Morning coffee with the chickens.

[RebeccaBoyd]

My morning coffee quarantine buddies. The not so little marans are 12 weeks old now and the boys are getting their rooster coloring in. One of them crowed for the first time last week. Toothy is still the big boss of everyone but he won't be the biggest for long. At 12 weeks George and Charlie are already half his size with Drumstick and Dumpling not far behind. Momma and Nugget both went broody on the same day and started sitting this past Friday. Momma hen is on 11 eggs with Toothless being the daddy. Nugget is sitting on 8, 4 of her own and 4 that my cousin gave me that are Orpington crosses. I have a pic of Momma in her secret spot, will get one of Nugget later. Both girls were smart and used the horses who love the chickens to their advantage. Momma is between the stall walls. Nugget is in a feed sack full of sawdust beside Dirt.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Had to add a picture of Dirt sleeping on the job as guard pony to Nugget.

 

[chrissynemetz]

Your flock is lovely! Thank you for sharing the photos!

 

[BY Bob]

You have a beautiful flock. That last photo is quite a large chicken!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Thank you, There's been some big changes since I posted this. Momma and Nugget are the proud mother's of 10 4 week old chicks between them. The 3 red game boys are gone. They had started picking on the marans and Toothless was doing his best to keep them in line which was working until the new chicks hatched. They managed to get ahold and severely injure one which was the final straw and I rehomed them the next day. The one that was injured had all its chick down and top layer of skin removed from the base of its head down to its shoulder blades completely around its neck. I had to remove it and bring it inside to recover. Cheepy is now fully healed and will be moved back outside in the coming days and i'm praying its a pullet. My marans are now 4 months old and I just have 3, my keeper boy Drummy and the girls Daisy and Holly. It broke my heart to rehome the 3 other boys but it was for the best interest in my flock and for them. They got a wonderful home where i've gotten updated pictures and the person i sold them to makes his living off of selling farm fresh eggs so they have over 100 hens between them. He also has about 20 ameracuana's so he's starting a side project with the marans for creating olive eggers and when my girls start laying in the future this fall wants at least a dozen hatching eggs in the hopes of getting some pullets and having his own maran flock as well. I want to personally thank you BY Bob for the information you gave me months ago about marans and their temperament. I have fallen in love with them and my favorite pullet daisy is the lap chicken i've dreamed of. In the future no matter what my flock consists of there will always be several marans running around. As soon as i find the charger for my camera i will get updated pictures of everyone including the babies. oh and my boy streak continues, out of 10 chicks, i suspect at least 6 if not more are boys..more likely 8 of them. Once i'm certain who's for sure a boy i'll have to rehome them as well.

 

[BY Bob]

Wow that is a lot of doings. I'm sorry about the boys but sometimes you have to do what's right for the flock.

It's funny how many chickens are named Daisy. My first lap chicken was a leghorn named Daisy.

I would love to see updated pictures. Thank you for saying you found my advise helpful. It is very nice to hear that.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Wow that is a lot of doings. I'm sorry about the boys but sometimes you have to do what's right for the flock.

It's funny how many chickens are named Daisy. My first lap chicken was a leghorn named Daisy.

I would love to see updated pictures. Thank you for saying you found my advise helpful. It is very nice to hear that.

BY Bob i've heard you refer to your daisy as the best hen ever. I love the names Rosie and Daisy. Before i even thought of having my daughter i had 2 house rabbits named Rosie and Daisy. Those 2 left a huge hole in my heart when they passed days of each other due to cancer. I ended up using Rose as her middle name and since day 1 have called my daughter Rosie. A few days after getting the marans while trying to think of names One of the pullets was constantly in my lap and jealous when i gave any of the others any attention just like my Daisy bunny. She became Daisy and i swear she's like her only in a chicken suit. She has to be first to get treats, and if i talk to the others she's right beside me gently pecking on my pant legs until i pick her up or speak to her. I got some new pictures of everyone this evening. As soon as i go through them i'll post a updated thread.

 

[BY Bob]

I know that my Daisy loves that.