HorseGirlAbby's flock thread!

[HorseGirlAbby]

So, in light of the avian flu going around, Mom, my brother, and I put up bird netting on our chicken run yesterday. It wasn't hard, but it took a while. Bird netting + lots of wind = not good. But we eventually got it on. Goldilocks was the only hen not scared, and she stood out there and watched us. Now no birds can get in at all, so they should be safe. I'm not paranoid about it, just worried a little bit. There've been more cases in Washington lately, most on the west side of the state, but one in Spokane, closer to where I live.

Anyway, Peeper's still very broody, and now Ivy is thinking it might be fun to try, along with Baroness and Colleen, who still haven't made up their minds as to whether they want to go broody or not. We got ten eggs yesterday, tying the record for this year! Out of our fifteen hens, eleven are laying consistently. Dover and Sprinkles lay when they remember, and Nancy and Gidget will probably never lay again. They're all happy, though! The weather's been really nice, highs in the mid-60s and lows in the thirties. That's very unusual for our part of the state! Normally it's in the 80s now, and sometimes we've even opened our pool by this time. The hills and our field are still green, though they're normally brown. As long as it doesn't get up to 116, like it did last year, I think we're in pretty good shape.

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

Little Nancy is not a fan of the bird netting. She can't stick her head out of the wire and eat mushrooms anymore! Sue does not care.

Mrs. Broody:

Mrs. Broody sitting on my lap after I got her out of a nest box:

Colleen, wanna-be broody:

And that's all I got time for right now!
Thanks all for reading this, and keeping up with my flock's adventures.
~Abby

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

Another update! The chickens are doing well. They don't like the recent spell of hot weather, but they're dealing with it. I put Peeper, Delaware, and Colleen in the tractor today and yesterday. Peeper got to go in because she's broody, and it's a good way to break her of it. Delaware is getting picked on by Gidget, and she's still hiding from her. She's much happier in the tractor for right now. Colleen just got put in there today. She was wheezing, like she sometimes does when it's really hot. She laid an egg this morning, which didn't help. Goldilocks, one of the Easter Eggers, who's lower than Colleen in the pecking order, grew tired of the wheezing noise, and started fighting with Colleen. This only made her wheeze louder, and then Mr. Beard got in on it, trying to separate them. I felt so sorry for her that I just plopped her in with the other misfits. She was a lot happier in there as well. Here are some recent pictures!
Ivy looking beautiful:

Peeper enjoying the sun:

Little Nancy and Ivy fighting over the dust bathing hole:

Dover taking a snooze:

Sue trying to eat some grass:

Colleen in the tractor:

Delaware:

The tractor chickens:

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

It's been a long time since I've updated! Sorry! The chickens are doing well, but Colleen is broody. She and Gidget are in the tractor right now, but they'll have to come in when it gets hotter. We've been getting 5-8 eggs a day, thanks to the young ones, and Peeper's laying again now. She and Baroness are the only old chickens that are laying right now, and Colleen was before she went broody. Silver, Little Nancy, and Delaware are the middles that are laying, and of course all the young ones are. I'm worried about how they'll do in the heat. We're going on vacation soon, and it's supposed to get into the upper nineties while we're gone. We have a neighbor check on them, of course, but I don't want to ask him to bathe their feet or something. He'd probably fall over laughing. We might be able to put a sprinkler on a timer for them near their run, so they could cool off during the hottest part of the day. Mo and Ivy, two of the young ones, are big chickens. They're not fat, they're just very fluffy, being half Wyandotte. I don't know how they'll handle the heat. And Colleen, if she's broody, will be stuck in a box all day. Anyway, here are a couple of photos, and a link to a video I entered in the crowing rooster contest, of baby Longtail.
Holly:

Mo:

Those two are so hard to take pictures of! They're constantly moving around.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/mvi_9070-mov.7944752/

 

[Chicken Quest]

You have a very diverse flock! My friend has an (Buff Orpington x Blue Orpington) x Ameraucana roo. His beard was pecked off last time I visited. He looked so weird when his beard was pecked off!

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

You have a very diverse flock! My friend has an (Buff Orpington x Blue Orpington) x Ameraucana roo. His beard was pecked off last time I visited. He looked so weird when his beard was pecked off!

My poor guy is so funny looking! Now I know where the phrase hen-pecked comes from. He looks bald, but it's not his head, so I'm not sure what to call it. Beard-bald?

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

We got some bad news yesterday. We weren't at home, and a neighbor who was checking on the chickens texted my mom. Sue died of heatstroke. He found her in a nesting box, and it got up to a hundred degrees. Poor Suey. She wasn't my favorite hen, as she was mean and rude, but she was my chicken, and I got attached to her as much as to everyone else. You were loved, little hen.

 

[Bakbuk]

We got some bad news yesterday. We weren't at home, and a neighbor who was checking on the chickens texted my mom. Sue died of heatstroke. He found her in a nesting box, and it got up to a hundred degrees. Poor Suey. She wasn't my favorite hen, as she was mean and rude, but she was my chicken, and I got attached to her as much as to everyone else. You were loved, little hen.
View attachment 3166740View attachment 3166741

I'm so sorry Abby. I'm sure you gave her a wonderful life.

 

[Chicken Quest]

Poor Sue! She was such a beautiful bird. I will pray for you in this time of grieving.
R.I.P. Sue

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

I'm so sorry Abby. I'm sure you gave her a wonderful life.

Poor Sue! She was such a beautiful bird. I will pray for you in this time of grieving.
R.I.P. Sue

Thanks so much, guys. Here are some pics of her as a chick. She was so cute! She laid the biggest green eggs imaginable.