Updates on my little flock

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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The flock is quite beautiful and looks to be doing well. I am very sorry things have been so tough for you. :hugs :hugs

I am glad that you have the chickens to help you through everything. I'm so glad that you updated us all. Please keep us posted on how things are going.
 
So Butter is going through a rough time (see my other post about it https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hen-hurt-her-leg.1419595/ ). I DIYed a chicken sling thingy from old clothes and an old cage, cant get to the vet until tomorrow at least.

In other news, a friend who I got Crowley off (we became friends through me getting Crowley off her) wanted to hatch some eggs from him as she moved and could have more chickens, and really wanted some bubs from him specifically as her kids adored him. So I gave her 18 eggs, she is going to keep 4 chicks and give the rest to me. Well she locked down the incubator last night with at least 1 egg rocking already! From the last candling, 11 eggs were doing well. 2 from Coriander, 3 from Cashew, 5 from Butter and 1 egg that was laid by one of my two new girls. That last one is probably purebred, as they had only been here for 2 days at that point, and both avoided Crowley. Both had been in purebred breeding pens.
So yeah, brooder is setup and ready to go in a few days!

I also got my own incubator, and the eggs went in last night! 12 eggs, from a mix of all the girls. The incubator has an auto rotator and water is filled from the back. I have alarms set to remind me which days to candle and lock it down, and daily reminders to check if everything is working and check the water.

Pickle, Popcorn and Pine are doing well with mum, almost 3 weeks old now! All three are jumping at each other kind of like mini rooster fights, so Im a little worried I may have 3 boys. Pickle is developing black feathers in with the white, paint confirmed ^0^
Still confused about Pine. Not BCM mum with BCM colour/pattern (mostly black with coppering in hackled), paint dad. Brown chick. Im not sure what the genes in play are, so I am thinking I'll try and work backwards from what the chicks all come out as to figure out when the parents have.

Oh and I had been eyeing off an old broken cabinet in my shed that came with the rental property. Emailed the Landlord to ask about it, he gave me the go ahead to use it as I see fit.
Looked outside, very overcast but didn't look like rain. Forgot sunscreen.
Spend an hour dragging this very heavy cabinet by myself up the hill from big shed to coop, then another hour cleaning and reorganising coop to fit it in. Girls now have 2 new nests in a dark quiet cabinet with easy access from the missing door. Cabinet has 4 draws so I could make those into 2 more nests if I wanted, or storage I guess. Total of 6 nests for my girls now!

During the last hour it started raining and I got soaked. Then I went back inside to have a bath, and look in the mirror. My face, chest, neck and shoulders are sunburnt! Well long bath and pain I guess. But got a lot done!
 
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
 
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
So adorable! 🥰
 
Pickle, Popcorn and Pine are going to their new home today! I brought them inside before dawn to avoid stressing Toffee too much (she is a little upset that her babies are missing). Their new mum will be here in a couple hours to pick them up. I'm going to suggest she join the forum so she can keep updating on them ^-^. They are her first chickens, and she has a full setup already to care for them.

I brought them in and put them next to the new 4 day old babies just for pics and WOW the difference 3 weeks makes!
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Look at those black spots coming in ^-^
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Still don't know what colour Pine is lol. Also Axolotl photobomb!
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And look at the size difference between Pine and Pickle! 1 day age difference, Pickle's mother is larger but both are standard sized rather than bantams. I guess Crowley's smallness was stronger in pine than Pickle XD
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I have also named the golden coloured chick Pumpkin, and will be keeping it if its a girl.

A sixth chick joined the little gang! A little black chick from Coriander's egg, a super fluffy bub with clean non feathered legs and lovely solid black legs without the patchiness of the other chicks that comes from the paint breeding. It hatched a day later than everyone else, but also was put into the incubator a day later.

All 5 other chicks have homes lined up already. Three are going to my BF's brother, and two are going to a lady who helped me in my personal life. She only has the one pet hen, and wants another couple to keep her company.
 

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