Thistlewick Smallholding - Chickens & Sheep (for now)

[WingItRanch]

I just decided to make a place to collect how I grow my smallholding with photos, stories and thoughtful woolgathering.

Decided to grow our laying flock, to supply a local Farm Store and today is a great day to start cataloguing as we picked up six more pullets from TSC this morning.

I actually had the presence of mind to get photos of them, will show that in the next post but since this is the first post, I will show the hen house and run that we just finished building.

The chickens free range -- so the run is for vacations only!

View attachment 4076854View attachment 4076855
And here is my whole flock, gathered under the barn lean-to, hiding from the rain just a couple days ago;

View attachment 4076857

I like the one ignoring the rain and drinking from the drain spout haha

 

[WingItRanch]

So impulsiveness is the name of the game at our ADHD household lol

And we were GOING to already get an incubator this summer, but, Toffee passing away kind of spurred us on. We had several of her eggs this week and we thought, oh man - let's try and hatch some of her babies!!!!!!

So

View attachment 4081688

We put it up on our bonus room, which has it's own thermostat - so we set the room temp to 74-76 and then did all the things -- let it run for 4-5 hours, then add the eggs, test to make sure they rotate (they do) and then restart the timer.

There are 3 Toffee eggs in there. The freshest one was under Tilly (who is broody again ) and she decided to move it yesterday and it fell and broke. Pissed me off, that!

But we did have one that was 1 day old and then a couple that were probably 5-6 days old, which I don't have much hope for... but I put them in there anyway.

Also one random brown one, no clue whose egg that is and 1 from Sophia, which was laid yesterday so very fresh (I want to cross my EE Chuck with my FBCM Sophia to get Olive Eggers)

SO in about a week I will Candle and see how it's going.

Humidity was high at first -- 56 -- and I had to open the window full and it didn't even lower so I think I put too much water in initially but this morning it has gone down to 52. I will keep a hawk's eye on it.

I did read that sometimes people like it low, between 40-45 for the first 18 days instead of 48-55. I will do some more reading.

Good luck! Is your EE Chuck your only rooster?

 

[thistlewick]

I like the one ignoring the rain and drinking from the drain spout haha
Good luck! Is your EE Chuck your only rooster?

The only one with the girls, yes. He is run ragged by 16 hens I tell ya, but oh my LORD is he perfect. We got SO lucky-- he is just a TSC chick, a straight run we got last year because I was excited to get some more Easter Eggers -- they both turned out to be cockerels. George was rude and trying to mount everyone and everything at 9 weeks old. We ended up taking out all the cockerels we had and putting them in a bachelor pad.

But after all the girls started laying, we decided to pick a cockerel to come be with them and we opted for Chuck, who is small and was always very sweet.

Sarge is A DARLING but he is a MONSTER and I refuse to let him at my girls. He's SO BIG I am convinced he will hurt them lololol

This is our very magnificent Sapphire Splash Sarge. My husband ADORES him and Sarge ADORES him! They are cute! He will always have a place here <3

This is our bachelor pad. 115 square feet of run, 24 square feet of coop. 2 Cockerels at present. They live in the lap of luxury lol

It does have a hwc skirt, but this was JUST after we added the pen so its not in the pic.

This is Chuck, our very demure and mindful cockerel hahaha

So we have a new one, Oscar

a French Black Copper Maran who is SO FREAKIN CUTE omg so friendly but I am still hands off, despite his absolute bids for attention every time I go into the hen house.

We are excited to let the flock raise him - and learn his manners from the hens. The advice I've gotten from the excellent MrsK was that the best roos learn in-flock so we are excited to see him grow up with them and give Chuck a break!!

He runs ragged trying to mind 16 hens, its so cute to watch him, he cares so much and tries so hard <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

But we are going to build up the flock to ~36-38 hens and then at least 1 more cockerel and probably 2 more. So maybe Sarge will have his day lolol

(I worry anyone coming to my house will have a fright at my free ranging roosters but /shrug it is what it is -- we will try and make sure they are well behaved before letting any roam).

