New Member in Sacramento

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krisbslp said:
Hi! This is Kris from the Sacramento area. We moved here a year and a half ago, and got our chickens this past Feb/March. We had chickens 17-18 years ago so it's been a while. We currently have mostly rescues. I don't know many of their breeds, but one is the sweetest cochin. The other hens peck her frequently. We have six total--all hens (I think). One is a 3 month old and I'm pretty sure it's a hen. It has dark orange feathers and fluffy cheek feathers. But it has one tail feather that I'm keeping an eye on. I don't see any comb or wattle. It hangs out with its mom all the time. The mom is still protective of it since the other chick was taken by a hawk at one week old. I have hawk netting up over their area currently. Trying to figure out a better looking and affordable replacement.

The chickens are more like pets at this point. We get one or two eggs a day or every other day currently (since it's winter). The mama hen used to lay eggs (she's not even a year old), but got broody by 7-8 months of age. I'm wondering if she'll start laying again in the spring. I have a 12 year old rescue (small, light orange hen with fluffy cheek feathers, unrelated to our 3 month old chick), a large black rescue hen who lays intermittently (I was told she was 3 when I got her, but I'm not sure). The white cochin also seems older than 3 (like I was told), but she has never laid eggs, but I adore her so I'm keeping her. Hopefully the young chick will turn truly be a hen and start laying eggs this spring or summer.

I have a dog (AussieDoodle) who is pretty docile around the hens, but I keep an eye on him because he gets really excited when they fly a few feet or run. He is a therapy dog who goes to my office with me when I work with my speech therapy students. I never leave him in the backyard unsupervised. We also have an old stray cat who adopted us and lives on our porch. He never goes on the backyard. I don't think he's interested in our chickens. My husband is allergic, so the cat can't come inside our house.

My husband and I love to garden together. I often find a few of the chickens escape their poultry fence and roam around our vegetable garden. I try to tear off large leaves from our artichoke plant for them to munch on. They love them!

I'm loving reading everyone's responses here about their backyard chickens. I have learned so much already. I decided it was time to join.
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