Growing my little flock

[2ndTink]

Miss Coco has yet to get the hang of foraging like everyone else. She just kind of stands here and there doing nothing until she gets bored and either comes to bother me for attention or waddles off to the front door of the house in the hopes of kitchen treats. Meanwhile everyone else is bent on destroying what little grass survived the winter.

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At some point I'm going to have to get an actual video with sound of the mighty Goober at his finest. He is SO LOUD when he's excited - I often get long streams of enthusiastic howling punctuated with the weird giggles.

Maybe Miss Coco doesn't want to get her toes dirty?

Yeah! Video!

 

[DonyaQuick]

I planned to not have food and water in the shed coop unless there was, say, a giant blizzard type thing going on making the outdoors uninhabitable all day. We did get 4in of snow in an hour one morning this week, but then it stopped. However, it left about 1/4in of snow in the big run. Mr Cuddles Junior will NOT walk through snow; he continues to be terrified of it for whatever reason. That means he couldn't lead the hens out to go get food and water. Monster saw Junior be weird about the snow and then he was weird about it too. So then everybody was weird about it and nobody would would go out all the way to get food and water. They just sat in the shed and complained at me instead, making little munchy motions with their mouths like "but we're so huuungry!" So I caved to these bougie birds and brought breakfast inside.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Happy spring everybody! So very springly over here right now...

These dummies had no comprehension of what was outside that door. I told Mr. Tengu that he'd get stuck if he tried to sneak out past me when I opend the door, and wow, what a surprise, he took about three steps and got stuck lol.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Sad week...I lost Sqishy, my broody mama from last year who raised miss Meep and the 3 cockerels in my bachelor flock. Squishy would've been 2 soon. It was one of those random horrible things that just happens out of nowhere. One morning she went to lay an egg as usual, and I had to go into town for a few hours. I know Squishy was fine when I left. Came back and Junior was telling me something was wrong; one of those weird things where I can't explain exactly what he did to tell me that, but for some reason he seemed a bit off, it hit me like a truck, and I suddenly knew I needed to count everyone - and Squishy wasn't with the group. I found her leaning against a nest box unable to support herself with one of her legs, a slightly droopy wing on the same side, and barely able to open her eyes. From the weakness on one side of her body I think she must have had a stroke. I rushed her inside but she died a couple hours later. It was so random and so fast. I keep telling myself she had a really good life, but it still hurts.

Dingus is Squishy's mom and still going strong. Same for Scruffy, Squishy's full sister. I wasn't originally going to hatch again this year since I felt like the main flock had good numbers and everyone seemed strong and healthy. My husband suggested hatching a couple more Dingus eggs when it warms up given what happened, since Dingus seems to produce really good natured hens and she's completely unrelated to the rooster brothers (who are both from Buddy & the late Ziggy). Part of me wants to slam that incubator back on the table right now but I know I shouldn't. My rational side is on the fence because hatching of course means potentially more roosters and I've been utterly unable to part with any thus far since they're all such cool, sweet little dudes. Way back when I first did a hatch I thought I'd surely end up with some bad ones that I wouldn't mind giving away for whatever purpose, but it hasn't happened yet and so I've accumulated them instead. The bachelor flock setup is very likely going to get an overhaul so maybe it will end up bigger...I don't know yet. Maybe if I get a broody...Scruffy was thinking about it last year. Or maybe I should just stick with the current numbers.

 

[fuzzi]

Sad week...I lost Sqishy, my broody mama from last year who raised miss Meep and the 3 cockerels in my bachelor flock. Squishy would've been 2 soon. It was one of those random horrible things that just happens out of nowhere. One morning she went to lay an egg as usual, and I had to go into town for a few hours. I know Squishy was fine when I left. Came back and Junior was telling me something was wrong; one of those weird things where I can't explain exactly what he did to tell me that, but for some reason he seemed a bit off, it hit me like a truck, and I suddenly knew I needed to count everyone - and Squishy wasn't with the group. I found her leaning against a nest box unable to support herself with one of her legs, a slightly droopy wing on the same side, and barely able to open her eyes. From the weakness on one side of her body I think she must have had a stroke. I rushed her inside but she died a couple hours later. It was so random and so fast. I keep telling myself she had a really good life, but it still hurts.

Dingus is Squishy's mom and still going strong. Same for Scruffy, Squishy's full sister. I wasn't originally going to hatch again this year since I felt like the main flock had good numbers and everyone seemed strong and healthy. My husband suggested hatching a couple more Dingus eggs when it warms up given what happened, since Dingus seems to produce really good natured hens and she's completely unrelated to the rooster brothers (who are both from Buddy & the late Ziggy). Part of me wants to slam that incubator back on the table right now but I know I shouldn't. My rational side is on the fence because hatching of course means potentially more roosters and I've been utterly unable to part with any thus far since they're all such cool, sweet little dudes. Way back when I first did a hatch I thought I'd surely end up with some bad ones that I wouldn't mind giving away for whatever purpose, but it hasn't happened yet and so I've accumulated them instead. The bachelor flock setup is very likely going to get an overhaul so maybe it will end up bigger...I don't know yet. Maybe if I get a broody...Scruffy was thinking about it last year. Or maybe I should just stick with the current numbers.

