The marvelous *Mis*adventures of My Flock *PIC HEAVY!!*

[TommyDaDelaware]

xD I have no clue what I wanted to name it.. so yeah. I started with chickens about 4-5 years ago. Actually I started with ducks, and then my mom bought 10 Red sex links. There was Flippy, Floppy, Honey, Baldy, Shadow, Beaky, Checkers, Creepy, Calico and Goofy. They were enough to get me hooked. We bought 4 delawares at a Swap, naming them Sass, Nessi, Marshmallow and Fluffy. Little did we know, our Reds were carriers of Mareks, and the Dels were not immune. We lost all 4. We bought 25 more delaware chicks. 4 lived. And after showing 2 at fair, Tommy and Katie, Katie died, and we lost the 2 other roos. So Tommy was left, surveyor of all the hens..


Beaky
Goofy
Honey
Checkers? Tommy.
Tommy soon became a very mean rooster, to just about everyone except for my mother. I would be walking across the driveway and hear a thud thud thud thud!! And here wold be Tommy already flogging my legs. It really sucked when I had shorts on!! In the meantime of Tommy turning psycho on us, we aquired 10 more delawares, 5 of whom were vaccinated for marek's, 2 turkens 5 older black sex links and 5 younger Black Sex link pullets. 6 Dels and a turken never survived, but the ones who did live thrived!! The delawares were all supposed to be pullets, but sometimes mistakes happen! There was one little Delaware, smaller than the rest, with crooked toes and a larger comb than the rest of the pullets. Sure enough, one day I am out cleaning the barn and I hear a strangled "Erka Erka errrk!" Peeking into our makeshift brooder, I see the tiniest Delaware standing proudly, making the post crow gurgle. "No way Jose!!" I laughed to myself, and the name, Jose, stuck. Jose was the best "Mistake" to ever happen to our farm. The turken who lived, Pocahontas.
one of Our 10 black sex links, Beauty. Behind her is another, Ginger.
Jane.
Queen.
Ninja, another of the black sex links.
Jose and two of his girls, Ninja and Pal. Black Sex Links.
Pocahontas.
Jose grew into a handsome little rooster, if not for his crooked toes. One fateful day when I was off somewhere with a friend, maybe it was 4-H, Jose slipped out of his pen, while the older chickens were free ranging. Tommy hadn't gotten his dues yet, and he was NOOT happy with Jose hanging around HIS Girls. So, Tommy did what any rooster would do, went after the new guy. Jose was terrified. Luckily my dad caught tommy and got Jose back into his pen. Jose always was and still is skittish around humans. Tommy on the other hand continuously worsened in his aggression until finally my dad said enough. This was only after Tommy got me across the face. Some of the chickens that year went to the county fair to be shown in the 4-H junior class. I really wanted to take Jose, because his feather condition was beautiful, but the Crooked toes would lower my placing, and also I just wanted to take my best.
Ninja being judged.
Rascal with her ribbon. Jane at the fair.
After fair, when the pecking order was reset, everyone settled in again. It wasn't until February of the next year that we bought more chickens, and we bought them in abundance!! First, mom bought 5 Turkens, 2 blacks and 3 reds. Then she bought 2 New Hampshires, 2 Barred Rocks, 2 point of lay Easter Eggers, 3 younger Easter Eggers, 5 more black sex links, 3 cochins, and 2 buff orpingtons. But all in all that's not bad, considering 3 turkens, the cochins and 2 black sex links are going to be given to my grandmother. Two weeks later she bought 15 cornish cross meat chickens, 5 Pekin ducks, and 9 turkeys, only 2 of which are still alive today. She also bought 5 JUMBO Pekin ducks for fair and meat, and 5 more young black sex links.

