Dinoroar
Crowing
Your little fluff babies are so sweet!
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The flock is quite beautiful and looks to be doing well. I am very sorry things have been so tough for you.Big update. I have been lax in updating lol. See bottom of post for cute pics!
Update on me.
I have had a pretty rough time lately. My assistance cat almost died from liver failure, and the general state of the world made life a lot harder for a while there. All my savings got drained to save my cat, and I ended up having to take a loan for it too. It really sucked especially because I was saving to upgrade the coop, so I have ended up having to use cheaper material and do it all myself rather than buying what I wanted (the chicken netting mesh that comes with poles and can be easily set up and moved).
My nan did help me get new glasses ($650 AUD!!! Nan is a saint!) and they have helped so much! They are transition lenses so I can go outside for longer without getting a migraine! I can now just sit outside with my hens for pleasure rather than only spending time with them when I was doing chores.
The Coop.
The Shed is their permanent coop now, with the old little coop inside for (spoilers!) mamma hen and babbas. Just a few days ago I extened their run the whole way around the grassed area of the yard, including around the washing line. Hopefully the older section's grass can get a break for a while lol. I am not entirely happy with the new fence but I did it myself and I had no idea what I was doing so at least it stands up and works I guess. Its a bit ugly though XD
Additions and Losses
So Moose was a lot older than I thought. She deteriorated in health over time, loosing weight and mobility. She spent most of her time sitting alone in the sun, and ate very little besides her favorite snack of sunflower seeds. Vet visits occured, there was no disease issue or apparent physical issues. Eventually she stopped being able to get onto perches and slept in the nest boxes, then was unable to get in or out of those on her own. I had to make the hard decision to put her down. That day I spent 6 hours cudding her as she slept in my arms before my pop came around to do it. It was the first time I have had to make this decision and it was very hard on me.
A couple weeks later there was a local poultry auction and I attended to see if there were any silkie hens. There was ONE and I was quickly outbid. She sold for $75 AUD, the second highest for the day (the highest was a Pekin hen who sold for $120 AUD!!). I bid on a few other hens and pullets, but got outbid on most. I brought home a 2 year old gold spangled hamburg hen and a (between 1 and 2 yr old) silver laced wyandotte. Both were used for breeding and are missing a bit of feathers from their old boyfriends (and possibly sisters), with the wyandotte missing most the feathers from her back and tail. They are named Caramel (hamburg) and Oreo (wyandotte).
A few days after bringing home the new girls, Toffee hatched her first chick. She abandoned the other eggs that were pipping, so I had to put her in chicken jail inside until a few days after they had hatched (stormy weather that night and the next couple). She hatched a total of 4 chicks. Unfortunatly the first night back outside one of them got tangled in Toffee's feathers and died. Tears were had, and Toffee got a feather cut.
Toffee and her brood have two areas to live in depending on time of day and the weather. Indoor coop inside the main coop, and a little pen within the run with a basic shelter for day time in nice weather. They are getting so big, and the other hens are fascinated with them! Eldest chick (Pickle) is 12 days old today, and the other two (Popcorn and Pine) are 11 days old tonight.
All three chicks have homes lined up among my SO's family. SO's brother's girlfriend (who I went to Uni with) is taking Pine and Popcorn for no fee but a discount on an "indoor hutch" I am going to convert into a brooder. SO's other brother is super keen on getting started with chickens so is buying Pickle (was going to take the other chick that died) as well as some from the next clutch I will have.
I also have a deal with the person who I got Crowley off. She moved and can have more chickens, and really wanted chicks from Crowley. So she is incubating 18 eggs from my flock, and will keep her choice of 4. I am getting any others that hatch. I might choose to keep one or two but I will likely be selling most or all of them. I have a pretty tight budget so I plan to hatch and sell chicks until I can afford the locally (imho) high prices for a silkie hen!
My hope is I can get two or three silkie hens, hatch and sell their chicks and sell eggs from the rest of the flock. I am hoping to be able to at least have the income from the chickens cover their living costs, with a little extra for any improvements to the pen or unexpected vet bills.
Pic spam below!
Update pic for Butter and Cashew. They are so friendly, almost lap hens now!
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Update pic for Coriander and Crowely
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New girls! Oreo and Caramel. They made friends with each other but not so much with the rest of the flock yet.
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Toffee and babies in their outside playpen. Toffee was desperate for a dust bath thismorning!
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Cute pics of babies! Pine is so tiny! They are the little brown one. Pine also has an adorable little floofy head with tufts of fuzz in front of their eyes.
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So adorable!Baby update! The new chicks at my friend's place hatched, 9 so far with number 10 pipped. The 4 she is keeping went under a broody mama, and 5 to me. She will drop the last chick off either later tonight or tomorrow.
First update pic for 3 week old bubbas. They and mama are getting supervised visitation into the main run with the rest of the flock.
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Now new babies! Two are Faverolles x, one is Araucana x and the others are from my mix breed hen.
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Aracuna X Silkie (Paint)
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Mix X Silkie (Paint)
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Mix X Silkie (Paint)
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Faverolles x Silkie (Black)
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Faverolles x Silkie (????? idk but if its a girl im keeping her!)
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Look at that fab eyeliner tho XD