Hi y'all and howdy from Wimberley, Texas! We have had several chickens in the past when we lived in Austin, but now that we live on 3 acres in the country we decided to get a whole flock! We currently have 12 chickens and four ducks. Though we did have 17 chickens, the neighbor's cat managed to eat 3 of our meat birds and an Easter Egger before we figured out what was killing them (now two of our dogs are full-time chicken guardians). And one Cochin bantam mysteriously disappeared while only a week old (snake perhaps?). The ones we do have are all about 3 months old now. Most are egg layers, but we also have two bantams and 2 Cornish x broilers. They are all remarkably tame, thanks to lots of meal worms and raisins and love! And they all come when we call them and follow us around the yard. They are all hatchery birds, probably from Ideal but purchased at the local feed store in town, and from a mixed batch of chicks. The ducks also came from a mixed batch of birds. So we initially had no idea what we were getting, and it has been a lot of fun watching them grow and identifying their breeds. All of the birds sleep in a 16' x 16' pen with a cedar post and tarp shelter, roost and a dog igloo, but free range on about 1/4 acre during the day. There is also a dog bed in there and the broilers and ducks like to sleep on it. All of them are female, except for one broiler, and we aren't sure of the sex of two of the ducks, but it's ok either way with them.
So without further ado, here they are! Oh and the dates on the pictures are totally wrong. My camera is a battery eater and well, I'm too lazy to set the date every single time I change batteries (which is about every 2-3 days, I really should get rechargeable ones!).
The queen of the flock, and tamest of all (besides the meat birds) is Merida, our Production Red. This redhead is my 5-year old son's pullet, and she will sit in his lap and let him walk around with her in his arms for quite some time. I think it's amazing how much she puts up with him! But then again we are the providers of the mealies, which may have something to do with it.
And here is Mavis (also in the pic above with Merida). She is a dark Cornish. I am especially surprised and pleased to have a Cornish as I have always wanted one. She is our little master forager, and ventures furthest away from the others while free ranging in the yard. She also is smaller than the rest of the egg layers and one of the first to come running when we call for the birds.
Zebra is the biggest of the future egg layers, and is a Delaware, another breed I was surprised and happy we ended up with. She was named Zebra way back when she was just a yellow fuzzball with a black dot on her head, without us ever knowing she would indeed have black stripes/barring! She is a very inquisitive bird, and walks on my feet a lot! In the last picture she was pecking at my 5-year old's soda bottle, "Can I have some of that?"
Here is Roxanne. We really aren't sure what she is! Welsummer/BSL/Partridge rock mix?? Who knows! When she was a baby she was blackish with a brown head, unlike any chick I was familiar with. She's probably some sort of mutt/mixed breed, and it will be fun to see how she changes as she matures. She is my mom's bird, and we sometimes call her The Shadow, as she is always following me around, like a tiny shadow.
This is RC, she is a Barred Rock and a very pretty bird! She is sort of aloof and tries to get into everything! She is my boyfriend's chicken, and is not named after RC cola. She never really was named, so we simply call her RC for "Ryan's Chicken." Though sometimes she is also called "Hey Chicken! Get off the grill/garden cart/peach tree pot!" She and Roxanne are good buddies, and also make great lap chickens.
Here is the beautiful Hazel, one of our standard sized Easter Eggers. She was a yellow fluff ball that has turned into a gorgeous rust-tinted white. She continues to get a little more red as she grows and has even grown a blue feather or two. She is my younger brother's bird, and has come around from a shy bird to an in-your-face-hey-do-you-have-treats-for-me:? kind of pullet. Nothing says classy quite like this bearded lady.
Meet Polka Dot, my son's other chicken (who never has had any spots!). She is a Silver Duckwing OEGB, and the tiniest thing! That's her with Hazel and Merida above for size comparison. Yup, she's a pipsqueak! She is also the most talkative chicken, and you wouldn't know it by her size, but also the loudest! She's been compared to a baby road runner, a dove, a quail, and a feathered lizard, but of course she's really a chicken ;P.
And here is Owl, the Silver Laced Wyandotte. She is our third SLW we have owned, and were very delighted when we figured out we had another one. She is very attractive with her contrasting black and white, and is fun to just watch running around the yard with bugs. She is a very good bug catcher. The other day she caught a 6" long stick insect and ran around for quite sometime trying to avoid the others and smash it on the ground to make it more edible. Wish I had taken a picture of that (no batteries!).
Sparrow is our other standard Easter Egger. Her feathers are just plain cool! Barred in places, brown lacing in places, black tipped white etc.. She looks like an eagle or a hawk now, but when younger resembled a sparrow. She too was a shy bird but quickly warmed up to us when she realized raisins were the best.thing.ever! Also, she has no beard or muffs, not typical of EE's but not uncommon either. I looking forward to what she'll look like and the eggs she'll lay in the future.
