Small Flock Blog

ChickonInc

Chirping
5 Years
Nov 29, 2014
160
7
61
Virginia
My Coop
My Coop
For a couple for years I've always wanted to post updates and events on a blog about my chickens and what goes on. Of course I do have pictures from the start but the pictures are blurry and bad. I have a great camera now and I'll start from where I am now.

Hey, I'm a small chicken owner with a very small flock of 5. I have a beautiful flock and live in the mountains. I'm gonna introduce you to my flock and tell you the stories of their lives and tell you the sad story which happened very recently.




This is one of the newest members of the flock.

Name: Cashmere
Breed: Partridge Bearded Silkie
Age: 4 months old
Gender: Cockerel
Story: On September 30th at about 6:36 A.M Cashmere was born. He was born under his beautiful sweet mother Ellie. He is a show off and is a rooster about to be king well someday. For now he lives with mom and his sister. (His brother died sadly) He has been renamed many times and I'm just gonna stick with Cashmere. He also never has his mouth shut like really. He never stops chirping, he is just a loud mouth and he is healthy. Cashmere got very injured once, a large hen kept stepping on him every time it was feeding time. Over time and then finally his lung got punctured. We brought him to the vet and did some stuff. He's fully recovered and happy. He is a Daddy's boy :)







This is another one of the newest members.
Name: Beatrix
Breed: White Bearded Silkie
Age: 4 months old
Gender: Pullet
Story: On October 1st at 11:32 P.M Beatrix was born. She was born under her mom Ellie. She has one brother, Cashmere. At birth she was a runt and well almost died because she couldn't get out of the nest. I took care of her for 2 days and she was back to normal. She was so weak that could not raise her head. Now she is running all over the place. She is very chatty but not like her brother and her dad. She is very calm and is so sweet. Can't wait to see her all grown up. If you can see the brown feathers on here head it's just she loves to roll in poop. It's gross but, she always has poop all over here feet and wings (She gets bathes a lot)



This is well a hen that I had.
Name: Sunshine (Sunny)
Breed: Mix
Age: 3 years old
Gender: Hen
Story: Well, I got Sunshine as a chick in Boones mill, VA as a chick. I took care of her then when she got bigger put her in a old rabbit hut. She had this basket that she loved like a ton. Sunny would sleep on it every night. She out grew it and we placed her in the coop with our other hen. Sunny loved having her picture taken and she loved to peak at shiny things. Sunny was a clown in a chicken form, just hilarious and nosey. I loved her so much. She was a tomboy and loved playing in the dirt and running around. She was dominant hen of the flock. When she saw something she didn't understand she would just stare at it. This Thanksgiving when we got home we went to lock the chickens up (Free ranged) Did a head count and she was missing. She has done this plenty of times. Went to her favorite spot and not there. I was like odd then did a yard search. No where was she. I just thought it was one of those things when you know they come back. I locked all the other chickens up and went to bed. (It was night time when we locked them up so I couldn't see anything very well.) I got up and went to the door where I left food and water and she wasn't there. I did a search and discovered feathers and blood. I knew she was gone and I cried like any other person would if a animal died. After a couple minutes after discovering the feathers a HUGE hawk was flying above me. I started screaming and yelling at the hawk telling it why and all that other stuff. I went back in to my house to get something to clean up the feathers and heard a scream. Of course I went to see what it was and the huge hawk was sitting on a tree just screaming. I cried more the following night and then went to bed. I woke up and gave a bunch of treats to my depressed chickens. Sunshine had a best friend named Whoopie and was the rooster's girl. Mama hen and the chicks were in my house. I was walking through the yard and discovered the body of my hen. I was shocked and she was just emptied out by the hawk. I've had another hen killed by a hawk and never found the body. But what sucks about this. I saved this hen from a hawk before. It was winter and I was doing a head count and saw she was missing. I went behind the coop and she was there. I saw her neck was ripped over and well I took her to the vet and it was stitched up. I took care of her for 2 weeks. Gave her medicine and loved on her. She was healed and was reunited with her buddies. I couldn't believe she died and I just don't know what to think. I'm no longer doing free range for my chickens. But, I put mama hen and the chicks in the coop and they are so happy now. I still am depressed and shocked about what happened. I will always remember her. I also buried her body.




My largest hen and she is very lady like.
Name: Whoopie
Breed: Australorp
Age: 3 Years Old
Gender: Hen
Story: I got Whoopie as a chick also and she is named after Whoopie Goldberg. She had a brother who was killed by a dog (That's why we got Sunny to give her company) Someone gave her to me and we raised her. Whoopie was my very first hen and I love her so much. She is very classy and is fancy. It seems like all of my chickens have gotten injured once. But she hasn't thankfully. Whoopie is just so fun and is playful to new comers. When ever she runs she looks like a fat lady trying to run. I couldn't be happier with her and she loves meal worms and dirt bathes. Well she hasn't done to much like sunny but once she did go out in to the woods. I'm gonna enjoy the years to come with her.




