Our introduction to keeping chickens, the high's, the lows and pics of our journey.

[vehve]

Fancy, that cat looks evil. We wanted a bedding material that lasts long, I don't want to clean out weekly, just a quick daily poop removal.
Peat and pine shavings it is for now.

 

[Bens-Hens]

Ben, yes there are roo's in the flocks. I simply meant that the eggs were still semi-viable, so they could not be much older than two weeks.

I'll start looking for bulls-eyes then.

Hopefully they'll gain size to the 50g range, even 45 would be ok, but 30 is a bit on the small side. The EE mutt came in a 37g egg, so she might lay pretty small one's, although her daddy is a BCM, so I'm hoping that will increase the size a bit.

Pretty sure most people who buy eggs give up trying after about 10 as the odd drop quite a bit of being viable.

I found lining up a few pullet eggs up in a row, showed how fast they gain in size. I am guessing a gram or two a week is about what ours gained.

Since Ben is too busy cuddling with his chicks (and getting attached to his new cat), I will continue to bore you with what we have been up to.

Today was coop cleanup day. The bedding would of been ok to use still, but since we first started to put leftovers in there, we wanted to get them out to avoid potential future problems. Hopefully this wont have to happen for a long time again, because the first compartment of my compost is up to the brim now. Karin did a quick scrub in there, I think it turned out quite nice.

It was nice to see that my choice of floor material is keeping up to par.

The hemp manufacturer got back to me, they would be ready to deliver in a month. Only problem is, their smallest size is a cubic meter of the stuff. I just used about a hundred liters to fill the coop, and I'm expecting to go about 3 months between bedding changes, if not more. Where on earth am I supposed to store a cubic meter of bedding?

Ben, I think we're in need of some more chick pictures again. And what name did you settle on for the cat?

I am still trying to get hold of some free lino. Have you looked into the 'deep litter' method? MIght not use the whole cube but it would be well over half i there. I don't use it myself but plenty of the US owners do.

As for the cat, it has been getting pats, but it's certainly not staying. It's booked in to be surrendered to the local Cat Haven tomorrow. This cat is costing more and more as they won't take it without a cash donation! Oh well, at least it will have a good chance at becoming legal with a chip and de-sexed before finding a new home. We can't afford to give that sort of treatment to an abandoned cat.

Cuddles.

It's got a few pats, just trying to get it used to people, makes the worst smells of the house hahahah

Nice coop. We used Lino too, best thing we ever did. I put hay under the perches and simply remove once a week.

I was thinking about doing that over the sand to make cleaning out a bit easier, less lamingtons.

Chick pics later, I have some stuff to do today, might try get them out into some sunshine for some better happy snaps.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I used to do volunteer work at that cat haven. I got my first cat from there. He was a spunky little black and white Manx. Our son and I got a raaf flight back to Sydney for my grandads funeral and I left hubby in charge. Needless to say he ended up at the vet, perhaps that's when he realised he didn't really HATE cats.

 

[vehve]

Ben, Just ask hardware stores for last of the roll pieces.

I don't want to do deep litter, it would put out too much humidity.

Interesting that they charge for found cats, here they charge the owners according to how long the animal has stayed, or if they never show up to claim their lost kitty, the new owner pays for upkeep and any medical expenses.

I'm still undecisive when it comes whether or not I like them. Along with horses, they're among the only animals that do mean things knowingly and on purpose, or that's our experience at least.

 

[vehve]

Ok, three eggs in three days now. She seems to be on a 23 hour rhythm, making smaller eggs all the time, today's was only 27g. Do your chickens do the eggsong both before and after laying? Veera started by going into the run, climbing to the top roost and making this demented goose sound for about 5 minutes, the whole flock chimed in, especially Taneli the head roo. Then she went to the nest (different one today) and started fussing about. Took about 20 minutes today for her to produce an egg. Towards the end of it, Virpi went in to check on her, hopefully she'll start mimicking the behavior soon. We then got another two minutes of demented goose sounds again, accompanied by weird noises from Taneli.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Lol, when the egg song starts here it's like a ' chain reaction '. The hen laying the egg starts then the roos start off , one by one and then every other hen that even contemplated laying an egg joins in on the chorus. Lalala.

 

[vehve]

Lol, when the egg song starts here it's like a ' chain reaction '. The hen laying the egg starts then the roos start off , one by one and then every other hen that even contemplated laying an egg joins in on the chorus. Lalala.

I just found it strange that she started singing before laying already. And the non layers had no problem chiming in too. Virpi, even though her comb and wattle are the least developed of the three, was showing some interest in Veera's nesting too, so I'm hoping that she would start too. I don't know why Viiru hasn't started yet, her comb and wattle are the most developed and Taneli has been enjoying "business time" (If you're familiar with Flight of the Conchords from that close by island nation over there) with her for almost two weeks now.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I just found it strange that she started singing before laying already. And the non layers had no problem chiming in too. Virpi, even though her comb and wattle are the least developed of the three, was showing some interest in Veera's nesting too, so I'm hoping that she would start too. I don't know why Viiru hasn't started yet, her comb and wattle are the most developed and Taneli has been enjoying "business time" (If you're familiar with Flight of the Conchords from that close by island nation over there) with her for almost two weeks now.

Felix it not so much who is laying, but the laying of the egg per-say. Once the trumpet is sounded the entire flock wants to take pride in the laying of the egg. Don't pay so much attention to the size of the comb but the colour. As they are coming into lay the comb and wattles will redden.

 

[vehve]

Felix it not so much who is laying, but the laying of the egg per-say. Once the trumpet is sounded the entire flock wants to take pride in the laying of the egg. Don't pay so much attention to the size of the comb but the colour. As they are coming into lay the comb and wattles will redden.

I've been eyeing both color and size development. Here's Veera in the back (the laying one) and Virpi in front of her.

Here's Viiru, with Veera hiding behind her again.

The rest of the flock got a bit curious, so I snapped a few pictures of them too. The first one is Vilma, the Marans. Even though the Alho's as a breed are my favorite of our flock, this chicken is really adorable. She's sort of outside the pecking order, no one bother's her and she's really kind to others, sort of has an air of respect around her. She's too heavy to fly, so she sprints around flapping her wings, it's hilarious. Then we have Topi in the next one, and Taneli in the last one.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Lol, their like ' what you lookin at dude ? '