My chickens

[JUPAFiSH]

These are my chickens eating yoghurt off a newly planted tree stump! I realised yesterday just how much they love yoghurt. I tried the scrambled eggs today but they didn't appreciate the treat. Think perhaps they are too young. However my Bantams crosses enjoyed them very much.

The white bird is a female broiler, and I'm unsure what the brown one is but he is a rooster. Shame, I want to keep the Broiler as she has the most personality. Hens really are lovely to give attention to. She'll stand there and wait for me to de-hul a sunflower seed and then she gets so excited when I pass them to her she pecks to hard and it pings off into the grass! She also like a rub on her beak for a short time.

It will be time to process her by Christmas but I'm not sure she'll be big enough. I'll be sad to see her go. Apparently they say if you keep broilers they will have a heart attack because they get so big so quick and their growth rate puts pressure on their organs. I have fed her starter chick feed but then all natural produce - will this still be the case I wonder? My Husband will kill me if I keep her (or try to). She is the one who first discovered dust bathing. She is the one who realised that you can de hul a sunflower seed (or she realised that when I do the insides are yummy). She is also the one with the most courage and she is also the one that thought my god daughters toes were maggots (much to my god daughters dismay). Her name is Noel and I think I love her too much to let her go.

Three of them wait on a perch looking at my bedroom window in the morning waiting for me to get up. Its such a good feeling to see them waiting for you and happy to see you and which goodies you have for them.

I had never thought of keeping chickens this way, I had no idea they would give so much back to the family. The coop is now a place for the family to gather, have a cup o tea and chat. Everybody loves them and they have become a part of the family. If it storms at night I lay awake worrying about them and then when I wake I jump put of bed to check they're ok.

My three Bantams are rescues and don't like me as much but I'm working on them. I know nothing about them but I get the feeling they are old enough to start laying.

I love my chickens!

 

[theoldchick]

It's never easy to process a meat bird raised as a pet. However you can take comfort that your birds lived like royalty before being processed.

 

[De Wet]

These are my chickens eating yoghurt off a newly planted tree stump! I realised yesterday just how much they love yoghurt. I tried the scrambled eggs today but they didn't appreciate the treat. Think perhaps they are too young. However my Bantams crosses enjoyed them very much.
The white bird is a female broiler, and I'm unsure what the brown one is but he is a rooster. Shame, I want to keep the Broiler as she has the most personality. Hens really are lovely to give attention to. She'll stand there and wait for me to de-hul a sunflower seed and then she gets so excited when I pass them to her she pecks to hard and it pings off into the grass! She also like a rub on her beak for a short time.
It will be time to process her by Christmas but I'm not sure she'll be big enough. I'll be sad to see her go. Apparently they say if you keep broilers they will have a heart attack because they get so big so quick and their growth rate puts pressure on their organs. I have fed her starter chick feed but then all natural produce - will this still be the case I wonder? My Husband will kill me if I keep her (or try to). She is the one who first discovered dust bathing. She is the one who realised that you can de hul a sunflower seed (or she realised that when I do the insides are yummy). She is also the one with the most courage and she is also the one that thought my god daughters toes were maggots (much to my god daughters dismay). Her name is Noel and I think I love her too much to let her go.
Three of them wait on a perch looking at my bedroom window in the morning waiting for me to get up. Its such a good feeling to see them waiting for you and happy to see you and which goodies you have for them.
I had never thought of keeping chickens this way, I had no idea they would give so much back to the family. The coop is now a place for the family to gather, have a cup o tea and chat. Everybody loves them and they have become a part of the family. If it storms at night I lay awake worrying about them and then when I wake I jump put of bed to check they're ok.
My three Bantams are rescues and don't like me as much but I'm working on them. I know nothing about them but I get the feeling they are old enough to start laying.

I love my chickens!

yes it will be dificult to let her go especially after you name her

 

[JUPAFiSH]

My first free ranging day.

Well, I loved it and I'm sure my chickens did too. They are nearly 8 weeks and I think they were dying for some foraging time. I let the three oldest out, the two chicks stayed in and ran around the coop like they owned the place. Well one of them did, the other is sick and I'm really hoping its not Mareks.
My dog, Cash is a Jack Russell x Labrador has really turned a corner. He killed two of my chicks when I first started keeping chickens and now he just ignores them. Today he was a gem. I like him being out with them as he protects from aerial predators which are prolific here in South Africa. The other three dogs stayed locked up however (just for an hour) as I cant trust them, their prey drive is too high!
Noel is really becoming my favourite, perhaps because I know that the end is nye. Today they appreciated the scrambled eggs.
My Bantams are the most unsociable creatures. They don't like me, don't care to come out of their run and don't want to look or speak to the other chickens. Miserable lot!

 

[Little Peep]

There very pretty!

 

[JUPAFiSH]

My Bantam X crowed for the first time today!

What age are Bantam Roosters when they usually crow? I have no idea of the age of mine but thought this might give me an indicator?

Anyhow, I am so proud! A rooster was crowing in the distance and he obviously felt competitive, he let out this slightly wobbly cockadoodledoo. I am both charmed in ore of this small Bantam, he has such a roar!

My Bantams are miserable for the most part but I am starting to see a change in them. I made them a beautiful food concoction that I hope will keep them entertained for the morning until I take the challenge of free ranging them (they do not like being touched and at the moment I have to lift them out of their coop). They were waiting for me and seemed happy to see me (the food!)

I love my chickens and I have really found a hobby / lifestyle that suits me well.

That cockadoodledoo makes me jump out of bed with a spring in my step!