ChickaChickaChooCho000
Songster
Hello chicken lovers and keepers, Iāve had chickens just about half my life now and I honestly just enjoy their company in the backyard, roaming around and rummaging through leaves and grass, taking dirt baths. Without any chickens in my backyard it would just feel empty now, even though we have dogs haha 
. Also their personality PLUS their eggs are just another fun attribute to raising them. So these past years Iāve just rescued chickens by buying and raising them to live happily in my familyās backyard. Itās a great blessing and a curse haha! About 4 are mine, other 4 are just small game chickens(hens and one maturing roo), which are my fatherās but I plan to raise mine separately because mine are bigger and specifically egg laying breeds or around that spectrum. Another thing I will add, my hens are rescued from Chicken slaughter houses, it might be strange to hear but itās true, I feel itās a lot more sentimental when I save them from their impending doom. I would like to buy chickens through hatcheries in the future if I ever live on a farm... but for now, and in the future I enjoy and will enjoy rescuing chickens when I have more time or space for them, which isnāt much right now since I don't actually live on a farm and only live in an urban setting, but a quiet one I must say.. but not after getting my chickens 
. We sometimes even have wild turkeys or deers near the front yard across the street on occasions since thereās an empty gold course across the house and we have railroad train tracks in the backyard. My parents sometimes donāt like the fact that I have chickens but theyāre a good source of eggs so they canāt complain too much. They also canāt complain because my dad himself is raising 4 with MY 4 and Iām doing all the work.. 
and his arenāt specifically the laying kind, theyāre the flying and more wild kind, but they all get along fine and the hens actually lay small eggs good for a mini breakfast haha! Itās just that I rather they find a new home where they can actually fly around without pestering my neighborās yards. We have high fences along with our neighbors but thatās nothing to the flying chickens, cuz before we clipped their wings, some were able to fly up 20ft to the trees to sleep so we couldnāt grab them into the coop at night and it was stressful because I didnāt want them to die from predators. And one time two nearly DID, by a raccoon but somehow managed to escape even with clipped wings! Iām glad they were smart to evade trouble even at the darkest night.
BUT now, onto MY chickens.
My first hen of this flock is a black sex-link, sheās about 4-5 years now(2016) and sheās the boss of the flock, also the oldest, and has gone through so much! She has been attacked one time by a possum and her back skin was torn near her tail and you could see her internal organ beating from her back, but we used rubbing alcohol a twice a day for a week to cleanse it of diseases or infections, and she managed to live through it and regrow everything, her skin, plumage and scratches from the possum, and for THAT possum, we spared it and let it out of the coop where we trapped it for a day or two because we didnāt just want it to come back. We kept the chickens in another cage together(at the time it was just her, the orange hen and the orange henās kids.) No, It never came back and hopefully itās children or relatives donāt either! She even survived my brotherās blood-lusting chicken killer dog after he quickly bit her leg and a bit of her back feathers while my brother was training him obedience stuff with a leash on. This happened RIGHT after she was almost done healing, so he chipped a bit of her toe nail off and we used corn starch to stop it from bleeding for a bit and back to quarantine she went. She probably didnāt expect it to happen because sheās friendly and usually the family dogs we have are friendly but he wasnāt since he was originally rescued in a farm area and he used to kill chickens or chicks as a pup too. He never grew out of it. But anyways, She is a TRUE SURVIVOR!! Sheās been through it all!
Now, next I have an orange hen that LOOKS like it would be a buff Orpington bantam if it was mixed with something(but Iāll have to ask another thread for that!) she has little black neck feathers too that kind of looks like buff Brahma bantams but she is not feather footed. So sheās about 4 years now age-wise, I assume(2017) She laid a great amount and even more than the black sex-link during her prime years and also even same size or bigger eggs. Her toes also show that sheād been through a lot before I got her because she was extremely skinny, her toes were all curved and she also gallops like a horse or bunny when she runs haha, which makes her slower, but cuter! She also went into a broody stage and hatched some chicks from a former rooster and sadly she hatched 2 roosters and not hens
... so they were sadly culled a month before reaching their 1st year. I wanted to send them to a nice home but the deed was done before I could do it... by my parents who were over their crowing and fighting. They were crowing too much and began fighting a lot because of dominance reasons... if they were hens they couldāve stayed alive and wonāt have to be removed
. The saddest part is that we raised them from chick to adults, Iāll add photos of them too.
