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

[Fancychooklady]

The one I grabbed while moving house. More once they start to venture out.

Yay, keep an eye on her, the penciling on that hen is lovely Ben.

 

[cwrite]

The one I grabbed while moving house. More once they start to venture out.

Both ladies are so pretty.

 

[vehve]

Ben, congrats on the hatch!

I agree with Fancy, really pretty penciling.

 

[Bens-Hens]

All has gone well so far.

She has not left the new nest yet though but she was interested in the food which is very close. Hopefully she is happy.

My brother got to see his first chick today, he was pretty stoked, I tried to explain how fast they grow but I guess he will have to see that one for himself.

Amy is pretty, shame it took her about 67 weeks before laying, then then went broody after a few weeks!

 

[vehve]

Well, she's not the most productive one, but maybe she'll make up for it with motherly instincts.

We lost Viiru, my favorite chicken to a hawk yesterday. She laid 101 eggs in the 40 weeks she was here, and was our most productive little birdie. Now that hawk is scoping out the yard all the time, we've seen it a couple of times today already.

 

[Fancychooklady]

All has gone well so far.

She has not left the new nest yet though but she was interested in the food which is very close. Hopefully she is happy.

My brother got to see his first chick today, he was pretty stoked, I tried to explain how fast they grow but I guess he will have to see that one for himself.

Amy is pretty, shame it took her about 67 weeks before laying, then then went broody after a few weeks!

Oh well , a good broody is worth her weight in gold.

 

[joannefiddler]

Well, she's not the most productive one, but maybe she'll make up for it with motherly instincts.

We lost Viiru, my favorite chicken to a hawk yesterday. She laid 101 eggs in the 40 weeks she was here, and was our most productive little birdie. Now that hawk is scoping out the yard all the time, we've seen it a couple of times today already.

That's a bummer Felix! It's such a lousy feeling to come upon that scene. Hawks are troubling..tough to fence them out. Then you get into the mental argument weighing the benefits of free ranging against the risks. Hopefully the hawk will move on. Do you have crows in the area? Crows will drive out a hawk. I actually encourage crows with bread crusts etc.

The only good news is that now you can look for a replacement for Viiru, which can be a fun process.

 

[vehve]

Yeah, something that lays blue eggs, but we'll wait for spring to do that, I don't think it's a good idea to hatch eggs this time of the year. We do have some crows, they have been flying around in a very worried manner today, and the hawk was patrolling earlier in the day. There's also a humongous raven that lives in the forest here. Our roo has been very observant today too, sadly yesterday the girls had wandered off to the other side of the house, outside the fenced in yard and the roo doesn't go outside the fence. Otherwise he might have intervened. Although that might have been worse, I'm glad Viiru died quickly. It was the neighbors kids that spotted her first, so a half dead bird would have been a much worse sight than the unrecognizable pile of feathers they saw now. We will still continue to free range though, but we'll keep it short and very supervised for a while.

 

[CB and CG]

Congrats on the hatch Ben, Amy looks very pleased.

 

[Bens-Hens]

Well, she's not the most productive one, but maybe she'll make up for it with motherly instincts.

We lost Viiru, my favorite chicken to a hawk yesterday. She laid 101 eggs in the 40 weeks she was here, and was our most productive little birdie. Now that hawk is scoping out the yard all the time, we've seen it a couple of times today already.

Sorry to hear Felix, it seems to always be the favourites that get into trouble.

Thanks for the well wishes team. Amy is doing well, she is letting us hand feed her, in turn she feeds the chick in front of us.

All is well this morning.