Monday the 16th of July was to be the day I finally got my hens. My small coop and run were finally done, and now the moment of truth had arrived. As a first-timer, I had zero clue what to expect, and living in a suburban subdivision with little room between homes, I was eagerly if cautiously looking forward to the day.
My main problem though was that the person I was going to buy my two hens from was unavailable, and I REALLY wanted it to be Monday, so I began contacting people from Craigslist in the Seattle area who had previously posted, and finally, around 4:00pm someone from about 50 miles south called and offered me some hens. With my 8 year old son in tow, off we went.
The experience was fun - she had dozens of free-ranging hens and roosters - and in the end, we got three. One was either a Buff Orpington or a Buff Cornish Hen (given to her by the neighbor, she couldn't remember which) and was beautiful, so we took her. We also picked two mixed breeds. They are Black Australorp mixed with either Rhode Island Red or Americauna. I guess we'll have a better clue when the eggs start in the next month or so.
The ride home was great, and we eagerly placed them in their new run. Our two free-range rabbits began stomping their feet in protest, but soon mellowed. We put one in the run to see what would happen, and other than a cold nose touching a few behinds, no one seemed to care. He came out and the other boy bunny went in, but he went straight for the food, so we kicked him out.
For the next hour or so, we interacted with them, offering them some cantaloupe and petting them and so forth. As it got dark, though, they had no interest in "walking the plank" to the coop, but rather went in the far back corner under the coop where the food and water are, making a mess in the process. I decided to let them be, and just moved the food out into the run area. Then it was goodnight.
...And then 5:30am happened. I don't know how to describe it. It reminded me of when geese fly over your house heading south for the winter. But it also sounded like a hen who was perhaps pushing out the largest egg known to man. Oh, and add a pinch of strangled duck. Whatever you want to call it, it was loud!
At first I just sat there, thinking to myself "Oh...My...God... What have I done?" The coop is probably about 20-25 feet from the neighbors' nearest window, so this was very unnerving. I consoled myself by thinking that this must be that once every few days egg laying, where the laying hen and her friends make a scene until the big moment passes. And indeed, after about 15 minutes of me hiding my head under the pillow, it suddenly stopped.
Wow! What an egg! Or at least, that's what I thought. Well after 30 minutes of relative silence, when i could try to calm down and start telling myself it would be fine, and that they probably thought it was a crow or duck or something, it all started in again. It really sounded like a chorus, with one hen going "cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck" in one long rapid pulse, with another doing the goose call every few seconds. I'm not sure what the third was doing - maybe she was laying the egg.
Anyhow, on the clothes came and down I went. I expected to see them all huddled in a corner, one of them squeezing for all her might. Instead, they all were standing around the feed dispenser. And the vocalizations stopped completely, as they all just looked at me like "Do you mind? We're TALKING!"
Well, at least they had stopped. So then I grabbed my stool and sat down and waited for them to start up again with their three hen show. Instead, come to find out, it was all coming from the one pretty buff hen. She managed to do some sort of voice throwing trick that had me and I'm guessing the rabbits thoroughly convinced that someone was dying. And I'm sure if the neighbors had gotten a vote, they'd have chosen me.
So I spent the next 45 minutes going between talking to her, petting her, throwing oatmeal in for pecking pleasure, and typing a Craigslist For Sale ad. By 8:30am this morning I had received a call, and her fate was set. After my son's baseball game tonight, our Buff girl was off to a home about 10 miles away where she would be able to roam with five new friends and make all of the noise she wanted. I was at peace.
Remarkably, when I got home tonight, the two roughly 14-16 week old crosses had already put themelves to bed up in the coop - in the nesting area versus the roost, but at least in the right structure. I quickly closed the doorway, so that if they decide in the morning to make a ruckus, it will be a mild, muffled ruckus.
We'll see how tomorrow goes. Both hens seem very mellow and quiet - just the minor "ruuuuuaaaaahhhhhhh" now and again, but no goose music or anything. We'll hope for the best.
Sorry for the long post - I really needed counseling today, but having the vocal girl out of here tonight will really ease my mind going to sleep. I will post some pics once I can get on Photobucket (not responding tonight), and I will do a separate posting in the coop/run area with some photos.
