- Sep 20, 2012
- 19
- 3
- 24
Last fall, we go backyard chickens for the first time. We got them from a lovely woman with a chicken/goat/alpaca farm nearby. We got 2 Americaunas and 2 Cochins. We were raising them as baby chicks but, sadly, all 4 of them suddenly died. We were devastated but, after researching and trying to figure out what happened, we think they may have gotten into some poison. We were getting our front yard sprayed and they liked to eat along the fence line separating the front and back yards.. It is the only thing we can think of since they were active and fine one day and dead the next.
I called the woman we got the chicks from trying to see if she had any insight and she had mentioned that, if we wanted to try again in the spring, to give her a call and she'd give us 4 more chicks. I called her and she remembered me, so the kids and I went out to her farm today.
We decided to get young pullets instead of chicks this time. She didn't have any Americauna pullets, but she had several young pullets of various breeds in one area and said we could pick out any of them. We picked out 4 and she told us that there was no charge for them, for us to just enjoy them.
Three of our young hens are Swedish Flower hens and one of ours is, I think, a Blue Brahma. It looks a little like a Cochin (it has the feathered feet) but she said it wasn't a Cochin. She told me but I was distracted by my 1 year old and can't remember what she said. I will have to call her and ask again.
I did some research on the Swedish Flower hens (they are all a very pretty cream and white spotted kind of design and 2 of the have these cute puffs of feathers on top of their head) and it appears that they are relatively new to America! She has several rare and expensive breeds of birds at her place. Anyway, so far, all 4 of our young hens seem very sweet. My blue girl (her name is Sherbet Lemon) seems very spunky. My girls are naming the SF hens. The one with the red tuft of feathers is named Lucy by my oldest daughter. The one without the tufted feathers is named Cupcake by my youngest daughter. My middle daughter is in charge of naming the one with the dark tufted head feathers.. she hasn't made up her mind, but she's considering Omelet.
Very excited to be a chicken momma again and am praying that our girls stay healthy and happy for many years to come!
I called the woman we got the chicks from trying to see if she had any insight and she had mentioned that, if we wanted to try again in the spring, to give her a call and she'd give us 4 more chicks. I called her and she remembered me, so the kids and I went out to her farm today.
We decided to get young pullets instead of chicks this time. She didn't have any Americauna pullets, but she had several young pullets of various breeds in one area and said we could pick out any of them. We picked out 4 and she told us that there was no charge for them, for us to just enjoy them.
Three of our young hens are Swedish Flower hens and one of ours is, I think, a Blue Brahma. It looks a little like a Cochin (it has the feathered feet) but she said it wasn't a Cochin. She told me but I was distracted by my 1 year old and can't remember what she said. I will have to call her and ask again.
I did some research on the Swedish Flower hens (they are all a very pretty cream and white spotted kind of design and 2 of the have these cute puffs of feathers on top of their head) and it appears that they are relatively new to America! She has several rare and expensive breeds of birds at her place. Anyway, so far, all 4 of our young hens seem very sweet. My blue girl (her name is Sherbet Lemon) seems very spunky. My girls are naming the SF hens. The one with the red tuft of feathers is named Lucy by my oldest daughter. The one without the tufted feathers is named Cupcake by my youngest daughter. My middle daughter is in charge of naming the one with the dark tufted head feathers.. she hasn't made up her mind, but she's considering Omelet.
Very excited to be a chicken momma again and am praying that our girls stay healthy and happy for many years to come!
