ChknMama50
Songster
Hey guys- want to thank ALL of you who've posted things SO helpful to those of us who are learning as we go pretty much ;-) You THINK you can prepare....but ;-) haha
OK- got our "dream forever" home back in April '20 but things went pretty crazy due to not only the whole Covid nightmare but also father falling a month after we finally moved up closer to them and after being in and out of hospital and rehab for 1 1/2 years we lost him just prior to Thanksgiving in '21... I was dealing with my own "long COVID" problems (still ongoing) after being hospitalized myself in Feb '21 and had JUST finished up cancer treatment before we closed on the house- FUN times
haha
NOT complaining- that's life- and a pretty good one honestly! Hubby knew I was missing my fur babies as I'd lost my last kitty just shy of 22yrs about 1 1/2 yrs before we moved. We had talked about getting chickens and other farm animals as our property came with a barn and a coop/run but was a bit shocked when he showed up in May '20 with 4 adorable "day old" puff balls from TSC and it was love at first sight!
Those were 2 "Asian Blacks" and 2 "Majestic Midnight Marans" (too tired to check those names- lol) but hybrids I think from Hoover Hatchery... ADORABLE and thought we were doing great but as I said- learning as we go and didn't realize my separate barn stall with sand/dirt floor was NOT safe... and they were sadly attacked by a black snake which I found as I was stopping in to say hi (thru barn window along driveway as the heat light was on...) late one evening after working on our old house 1 1/2hrs away as I did quite often till we sold in Oct/Nov of that year!) SO boy can "chicken mama" go into overdrive real quick- I just ran around with car running and door open and grabbed a shovel and killed the poor thing- I know he was doing what comes naturally to him but he had my BABY in his mouth...
I could see little "Larry's" fluffy butt still sticking out- sorry so graphic... was traumatic to say the least... Knew immediately which one it was as she was the only one who hadn't developed any tail yet... the other three were huddled together obviously freaked out but we moved on and built "fort chicken" which was a completely enclosed with 1/2" hardware cloth and no gaps elevated up on cinder blocks for my back ;-) Those gals had just gotten close to moving into the coop when hubby came home with ANOTHER box of 4 puff balls again
in June... They're about 6weeks apart...just enough to really make that a fun time of going back and forth with two separate flocks...as I was learning!!
These 4 were also hybrids from TSC- this time "Easter Eggers"... all were supposed to be ?"Starlight Green Egger" ones but pretty sure one is whatever they call the blue ones- think "Prairie Bluebell" or something like that- lol- like I said, I'm fried from our move to new coop and sick chickens...
These guys are SO different- and love them too from the get go- they were like little Easter Chicks and little balls of energy... Sadly again, I lost one again... tried everything but think she had heat exhaustion and it was just too late- oddly enough both were the "runts" of their group... I say sweet little "Butter" was too good for this world so she was taken back to heaven! She was loved while she was here!!
SO my flock is as follows (kinda in pecking order
:
Puffy (aka Puff Puff or just "Puff")- MMM * more to follow on this gal as she's really been a curve ball and still not 100% sure she's not a Roo afterall...we lovingly call her our Trans chicken
Lilly (Belle) AB
Lady (Bug) AB
Dandy (Lion) PBB
PeeWee (aka "Lil Nancy Lee"... my mothers name/nickname when she was little...haha) SGE
Woodsy (Owl) SGE and my snake whisperer- has alerted me twice now to snakes I didn't see... like a damn "pointer" dog!! had to see it to believe it! haha
Fast forward, we have just completed (pretty much haha) our new built from the ground up Shed/Coop combo with an attached 10'X20' run!! WHAT a project that turned out to be... Think they'll be super happy once they get used to things and it feels like "home"...Seem plenty cozy up on roost at night but it's the getting around that's been at issue... we're pretty sure we solved that last problem today!!
Think I was SO excited at the prospect of things being a bit more automated and me getting to go out once a day (if all is well) for a visit I can actually really enjoy vs mornings which are rough for me and again to put "to bed", that I underestimated how stressful this move was going to be for them and how poorly they would take to being moved from their only other home.... All the jokes of it being "The Chicken Hilton" by the neighbors suddenly weren't so funny when I had scared babies I was worried about getting hurt- and trying to figure out just what all is going on...
SOOOO I'm praying that tomorrow will be a better day and everyone will be on the mend... had some real scary moments that I still don't fully know what was wrong...will post that separate/later.