I'm so sorry for your loss of Squishy.

 

[2ndTink]

Sad week...I lost Sqishy, my broody mama from last year who raised miss Meep and the 3 cockerels in my bachelor flock. Squishy would've been 2 soon. It was one of those random horrible things that just happens out of nowhere. One morning she went to lay an egg as usual, and I had to go into town for a few hours. I know Squishy was fine when I left. Came back and Junior was telling me something was wrong; one of those weird things where I can't explain exactly what he did to tell me that, but for some reason he seemed a bit off, it hit me like a truck, and I suddenly knew I needed to count everyone - and Squishy wasn't with the group. I found her leaning against a nest box unable to support herself with one of her legs, a slightly droopy wing on the same side, and barely able to open her eyes. From the weakness on one side of her body I think she must have had a stroke. I rushed her inside but she died a couple hours later. It was so random and so fast. I keep telling myself she had a really good life, but it still hurts.

Dingus is Squishy's mom and still going strong. Same for Scruffy, Squishy's full sister. I wasn't originally going to hatch again this year since I felt like the main flock had good numbers and everyone seemed strong and healthy. My husband suggested hatching a couple more Dingus eggs when it warms up given what happened, since Dingus seems to produce really good natured hens and she's completely unrelated to the rooster brothers (who are both from Buddy & the late Ziggy). Part of me wants to slam that incubator back on the table right now but I know I shouldn't. My rational side is on the fence because hatching of course means potentially more roosters and I've been utterly unable to part with any thus far since they're all such cool, sweet little dudes. Way back when I first did a hatch I thought I'd surely end up with some bad ones that I wouldn't mind giving away for whatever purpose, but it hasn't happened yet and so I've accumulated them instead. The bachelor flock setup is very likely going to get an overhaul so maybe it will end up bigger...I don't know yet. Maybe if I get a broody...Scruffy was thinking about it last year. Or maybe I should just stick with the current numbers.

I'm so sorry for your loss

Tough choice on incubating more or not, the extra boys do add up quickly. Keep us posted.

 

[DonyaQuick]

That sway is not going to hold up to another winter. So definitely can't do any chance of extra roos unless I can get a better roof over the extension - the current 4 do ok for a day or so in the smaller, snow-safe area but wouldn't want to pack more in there. It'll do fine for rain still, so I have a bit to get something better in place.

Tough choice on incubating more or not, the extra boys do add up quickly.

They sure do...I know most of my problem is I like those extra boys too much. I love all my hens too of couse, but I can honestly see the appeal in running something like a rooster sanctuary one day. Maybe if I win the lottery and can buy 200 acres or something so no one can hear how loud it is lol.

 

[2ndTink]

That sway is not going to hold up to another winter. So definitely can't do any chance of extra roos unless I can get a better roof over the extension - the current 4 do ok for a day or so in the smaller, snow-safe area but wouldn't want to pack more in there. It'll do fine for rain still, so I have a bit to get something better in place.

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They sure do...I know most of my problem is I like those extra boys too much. I love all my hens too of couse, but I can honestly see the appeal in running something like a rooster sanctuary one day. Maybe if I win the lottery and can buy 200 acres or something so no one can hear how loud it is lol.

My hubby likes the roosters more than the hens because they are "prettier" he likes the extra colors that the roosters usually sport. I think we will end up making a bigger bachelor coop this year for his boy flock

 

[DonyaQuick]

Mr. Monster has had somewhat of a hawk experience now too...he was out with everyone and I heard one somewhere, so I rounded the flock up to put them back in. I always put the hens back first, then Junior goes back when about half of them are in since he helps stop re-escapees, and Monster is usually last since he will stick right with the furthest out hen and try to keep the stragglers together until everyone is back inside. Got the last hen in and as I was on my way back to get Monster - blasted thing thought it would have a go at him! It came in to within about 20ft and then pulled up suddenly and went into a nearby tree instead. Either it didn't realize I was on the way back or it didn't realize Mr Monster is a roo until he stood up tall and flapped at it as it was on the way it. Maybe it just didn't realize how big he really is. Either way, Monster stood his ground looking big and roaring a the hawk until I was able to scoop him up. At some point in this process he also pooped himself...can't blame him for that really. I have no doubt Junior would've gone round 2 with that hawk without hesitation but Monster is definitely more of a lover than a fighter. Monster had also figured out how to open the run door's barrel bolt from the inside and has been letting everyone out on an almost daily basis when I'm doing chores and don't have a carabiner through it...but he's notably lost interest in doing that after this recent hawk event.

Oh, and bringing the dog out to scare the hawk away when it didn't want to leave did NOT go as planned. Dog knows the hawk noise is a bad noise. Dog knows we go bark at the thing making that noise. Just one problem: dog doesn't look up - up is a dimension that doesn't exist. So, dog runs back and forth under the tree the hawk is in and eventually starts crying because she can't find the bad thing. Meanwhile, the hawk is screaming down at her while I'm pointing straight up going "it's RIGHT THERE bark UP THERE" It eventually left when she lost her mind and started doing chaotic four-legged spinny jumps.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Mr. Vanilla Bean: bringing sexy chonky back. This absolute cube of a boy crowed non. stop. through one of my zoom meetings today because he decided he didn't get enough hugs this morning.