Getting to know chickens -media diary

[Martaals]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Thanks for sharing your adventures with your girls. They are all very pretty.

My pleasure
I love photographing and filming them, so it's nice to make something out of it. BYC is a perfect place to share and at the same time learn a lot. I feel safer taking on the chicken adventure when I can share with other people who are interested. And there are so many interesting articles and beautiful pictures around here.
For example, by checking in google I thought the colour of Aart was lemon blue, but from reading posts around here I've understood that that's really not the case. It might seem like something insignificant, but it makes it more interesting to understand more about the chickens.

 

[Martaals]

DAY 9

Time flies when you're having chickens
Today more cuddles! They were caring a little less to range outside of the coop, but it's quite cold today.
So cuddling up in my woollen sweater was perfect

Kali was more awake


I saw something weird from Kali though, at some point while eating there came like.... saliva or something out of her mouth? She seemed fine after, but it still left me puzzled. I'm of course worried that if anything goes wrong with the chickens I don't see it early enough. Is that something to look out for? Blank liquid coming out of the beak. It was a one moment thing, not like a continuous leaking.

Furthermore we tried to give them oatmeal porridge (breakfast leftover). They were not interested. But dandelion leaves were a hit!

 

[Martaals]

Oh, and question: does anyone know how to include videos in the posts? For now I'm making gifs out of it, which lowers the quality a lot and limits how long the video is.

 

[aart]

I saw something weird from Kali though, at some point while eating there came like.... saliva or something out of her mouth? She seemed fine after, but it still left me puzzled. I'm of course worried that if anything goes wrong with the chickens I don't see it early enough. Is that something to look out for? Blank liquid coming out of the beak. It was a one moment thing, not like a continuous leaking.

They can drool a bit after drinking.

does anyone know how to include videos in the posts?

Upload to youtube, vimeo, or other platform, then link here.

 

[Martaals]

They can drool a bit after drinking.

Upload to youtube, vimeo, or other platform, then link here.

Ahh okay, so I guess she was just drooling. Thanks!

So here is my attempt I hope that works :

 

[aart]

So here is my attempt I hope that works :

Yep, good job!

 

[Martaals]

Yep, good job!

Thank you for the explanation

 

[TwoCrows]

Ahh okay, so I guess she was just drooling. Thanks!

So here is my attempt I hope that works :

 

[Martaals]

DAY 10

Today I was starting to wonder about the pecking order, and how it works, because in the beginning it seemed pretty clear that Kali was in charge, Greta second and Aart clumsily at the bottom. Now Aart is really the first one to come when you call and seems to be thriving, she is chatting continuously in a merry manner and steals treats in front of Kalis nose without blinking. Could the order have changed, or are they just taking good care of her?
Greta seems to be the most capable at most things: she eats the biggest chunks of food, she seems the brightest and first to understand stuff, she owns the others at flying (like when the drawer is out and they cannot walk to the roost she flies to sit there and Aart isn't able to fly to the roost stick if the drawer is out, she just falls down and she once flew up outside very high and gracefully, while the others are just flapping about sometimes). But Kali seems still the most alert and attentive to what is going on around, and she is also somehow seemeing to guide them about what to eat? so I'm not sure!

Staying a bit alert might not be a terrible idea, when you are always being watched by Escher the guardian angel



They are pretty chill napping while the cats are checking out their house

Aart sleeping in the doorway


Also a funny little story, we have had a spider in our window for almost a year, who dealt with some of the fruitflies that comes along with the worm hotel. Well, it had a good life and a natural death, and this morning it was dangling.

So I thought it would be a nice circle of life if the chickens like a well fed spider. Greta took care of it

I got a video from a friend of a chicken sitting on a broom, and that's how they were cleaning the roof from spiders cant' find it online, but perhaps I upload it somewhere myself.


Aso, I have a question...... Is there a way to convince the chickens not to use the laying nests as their main toilet? The nesting material is the hardest to clean, and I guess right now it doesn't make much sense to them since they are not laying yet. Do I need to put only nest material so they somehow manage to make a difference, or just use it as any regular coop space and not put nesting material yet?

Extra greetings from Aart the chatty chick

 

[MaryJanet]

I wonder if Kali is a little older - even a few days could make a difference in attitude.

I've never had the problem of poop in the nest, but I'd try to put a few ceramic eggs in there. It will help them to think about the nest as a nest, if you know what I mean Hopefully someone else will come along with a better suggestion.