Notes from Chicken Rebuttal Society (Updated with new pics post #22)

[Rockin' Reds]

Hurray for the CRS!!! I so love reading these...made my day...nope...my week!!

 

[Ravishaw]

Quote:
If that indeed does look like one of mine, mine is the offspring of a white phoenix and americauna. The rooster attacked my daughter and has since gone to the big roost in the sky.

On another note, the divider I had in the brooder fell down and trapped one of the wynadotte chicks. I'm down to 2 americaunas, 2 wynadottes and 2 new jersey reds.

 

[PapaChaz]

great pics! I've often wondered why my roo seems to be booted out of the coop at times. Now i'm guessing my chapter of the CRS is ladies only....

 

[Ravishaw]

4/11/2011

Well it’s been an amazing couple of weeks, out here on Beehive Road on the edge of Phoenix. Scarcely two weeks ago we were looking at the hottest days of the year so far. We chickens were starting to melt under our full feather jackets. Dust bathing in the irrigation runoffs was up and everyone was visiting the water pond several times a day to top off. Let’s face it, this summer is going to be hot! I’m glad that I’m a white leghorn and have naturally heat dissipating feathers.

Where to get started with the updates. Best would be the rain we had.

This weekend it rained like nobody’s business. It rained like Seattle. We had overcast skies, cold cold rain and it made for a miserable couple of days. Little Danish got stuck outside the brooder on Saturday. Her chicks were inside huddled under the heat lamp and she got caught out in the rain. Like a good mama hen, she stayed by the brooder and got positively soaked. In fact, she got so miserable looking that the big human came outside and scooped her up and put the chicks in a big metal bowl. He took the soppy mess of feathers inside and turned on the hair dryer. When they were all dried out and the chicks were getting drowsy he put them in the garage in the green trough and let them sleep there for the night.

The pullets made an escape from their brooder apartment while the big hens were under house arrest (more on our incarceration later) to invade the back porch and look into the humans house. They got to experience how fun it is to watch the silly humans first hand as they lounged around in the house watching TV and whatever else they do. Eventually the humans let us out and we quickly reclaimed the back porch. The little pullets made a hasty retreat to the gravel pile. There’s one pullet in that group I’m keeping a watchful eye on. She’s got some brown around her face but is starting to resemble a white leghorn. She sure is a flighty thing.

Now about our incarceration. It’s been known for ages, that we chickens of the fuzzy butt persuasion enjoy having a comfortable place to lay our eggs. Our tushies like a place to set where the ground isn’t hard and it is somewhat private. Well the human neglected this age-old wisdom and let our nesting boxes become bare. Never mind that a few of us ladies (not mentioning any names… o’silly americaunas) spend half an hour kicking shavings out onto the ground before we can lay an egg, but I digress. Our bums were bumping bare wood and we weren’t having it. So a few hens made a pact to start laying in the front yard behind the thorniest rosebush we could find. The rose bush for it’s part is doing magnificently. Lots of sweet smelling roses make laying eggs there such a relief. I personally didn’t lay any eggs back there, but I know that the human extracted (at great personal pain) over a dozen eggs. Several were green, dark dark brown and pink. So he locked us up for four days this week. And the worst part? No new shavings in the boxes… A hen can only endure so much.

Rhonda and Danish went at it yesterday. It was such a glorious afternoon, the ground was still damp from our rain, the chicks, the pullets and all the hens were out gallomping around the yard. If you don’t know what gallomping means, just observe chickens fresh out of the coop freeranging. Danish wanted to introduce the chicks to the big girl coop and Rhonda was inclined to let them see their future quarters. There were greetings exchanged and somewhere in the exchange a misunderstanding took place and Danish lit into Rhonda with a fury. Rhonda is our dominant hen and was having none of Danish’s attitude. She quickly had her comb in mouth pushing her beak into the ground. Danish eventually gave up and clucked her disapproval and made off for the grass. Danish DID want to issue a formal apology to Rhonda, citing some misunderstood comment about having gained weight while in the brooder. Danish commented she had NOT gained weight, she was just puffed up to protect the chicks. She wishes to take back her comment about Rhonda’s semblance with a stuffed pheasant.

Last but not least, yes, as you all heard, we had another dog attack on Saturday morning. The humans left to go clean a church, and a stray dog snuck in the yard. I’m happy to say that everyone survived, but the dog did quite a number on one americauna and one barred rock. The barred rock in question, one of the graduating pullets, has a trailing wing but appears to be ok overall. The americauna did not fare as well, and has several scrapes, puncture wounds and lots of missing feathers on her back. Her beautiful tail with light orange feathers is almost bare now, consisting of one lone feather (oh my chicken eyes just tear up at the loss of her beautiful tail). She is much more quiet and is staying somewhat closer to the coop as of late. The human was quite mad when he couldn’t find the two attacked hens. He was of course quite relieved later when they turned up alive and in the coop at night. I’m not sure, but all the stress of not finding them took a toll on him. I might have seen a tear in his eye as he hugged the little americauna in the dark coop that night.

Well, that’s all for this week from Beehive Rd, out here on the edge of Phoenix; where all the chickens are healthy, the grass is a foot high, and all the pullets are fully feathered.

