The Story of the Crazy Chicken Lady

[saltandpepper2]

So, I decided to make a thread about my own flock misadventures, and how it all started!

3 years ago, I got a very strange call from my brother: He had seen a box on the side of the road, stopped, and inside were two, fuzzy yellow chicks! Well, since I had the notorious title of animal collector, he came and dropped them off... I had a lot of research to do! Unfortunately, one chick died that day, and I raised the other (named Bubbles by my son) for two weeks before I decided that my rescue chick needed a few buds, so I got a few more chicks: this is the original flock.






Bubbles, ( a BO ) two Black sex links, and two marans.

Well, I guess I caught chicken math, because as soon as spring came, I just HAD to get more chicks! so, I went to a local breeder, and the feed store, and came home with just a few more chicks....




I honestly don't remember how many chicks I got, but the breeds were Ameraucanas, Marans, BO, RIR, and EE. I got six extra chicks dumped on me, so I think I had around 15 chicks at this time... in less than 6 months!

Well, that was the beginning of my flock, but things weren't going so smoothly. I had three ameraucanas become paralyzed and die, and another just waste away. I soon did my research and came to the conclusion that my flock had Mareks, and tested positive for a contagious respritory disease... yay! Thank you neighbor for not taking care of your chickens...






Here are a few pics of the survivors:

 

[saltandpepper2]

Here are a few more pics:







My favorite hen, Biddy the Dwarf BO, on my project truck:



Well, Last spring I decided that I still didn't have "quite" enough chickens, so expanded my flock to bantams as well:



3 D'Uccles, a White Cochin, and a Buff Brahma. The Brahma contracted mareks, and i put him out of suffering, the others are thriving, and I'm now getting mini eggs!





Around the same time I got these, my marans hen went broody, and successfuly hatched and raised 6 adorable chicks. I still have two that are completely wild, and can't get within a 100 feet of, but they were cute as chicks!



So, that is pretty much up to date, I plan on getting a good 25+ chicks and ducks this spring, and then next spring breed for resistance for the diseases my flock has... If this thread is successful, I'll keep it up, if not, it was still fun to do!

 

[Mountain Peeps]

I love your story! I'm sorry for your losses and troubles

But your flock is just gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mountain Peeps]

LOVE that one of the buff orp on the truck!!

 

[lalaland]

glad to hear that your flock is doing well despite the mareks! after 15 years, have my first mareks in the flock and am still hoping to be able to have broodies hatch. By the way....mareks is everywhere and could have come from your visits to the feed store, the grocery market, the wild bird stopping by, etc....not necessarily your neighbor. It is a very prevalent disease.

looking forward to reading more from you. love the pics

 

[cglessner]

Love the pictures. I started out with 6 chicks, had to have more. Now I have 3 roosters and26 hens. I love chickens, theyre so eentertaining. What breed is the hen in the picture just before the BO on the truck? I have 2 of them and they lay medium pinkish brown eggs.

 

[saltandpepper2]

Love the pictures. I started out with 6 chicks, had to have more. Now I have 3 roosters and26 hens. I love chickens, theyre so eentertaining. What breed is the hen in the picture just before the BO on the truck? I have 2 of them and they lay medium pinkish brown eggs.

That is one of the prettier hatchery Easter Eggers! She's such a sweetie and lays such pretty minty blue eggs.

 

[cglessner]

That is one of the prettier hatchery Easter Eggers! She's such a sweetie and lays such pretty minty blue eggs.

I dont think mine are EE's. They only lay blue eggs, dont they?

 

[saltandpepper2]

I dont think mine are EE's. They only lay blue eggs, dont they?

No, since they are mixes, they can lay brown, cream, pink, green, olive, or blue eggs! lol. It really is a mystery until they start laying!

 

[saltandpepper2]

Well, Happy Christmas Eve to all of you! The chickens were feeling photogenic, so I snapped a few pics.






Best Picture I've ever gotten of the now grown up wild chick:


and, the big man in the flock:




Oh, also, I guess the birds decided I wasn't stressed enough just yet! I figured out yesterday that by batch of bantams have scaly leg mites! yay! they are in a separate area than the large birds, but the large birds do go up to their pen... anyone think I should treat all of them instead of just the banties? Please say no...