My First Flock in Years

[ihatedarkroast]

When a small hen can outsmart humans (collecting and hiding eggs, "faking" bad vision and running off), it makes you wonder which species is brighter, doesn't it?

Best wishes for Minette's upcoming hatch! Will be interested in seeing what pips out. And, good luck with the coop build.

Haha, I know, right? Thank you!

 

[ihatedarkroast]

Fort Cluck now has a roof out of reclaimed sheet metal, plastic, and pallets. The whole thing is pallet-made as you can see. Haha. This project has been such a success, and so cheap (as in free)! The hubs is planning to make a lot more stuff out of pallets now--a woodshed, a play house for the kids, a storage bin for all the pool toys, and a kids treehouse aka deer stand.

Today, I went out and trimmed Minette's feathers away from her eyes. Since she is glued to her nest, she didn't flee this time. She did growl at first. But her growl turned into a purr as I kept stroking her feathers and grooming her. I should do this more often, poor thing! Usually my husband does it.

On my way out of the coop, the rooster, Beethoven flew up and attacked me in the back of the arm. I shook a stick at him and he fluffed up and made a run at me. So I thwapped him a few times. I think I was way too gentle because he kept coming back for more, that feather brain. I can't wait until the new run is finished, so I can stand upright to defend myself instead of hunching over like a gnome.

Oh yeah, here are the egg pics from yesterday when I tried candling for the first time. I think I might have 5 or 6 good ones out of 17.

Meanwhile my daughter be like, "Where are the eggs, mommy?"

 

[Callender Girl]

Congrats on a free roof and Minette's successful styling!

Hope Beethoven settles down some day. I am giving up hope on Billy Boy. The good news is that I nearly always wear tall chore boots, and he is a really small Cochin Bantam who rarely attacks higher than my Mucks. He runs off quickly, but I am getting pretty good at lobbing gloves at his head.

That's a mighty fetching bonnet your daughter is wearing !

 

[ihatedarkroast]

Congrats on a free roof and Minette's successful styling!

Hope Beethoven settles down some day. I am giving up hope on Billy Boy. The good news is that I nearly always wear tall chore boots, and he is a really small Cochin Bantam who rarely attacks higher than my Mucks. He runs off quickly, but I am getting pretty good at lobbing gloves at his head.

That's a mighty fetching bonnet your daughter is wearing !

Oh man. Sorry about your rooster. Glad youv'e become a good aim.

 

[ihatedarkroast]

Thread for chicks. Hey. Here is the link to my thread about the eggs and broody hens...i didnt feel like copying the whole mess of posts over. Final analysis: 20 eggs started. 11 are strong healthy chicks. 25 % of the eggs never fully developed. The rest met with terrible accidents. Alas. I will be sure to do things a bit differently next time. 11 is a good many though. I can already tell some are cockerels by their feisty personalities. I'm not sure how many of this batch we will end up keeping.

I decided to switch out the rooster Beethoven for a less mean youngster. We haven't done it yet. But I did get the new baby. He is a salmon faverolles. Right now I have him isolated in a dog cage inside the coop. The hens are not thrilled to have him around. Here are some pics. I love his 5 toes! Otherwise he is really ugly right now poor thing. Lol.

 

[Callender Girl]

I am sure your "ugly" little boy will grow up to be beautiful -- after all, he is a Salmon Fav!

I have SF hens, who -- of course -- look much different than the roosters. All have 5 toes, but of all my hens, they are the ones most likely to lose toenails. So, five toes each foot, but both girls don't have 10 toenails between them!

Congrats on your hatch, great photos, and best wishes with your baby boy!

 

[ihatedarkroast]

I am sure your "ugly" little boy will grow up to be beautiful -- after all, he is a Salmon Fav!

I have SF hens, who -- of course -- look much different than the roosters. All have 5 toes, but of all my hens, they are the ones most likely to lose toenails. So, five toes each foot, but both girls don't have 10 toenails between them!

Congrats on your hatch, great photos, and best wishes with your baby boy!

Poor things, losing toenails.

 

[ihatedarkroast]

Bob Chicken is definitely feeling stress. He has been sleeping a lot. We have been having a lot of thunderstorms and even 2 tornado warnings. Yesterday, my son released him into the broody coop. After being bullied by a broody hen he was panting and laying with wings spread out as if exhausted. Then once he found this quiet hiding place one of my other hens came and hung out with him from the other side of the fence and he calmed down/perked up at having some agreeable company. It's the Delaware who has taken an interest in him. IDK why. the Rooster also came to check him out and the 3 of them chilled for a while. After we say goodbye to Beethoven I might move Bob in with the non broody hens (still in his kennel) if the Delaware still wants to be his friend. Not sure when that will be though. No hurry to lose the main flock protector.

 

[Callender Girl]

Poor Bob! It's nice he has a Delaware friend -- at least for now.

BTW, the first time one of the SFs lost a toenail, I nearly lost my mind. So much blood! We went to the vet ASAP. Now, it's become pretty routine for them. I have no idea why of all the breeds, it's my Favs who lose their nails.

 

[ihatedarkroast]

RIP Bob. I don't know how he did it, but Baxter the dog got him and ate him. I found a foot outside the backdoor. The door of the coop is closed. The fence is intact. No other chickens are gone as far as I can tell. I think possibly the dog got his nose or snout under the fence and swiped him out? Unless Bob snuck out through a tiny gap? Feels bad, man.

I need to find time to go to my parents house and get the electric fencing and see if it still works. Our big coop is still unfinished. The hubs is gonna work some more on it today and this week, but his mom is coming to visit. We have 6 acres to mow, and there is VBS at church which we are working. I'm thinking about moving all the broodies and chicks from their temporary pen to the main coop for security's sake. Beethoven our rooster might need to spend a week or so in the dog kennel so he can't terrorize the chicks. Or he can go chill in the fridge. Whatever. I might go get a full sized grownup rooster that isn't mean so we have no more accidents. But no rooster at all for a couple months until the chicks are bigger wouldn't be such a bad thing. It's just more work getting the hens in at night.