Coop Project: Maken the Plunge & Getting Chickens

[aart]

Great pics and commentary!
Did you have them confined in any way....or did they just stick together and nearby you?

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Great pics and commentary!
Did you have them confined in any way....or did they just stick together and nearby you?

I just put them out in the yard by the hoppers. As long as I was with them they stuck together. If I left them and went into the house, they kinda wander and break up.

The only fence was my backyard privacy fence.

When I rounded them up to bring them in, the first few went in the box just fine. But after they figured out that I was putting them into a box, those last few were more of a challenge.

 

[aart]

Quote: LOL!

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Chickenology

Every spring and fall, I take an few hours on a nice afternoon and clean out the chicken coop, laying down a fresh batch of wood shavings. It takes 3 or 4 wheel barrow loads to empty out all the nest boxes and the inside of the coop.

I mix everything as evenly as I can and then take it to the garden. That's when the chickens take over...all winter they have been digging in the garden and working the soil. Once the old wood shavings and ~6 months worth of manure are dumped in the garden, the girls go right to work incorporating it into the soil.

They continually work the ground making the soil light and fluffy. It's a win win in my book. They work hard and eat all sorts of grubbies and I get some of the best garden soil I have ever seen.

I've had 6 and 8 foot tall tomato plants with vines heavy with fruit. All I gotta do is keep the girls out of the garden till fall harvest. They love tomatoes too.

I get this chore done by late March / early April, then all is ready a few short weeks later in mid May.

It took 11 days for 4 chickens to incorporate all the chicken litter into the garden.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

My grandson stopped by to see the "chickies".

 

[Rock Home Isle]

The youngsters spent few hours outside today. Not the best of days, partially cloudy and fairly breezy.

I left the older flock out, and I stayed close by ensure that all went well. When mixing the flock, older birds and pullets, sometimes everything is fine and sometimes mean birds take out their aggressions on the new chicks. My experience has shown that Ameraucanas can be especially vengful towards young birds. My current group of older birds consists of Barred Rocks & Black Sexlinks (Black Stars). They looked at the little Welsummers, even mixed with them a bit. Ultimately they were more impressed with the chick feed and the waterer. It was a nice relief, so I got a nice book and sat back to read and watch.

The Welsummer chicks seemed to be intimidated by the bigger girls. They retreated to the edge zone along the fence and went about the business of foraging, though they kept a watchful eye on the older birds.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

The Welsummers are very active birds, always moving and stalking. The youngsters had a great time checking the cracks along the fence. I saw a cricket and several worms being discovered and quickly consumed.

Time was taken to scratch itches and ruffle feathers against the cool breeze.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I'm not in the habit of naming the chickens, it's too sad when things go south. My daughter on the other hand, names them all. So whenever I talk about a specific bird, by name, it's my daughter's doing...

With that being said...this is Buzz just about to discover a worm. Things happened pretty quickly after Buzz found her little treasure. And like a solid champion she immediately announced her discovery...starting another mad dash as the flock chased her across the yard trying to take her treasure for themselves. Once bites were shared and the worm consumed, they all settled in and began foraging again.

They are so fun at this age.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

The box that I use to take the chicks outside looks like it's getting smaller.

But they don't seem to mind, they just want to GO OUTSIDE.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Today they discovered the Sun-Windows into the basement. When they look into the Windows they can see their reflections. They spent maybe 20 minutes looking at themselves and pecking at their reflections.

Those neck feathers are starting to come in, soon their head feathers will be sprouting and we will have, " Ragamuffins". Yes that's what I call them when they to the stage where they are fully feathered for the first time, "RAGAMUFFINS".