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- #21
MommaG2023
Songster
What an interesting Sunday Morning. As per my usual I began the day at 5:30 and proceeded to feed the animals inside, made a fresh cup of coffee
then put on my "chicken robe" and other Coop gear and headed down to the pasture to let my babies out to get their morning scratch. I have a special robe I wear in the morning that is very old and was my grandmothers that I love but it is thread bear and I designated this robe as my chicken robe. It protects my sensitive skin from pecks and scratches and they identify it from a mile off lol. Anyhow, I opened the door amidst happy clucks and twitters and all of my chickens came pouring out like a feathery waterfall. I had a friend come visit them a few days before and she brought another lady to meet my flock. We talked about our run...which is still being completed
and how she loves Golden Comets and if I ever wanted to re-home any chicks or birds in the future she would gladly take them and give them a good home on her very expansive farm. She uses the eggs for her large family and sells some as well. Now don't get me wrong, I love my girls, but there is an unrest currently that has been disrupting my normal elation I receive from visiting my girls. I only noticed this a few days previous and wondered if the new run was the cause. I have 3 GC specifically that become raptorish and pecky to my favorite lovely Bluebelle. They chase and peck and pull feathers and run her off the water or feed. I understand there is a pecking order in flocks and mine is a young flock still establishing their order, however, they have, since yesterday, begun to terrorize my littles whom only a few days before were meshing quite well with the older flock. So I now have dubbed them the 3 B's. As I watched the ensuing chaos that they have decided to unleash on my once peaceful flock, I questioned the amount of eggs I really need (honestly chicken math and eggs and feed ratios and prices ran through my head as chicks flew up onto my head and shoulders to avoid being pecked by the 3 B's.)My current situation, once everyone begins to lay would be appx 65 eggs a week!! Now some can be donated to friends, neighbors and family, but still that's a whole lotta eggs man! As a side note to this new chaos that I am trying to adjust to and figure out, I have realized that my lovely little Tinker Stinker is turning into a cockerel
. The pea comb is bright pink and growing, wattles are bright pink and growing and his/her behavior is very dominant over the other littles. She/He looks just like my Lily/Leroy
at this age...oiy!! So I have made a decision...even though they have a large run and a 20 bird coop...I am going to downsize. This has not been an easy decision but I have come to it by thinking of the future as well. I really love PBB and EE's though not always the most affectionate, they are beautiful. I also would like to have an Orpington or Barred Rock in the future and there wouldn't be room for several years. I can't make a bigger coop or run for several more years and I know the comets lifespan is short due to being a production egg breed. Some things I read about but didn't really "feel" until I have been handling and loving and raising my babies. So Clover, Sunny, and Honey as well as Tinker Stinker will be rehomed in the next week. This brings my egg to feed ratios WAY down, since the comets seem to be mini hoovers when it comes to feed, it may adjust the pecking order some and make the Coop less cramped , though it isn't really cramped currently, but they are growing still soooo..50ish give or take eggs still but only 2 that lay thought the winter (or so they say...we shall see lol) Ginger and Buttercup are the sweetest girls and they love being lap chickens and virtually ignore the littles. Hopefully this means less stress to the flock, less in fighting and less eggs for us, but more room as well. Wish us luck. This is our first time ever rehoming and TBH "losing" any of our babies. We started with 14 added 5 and still have 19
. We will be sad to see them go but I really feel for all of us as well as the chickens, this is the best. They will be loved and well cared for on a big farm. Wish us luck in this new chapter of the story...thanks for tagging along on our Chicken Journeys
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