Fox Field Farm Flock

[GitaBooks]

My up-date pics.

Here is Princess with two of her babies, the two standard ones (Spartacus and Nestor). The third, Camp, seems to have started to spend most of his time with other chicks his size, even sleeping outside of the chicken room. I thought he had been eaten, but I saw him this morning so apparently he is just finding some place to hide.


Susie and her five, Tide, Rivera, Shayera (called Cleo), Nocturne and Iris.


Agent, showing off his gorgeous red leakage.


Posse with her eight (not all of them are in this photo). The two black ones are Velvet and Beau, the blue and red one is Grand Slam and the blue one is Sapphire. I think the other two are Midus and Resa, but it can be hard to tell them apart with so many Dalmatian chicks.


Scarlet has begun perching with the adults and every night I have to put her trio up with her or they just run around screaming. They are Sibs, Tiger and Pool. I have a bad feeling that Pool, Tide and Rivera are all dudes, meaning my only chance for a girl blue chicken would be in Tiger.


Posse (Possibility) showing her chicks to the water.

 

[GitaBooks]

Sadly, we lost a chicken today. Sandy, one of my 2-3 year-old Leghorns died early this morning from an unknown cause, but I am guessing complications from laying such as an infection. She has struggled with laying problems for probably a year now and it was just too much for her. She was happy up until her last day though, so I'm glad that she got a good life and was respected in her last moments.

As for the rest of the flock, they are doing pretty well but a little crazy with so many chicks being "weaned" at the same time. The water here is too dangerous to use for now and it hasn't been raining enough to catch any so I have to use the bottled water from our cooler and lug it all the way outside. It's fresh, clean, cool water but its a lot more work to get out there so I don't like to fill them up as often, which isn't good in hot weather. Also, we didn't have chick food for a couple days so they had to stick with the layer feed which I'm sure the poor little guys didn't enjoy trying to gulp down.

Here is a list of my current birds:
Dominator and Liberty, the barred rock duo
Dastan, Dove and Yosemite, the three white chickens.
Mrs. Potter, Andi, Wild Thing and Agent, the four dark chickens
Scarlet, Dusty, Chiefess, Captain, Spock and Eve, the laced or tipped chickens
Maroon, Deanie, Rip, Buttercream and Sight, the red chickens
X, Coulsen and Roshashannah, the grey and white chickens
Nascar, Eagle, Enterprise, and Sedgie, the partridge foursome
Ruby, Dodie, Susie and Goldie, the four Dalmatian girls
Ori, Sparrow and Honey, the teen birds
Rain, Princess, Tad and Posse, the silkie chickens
Rory, Nat and Cowgirl, the Columbian pattern birds
.... and then my chicks
I have Tiger, Pool, Rivera, Blue Beetle and Tide for my blue/splash
Nori, Frodo, Daughtry, Rowan, izzie, Irons, ivory, Kori, Dark, Madi, Craig, Anne, Tempest, Bananas, Toad, Snow, Blaze, Finn, Wally, Camp, Li'l Frankie, Midus, Resa and Iris for the Dalmatian chicks
Sibs, Gardener, Grand Slam, Mumbles, Starfire, Spartacus, Nestor, Zero, Tyme, Rosemary, and Clovis for the standard birds
Sapphire, Sheyara, and Nocturne for my silkie mix chicks
And Beau and Velvet for the two black chicks.

All and all that equals something like 84 chickens right now. Thankfully, I plan on getting rid of most of the young roosters so that should lower the number significantly. The hard part will be choosing which roosters stay. I want the healthiest, prettiest, friendliest roos of the bunch, and that's asking a lot, which is why I hatched so many birds in the first place. The more to choose from the better the choice. : )

 

[GitaBooks]

It's been a while since I last posted. Things have changed, particularly in that two of my hens hatched out chicks and four more are heading towards it. All of them except one were just broody a couple months ago and are already going for their second batch, the crazy girls. : )

Dominator, Liberty and Maroon are the only three of my original group that consisted of around 26 if I remember correctly. The rest have passed away or be given to other homes over time. These three are so loyal to each other and quite tame too, so I hope they continue to do well for years to come.