But then I came home from college. I show chickens at the county fair and this year is my last year in 4-H. Bittersweet. but, as my show chicken shopping continued, we bought a Pair of Lemon Blue Old English Game bantams (Solomon and Lotus), a pair of Blue Old English Game Bantams (Joe and Iris), one lone Black tailed White Japanese Bantam (Makino!!), A Gold Laced Cochin Bantam (Henna) a Black Crested white polish (Daisy), and 4 Ameraucanas (Which turned out to be EEs, but oh well. THey were Bell, Mariposa, Maiden and Sorrel.) . A few months later when I came home again, the man we bought the previous chickens from was having another sale, so we went up, making the fatal mistake of bringing an empty box, and came home with a pair of Cuckoo Marans Pullets. Snap and Pansy. That is it for our flock so far. Daisy, Sorrel (Light golden brown head.) And either snap or pansy.Daisy again

Daisy. The story behind that bald spot is coming...
Hi, Pansy!! Bell! My Grandma's cochin that we Call PJ for right now, and with good reason!!
PJ again and one of the other older Easter Eggers, Cheetah. The more Standard of the 2 Barred Rocks is Star, and she was being camera shy (For ONCE!! xD)

Makino is the Black tailed White Japanese bantam. I fell in love with him while we were still picking them out.. Solomon, Lemon Blue Old English Game bantam.

Lotus, Solomon's hen. (Lemon Blue. Yes, she does need that beak trimmed)Iris (Blue Old english) and Lotus.

Iris is very calm cool and collected. Dignified even for a chicken... Lotus? Not so much. She likes fingers. Pecking fingers. Joe, the Blue Old english game bantam cockerel. He's antisocial. and all the chickens this year are named after flowers or botanaists if you havent noticed. Joe is after Joe-Pye Weed. Sorrel, an Easter Egger. Snap is a Cuckoo Marans pullet, with a ridged beak, which i find strange.. Bell is such a pretty Easter Egger. Mariposa is quite unique. Maiden is just pretty!! Snap and Pansy enjoying the sunshine together.
Yes!! Just when you think, alright! I have my fair birds, something happens to change that. Daisy is a good example... Her crest was coming in very nicely, all soft and baby feathers. Somehow Daisy managed to fly into the light bulb my mom had in our makeshift brooder (Which is a plywood box with a chicken wire wood framed top, and a hole with a 2X4 to tie up and hang heat lamps.). Anyway, Daisy singed the feathers off the top of her head, making her look like a monk in a beanie. Grr. Silly Polish!!

The feathers are starting to come back in now. but she looked pretty goofy. Actually, when we got Snap and Pansy, we were looking for a replacement for Daisy, in case she didn't feather back out.
That is about all I have for my flock so far, but In the comments I will probably put updates about both chickens and Ducks!! introducing ducks too.

Feel free to comment on my flock!!

 

[MySweetChickens]

beautiful chickens

 

[TommyDaDelaware]

beautiful chickens

Thank you!

 

[TommyDaDelaware]

And then, lo, soon after this thread had started, I forgot about daily updates, and My laptop died. Sooo. Here we go again. The chicks grew and grew and grew. one turken was a rooster. Over the months of july we had problems with mites or lice, and so had to strip the entire coop, line it with Diatomaceous Earth and lice dust, and give all the birds baths. We had lost a turken and a black sex link to abscesses/injuries. In mid July Solomon got bit by our newest barn cat, Hilary who knew not the difference between a chicken and a Pigeon. The wound abscessed, and solomon was actually our first bird to be seen by a veterinarian. We had the vet out anyways for a mandatory farm check of swine for the county fair. I asked afterwards if she may try to lance the abscess. I failed to mention to the vet my squeamishness however, and I was watching the needle as she inserted it and prodded around at the mass on Solomon's neck, all she drew out was air and a few drops of blood. As I was watching the needle however, I forgot to breathe, and promptly fainted on the newest vet at the Berlin practice. She claims I did it Very Gracefully however! Solomon got weaker, but with some help from http://www.altnature.com/gallery/plantain.htm Broadleaf Plantain, we did manage to get his absess to go down. Sadly In the end he was paralyzed by mareks. Rest in peace, dear solomon:
Here Is solomon Happy and healthy..



This was only about 3 weeks later..


The abscess.


August 3rd we went to sell my grandmother's Rabbit Carrying cages at the Weyauwega poultry swap and came home with ths adorable ball of fluff that we have come to know as Frou-Frou,She is a flat feathered showgirl:



The others were healthy, although "Daisy" turned out to be a "Douglas". We actually renamed him "Kid Rock".