 

[WingItRanch]

The only one with the girls, yes. He is run ragged by 16 hens I tell ya, but oh my LORD is he perfect. We got SO lucky-- he is just a TSC chick, a straight run we got last year because I was excited to get some more Easter Eggers -- they both turned out to be cockerels. George was rude and trying to mount everyone and everything at 9 weeks old. We ended up taking out all the cockerels we had and putting them in a bachelor pad.

But after all the girls started laying, we decided to pick a cockerel to come be with them and we opted for Chuck, who is small and was always very sweet.

Sarge is A DARLING but he is a MONSTER and I refuse to let him at my girls. He's SO BIG I am convinced he will hurt them lololol

View attachment 4081774

This is our very magnificent Sapphire Splash Sarge. My husband ADORES him and Sarge ADORES him! They are cute! He will always have a place here <3

View attachment 4081775

This is our bachelor pad. 115 square feet of run, 24 square feet of coop. 2 Cockerels at present. They live in the lap of luxury lol

It does have a hwc skirt, but this was JUST after we added the pen so its not in the pic.

View attachment 4081779

This is Chuck, our very demure and mindful cockerel hahaha

So we have a new one, Oscar

View attachment 4081783

a French Black Copper Maran who is SO FREAKIN CUTE omg so friendly but I am still hands off, despite his absolute bids for attention every time I go into the hen house.

We are excited to let the flock raise him - and learn his manners from the hens. The advice I've gotten from the excellent MrsK was that the best roos learn in-flock so we are excited to see him grow up with them and give Chuck a break!!

He runs ragged trying to mind 16 hens, its so cute to watch him, he cares so much and tries so hard <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

But we are going to build up the flock to ~36-38 hens and then at least 1 more cockerel and probably 2 more. So maybe Sarge will have his day lolol

(I worry anyone coming to my house will have a fright at my free ranging roosters but /shrug it is what it is -- we will try and make sure they are well behaved before letting any roam).

Your setup is great! I'm also expanding my run but basically turning it into a large open air coop.

Sounds like you have a good rooster.I have had 2 cockerels that were absolute menases. One attacked the pullets and had to be removed quickly. One I really liked until he turned on me. I suspect I have an Olive Egger cockerel in my current chick group. If so, I'm hoping that my original flock of 1 yr old hens will teach him manners!

 

[thistlewick]

Your setup is great! I'm also expanding my run but basically turning it into a large open air coop.

Sounds like you have a good rooster.I have had 2 cockerels that were absolute menases. One attacked the pullets and had to be removed quickly. One I really liked until he turned on me. I suspect I have an Olive Egger cockerel in my current chick group. If so, I'm hoping that my original flock of 1 yr old hens will teach him manners!

Yeah we are always wary and will be ready to remove any cockerel that turns on us. It can happen!! partially why I am afraid of Sarge - he was a little too big for his britches and he's so big he comes up to my thigh, and I'm 5'6" I am not small.

I hope your Olive Egger boy turns out to be a docile and helpful Roo!! Will keep track on your thread

 

[thistlewick]

Okay so we extended the brooder today and prepared for when they are older with an 'escape' door that they are learning how to use now.

big fun times in the brooder, man did they love exploring immediately!!

That hwc is just held up there gently and can be completely removed when they are about 7-8 weeks old and let out into the hen house (and the great scary wild beyond!!)

But my guess is they won't go ranging far with the big girls until they are quite a bit older. Or maybe they will. We will see. It will be a fun experiment!

We have 1 for sure cockerel in this group, and possibly 2-4 more.

I suppose the only thing to worry about is our big boy cockerel Chuck trying to get on the pullets before they are ready. Hmmm... we may have to remove him for awhile.

We will see how it all goes!

So far of the 17 chicks, 1 has a sour crop, but is acting better and is more lively in the past couple of days and the swelling has gone down. And 1 chick has a bum wing. it just hangs down, but it's a lively little chick and quite active/eating and drinking and running around just fine. So we're just gonna see what happens with them.

 

[TwoCrows]

So impulsiveness is the name of the game at our ADHD household lol

And we were GOING to already get an incubator this summer, but, Toffee passing away kind of spurred us on. We had several of her eggs this week and we thought, oh man - let's try and hatch some of her babies!!!!!!

So

View attachment 4081688

We put it up on our bonus room, which has it's own thermostat - so we set the room temp to 74-76 and then did all the things -- let it run for 4-5 hours, then add the eggs, test to make sure they rotate (they do) and then restart the timer.