My two injured chicks, attacked by Dusty, healed very well but their immune systems were weakened from it and they got "progressive paralysis" (likely mareks, though it only occurs in my Dalmatian bantams at around age 4-8 weeks). One had to be put down and the other was attacked by Dusty when it was no longer able to walk. One other chick, one of Eve's 11, also got PP and had to be put down when it was no longer able to walk (until then I make sure they are comfortable, happy and have food and water to see if they will get better or not. So far, none of them have).

Princess now has two new chicks (unnamed so far) and Ruby has five (also unnamed). Mrs. Potter, Susie, Goldie and Enterprise are hoping to join her soon. All the rest of the momma hens have "weaned" their chicks except Possibility, who is very loyal to her 8 and has semi-adopted Dodie's only remaining chick, Koriand'ar.

Beau and Velvet, my two Black OEGBs I think are both girls (yay!!) and are doing well. They are both Posse's and are noisy little things! X, Roshashannah, and Coulsen are also all girls, all three of them are a mixture of dark grey and light grey partridge/barred. I'm pretty sure at least a few of them are laying.
Ori and Sparrow are both roosters, medium in size (between bantam and standard) I'll be looking for new homes for them, since I already have enough roosters. The two brothers have one sister, Honey, who is getting near laying age but is so tiny it's hard to tell! She's one of my smallest hens so far and very cute. She reminds me a lot of Dove with her purple comb contrasting with the dark grey face and white feathers.

Dastan, Rain and Spock are my adult bantam roosters right now. Dastan has daughters, so I can't keep him because of inbreeding issues, but he is very gentle and kind with the hens and they like him. They let him breed with them, follow him around and he protects them from excited teen roosters. I'll miss him a lot. Rain is a silkie dude, so he's just a goof-ball and they don't really care for him. However, he is black and I'm hoping that helps with the dalmatian genetics. Spock is my sebright roo, and I think I'll be finding him a new home once my Dalmatian cockerels begin to come of age.

Tide is my only female blue chick so far from Cackle. Tiger, Blue Beetle, Pool and Rivera are all dudes, obvious by their bright red combs. I'll likely be finding new homes for all of them as well. Sapphire I'm not sure of yet, he/she is a silkie mix and a blue-grey color. Sheyara and Nocturne are similar in that they are silkie mixes and a blue-grey color. I'm also not sure if they are boys or girls yet, so I'm going to wait and see.

Sight, Buttercream, Rip and Nat are my four pullets that are going to start laying soon hopefully. All of them have some red or orange in them and are medium to large in size, though I believe Nat will be the biggest of the group. Their rooster is Rory, Bub's son. I found a wonderful new home for both Bubs and Agent and kept Rory, though I may replace him as this latest batch of Buff Brahma mix chicks matures. We'll see. He is handsome, but the ladies aren't all that into him.

Tad is getting some silkie-like followers to her "Tadika" variety of the Dalmatian. The Tadika is basically a silkied OEGB without a crest and with grey skin. Koriand'ar, Camp, Finn and I believe Frankie all are the Tadika variety and all of them are white. However, Kori and Frankie are both dudes so I likely won't be keeping them past this autumn.

Some of my 1-2 year-old hens are still laying well and with us. This includes Sedgie (my dorking), Andi (black Andalusian), Yosemite (Yoshi for short), Maroon, Eagle, Enterprise (broody right now if you'll remember), Captain, Scarlet, Chiefess, Wild Thing, Cowgirl and Nascar. Ruby, Goldie, Susie and Dodie, my dalmatian hens, are also still with me.