Annnnnnd to the next hen, recently in July of 2020, I bought a white hen from that same chicken Slaughter house. I also donāt know her breed because sheās a rescue, but honestly Iām starting to think sheās a white Orpington because she was gigantic even when I first got her. I donāt know her specific age but she hasnāt laid an egg since Iāve gotten her but she is a giant, even bigger than my sex link. She isnāt skinny enough to be a leghorn or have a big enough crown. I almost thought she couldnāt be a Cornish or meat hen but she doesnāt gain weight fast. Her crown was smaller and pink when I first got her, I thought she was just sick but recently I think her crown just started getting a little bigger and more red including her lobes which are red too, so definitely not a leghorn. But maybe she has just recently matured. Iāll have to ask another thread for her breed too! Just recently Iāve been noticing a large light-brown egg in the next box, and I know my two older hens havenāt and usually donāt lay during winter time that much, especially since theyāre on the older side now, so Iām curious if sheās finally laying now! I got her in July, and now itās almost mid January.
But yeah on to my newest member of the flock! I recently bought a chicken from Craigslist of all places, and I did some research and it resembles a Sapphire Gem chicken most, so I think that chicken I got is one of that breed. I thought Iād never in a million years use Craigslist for anything, I was looking for chicken coops to buy but then stumbled upon some chickens instead and I couldnāt resist
... She is very pretty(my opinion) so pretty to me and different that I couldnāt resist. Right now sheās still integrating into the flock right now because I just only got her on January 1st! So about 2 weeks. What a way to start the new year right?! Sheās 10 months. The original owner couldnāt keep her anymore because they were moving and they also had another hen which I sadly couldnāt take because of no space on my end. Too many chickens in an urban setting which might cause trouble for me, my family or neighbors. My chickens are quiet and Only stay in the backyard so Iām fine, but my DADās chickens on the other hand
his flying chickens, theyāre harder to tame but they come and fly to me for food which is pretty cool to see! But they can be loud since they have more wild instincts so I donāt want to disturb the neighbors although theyāve been so cool about it.
But yes! My chickens:
ā¢The name of the Black Sex-link is Char(short for Charcoal but say Char like Shar) because she has a little bit of orange running down her neck to her chest
ā¢The orange one was originally Henny, short for Hennessy as a joke
!!! But Iāve changed it to a more PG name. Her official name is now Sunny ā
ā¢The White hen my nephew named, which is Milky! I actually find it fitting haha!
ā¢And for the Sapphire Gem, I named her (wanna guess?)... Sapphire
Iām sorry I know I type a lot, canāt help it. If youāve read this far youāre a trooper and I hope youāve learned about me and my flock and I hope I get to learn a lot more from all of you!
. Also their personality PLUS their eggs are just another fun attribute to raising them. So these past years Iāve just rescued chickens by buying and raising them to live happily in my familyās backyard. Itās a great blessing and a curse haha! About 4 are mine, other 4 are just small game chickens(hens and one maturing roo), which are my fatherās but I plan to raise mine separately because mine are bigger and specifically egg laying breeds or around that spectrum. Another thing I will add, my hens are rescued from Chicken slaughter houses, it might be strange to hear but itās true, I feel itās a lot more sentimental when I save them from their impending doom. I would like to buy chickens through hatcheries in the future if I ever live on a farm... but for now, and in the future I enjoy and will enjoy rescuing chickens when I have more time or space for them, which isnāt much right now since I don't actually live on a farm and only live in an urban setting, but a quiet one I must say.. but not after getting my chickens . We sometimes even have wild turkeys or deers near the front yard across the street on occasions since thereās an empty gold course across the house and we have railroad train tracks in the backyard. My parents sometimes donāt like the fact that I have chickens but theyāre a good source of eggs so they canāt complain too much. They also canāt complain because my dad himself is raising 4 with MY 4 and Iām doing all the work.. and his arenāt specifically the laying kind, theyāre the flying and more wild kind, but they all get along fine and the hens actually lay small eggs good for a mini breakfast haha! Itās just that I rather they find a new home where they can actually fly around without pestering my neighborās yards. We have high fences along with our neighbors but thatās nothing to the flying chickens, cuz before we clipped their wings, some were able to fly up 20ft to the trees to sleep so we couldnāt grab them into the coop at night and it was stressful because I didnāt want them to die from predators. And one time two nearly DID, by a raccoon but somehow managed to escape even with clipped wings! Iām glad they were smart to evade trouble even at the darkest night.BUT now, onto MY chickens.