August brought with it fair season. And a discovery that I can only have one in each class (IE If it is "any other Breed" I must choose between my Easter Egger, Cuckoo Marans, Or Turken pullet). SO that brought around some upsetness to say the least. I had bought all those birds in hopes of showing them off. In the end I had 14 birds at the fair. Pictures Here now:
Mouse, Grand Champion Bantam. (I also won Senior Poultry Showmanship with her!

)
Makino, the black tailed white Japanese won Reserve bantam

Henna

Joe (Black OEGB)

Poppy

Rain (Barred Rock)

Big Red (New Hampshire Red. Best Of breed)

Kid Rock (Polish)

Louise (EE)

Blondie (Black Sex link)

Aslan (Buff Orp)

Jasmine the pekin.

I also had 2 other pekins at fair, one in Market Duck and one in Pekin Young Drake. The Market got blue, Young drake got a white. After fair, Joe along with Iris (Black Pullet, not pictured) Were sold to a 4-H member, as were Kid and Makino.

Now this is where things get sketchy, I don't have pictures right now because of the fact that my laptop Died (Water damage, keyboard not working) And all my pictures are on my mom's laptop. But I can give a recap. In september, after Fair, we went to deliver a thank you note to the man who had sold me my birds, and buy some guineas for a friend of ours. He had to show us inside at what he had, and we wound up buying a Black Breasted Red Old English Game Bantam Pullet.
Also In september we had our first Hawk attack on a chicken. I had to bathe the birds again as Lice/mites had raised their ugly heads once more. I had just washed Snap the Cuckoo Marans pullet, and I was working on washing one of the black Sex Links when It sounded like a small aircraft flew over my head. WHOOSH!! I looked up to see the brown tail with a white rump patch, charectaristic of a Northern Harrier flying away from the bushes. She was circling back to take her meal when I dropped the chicken I was washing (I kinda dropped her in the bucket.. Oops) And ran after it screaming. The dog was barking at it, and it flew away. Surprisingly, Snap had no external injuries, but was bleeding profusely from her mouth and nose, and even her ear!! The hawk had rammed her with its feet. I took her into the barn and put her in a pen. She never recovered, sadly. But now to this day whenever our Springer Spaniel Levi sees any kind of large bird over the farm he runs under it barking to protect his chickens.
In October Mom was "just Browsing" on Cragslist and she came across a Free Easter Egger Rooster to a good home. We called the people up, and yes they still had him, so we went up and got him. We also saw that there was another person selling BB Red OEGBs in De-Pere, so Up we drove, and got them. We also made the mistake of going to the Fondulac Swap and show in October. again, we were "Just Browsing"... And Came home with a Trio of Mille Fluer D'Uccles and one more BB Red Pullet.

In late october, early November, Mouse Decided she would go broody. She was hell bent on hatching out some light bulbs and a bottle of Polyvisol, so we slipped 5 easter egger eggs underneath her. All five hatched, however one chick was not very thrifty, and Failed to survive. The remaining 4 were a perfect split, two males two females.

In January we lost Wilson (An EE, formerly known as Maiden) and the last remaining delaware, Jane. Baggins, the BB Red cockerel also Passed away.

In 3 days I will be going home, and the next morning is The Fond Du Lac Spring Poultry swap, so heaven only knows what I will bring home next!! Lol.

I DO However have some current pictures of the first ever brood of chickens to hatch on our farm:
This is Brandy.

Olaf,



The trio of Mille Fleur D'Uccles.

Brandy and Thing one

Rooster Cogburn, the proud daddy!!

And the 4 babies.. Thing one, Thing two Olaf and Brandy.

I also wanted to mention that I will be in April going to a seminar to learn to blood test for Pullorum, after which I hope to ask also on how to become an NPIP Breeder. Seeing as Solomon was my favorite bird, I plan on naming the company "Solomon's Seal Bantams and Poultry." It is his legacy, and I cant help but feel like he was on the judge's shoulder pecking his ear this year at the fair.