The Rescued Flock (Pictures Included)

[forgetful]

Alright, more pictures.

A close up of Courage's coloring:


Falcon, who is very hard to photograph:








Lady:







The difference between Lady and Little Hen is very slight. Lady has light legs and is lighter in color, while Little Hen has yellow legs and is darker. Little hen also has what looks like sideburns that flip towards the back of her head.

Whisper:


Her white tips:











Little Hen:





Hot Stuff:











The less fuzzy silkie:





Sweet Pea:







Some group shots:







The rest of these are barn related. I'm not sure how much you guys liked the last ones, but I'm uploading them anyway.

The new ducks at the barn:










Some landscape. Everything seen belongs to the barn, including the woods surrounding the fields. The field in the first picture breaks off to the right behind the trees and goes on some more.





It was a beautiful day



Some moo moos:



Momma and bull calf, Butch:








Momma and heifer calf, Mary (named after Mary, who had a little lamb):










The calf sleeping has the meanest momma on the block. If you come anywhere near her baby while she is around, she'll charge. Her name is Brahma Momma or Mean Irene, depending on her mood for the day. She's doing a very good job with him.

The momma in question, way off in the field grazing, luckily for me.



Momma, the one laying down, and Oreo, the heifer calf:







Hahaha, stink face photo bomb:



Red:




And M.J., who just woke up from a nap:






Kittens:



I think I posted enough pictures for a lifetime! xD

 

[annav410]

Loved the update and pictures!

 

[forgetful]

Thank you!

 

[forgetful]

Great news folks! Hot Stuff began crowing today! His crow is hilarious. It's squeaky and not very loud. He doesn't drag out the end like regular roosters do either. Now, whenever the barn roosters crow he has to respond right back. I'm afraid he'll never stop now. I'm just waiting for Courage to start.

 

[forgetful]

Update time~ My pictures aren't up to quality this time. 8/ I took pictures in the morning before cleaning the flock's water bowls, and was going to take some more in the evening. However, it got dark and stormy and ended up raining, so my evening pictures are horrible.

Anyways, dude looks like a lady! Whisper turned out to be a cockerel. I was rather surprised, but I thought those pointy saddle feathers looked suspicious. No matter, though. He is still sweet and calm, and very observant! Whisper crows every now and then, but he is still practicing. Hot Stuff crows like there is no tomorrow, and has started mating the girls. They have no clue what he is trying to do.

I tried explaining to him that not everyone matures as fast as the freak of nature did, but apparently chickens don't understand English. Who knew?

Little Hen has become the head hen, and Godzilla has reached the bottom of the pack. Odd how things change. Even Sweet Pea will run up and peck Godzilla out of the way, which is hilarious because she is so much smaller than everyone else. I included a picture of her next to Little Hen (also ironic because she is now the largest, even though Godzilla is close) to show how tiny she is.

Speaking of Godzilla, she and Lady have become the most personable. I bring in the top of a barrel that I cut off to sit on while I give them treats, and they inspect my person the most thoroughly. xD They make sure I'm not holding out on them. Whisper and Sweet Pea like to perch on the back of the barrel next to me.

And curse vulture hocks! The less fuzzy silkie has developed them. I thinkk he might be a cockerel, but I'm not sure. There may or may not be streamers on the back of his head.



































































Watermelon! A mystery plant had started growing near the driveway, and we debated for a long time whether it was cucumber or watermelon. It seems I won that bet~

There are three different mommas with chicks. The first momma only hatched one little black chick, who we named Uno. We believe he is a roo. Then the grey/blue hen, named Elvis, is the momma of the other hen. They both brooded together, and were always fighting over the best spot/eggs. It got bad enough to where I had to put Elvis and a few eggs in a cage. Looking back I should have put the daughter in. The daughter only wanted to sit on eggs, and killed her first hatchling. Elvis was more experienced and was a good broody momma. Elvis hatched two chicks out, one chipmunk and the other yellow with faint chipmunk. The daughter hatched out silver babies (which I believe are actually Elvis's chicks and therefore her half sisters), though one I took from her and assisted in hatching and named Hope. Hope is the silver chick who is slightly darker, and whose legs aren't as yellow/orange. I'm very excited to see what the silver babies grow up to be, as I haven't seen silver chicks in the barnyard flock before.

So now, Grandmother Elvis and her daughter run around together and scratch for food with each other. The chicks still know who is who, but get to play together. What a twisted story. xD














The young cockerel who is always thwarted by the head rooster














A few guineas saying hello










And a duck for good measure. She's mean though! She hunts down the barn kittens and pecks them.