As for my standard mix-breed chicks from this spring and early summer, I've got Mumbles (bluish in color, he/she is a keeper), Zero (not sure on gender), Gardener, Starfire, Spartacus, Nestor (dude, I'm likely not keeping), Clovis, Rosemary (dude, I'm not keepign), Sage, Tyme, and Grand Slam.
My remaining Dalmatian chicks are Rowan, Izzie (keeping her), Iris, Nori, Daughtry (dude, likely not keeping), Midus, Resa, Blaze, Snow (dude), Toad, Bananas, Temoest, Annie, Craigen, Stardust (keeping), and Dark Beak (keeping).

I also plan on getting rid of Dusty by finding her a new home. I simply can't trust her around my chicks after what she did to them. She's a good girl, a good mom and a good layer, but she is not a good aunt, that's for sure.

 

[GitaBooks]

Update photos!!! : )

Ruby with some of her new chicks and some eggs that went under other broody hens (since she got up off of them with her chicks).


Gardener or Nestor, one of my two crested Buff Brahma mixes.


Sheyara, one of my blue/splash roosters, and their sibling.


Some of Eve's 11 before she "weaned" them. Dark Beak is the one with... well, the dark beak.


One of Dusty's 5.


Rain, showing off how cool he thinks he is.


Posse with her 8. You can see the grey and white one is Mumbles, Grand Slam is the large blue one, and the silkied chick at the top is their semi-adopted sibling, Kori.


Rain trying to win over Posse by being nice to her chicks.


Domni with some of his adopted bantam chicks. One is perched next to him, the other is on his back!! Such a sweet father, this big dude.


Black Star the skunk had a son, Denarius, who is so shy he isn't willing to hurt chicks that let him snuggle up to them! Denarius, like all skunks, isn't tolerant of heat and wanted some eggs to eat. He wouldn't leave even when I tried pouring water on him, tapping him and making sounds. He ate a few of the eggs, even some right out from under Princess!, but he didn't hurt any of the chickens or spray, so I can't say I don't like the guy.


He wasn't eating the egg in the picture, he was actually sleeping cuddled up under the wing of one of the chicks.


Here he is behind Sibs, who wasn't so happy about having to share a nest box.


Sheyara perched next to another chick. She is keeping her silkied feathers and blue color, which is really cute!


Some of the Buff brahma dudes on the ladder at night. They are panting from the heat.


I tried to get him comfortable enough to leave, so I offered him water. He drank for like 2 minutes!!! He also enjoyed being cooled off by a few cups of water on his back and even used the bathroom in the nest box before going behind them and laying down on his back to chill for the night. Silly guy.


Sparrow.


Denarius after his "bath".


Domni with a another chick on his back and another beside him. He is still close to his adopted daughter, Roshashannah, who perches close to him every night.


Eve's 10 chicks have finally learned to perch in the chicken room just in time for their old crate to be given to the new mother, Princess.

 

[GitaBooks]

An update on my flock.

The flock has become very large, nearing around 85-90 at one point, and I am working on lowering the number. However, a few of the chickens I planned to keep were taken by coyotes a couple days ago, including sweet little Roshashannah and her sister Coulsen, Nocturne the young bantie, and I believe (because they are missing) Ori, Sparrow, Dodie, Nat, Beau and Rosemary (who is a rooster).
However, we have had 19 chicks hatch in the last few days with more on the way. A skunk took six of those from Goldie, but she has excepted new ones, which is good seeing as how Susie (her sister) for some reason decided to kill her three chicks. Eve has two babies and is working on adding to that, Goldie has five so far, Ruby has five, Mrs. Potter has 2, Princess has 2, and Enterprise (her first clutch) had three but lost one to a disease (Steller).

We also found new homes for Chiefess, Cowgirl, Sedgie, Dusty, Butter Cream and Riyah. I needed to lower the number and a friend needed some hens because he too had lost some to a predator. I rehomed Dusty because she had a nasty habit of killing dalmatian chicks and teens (she almost killed Finn and Koren and managed to kill Ivory and Irons).

We have a number of young roosters, mostly splash bantams, dalmatian bantams or Buff Brahma mixes. These include StarFire, Tyme and Sage (the buffs); Wally, Frankie, Camp, Koren, Midus, Frodo, Anakin, Nori and Daughtry (the dals) and Blue Beetle, Rivera, Pool and Tiger (either splash cochin bantams or rosecomb bantams).

