fuzzi's Chicken Journal

[fuzzi]

After dark last night...

 

[fuzzi]

Chicks had their first taste of ripe tomatoes tonight, mixed with chopped hard-boiled eggs. I made sure to toss some inside the brooder, and Martha led them in to enjoy without being harassed!

Rahab (dark) and Hannah

The Sillies, the Dominiques

Only chick picture I took was blurred, they're moving fast!

 

[fuzzi]

New zip-ties!

 

[fuzzi]

Four of five are roosting with Martha!

One is crying, alone in the brooder. It must be LC.

 

[fuzzi]

Updates:

LC continues to roost below the main roost, and I place him up with the others every night.

Martha's looking a little harried.

But the Dominiques seem to be getting with the program.

Here Lydia is being adopted as a pseudo mom when Martha can't fit all the chicks under her anymore. Lydia was cool with it.

And as irritable and vocal a broody as Tamar has been, she's also been tolerant of Martha's chicks.

Who knows? The black chick might be her son.

My incubator is no longer doing auto-turning, have reset it and it still needs me to push the manual turn button.


CHICK UPDATE

Boy, boy

Boy?

Compare:

BOY!

LC

 

[fuzzi]

Thoughts on Changes in the Flock Structure

1. Martha has chicks
2. Samuel is gone (no rooster)
3. Tamar is brooding

This evening I went out to check on the flock before bed as I usually do. LC was on the lower roost, and the three other Dominiques weren't on the main roost, either, but on the A-frame roost. Huh. I put the Doms on the main roost, then went around the coop and put LC on the main roost, next to the other chicks and Martha. Hannah, a Sussex, was roosting next to Martha and her chicks, and she started focusing on LC, then pecked him! LC jumped off the roost. I grabbed Hannah off the roost and put her down on the ground. I located LC, put him back up on the main roost but he kept trying to snuggle underneath his brother.

What is going on?

Then I realized that Rahab, boss hen, wasn't on the roost. I found her in one of the nesting boxes. Broody#3. Argh.

Hannah was always sweet on the roosters, first Joel, then Samuel. Rahab keeps Hannah in her place, so now that Samuel is gone and Rahab decided to go broody, there was a vacuum created in the flock, and Hannah, the low hen, is being mean.

In the future LC can roost wherever he wants to. Poor little guy, he's had it tough.

 

[1muttsfan]

I would pick a good broody over an incubator every day.

You might want to let her set for a few days and make sure she sticks to some dummy eggs first.

 

[fuzzi]

Any chance you will keep LC, even if he is a boy? Runts always manage to win me to their fan club

LC will stay as long as possible, as long as things work out well. Yes, he has made a spot in my heart.

Last night I was standing in the dark of the coop, holding him on my chest, stroking and comforting him after Hannah pecked him, he was that terrified...probably had flashbacks. Poor thing. Hope he doesn't grow up to be a jerk like his daddy.

 

[fuzzi]

Just noticed this, makes sense:

View attachment 3820314

That's RAHAB next to Martha and her chicks, then the Doms, then Hannah on the end. Rahab was probably running interference.

 

[fuzzi]