Anyways, thanks for enduring another update! I'll have to start a new board soon, though, because I'm getting 30 chicks in on the 31st! They are GLWs, cuckoo marans, buff cochin bantams, and more black silkies~ I'm very excited

 

[forgetful]

I gave the flock a variety of fruit I bought from the store. They absolutely loved the strawberries and watermelon. They didn't mind the grapes, and no one seemed to care for the blackberries, which I thought for sure were going to be a hit.

It's getting close to egg laying time, I think! I thought for sure Sweet Pea would be laying by now.

A dragonfly that perched on the antenna of my car as soon as I pulled up








A few head shots:
Little Hen



Courage



Whisper. He has the most interesting comb. I'm not sure what to call it:








Fuzzier:








Sweet Pea sitting with me:



It's unbelievably hard to get pictures of the silkies





Little Hen is going to be absolutely massive!







And then came the rain..









And just for fun, a new young lady we got in at work.

Her name is Hazel:



I see Scooby Doo in the white marking on her butt

 

[forgetful]

Here's another update~ Little Hen is Little Roo! He had me fooled for quite a while, but I'm positive he is a rooster. The silkie roo has developed.. interestingly. His comb and wattles are a conversation piece, that's for sure. Three chickens have been added to the flock. One is a three month old half cochin bantam pullet, one is a two month old mystery pullet, and the other is a mystery hen. They are staying with the flock until their owner can take them back.

And still no eggs! I've seen quite the comb and wattle development in the pullets in the past week, so I'm crossing my fingers they'll start laying and won't wait until after winter to start. Sweet Pea has been the reddest longest. I've heard the egg song occasionally, but funny enough it comes from the roos. The flock was split into two, with the silkies, Hot Stuff, Sweet Pea, and the visiting chickens in one coop. Little Roo, Courage, Whisper, Lady, and Godzilla stay in another coop. They alternate days on being allowed to free range.

Picture time. The whole flock has become so beautiful:

Visiting cochin bantam pullet:


Other visiting pullet:


Visiting hen, who is not as friendly as everyone else:


Silkie pullet looking fabulous:






Hot Stuff, who has been over run by the silkie rooster as head honcho:




Bubba the silkie roo head honcho:




Oh Sweet Pea, why aren't you laying yet?:




The flock in the other coop was circling me when I went in. I always bring a snack for them, and this time I didn't. I felt like I was being stalked!

Little Roo. He's going to be the largest chicken out of the bunch:





Courage, who has most definitely lived up to his name. He is head rooster of his part of the flock. He is very protective of his girls:





Falcon:



Lady, the quietest of the flock:




Whisper, who has crowing contests with Hot Stuff from across the farm. Bantams are so loud!




And Godzilla, the friendliest hen. She might be my favorite (shh!):






The chickens got bunny friends. Meet Snowball, the buck.




And his doe. Any name suggestions?:


And here's a kitty:

 

[NotableNancy]

And Godzilla, the friendliest hen. She might be my favorite (shh!):

I just loved all your photos... but Godzilla is gorgeous

 

[forgetful]

She's so curvy and such a pretty color! Her feathers are very soft and loose. It's like a cloud. I'm very excited to see what color eggs she lays.

 

[forgetful]

Well folks, this is the last entry in the Rescued Flock's journal. My babies are all grown up! I found my first batch of eggs today in the big chickens' pen (Lady, Godzilla, Courage, Whisper, Falcon, and Little Roo), so I can't call them babies anymore. Someone must have laid late in the evening, because I didn't find an egg during my daily inspection yesterday. Today I found the above waiting for me, and you can only imagine the excitement when I found them! I think the dark colored egg belongs to Godzilla. It's gorgeous in person- a very rich terracotta color. I'm still waiting on the bantam pen to produce anything. I thought for sure they would be laying first.

In more good news, I found a splash mix rooster that looks like a good match for Godzilla. I'm going to try pairing them together and seeing what I can get. I'd love to have twenty Godzilla hens running around. She's so lovely.

Her comb has developed into having a small flop on the end, and I think it's the most adorable thing I've ever seen.


I'm going to collect eggs until Saturday, then put all the babies in the incubator. I'm not sure how long they will lay into the winter. Hopefully I'll be a grandchicken-momma by Christmas! Then I can start a new journal (and have surprise visits from the R.F.)

Thank you to whoever has read through the flock's whole story!