Thanks for indulging a long winded happy to join new member!!
OK- got our "dream forever" home back in April '20 but things went pretty crazy due to not only the whole Covid nightmare but also father falling a month after we finally moved up closer to them and after being in and out of hospital and rehab for 1 1/2 years we lost him just prior to Thanksgiving in '21... I was dealing with my own "long COVID" problems (still ongoing) after being hospitalized myself in Feb '21 and had JUST finished up cancer treatment before we closed on the house- FUN times
haha NOT complaining- that's life- and a pretty good one honestly! Hubby knew I was missing my fur babies as I'd lost my last kitty just shy of 22yrs about 1 1/2 yrs before we moved. We had talked about getting chickens and other farm animals as our property came with a barn and a coop/run but was a bit shocked when he showed up in May '20 with 4 adorable "day old" puff balls from TSC and it was love at first sight!
Those were 2 "Asian Blacks" and 2 "Majestic Midnight Marans" (too tired to check those names- lol) but hybrids I think from Hoover Hatchery... ADORABLE and thought we were doing great but as I said- learning as we go and didn't realize my separate barn stall with sand/dirt floor was NOT safe... and they were sadly attacked by a black snake which I found as I was stopping in to say hi (thru barn window along driveway as the heat light was on...) late one evening after working on our old house 1 1/2hrs away as I did quite often till we sold in Oct/Nov of that year!) SO boy can "chicken mama" go into overdrive real quick- I just ran around with car running and door open and grabbed a shovel and killed the poor thing- I know he was doing what comes naturally to him but he had my BABY in his mouth...
I could see little "Larry's" fluffy butt still sticking out- sorry so graphic... was traumatic to say the least... Knew immediately which one it was as she was the only one who hadn't developed any tail yet... the other three were huddled together obviously freaked out but we moved on and built "fort chicken" which was a completely enclosed with 1/2" hardware cloth and no gaps elevated up on cinder blocks for my back ;-) Those gals had just gotten close to moving into the coop when hubby came home with ANOTHER box of 4 puff balls again
in June... They're about 6weeks apart...just enough to really make that a fun time of going back and forth with two separate flocks...as I was learning!! These 4 were also hybrids from TSC- this time "Easter Eggers"... all were supposed to be ?"Starlight Green Egger" ones but pretty sure one is whatever they call the blue ones- think "Prairie Bluebell" or something like that- lol- like I said, I'm fried from our move to new coop and sick chickens...
These guys are SO different- and love them too from the get go- they were like little Easter Chicks and little balls of energy... Sadly again, I lost one again... tried everything but think she had heat exhaustion and it was just too late- oddly enough both were the "runts" of their group... I say sweet little "Butter" was too good for this world so she was taken back to heaven! She was loved while she was here!!
SO my flock is as follows (kinda in pecking order
:Puffy (aka Puff Puff or just "Puff")- MMM * more to follow on this gal as she's really been a curve ball and still not 100% sure she's not a Roo afterall...we lovingly call her our Trans chicken
Lilly (Belle) AB
Lady (Bug) AB
Dandy (Lion) PBB
PeeWee (aka "Lil Nancy Lee"... my mothers name/nickname when she was little...haha) SGE
Woodsy (Owl) SGE and my snake whisperer- has alerted me twice now to snakes I didn't see... like a damn "pointer" dog!! had to see it to believe it! haha
Fast forward, we have just completed (pretty much haha) our new built from the ground up Shed/Coop combo with an attached 10'X20' run!! WHAT a project that turned out to be... Think they'll be super happy once they get used to things and it feels like "home"...Seem plenty cozy up on roost at night but it's the getting around that's been at issue... we're pretty sure we solved that last problem today!!
Think I was SO excited at the prospect of things being a bit more automated and me getting to go out once a day (if all is well) for a visit I can actually really enjoy vs mornings which are rough for me and again to put "to bed", that I underestimated how stressful this move was going to be for them and how poorly they would take to being moved from their only other home.... All the jokes of it being "The Chicken Hilton" by the neighbors suddenly weren't so funny when I had scared babies I was worried about getting hurt- and trying to figure out just what all is going on...
SOOOO I'm praying that tomorrow will be a better day and everyone will be on the mend... had some real scary moments that I still don't fully know what was wrong...will post that separate/later.
Thanks for indulging a long winded happy to join new member!!
and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.
to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!
