 no-nonsense laying hens, a gallant rooster, 6 peppy pullets, and 3 sweet baby chicks. My flock started off with 4 chicks my mother-in-law hatched from an incubator: Two girls and two boys. One of the roosters was sold off because they couldn't stand one another and one of the girls was killed by a predator. As such, two Barred Plymouth Rock laying hens were purchased and added to the group. These ladies immediately established dominance over the younger hen. The rooster couldn't help but favor them. Later on, my mother-in-law gave away another hen because she couldn't keep it anymore. It took my hubby and me about a year to get used to caring for these chickens and watching them grow into laying chickens. When one of the Barred Plymouth Rock hens became broody, we finally decided it was time to incubate eggs and hatch them.
It was a super exciting process. We got 5 chicks out of that batch. Four of them were blonde/brownish and the other one was a highly anxious black chick. The broody hen accepted the 4 lighter colored chicks but pecked the heck out of the black one -- even though she's the same color as that chick! Talk about being racist to one's own race, ha! ...Anyways, I took care of "Pingu" inside the home and gave it some TLC before letting it join the flock. She had a lot of anxiety and so when she saw me she would always peep and become very clingy. Eventually, the flock became more accepting of her and though I am happy for her, I am also a bit sad that she doesn't really care for me anymore (she runs away and acts as if she doesn't remember me).
After that batch, we hatched 5 more chicks but 4 out of the 5 died several weeks later from the rain and cold. They were mainly kept inside the house, but I accidentally left them outside in the chicken run all evening while I was out of town. When I came out to retrieve them, it was too late. I was devastated and had to use a shovel to remove the bodies late at night. I was by myself that night and it was raining and dark and scary. When I gently tried to get the dead chicks onto the shovel, I suddenly heard a loud *PEEP* ("HELP! I'M ALIVE!") Jumping into urgency, I literally talked out loud to get myself to reach out and find the chick that was still alive. I was very freaked out just because I didn't want to touch a dead or dying animal. But, for the sake of one survivor, I had to get my hands dirty. I finally picked up the chick that was still alive and ran back inside the house. I spent the rest of that evening drying it off and keeping it warm. "Don't you dare die on me!" "Please, Lord, save this chick," I prayed tearfully filled with guilt and remorse, "Just this once."
God answered my prayer and the little one did indeed survive
Since then she has been properly added to the flock. I still regret putting the chicks outside for as long as I did. Though it was a horrible mistake, I believe I learned from that and it won't happen again! Fast forward to now... I'm on my 3rd batch of chicks. There were 4 but 1 died after I couldn't fix his/her splayed leg and other limb deformity issue. That never happened before and that was definitely difficult to go through, as well. Despite the loss, the rest of the 3 chicks are doing fine.
At this stage in chicken-rearing, I want to redesign the layout of the chicken run and coop. I've been reading up on a lot of things to improve the sustainability aspect and fix this wet muddy chicken run problem. I've been lurking around BYC for a while but never made an account till today. I will be using it a lot more for the coming days of DIY addition/renovation projects and winter prep for my larger flock.
In addition to chickens, I have a cat and a dog. I've been a wife and a step-mom of 2 kids for a little more than 2 years. It's been an adventure with my best friend. He's a preacher and so I'm actively involved with ministry work (still learning a lot still). I'm currently finishing up an accelerated nursing degree and will be graduating this semester, yay! In my spare time, I love reading books, creating art, going hiking, wading in streams for trout, cooking up fancy feasts, playing video games, learning about cryptids/paranormal stuff, researching about nerdy stuff, and taking naps. I didn't think I would write this much, BUT, it was quite therapeutic. I might be procrastinating from all the studying I need to be doing. Hah! Anyways, thanks for accepting me into the community. Looking forward to interacting with other chicken fanatics.
Mi
I currently have 4 no-nonsense laying hens, a gallant rooster, 6 peppy pullets, and 3 sweet baby chicks. My flock started off with 4 chicks my mother-in-law hatched from an incubator: Two girls and two boys. One of the roosters was sold off because they couldn't stand one another and one of the girls was killed by a predator. As such, two Barred Plymouth Rock laying hens were purchased and added to the group. These ladies immediately established dominance over the younger hen. The rooster couldn't help but favor them. Later on, my mother-in-law gave away another hen because she couldn't keep it anymore. It took my hubby and me about a year to get used to caring for these chickens and watching them grow into laying chickens. When one of the Barred Plymouth Rock hens became broody, we finally decided it was time to incubate eggs and hatch them.
It was a super exciting process. We got 5 chicks out of that batch. Four of them were blonde/brownish and the other one was a highly anxious black chick. The broody hen accepted the 4 lighter colored chicks but pecked the heck out of the black one -- even though she's the same color as that chick! Talk about being racist to one's own race, ha! ...Anyways, I took care of "Pingu" inside the home and gave it some TLC before letting it join the flock. She had a lot of anxiety and so when she saw me she would always peep and become very clingy. Eventually, the flock became more accepting of her and though I am happy for her, I am also a bit sad that she doesn't really care for me anymore (she runs away and acts as if she doesn't remember me).
After that batch, we hatched 5 more chicks but 4 out of the 5 died several weeks later from the rain and cold. They were mainly kept inside the house, but I accidentally left them outside in the chicken run all evening while I was out of town. When I came out to retrieve them, it was too late. I was devastated and had to use a shovel to remove the bodies late at night. I was by myself that night and it was raining and dark and scary. When I gently tried to get the dead chicks onto the shovel, I suddenly heard a loud *PEEP* ("HELP! I'M ALIVE!") Jumping into urgency, I literally talked out loud to get myself to reach out and find the chick that was still alive. I was very freaked out just because I didn't want to touch a dead or dying animal. But, for the sake of one survivor, I had to get my hands dirty. I finally picked up the chick that was still alive and ran back inside the house. I spent the rest of that evening drying it off and keeping it warm. "Don't you dare die on me!" "Please, Lord, save this chick," I prayed tearfully filled with guilt and remorse, "Just this once."
God answered my prayer and the little one did indeed survive
Since then she has been properly added to the flock. I still regret putting the chicks outside for as long as I did. Though it was a horrible mistake, I believe I learned from that and it won't happen again! Fast forward to now... I'm on my 3rd batch of chicks. There were 4 but 1 died after I couldn't fix his/her splayed leg and other limb deformity issue. That never happened before and that was definitely difficult to go through, as well. Despite the loss, the rest of the 3 chicks are doing fine.At this stage in chicken-rearing, I want to redesign the layout of the chicken run and coop. I've been reading up on a lot of things to improve the sustainability aspect and fix this wet muddy chicken run problem. I've been lurking around BYC for a while but never made an account till today. I will be using it a lot more for the coming days of DIY addition/renovation projects and winter prep for my larger flock.
In addition to chickens, I have a cat and a dog. I've been a wife and a step-mom of 2 kids for a little more than 2 years. It's been an adventure with my best friend. He's a preacher and so I'm actively involved with ministry work (still learning a lot still). I'm currently finishing up an accelerated nursing degree and will be graduating this semester, yay! In my spare time, I love reading books, creating art, going hiking, wading in streams for trout, cooking up fancy feasts, playing video games, learning about cryptids/paranormal stuff, researching about nerdy stuff, and taking naps. I didn't think I would write this much, BUT, it was quite therapeutic. I might be procrastinating from all the studying I need to be doing. Hah! Anyways, thanks for accepting me into the community. Looking forward to interacting with other chicken fanatics.
Mi
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