 

[EasterEggersRULE]

so funny ! Love the cute baby fuzzys !

 

[pixiedouglas]

these are so funny! love it!

 

[Cattitude]

That Ameraucana gives a really good stink eye.

 

[specklesmom]

Wonderful reports!! Can't wait to read about further events!!

 

[Ravishaw]

Well it’s been an amazing couple of weeks, out here on Beehive Road on the edge of Phoenix. Summertime is starting to rev up it’s fervor and heat things to the point of boiling. Yesterday one of the barred rocks laid an egg and I swear it came out hard-boiled!

It’s been an amazing couple of weeks, we have had cold snaps, heat waves and thankfully we all have shade and lots of cool clear water to drink. I’m afraid that this summer is really going to be a toaster. I’ve already told the other hens to make sure they keep their feathers ruffled with dirt when appropriate and to take frequent trips to the shade. That one wynadotte scares me though. She spends far too much time out in the sun. I wonder if she was dropped as a chick…

The gossipin’ gals could not stop about the new brooder next to the coop. Yes, it’s the one that has been sitting on the human’s driveway FOREVER, but he managed to huff and puff it into the back of his truck and deliver it. Now the little chicks have a spot close to home and Danish isn’t so worried about her little young ones. She’d been calling to them in her sleep, which is fine, I suppose it’s a natural instinct. But they were in the brooder 75 yards away and she was sleeping in the coop. Rhonda finally had enough one night and ordered Danish to sleep in the brooder. The next night, a very recalcitrant Danish came back to the coop and tucked her head under her wing so as to not upset Rhonda. But even still, with the brooder right next door, and screens all around it, 2 of those dang chicks managed to sneak into the coop overnight. The human is very, very perplexed.

Other news, the pullets continue to grow up and get bigger and bigger.

Thankfully they’ve feathered in for the most part and no longer look like last week’s maul survivors. The Orpingtons are very attractive as far as hens go. Some of the pullets have passed initiation! Saturday morning when the human came to give us some chicken food (I always like it better when he brings scrambled eggs) two of the Orpingtons lashed out at some of the other hens. Full grown hens! Can you believe their brashness? Well the two younger barred rocks earned their names on the spot. Abstinence and Obstinance. Abstinance withdrew from the fracas and Obstinance… well she dug her claws into the ground and put up one heck of a fight. Considering she was fighting a 1 month old pullet she put up quite a fight, but in the end, it was Obstinance’s beak pushed into the coop floor. The rest of us hens made a collective gag because you know what’s on the coop floor.

Some of the pullets are content to play around the air-conditioner, but it’s that white one. She looks like a leghorn half the time, and the other half like a confused Americauna, not that Americaunas aren’t always partially confused but she really shows the trait.

Probably the highlight of the recent news is that the two bedroom brooder next door, has both halves occupied! Yes, I might pass the news around to our other feathered friends in the neighborhood that once again, there is a rooster on premises. I know, of us hens finally are growing our feathers back from the first rooster. But the human promised me in very clear terms that he’d keep this rooster under control. From what I saw of him, he’s a big big boy, looks like a barred rock gentleman. He came with a pretty flighty brown production or sex-link. I’m not sure but she sure is a flighty thing. Suzie made an off-handed remark, “Boy she makes even more noise than Agnes does!” Now I admit as a leghorn it is my sacred, time-honored responsibility to note the passing of time, but surely Susie went a bit far in her remarks… and I intend to visit with Suzie shortly to set matters straight. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of this rooster soon. He sure has a manly crow and a big comb.

The story of how he was found is something else! The human went to some foreign country called Mesa to pick him up. Silly human traded 2 dozen eggs for this rooster with a farmer, and the farmer wished him luck catching the rooster. Well the human and his human brother looked and looked. They looked high, low, in the pen, in the barn, in the farmers orchard, out in the field with the cattle, nothing. He was standing next to the coop, about to call it quits when he heard someone squirt a catsup bottle. You know the sound I mean. He turned, and looked up and the rooster had been there the whole time. Next thing he knew that rooster was being put in a box and an hour later unloaded in his new pad.

More eggs have been found outside the coop, so I’m afraid we’re going to all go under house arrest again unless you hens stop laying eggs in the weeds and bushes. One poor barred rock must’ve come about surprised because the human found an egg in the middle of the yard while he was mowing. He passed over it, and on his next trip around, there it was sitting there.
Now this weekend was Easter, and I hope all you hens and feathered layers got lots of sweet treats to eat. We thoroughly enjoyed our veggies from the garden. They are strewn all over the yard now, and will bring an abundance of potato bugs and other goodies. I was a bit disappointed though, in our hopping friends. There wasn’t a single jelly-bean in our coops, and we’d been especially good since January. It wasn’t until Monday morning he showed up, all grins and no explanations. My local Easter bunny union will hear from me soon.

One final note. I will have to talk to my publicist about the photographer. I don’t believe a picture of Oprah with her feathered rear end sticking up would make it past the editor’s desk.

Well, that’s all for this week from Beehive Rd, out here on the edge of Phoenix; where all the chickens are healthy, the grass is a foot high, and all the pullets are fully feathered.

 

[schellie69]

Love the story, please keep them coming.