Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[Wishing4Wings]

I thought it was a downy woodpecker, but it's a yellow bellied sapsucker! fortunately for him/her... flying away saved it from fines and imprisonment

I have never seen a sapsucker! There is a similar western version. That name always sounds like an insult to me! Wonder why it was pecking at the mailbox... Life on the lam now...

I thought it might be related to the Northern Flickers that are in my backyard, digging for grubs under the oak trees. They are quite a bit larger though, according to Audubon. We have the red shafted out here. Same woodpecker family as the sapsuckers. They are law abiding for the most part.

 

[cheeka]

what a gorgeous bird! I can't wait for temps to actually warm up to feel like Spring, so more birds will appear, but trees are just now starting to bud and flowers are popping up here and there. but it was nasty and rainy chilly crappy today... I got some good chores done both in and out, took an almost 2 hour sort of nap (never slept, but closed eyes and quiet) with the dogs, then remembered that I had released the Mama with the single chick and never put the gate back on! not really a problem unless they made their way to the giant bucket waterer drowning spot! I hung out with them for a few hours this morning, what a knucklehead! I jumped up and dashed out, phew, fine... shooed back to the Dogloo and closed in. she's ready to bring that baby out for proper free range, hope we can tomorrow. no one in that pen gave her or the chick any trouble, Cosmo the rooster claimed them both, protected them, which was mostly show... no one really cared beyond minor curiosity.
and I ate so much food today. holy cow! it was so good, but the mess I made cooking was a pain to clean up. it's all done and so am I... double load on Monday so I gotta rest my bones!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Glad to hear you are hungry and eating! That's a good sign.

How old is the little chick? Still in the suicidal drowning stage?

I've always loved those flickers. I have a memory of finding an orange flicker feather when I was a girl out exploring with my cat Snoopy. Kept that feather in my little treasure chest for years.

 

[cheeka]

the little chick is about a week old, so yeah, still pretty small, definitely a drowning size. when I get home from work I'll dig out a bell waterer, scrub it clean and replace the bucket. Gossy will need one for her pen in another day or two, so I might as well clean two of them. she's not interested yet in bringing her chicks out of her dogloo.

 

[cheeka]

Friday night, on final check, all six chicks were tucked under Gossy, but Saturday morning, I found one in the front of the dogloo, dead... poor baby, sometimes, no matter how hard a Mama tries to teach an incubator baby where to stay warm.... they have a hard time learning. poor baby. so she has 5


on their excursion around the pen... Rooster Cosmo was guarding them, although it was mostly for show... no one bothered them at all.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Sorry you lost a chick, but there was probably a reason...

Are these the RIR? They look 2 toned. Red and pink! We need pink chickens. Wouldn't that be cool if we could figure out how to get bright colors like tropical birds- green and sky blue, canary yellow, scarlet... We'd make millions!!!

 

[BullChick]

I am here. I am still alive, but I almost wasn't. I am not sure what to say, because this is so public. I don't want to be accused of attacking another member.

 

[BullChick]

Chickens aren't pretty colors because they can't fly well, and that would make them easier for hawks to see them, and too pretty for us to kill.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Chickens aren't pretty colors because they can't fly well, and that would make them easier for hawks to see them, and too pretty for us to kill.

Glad you're back.

I still want parrot colored chickens!!

 

[BullChick]

Glad you're back.

I still want parrot colored chickens!!

LOL! I am sure you do!