Cloudy Days in the Coop - My Adventures with Chickens.

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Hi, everyone! I decided that it would be fun to share my adventures with my beloved chickens. I've had my flock for about two years, and I hope to have chickens for the rest of my life. I started keeping them thinking it would be nice to have some eggs, but I've now come to love them for being, well, chickens! I've yet to be faced with chicken math, but...I now must beware of the feed store during chick season. Last time I wandered into the chick room 'just to take a look,' I came out with six chicks in a box. But that's not chicken math...right? Anyway, I currently have eight chickens running around my yard and making me grin ear to ear every day. (I'll post each of their own 'profiles' in a bit. ) Some may say I spoil my chickens, holding umbrellas out so they can free-range without getting wet, taking them into the house on the frigid days to warm up for a bit, cooking them oatmeal, popping popcorn just for them, and decorating their coop for the seasons. Yet personally, I just find it as my way of saying 'thank you.' A thank-you for that egg in the nesting box that will make my breakfast, a thank-you for sending me rolling in laughter, a thank-you for letting me hold them when I need it...chickens are pretty awesome! And let's be honest...for me, there's no place better to be on those cloudy days to be out in the coop, with my feathered friends scratching around I'm looking forward to sharing the times I spend with my flock with you, and thanks for coming along for the ride!

 

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Jasmine:
Jasmine is my Australop and is one of my original flock and is 2 years old. She was always very friendly as a chick, and is still happy to be held from time to time. Last Autumn, she was attacked by a large dog. While I managed to get to the scene before the attack could become fatal, I found that she couldn’t walk. She refused to eat for days, and only drank when I coaxed her to. While one leg seemed to work, the other wouldn’t work at all. Thinking it was dislocated, after several days I took her to a vet that would take a look at chickens. After four hours, they determined that she was most likely paralyzed. They explained that when the dog was shaking her around like a rag doll, her spine may have been severely injured. They gave me medicine after I refused to put her to sleep, telling me that it may help her. Jasmine was a fighter! After two weeks of giving her medicine, a check-up pronounced her to have nerve damage. She was always weak, but one day when I took her outside to be in the sun, she flew out of her bin to get around. That gave me hope. After several months living in the house and giving her medicine, she was hopping on one leg. By winter, I had a chicken tractor made. The ‘Chicken Infirmary.’ She spent those snowy days in there, nice and snug, and I would put her in the coop to stay warm. By spring, I began to introduce her to the flock again. One the head hen, she was now at the bottom of the flock, and still is. Amazingly, she began to use her weak leg to walk as well. Though she’s still slow in moving around, and her limp evident, she has gone a long way! Her favorite treat is mealworms and popcorn. And she loves to free range, despite her having a harder time getting around. She especially loves to dust bathe in my garden.

 

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Minnie:
Minnie is my Gold Laced Wyandotte and is about 7 months old. As a chick, she would constantly fly out of the brooder into my hands to take a nap, and would sit for hours listening to me sing to her. Now, while she's a little more shy and doesn't love to be held quite as much, she's still very friendly. Minnie is, if I do say so myself, a very beautiful bird, and she lays nice brown eggs. She loves to free-range throughout the day, and some of her favorite treats are grapes, scratch, and mealworms. One thing she often does is fly up onto my shoulder for a ride as I walk around taking care of the flock. Minnie does tend to be a little mean to some of the other chickens, but with humans at least, once you get to know her, she really is sweet at heart!

 

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Mochi:
Mochi is my other Silkie Bantam. I’m pretty sure she’s a splash, but not positive. (I really hope she’s a pullet, not a cockerel. No eggs from her yet, but no crowing either...) Anyway, Mochi and Boba are always hanging out together. To be honest, I’ve never seen them apart except when Boba was attacked - and poor Mochi was wandering the yard, calling out for her friend. (Don’t worry, Boba is doing great. ) Mochi is a little more shy then Boba and doesn't love being held, though she’ll tolerate it. She’s friendly all the same, though. Like Boba, Kiki, and Minnie, she’s one of my younger chickens and 7 months old. As you can see, the chick in my profile picture is Mochi only a few days old. She sure was adorable back then! (And still it, of course!) I used to carry her for hours, and I would write with her sitting next to me. I find it interesting, that, the chicks I hold the most are always more shy when they're older. Your thoughts? Has this happened to you, too?
Mochi seems to love blackberries - but her face is always such a mess after eating them! She also loves to hang out by my apple tree -if apple tree is what you would call it. It’s very old, gnarly, unpruned, and infested with bugs. I guess Mochi loves the bugs and apples that fall on the ground!