There are 3 Toffee eggs in there. The freshest one was under Tilly (who is broody again ) and she decided to move it yesterday and it fell and broke. Pissed me off, that!

But we did have one that was 1 day old and then a couple that were probably 5-6 days old, which I don't have much hope for... but I put them in there anyway.

Also one random brown one, no clue whose egg that is and 1 from Sophia, which was laid yesterday so very fresh (I want to cross my EE Chuck with my FBCM Sophia to get Olive Eggers)

SO in about a week I will Candle and see how it's going.

Humidity was high at first -- 56 -- and I had to open the window full and it didn't even lower so I think I put too much water in initially but this morning it has gone down to 52. I will keep a hawk's eye on it.

I did read that sometimes people like it low, between 40-45 for the first 18 days instead of 48-55. I will do some more reading.

The only one with the girls, yes. He is run ragged by 16 hens I tell ya, but oh my LORD is he perfect. We got SO lucky-- he is just a TSC chick, a straight run we got last year because I was excited to get some more Easter Eggers -- they both turned out to be cockerels. George was rude and trying to mount everyone and everything at 9 weeks old. We ended up taking out all the cockerels we had and putting them in a bachelor pad.

But after all the girls started laying, we decided to pick a cockerel to come be with them and we opted for Chuck, who is small and was always very sweet.

Sarge is A DARLING but he is a MONSTER and I refuse to let him at my girls. He's SO BIG I am convinced he will hurt them lololol

View attachment 4081774

This is our very magnificent Sapphire Splash Sarge. My husband ADORES him and Sarge ADORES him! They are cute! He will always have a place here <3

View attachment 4081775

This is our bachelor pad. 115 square feet of run, 24 square feet of coop. 2 Cockerels at present. They live in the lap of luxury lol

It does have a hwc skirt, but this was JUST after we added the pen so its not in the pic.

View attachment 4081779

This is Chuck, our very demure and mindful cockerel hahaha

So we have a new one, Oscar

View attachment 4081783

a French Black Copper Maran who is SO FREAKIN CUTE omg so friendly but I am still hands off, despite his absolute bids for attention every time I go into the hen house.

We are excited to let the flock raise him - and learn his manners from the hens. The advice I've gotten from the excellent MrsK was that the best roos learn in-flock so we are excited to see him grow up with them and give Chuck a break!!

He runs ragged trying to mind 16 hens, its so cute to watch him, he cares so much and tries so hard <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

But we are going to build up the flock to ~36-38 hens and then at least 1 more cockerel and probably 2 more. So maybe Sarge will have his day lolol

(I worry anyone coming to my house will have a fright at my free ranging roosters but /shrug it is what it is -- we will try and make sure they are well behaved before letting any roam).

Best wishes with the hatch!!

Your birds and facilities are gorgeous!

 

[thistlewick]

Today the ducklings get moved outside! They will still of course sleep in the hen house, but yeah they can move about if they want - but as all teenage fowl seem to be very careful and sticking close to what they know.

They are way less inquisitive about things than chickens that I've noticed.

They are just in the run, and we closed the door so they have access to the ramp up to the hen house if they so choose, and that door is open but I highly doubt they will go out that way. If they do, we will notice.

I am anticipating a few days of helping them learn to go up the ramp at roost time.

But they are 95% feathered and can enjoy some days outside.

Also their poop is disgusting and nope, that can go outside from now on.

So that means extension even more for the brooding chicks! will give it all a good clean and new bedding today.

In other news, I found one of Coffee's eggs on the poop board yesterday -- not in the morning either, like, mid morning. So I was like okay whatever.

But today....

Coffee... WHAT are you doing. But I didn't want to move/bother her -- she digs down in the sand and there is no poop in that corner... lolol Chickens are bizarre.

I am thinking that maybe our broody Tilly is giving Coffee the big fat side eye and Coffee is like FINE I will just lay OVER HERE -- she is literally in the complete opposite corner from Tilly lolol



My chickens do actually know how to use a nest, I promise lol here is Pudding making a very nice show of our brand new (home made) nest boxes, which are a big hit!