This is mama hen.
Name: Ellie
Breed: White Bearded Silkie
Age: 2 Years Old
Gender: Hen
Story: I got Ellie as a hen from a farm. I had Ellie 4 months now. She is so goofy with her afro. Ellie is so sweet and calm when I pick her up, when we got her she was picked on and when Sunshine died she was accepted. She loves her chicks more then anything and laid on them for 3 weeks. We thought the eggs were dead and then they hatched and she was so excited. At night she does this little cooing thing and it's so cute. I can't wait to see next years batch :)




This is the king of goofballs.
Name: Snowball
Breed: White Bearded Silkie
Age: 2 Years Old
Gender: Rooster
Story: When I got Snowball as a chick we thought he was a hen. So as he grew he became odd. He loved riding in this toy train when he was a baby it was so cute. When Snowball lived inside we had this cage thing over his head so he couldn't jump out. He would climb on his food thing and pop his head out of the slits. As he grew he started getting streamers and then one day he crowed. We thought oh it's a crowing hen but then he grew spurs. He loves to hump shoes for some reasons it very odd then he mated with Ellie and then the chicks were born. Snowball loves to crow all day long and run around the yard. He runs side ways and clucks when he eats. He so weird and I love him so much. Snowball has a diaper I bought him and he wears it and comes inside sometimes. But, He loved Sunshine and he has been kinda sad lately. But when I put in Ellie and the chicks he was happy and the same.

That's my flock and we will be adding more soon. Hopefully no more chickens die and well they won't we are keeping them in their run. We are about to build another coop.

-ChickonInc
 
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The chick trapped in a tree 1/31/15
Usually all the chicks stay on the ground. I let my chickens play in the 100+ Acres of forest behind my house. Just rarely do I let them roam the forest. The forest is roamed by Deer, Hawk, Hogs, Bears, Owls, Raccoons, and other animals. Well, I have no clue how this chicken got up here but, I just got a log and got the chick but before I took a picture and here he is. Cashmere the Pine chick.
His mom was worried and clucked with a happiness for her baby boy to be safe back home. I guess I shouldn't leave them outside alone for 30 minutes. Well, I guess that's all that happened today and his mom got a hair cut.
She looks cute and you guys share your thoughts below. -ChickonInc Share you thoughts if wanted
big_smile.png
 
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Small flocks. I have. Lot of small flocks.

I am narrowing down the breeds I raise. My Master Plan has changed greatly.
8 Runs up under the 20x41 chicken port.
1. Bresse
2. lavender / Blue English Orpingtons
3. Red English Orpingtons
4. Chocolate English Orpington Bantams
5. Australorp
6. Barred Rocks
7. Blue Laced Dk Red English Orpingtons
8. Marans
Runs still out near the barn.
1. Pheasants,
2. Cochins,
3. Phoenix Bantams,
4. Ohiki,
5. Fly-Ties.
6. Some ducks.
7. Easter eggers,
8. RIR.
9. OEGB
10. Quail
Got to stop them from going into the barn and laying those eggs.
 
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I'm expanding my flock later in life to 600 chickens, It's gonna be a wreck XD I can't imagine how many roosters I'm gonna have. I mean like 10 years.
 
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Cleaning the coop
I've had chickens as long as I can remember and it seems right as you clean the coop they destroy it. I
sprayed down the run and smoothed out the dirt. I scrubbed the wood and cleaned the floors of the coop. It seems the chickens stare at you like "What are YOU DOING TO MY POOP PILE" I took 3 hours to clean it and they run in there like it's a club. They don't seem to care at all at their shining coop. I cleaned out all the feces and collected the eggs. While putting the new roost in the rooster jumped on it and started sleeping. I was like "It's 3:00pm and your sleeping??" I had to get him down and fill the water and food. Well I'll post a picture of the coop tomorrow. I'm getting a forage cake to give to them so they will have something to do and maybe give them lettuce they love it.


Cashmere loves the woods, I'll show you guys the coop I'll be buying soon, it's cool. -ChickonInc

Here's a random picture of my chickens sleeping


It weird how Cashmere sleeps with his dad instead of his mom.
 
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My little cockeral cashmere was killed by a hawk today. He was so sweet. I saw the hawk too, I screamed at it but it already killed him. The hawk was still on him ;-;
 
I am so sorry for you that your little darling was destroyed by a Hawk. I live in Virginia and the hawk are bred and released by the Gov. We are bombarded by them along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I wish our Gov would stop messing with mother nature. What alot of people dont realize is, these are more than barnyard animals to us. These are pets that are family members. Again, I am so sorry to hear yet another Virginian's pet has been attacked by yet another bold hawk.
 

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