 

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Kiki:
Kiki is my Cukoo Marans. While she’s not one for being held, she’s still one of the first ones to run up and greet me. Just recently beginning to lay, her eggs are a beautiful dark brown. She, like Minnie, is about 7 months old. She really is delightful, taking anything as a challenge she’s ready to face, be it a new treat or figuring out a way to sneak into the garden. She loves cooked oatmeal, but only gets it on special occasions. Though she’s a very brave chicken and strong chicken, she seems perfectly content being near the bottom. Thankfully, most of the others don’t seem to bother her.

As you can see, Minnie and Kiki are almost inseparable! They never seem to leave each other!

 

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Yuki:
Yuki is my Ameraucauna, 2 years hold, and bossy head hen. She lays green-blue eggs. They are very pretty. Before Jasmine was injured (See Jasmine’s ’profile’ to learn more), Jasmine was head hen, and rightfully so. Yuki fought to be at the top, but it was only when Jasmine was separated from the flock that Yuki became head hen. And she made sure to keep it that way! Yuki really is a nice chicken, and she likes to be held and carried around. She’s very friendly to the other chickens, so long they know her place. If not...she can be vicious. I love her all the same, and Yuki’s very relaxed, making her way through the yard, grabbing a bug here, an herb there. I would say that Yuki’s favorite treat are huckleberry, though she likes just about anything.

 

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You can imagine my horror today when I rounded the corner to check on my chickens and caught a glimpse of chicken bodies lying about. And you can also probably imagine my relief that it was only my chickens enjoying the rare sunshine. They look very relaxed, don’t you think?

 

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Welcome back, Lucy!

Thanks, Dottie! I’m sorry I forgot to tag you!
Just in case I forget anyone else:
@cluckmecoop7 @Lemon-Drop @H-B-O, @EmmaRainboe, @human1, @JadeFarms @Misfits Farm 92 @Crestcrazy @CrazyCochin @RoosterWhisperer...

 

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Boba:
Boba is one if my Silkie Bantams. She is, hands down, my sweetest chicken of the flock. Whenever they are free-ranging and I come to call them in, I can see her fluffy head bobbing up and down as she runs as fast as she can on her little legs towards me. I brought Boba home from the feed store along with Minnie, Kiki, Mochi, (you’ll learn about her soon), and two others who ended up being roosters, which I can’t keep. Anyway, Boba is also about 7 months now, and if any of my chickens were to be a house chicken, it would be her. She’s always jumping up onto my lap and loves attention. She’s constantly bullied by some of her flock mates, but she knows that if she’s in my arms, they can’t get to her, so in my arms is where she likes to be. She started laying a few weeks ago, and lays almost every day currently. Her eggs are without a blemish, small, cream colored, and round. They’re so adorable! Boba likes to dust bathe in all the wrong places, like my herb garden. Actually, almost all of my chickens seem to prefer to dust bathe there. Any ideas why? Boba has trouble eating bigger things, even grapes can be difficult, but I’ve found that she adores corn on the cob.

 

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Ponyo:
Ponyo is my Rhode Island Red and about 2 years old. She came home 2 weeks after I bought my first chicks, because I couldn't resist. And let's just put it this way - Ponyo has quite the character! From the first day I brought her home, she didn't let anything bother her. Despite being much smaller compared to the other, older chicks, she would match right up to them and show them who's boss. For a while, I was worried she would become a bully, but no. She was just the bravest and most curious chick I met. Once, my old cat Ginger was stalking Ponyo when she was about 2 months old. I was running towards the two to save Ponyo when Ponyo turned to Ginger and pecked the cat right on the nose! Ponyo is also my little escape artist - no matter what I do, she always seems to find a way to escape the chicken run! The other day she dug a deep hole under the wire of the run - that chicken loves to free range! She also loves to go on little excursions to my porch when I’m making lunch. How she knows when to come is beyond me, but she always hopes for a little taste of it. When it’s cold or hot out, I often see Ponyo try to sneak into the house to warm up and cool down. And she always dust bathes in my potted plants. It makes quite the mess! I could go on and on about Ponyo’s silly antics! But, anyway, Ponyo is very friendly and surprisingly not the head hen. She lays brown eggs all year long, even in the winter. I think her favorite treat is either raman or popcorn...not sure which. And she loves to sun bathe! Whenever the sun is out of the clouds, you can be sure to find her in a sunbeam. All in all, I would award Ponyo as the most funny chicken in my flock.

The dear was in a molt when I snapped these pictures, so she looks a little disheveled