Adult roosters are Dominator, Rory, Spock, Rain, and Dastan. I plan to find new homes for Spock, Rory and Dastan and possibly Rain as well to let the Dalmatian roos have a chance to take the lead on the bantam flock. Dastan would be a great flock leader if it weren't for him being related to most of the hens.

Some of the young hens (most of them around 2 months of age) are Velvet (her sister Beau was taken) the black OEGB, Mumbles the mix-breed standard, Grand Slam, Sapphire (the blue silkie mix), Resa (a dal pullet), Iris, Honey, Rowan, Izzie, Tempest, Craigen, Dark Beak, StarDust, Toad, Bananas, Spartacus, Zero, Clovis and Tide. Pullets that have recently begun laying are X (we lost her two sisters Coulsen and Roshashannah but she got to the porch and perched their for safety) and Sight.

Young birds I'm still not sure about the gender of are Nestor and Gardener (the crested Buff Brahma mixes), Finn the silkie mix, Shaw the blue silkie mix, and Sibs the Brahma mix.

As for the remaining hens, I've got Liberty, Andi, Mrs. Potter, Dove, Ruby, Yosemite, Wild Thing, Nascar, Eagle, Enterprise, Captain, Scarlet, Eve, Maroon, Deanie, Possibility, Princess, Tad, Goldie, and Susie.

My new chicks include O'Connor and O'Toole (Mrs. Potter's), Fitz and Ward (Princess's), Iola, Jax, Bengali, Degotoga, and DaVinci (Ruby's); Jemma and Jeronimo (Enterprise's), Camamile, Second Chance, Rosalind II, Dark Waltz and Nastalgia (Goldie's), and Key, Shark and Everest (Eve's).

A picture of one of the Buff boys and Frankie.


Dastan watching over his ladies.


Frankie with Spartacus the buff pullet.


Wally, brother of Finn and mister "I'm too cool" among the teen boys.


Spock wishing that he wasn't the bullied one of the adult roosters. Domni can't sand him, I think it reminds him of his little brother, Mr. Dottie, a little too much. Mr. Dottie and Domni sort of hated each other.


Tiger and Rivera (I think) perching together. One is the Rosecomb, the other the cochin.


Midus on the wood-pile by the shed he shares with his siblings, mother, and a few other new momma hens. It keeps them safe from predators and other chickens while the chicks learn how to cope with the new world around them.


Koren, the only remaining chick of Dodie's last clutch. Hopefully is off broody somewhere instead of a coyote's meal, but all the same, Koren sort of was just adopted by Possibility anyways. He is the only one of those 8 that is silkied.


StarFire (the largest) with Tyme and Sage. They lost their brother, Rosemary (not that I can tell them apart really) to the coyotes I'm pretty sure.


Pool the cochin.


The ten Dalmatian siblings, including Tempest, Dark Beak, StarDust, Craigen, Toad, Bananas, Frodo, Anakin, Nori and Daughtry. I'm glad six seem to have turned out to be hens. I was getting worried because there were so many with light skin and usually the light skinned Dalmatians are the roosters and those with dark skin are the hens. So far I don't think I have ever had a dark skinned Dal rooster, but I have had a couple hens with light skin.

 

[GitaBooks]

Some photos:::

Mumbles when she first hatched. She was a silver-blue color, very pretty.


Roshashannah as a pullet with her sister, Butter Cream. RIP Shannah.


Ori and Sparrow were both taken by the coyotes too, but Honey is doing well and quite cute!


Dodie is currently broody.


Eagle.


Nascar.


This is Zero, the last chick in its clutch to hatch. She is going to be finding a new home with Sibs, her sister.


Enterprise has two chicks: Jeronimo and Jemma.


Dove preening.


I'm not sure if this is Nat or Spartacus. We lost Nat to the coyotes. : (


Sibs running for some food and water.