But for now, it's bedtime!
-Dave
My main problem though was that the person I was going to buy my two hens from was unavailable, and I REALLY wanted it to be Monday, so I began contacting people from Craigslist in the Seattle area who had previously posted, and finally, around 4:00pm someone from about 50 miles south called and offered me some hens. With my 8 year old son in tow, off we went.
The experience was fun - she had dozens of free-ranging hens and roosters - and in the end, we got three. One was either a Buff Orpington or a Buff Cornish Hen (given to her by the neighbor, she couldn't remember which) and was beautiful, so we took her. We also picked two mixed breeds. They are Black Australorp mixed with either Rhode Island Red or Americauna. I guess we'll have a better clue when the eggs start in the next month or so.
The ride home was great, and we eagerly placed them in their new run. Our two free-range rabbits began stomping their feet in protest, but soon mellowed. We put one in the run to see what would happen, and other than a cold nose touching a few behinds, no one seemed to care. He came out and the other boy bunny went in, but he went straight for the food, so we kicked him out.
For the next hour or so, we interacted with them, offering them some cantaloupe and petting them and so forth. As it got dark, though, they had no interest in "walking the plank" to the coop, but rather went in the far back corner under the coop where the food and water are, making a mess in the process. I decided to let them be, and just moved the food out into the run area. Then it was goodnight.
...And then 5:30am happened. I don't know how to describe it. It reminded me of when geese fly over your house heading south for the winter. But it also sounded like a hen who was perhaps pushing out the largest egg known to man. Oh, and add a pinch of strangled duck. Whatever you want to call it, it was loud!
At first I just sat there, thinking to myself "Oh...My...God... What have I done?" The coop is probably about 20-25 feet from the neighbors' nearest window, so this was very unnerving. I consoled myself by thinking that this must be that once every few days egg laying, where the laying hen and her friends make a scene until the big moment passes. And indeed, after about 15 minutes of me hiding my head under the pillow, it suddenly stopped.
Wow! What an egg! Or at least, that's what I thought. Well after 30 minutes of relative silence, when i could try to calm down and start telling myself it would be fine, and that they probably thought it was a crow or duck or something, it all started in again. It really sounded like a chorus, with one hen going "cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck" in one long rapid pulse, with another doing the goose call every few seconds. I'm not sure what the third was doing - maybe she was laying the egg.
Anyhow, on the clothes came and down I went. I expected to see them all huddled in a corner, one of them squeezing for all her might. Instead, they all were standing around the feed dispenser. And the vocalizations stopped completely, as they all just looked at me like "Do you mind? We're TALKING!"
Well, at least they had stopped. So then I grabbed my stool and sat down and waited for them to start up again with their three hen show. Instead, come to find out, it was all coming from the one pretty buff hen. She managed to do some sort of voice throwing trick that had me and I'm guessing the rabbits thoroughly convinced that someone was dying. And I'm sure if the neighbors had gotten a vote, they'd have chosen me.
So I spent the next 45 minutes going between talking to her, petting her, throwing oatmeal in for pecking pleasure, and typing a Craigslist For Sale ad. By 8:30am this morning I had received a call, and her fate was set. After my son's baseball game tonight, our Buff girl was off to a home about 10 miles away where she would be able to roam with five new friends and make all of the noise she wanted. I was at peace.
Remarkably, when I got home tonight, the two roughly 14-16 week old crosses had already put themelves to bed up in the coop - in the nesting area versus the roost, but at least in the right structure. I quickly closed the doorway, so that if they decide in the morning to make a ruckus, it will be a mild, muffled ruckus.
We'll see how tomorrow goes. Both hens seem very mellow and quiet - just the minor "ruuuuuaaaaahhhhhhh" now and again, but no goose music or anything. We'll hope for the best.
Sorry for the long post - I really needed counseling today, but having the vocal girl out of here tonight will really ease my mind going to sleep. I will post some pics once I can get on Photobucket (not responding tonight), and I will do a separate posting in the coop/run area with some photos.
But for now, it's bedtime!
-Dave
. As it was, I really only was going to get two, but as many here say, it's hard to stop!