Lost Penelope yesterday to a hawk. It's been a really rough week. I didn't even want to mention it but this thread is also for a kind of diary/history for me to keep track so have to mention it. She had massive leg issues - she was unable to jump up or down to roost or leave so she needed assistance every day. I am completely sure this is why she was able to be caught by a hawk. It is unfortunate and the perils of free ranging.

However, I did let them out this morning. As they are actually quite a hawk savvy flock and only her legs are what caused her to be too slow to get away. Nature took its course.

In incubator news -- that thing needs constant attention for humidity omg, every few hours -- even overnight LOL so sleep for the next 3 weeks for me will be variable. I did not really realize that so yeah the thingy lies completely when it's like "only need to check once every 24 hours for humidity" lies. lies.

So we will see how it goes. Crossing fingers to get some Toffee babies. I don't want Penelope babies, bc of her legs. Possibly bad genes. Never intended to breed her.

 

[thistlewick]

Okay yesterday was day 4 for incubation and even though I said I'd wait until day 10, I candled out of pure curiosity.

But I made the mistake (at first) of candling at daytime.

You can't see crap!

So I thought I was seeing the half/half thing again, but this time vertically.

So I SCOURED the web for pics of what could that be and I found this thread on reddit which was incredibly helpful to see WHAT eggs are actually potentially good.

So the eggs that looked like my eggs, people were saying only those eggs looked viable.

So, I took ONE egg into the closet and candled and saw the veins and little embryo!!! Then last night, we went in there and candled the rest and ALL FIVE eggs look perfect.

SO crossing fingers they continue doing well!

Ducklings are able to find their way out in the mornings, but not too bright at figuring out the ramp -- we gave it a shallow angle for them to be able to walk up but they just cannot figure it out lol

Hopefully they sort that out soon. Maybe Ducks cannot walk up a ramp?

Snapped a pic of our Buff Orpington Blanche, who is the nastiest chicken on the nest, but very docile at every other moment. She is the lowest rung on the totem pole -- and Chuck, our rooster, seems to harry her a lot -- look at her head, she has feathers plucked and boo boos on her comb from him -- and he has 15 hens to pick from, jeesh.

Also, some chickens just aren't very hygienic and don't preen or dust bathe often and Blanche is one of them. Look at her saddle. Lazy lazy lazy girl.

Some of my ladies are preen queens and keep themselves in perfect feather. Disappointed in this lack of care from her hahah

 

[thistlewick]

Not much to update on our end;

Incubation is fine; candled at day 7 and they are still looking good. 5/5 - will check again at 18 before lockdown. Air sac looked like a day 7 air sac. The humidity is WILDLY all over the place, though -- so I have some worries. Some days it's stable and some days it's crazy. I have a hygrometer in 2 places in the room I'm incubating the eggs and those 2 read the same, so I know the ROOM is stable (40-42%) but inside that incubator it will go one day all day at 51% and then the next day swing crazily from 56% to 31% I check every 2-3 hours like what the heck.

Ah well... we will see how it all goes.

After the hawk attack, we began opening the barn (really, a garage/workshop that looks like a barn) for the chickens to have somewhere else to escape to and chickens be chickening:

Goofballs! I saw Jane this morning nosing around this area so she's the naughty girl. Told her to go lay in the hen house.. lol

Ducklings are huge for 6 weeks old, what the heck. Doing well outside every day. Absolutely derpy about being able to walk up the ramp - they flat out cannot figure it out. So every evening we have to pick them up and show them how to do it -- and it's a harangue, they hate getting picked up and we hate having to 'chase' them. Hope they figure it out soon. They know how to come down every morning, they are the only ones out in the run every morning I go out to let them all out.

Pudding stealing some of their food lol

The chicks are doing well; growing up and being sassy. The signs of a cockerel are coming from one of our Sapphire Olive Eggers and that is annoying; as I really need pullets. She's got a peacomb that's getting a little pink and a little big and chonkier legs. She was also a favorite; Heather - so pretty a nice soft grey.

But if I have learned anything is that you just really don't know. Toffee was showing signs of being a cockerel for weeks and weeks (larger and kind pinky comb) and she was our earliest and best layer. Maybe it just means lotsa hormones. Who knows.

Helga my Vorwerk sitting on the rim when I am changing the water.