Getting a drink together. The crested Buff Brahma mix is either Nestor or Gardener.


eating together in the sunlight


Iris (I think) getting a drink of water.


Eagle getting a drink


Either Rosemary, Tyme or Sage, outlined by the sun.


Eagle pretending to be a painting. : )



Rain in the grass.


Clovis, the only girl that came out of Dusty's eggs (or her biological eggs, Zero was raised by her and is also a pullet).


Storm Cloud (formerly Grand Slam) is a beautiful mix of blue, grey, and lemon-cream.

 

[GitaBooks]

One of my new (newer) chicks. Not sure which one this is, I think it may have been the one of the six I lost to the skunk.


Another chick.


Two chicks, Nastalgia (the larger one) and it's bantam sibling, Dark Waltz (named after a Celtic song).


A chick sitting up in its shell after hatching. SOOO Cute!


X, Eve's daughter from two clutches ago, sunning themselves together. X is now grown up and laying.



Sapphire, Velvet, Resa, Storm Cloud (formerly Grand Slam) and Mumbles all seem to be girls right now. Beau passed away, but was also a girl. Midus is the only boy I know of. The only chick not pictured that was raised by Possibility is also a pullet, she is a female Rosecomb bantam named Tide.



This little thing, Honey, turned out to be a rooster. I call him Honesty. Sparrow, in the backround, got taken by the coyotes.


Izzie and her brother/sister, Gardener.


Posse with her chicks. You can see Midus, Iris (the one on the left) and Sapphire (in the middle).


Mumbles.


Ruby's chicks are getting bigger. Iola turned out to be a boy, so I call him Iota.


Honesty.


Sight, my mix-breed hen.


Rory, my semi-laced Buff Brahma mix rooster. That is Tiger (I believe) and Sibs in the backround.


One of my other Dalmatian youngin's.


Eve's clutch before last. I have 6 pullets and two roosters. I am keeping four of the pullets (the ones closest resembling the breed I want).


Another picture of Eagle getting a drink.

 

[GitaBooks]

Some pictures of the flock. : )


Spartacus the Buff Brahma mix hen


The flock searching for food


Eve's baby girl, Dark Waltz


Pool


Dominator


X


Rain showing off for Possibility


Enterprise showing off her pretty colors


The flock coming through the gate for some food.


Starfire showing off his colors


Gorgeous lavander colored mix-breed chick named Nastalgia


Mumbles and Sapphire


Storm Cloud is so gorgeous! Blue outline on a lemon body with a black head, like the sun around a storm cloud.


Mumbles and Storm Cloud with some Dalmatian mixes.


Rivera or Kord (hard to tell the brothers apart)

 

[GitaBooks]

Yesterday wasn't any easy day as far as chickens are concerned. My broody hen, Susie, hatched out a little black and white chick named November. She got off to eat and left it while it was partially hatched, so I treated to keep it warm and happy until she got back. However, the cool, dry air caused the membrane to stick to it, so a few hours later I had to help it hatch. However, apparently it was too weak by then to stay under the mother. That evening, when I was going to move her and the baby to a broody crate I found it just out from underneath her, nearly dead from the cold. I left her on the eggs that hadn't hatched and rushed it inside. I put it under warm water (leaving its head out of course) and then cuddled it under my shirt, coat, and a blanket to try to keep it warm.
However, a few minutes later its muscles completely relaxed and I knew... I pulled it out and tried blowing air into its nostrils and restarting its heart. If shock killed it then I thought maybe I could bring it back. But to no avail.
It was just half a day of care for the little guy, but he still wanted to live. He tried, but he just couldn't hold on. I try not to think about it too much, I loose chicks and I know that, but little babies that you assisted in hatching are always special. You gave them a chance at hope and then it is stolen from them.

Anyways, RIP November, I hope those few hours of freedom from the shell, cuddled with your mother, were good ones.

 

[MollySunshine]

So sad to read about your chick. I think it's safe to say that you tried everything you could to help this little creature.

You have a beautiful flock!