My first hen of this flock is a black sex-link, sheās about 4-5 years now(2016) and sheās the boss of the flock, also the oldest, and has gone through so much! She has been attacked one time by a possum and her back skin was torn near her tail and you could see her internal organ beating from her back, but we used rubbing alcohol a twice a day for a week to cleanse it of diseases or infections, and she managed to live through it and regrow everything, her skin, plumage and scratches from the possum, and for THAT possum, we spared it and let it out of the coop where we trapped it for a day or two because we didnāt just want it to come back. We kept the chickens in another cage together(at the time it was just her, the orange hen and the orange henās kids.) No, It never came back and hopefully itās children or relatives donāt either! She even survived my brotherās blood-lusting chicken killer dog after he quickly bit her leg and a bit of her back feathers while my brother was training him obedience stuff with a leash on. This happened RIGHT after she was almost done healing, so he chipped a bit of her toe nail off and we used corn starch to stop it from bleeding for a bit and back to quarantine she went. She probably didnāt expect it to happen because sheās friendly and usually the family dogs we have are friendly but he wasnāt since he was originally rescued in a farm area and he used to kill chickens or chicks as a pup too. He never grew out of it. But anyways, She is a TRUE SURVIVOR!! Sheās been through it all!
Now, next I have an orange hen that LOOKS like it would be a buff Orpington bantam if it was mixed with something(but Iāll have to ask another thread for that!) she has little black neck feathers too that kind of looks like buff Brahma bantams but she is not feather footed. So sheās about 4 years now age-wise, I assume(2017) She laid a great amount and even more than the black sex-link during her prime years and also even same size or bigger eggs. Her toes also show that sheād been through a lot before I got her because she was extremely skinny, her toes were all curved and she also gallops like a horse or bunny when she runs haha, which makes her slower, but cuter! She also went into a broody stage and hatched some chicks from a former rooster and sadly she hatched 2 roosters and not hens
... so they were sadly culled a month before reaching their 1st year. I wanted to send them to a nice home but the deed was done before I could do it... by my parents who were over their crowing and fighting. They were crowing too much and began fighting a lot because of dominance reasons... if they were hens they couldāve stayed alive and wonāt have to be removed. The saddest part is that we raised them from chick to adults, Iāll add photos of them too.Annnnnnd to the next hen, recently in July of 2020, I bought a white hen from that same chicken Slaughter house. I also donāt know her breed because sheās a rescue, but honestly Iām starting to think sheās a white Orpington because she was gigantic even when I first got her. I donāt know her specific age but she hasnāt laid an egg since Iāve gotten her but she is a giant, even bigger than my sex link. She isnāt skinny enough to be a leghorn or have a big enough crown. I almost thought she couldnāt be a Cornish or meat hen but she doesnāt gain weight fast. Her crown was smaller and pink when I first got her, I thought she was just sick but recently I think her crown just started getting a little bigger and more red including her lobes which are red too, so definitely not a leghorn. But maybe she has just recently matured. Iāll have to ask another thread for her breed too! Just recently Iāve been noticing a large light-brown egg in the next box, and I know my two older hens havenāt and usually donāt lay during winter time that much, especially since theyāre on the older side now, so Iām curious if sheās finally laying now! I got her in July, and now itās almost mid January.
But yeah on to my newest member of the flock! I recently bought a chicken from Craigslist of all places, and I did some research and it resembles a Sapphire Gem chicken most, so I think that chicken I got is one of that breed. I thought Iād never in a million years use Craigslist for anything, I was looking for chicken coops to buy but then stumbled upon some chickens instead and I couldnāt resist
... She is very pretty(my opinion) so pretty to me and different that I couldnāt resist. Right now sheās still integrating into the flock right now because I just only got her on January 1st! So about 2 weeks. What a way to start the new year right?! Sheās 10 months. The original owner couldnāt keep her anymore because they were moving and they also had another hen which I sadly couldnāt take because of no space on my end. Too many chickens in an urban setting which might cause trouble for me, my family or neighbors. My chickens are quiet and Only stay in the backyard so Iām fine, but my DADās chickens on the other hand
his flying chickens, theyāre harder to tame but they come and fly to me for food which is pretty cool to see! But they can be loud since they have more wild instincts so I donāt want to disturb the neighbors although theyāve been so cool about it.But yes! My chickens:
ā¢The name of the Black Sex-link is Char(short for Charcoal but say Char like Shar) because she has a little bit of orange running down her neck to her chest
ā¢The orange one was originally Henny, short for Hennessy as a joke
!!! But Iāve changed it to a more PG name. Her official name is now Sunny āā¢The White hen my nephew named, which is Milky! I actually find it fitting haha!
ā¢And for the Sapphire Gem, I named her (wanna guess?)... Sapphire
Iām sorry I know I type a lot, canāt help it. If youāve read this far youāre a trooper and I hope youāve learned about me and my flock and I hope I get to learn a lot more from all of you!
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