For several years I have enjoyed our friends/ neighbors chickens but never thought to have my own. I was never a big egg eater and had a cat with a very strong prey instinct as well as a hyper dog. Sadly last winter we lost our cat and I have felt my "family" was incomplete with just my husband puppy and I. Right now the Dog is adjusting to the fact that our attention isn't solely on her and that she can't play with our new additions.
Three days ago a neighbor came over with a chick she had rescued from a cat. Our "chicken expert" friends think she (we think she is a she) is about 3 weeks old, not sure of the breed. The one who found her decided that she wouldn't be able to care for her so I became a new chicken mom. I had talked to our neighbors about possibly getting a chicken and adding it to my neighbors coop so I could get a few eggs now and then. However, we decided it would be to lonely to raise just one and my husband decided he would just build us our own coop, so we ended up buying two more. So we now have an older mystery chick, a Rhode Island Red and a Barred Rock who are both several days old now. Peep, our mystery chicken seems to be healing well from the cat bite,no infection and no bleeding. She has also become part time mom to the younger chicks. Sometimes she decides she doesn't want the job and runs away from them when they try to cuddle under her wings though.
It seemed like smooth sailing our first night however when I came home from breakfast out this morning our poor barred rock (Hee hee) looked dead, flattened, cold and being sat on by the other two. I didn't realize I turned off the switch for the plug with the heat lamp.
needless to say the crate has been moved so the lamp plugs into an outlet that I can't accidentally turn off. Anyway I tried warming up Hee hee and she didn't seem like she was going to make it. My chicken friend rubbed her tummy thinking maybe some food was stuck inside and she barely responded to the touch but barely. I microwaved a towel for a bit and wrapped her in it and got a desk lamp and put her in her own box. After some research on here I discovered the evils of pasty butt and gave her a warm bath and that seemed to get her bowels moving so she started moving slowly.and about five hours latter she was trying to hop/fly out of the box she was in,pro-biotics and egg yolks are on the menu for tomorrow. Now she is back in with her sisters and they are doing well together although I am watching the Red because she seems to like to peck/ groom the rock. Peep, the mystery bird is so laid back with them that she let them lay on top of her. She doesn't lay down for long when you look in the cage though she wants out to run around. She may get her name changed to Houdini soon.
Peep got her name from the gal who found her, named after the marshmallow peeps, I went with the onomatopoeia idea and because I love Japan and Korean named the Japanese and Korean sounds of baby birds/chicks. So respectively we have the Barred Rock Hee hee, ( I didn't romanize that very well) who pulls sumo moves on the Rhode Island Red Jjeep jjeep. I am hoping that after they get a bit older I can give them lots of attention and end up with three friendly lap chickens.
Anyway I am new to chickens and will be on here a lot learning everything I can.
I hope it is okay but I am going to post a picture of Peep and if someone sees this and know what her breed is please let me know. I have seen several pictures that look like her with no breed tags.
It is a bit hard to see but she quite a bit of reddish feathers down her back and the tips of her wings and darker feet, slightly lighter than the barred rocks toes.
Three days ago a neighbor came over with a chick she had rescued from a cat. Our "chicken expert" friends think she (we think she is a she) is about 3 weeks old, not sure of the breed. The one who found her decided that she wouldn't be able to care for her so I became a new chicken mom. I had talked to our neighbors about possibly getting a chicken and adding it to my neighbors coop so I could get a few eggs now and then. However, we decided it would be to lonely to raise just one and my husband decided he would just build us our own coop, so we ended up buying two more. So we now have an older mystery chick, a Rhode Island Red and a Barred Rock who are both several days old now. Peep, our mystery chicken seems to be healing well from the cat bite,no infection and no bleeding. She has also become part time mom to the younger chicks. Sometimes she decides she doesn't want the job and runs away from them when they try to cuddle under her wings though.
It seemed like smooth sailing our first night however when I came home from breakfast out this morning our poor barred rock (Hee hee) looked dead, flattened, cold and being sat on by the other two. I didn't realize I turned off the switch for the plug with the heat lamp.
Peep got her name from the gal who found her, named after the marshmallow peeps, I went with the onomatopoeia idea and because I love Japan and Korean named the Japanese and Korean sounds of baby birds/chicks. So respectively we have the Barred Rock Hee hee, ( I didn't romanize that very well) who pulls sumo moves on the Rhode Island Red Jjeep jjeep. I am hoping that after they get a bit older I can give them lots of attention and end up with three friendly lap chickens.
Anyway I am new to chickens and will be on here a lot learning everything I can.
I hope it is okay but I am going to post a picture of Peep and if someone sees this and know what her breed is please let me know. I have seen several pictures that look like her with no breed tags.
It is a bit hard to see but she quite a bit of reddish feathers down her back and the tips of her wings and darker feet, slightly lighter than the barred rocks toes.
and Welcome To BYC! Hee Hee is one lucky chick! So is Peep the stray, you've had some introduction into chicken keeping. X3 on get better pictures of Peep and post in the What Breed forum for help with her id.