Next is Wicket, the bantam Easter Egger. I think she is one of the prettiest birds, with her lovely red/blue/white/tan coloring and her fancy grey beard. She is a lovely little thing, though slightly shier than the rest, and I can't wait to see her tiny blue or green or pink or...?...colored eggs! Unfortunately I only have one picture of her, will try to get more later today!
Finally, here are the two super massive Cornish x broilers we have. We originally had 5 of these but three were eaten by the neighbor's cat. It took us a week to figure out what was killing them. But now 2 of our 4 dogs guard them 24/7. As do I, with my BB gun (I just shoot next to it....most the time..). They are the gentle giants, the biggest of all being Gigantor, the roo. He is still working on his crow so he sounds pretty silly. One of the neighbors thought he was a sick human impersonating a chicken. Close, but...no, not really. And the other meat bird is Gojira. These two just came home form a 4 day bug-eating, lawn-fertilizing adventure to my father's place. It is something else trying to transport these big butts in the car for an hour. They are incredibly tame, fearless, and gluttons for feed and treats.
I hope y'all enjoyed meeting our chickens!
I will post later about the ducks, but in the mean time, here is a short video of a dung beetle rolling around some chicken poop that I took yesterday. My first Youtube post!
So without further ado, here they are! Oh and the dates on the pictures are totally wrong. My camera is a battery eater and well, I'm too lazy to set the date every single time I change batteries (which is about every 2-3 days, I really should get rechargeable ones!).
The queen of the flock, and tamest of all (besides the meat birds) is Merida, our Production Red. This redhead is my 5-year old son's pullet, and she will sit in his lap and let him walk around with her in his arms for quite some time. I think it's amazing how much she puts up with him! But then again we are the providers of the mealies, which may have something to do with it.
And here is Mavis (also in the pic above with Merida). She is a dark Cornish. I am especially surprised and pleased to have a Cornish as I have always wanted one. She is our little master forager, and ventures furthest away from the others while free ranging in the yard. She also is smaller than the rest of the egg layers and one of the first to come running when we call for the birds.
Zebra is the biggest of the future egg layers, and is a Delaware, another breed I was surprised and happy we ended up with. She was named Zebra way back when she was just a yellow fuzzball with a black dot on her head, without us ever knowing she would indeed have black stripes/barring! She is a very inquisitive bird, and walks on my feet a lot! In the last picture she was pecking at my 5-year old's soda bottle, "Can I have some of that?"
Here is Roxanne. We really aren't sure what she is! Welsummer/BSL/Partridge rock mix?? Who knows! When she was a baby she was blackish with a brown head, unlike any chick I was familiar with. She's probably some sort of mutt/mixed breed, and it will be fun to see how she changes as she matures. She is my mom's bird, and we sometimes call her The Shadow, as she is always following me around, like a tiny shadow.
This is RC, she is a Barred Rock and a very pretty bird! She is sort of aloof and tries to get into everything! She is my boyfriend's chicken, and is not named after RC cola. She never really was named, so we simply call her RC for "Ryan's Chicken." Though sometimes she is also called "Hey Chicken! Get off the grill/garden cart/peach tree pot!" She and Roxanne are good buddies, and also make great lap chickens.
Here is the beautiful Hazel, one of our standard sized Easter Eggers. She was a yellow fluff ball that has turned into a gorgeous rust-tinted white. She continues to get a little more red as she grows and has even grown a blue feather or two. She is my younger brother's bird, and has come around from a shy bird to an in-your-face-hey-do-you-have-treats-for-me:? kind of pullet. Nothing says classy quite like this bearded lady.
Meet Polka Dot, my son's other chicken (who never has had any spots!). She is a Silver Duckwing OEGB, and the tiniest thing! That's her with Hazel and Merida above for size comparison. Yup, she's a pipsqueak! She is also the most talkative chicken, and you wouldn't know it by her size, but also the loudest! She's been compared to a baby road runner, a dove, a quail, and a feathered lizard, but of course she's really a chicken ;P.
And here is Owl, the Silver Laced Wyandotte. She is our third SLW we have owned, and were very delighted when we figured out we had another one. She is very attractive with her contrasting black and white, and is fun to just watch running around the yard with bugs. She is a very good bug catcher. The other day she caught a 6" long stick insect and ran around for quite sometime trying to avoid the others and smash it on the ground to make it more edible. Wish I had taken a picture of that (no batteries!).
Sparrow is our other standard Easter Egger. Her feathers are just plain cool! Barred in places, brown lacing in places, black tipped white etc.. She looks like an eagle or a hawk now, but when younger resembled a sparrow. She too was a shy bird but quickly warmed up to us when she realized raisins were the best.thing.ever! Also, she has no beard or muffs, not typical of EE's but not uncommon either. I looking forward to what she'll look like and the eggs she'll lay in the future.
Next is Wicket, the bantam Easter Egger. I think she is one of the prettiest birds, with her lovely red/blue/white/tan coloring and her fancy grey beard. She is a lovely little thing, though slightly shier than the rest, and I can't wait to see her tiny blue or green or pink or...?...colored eggs! Unfortunately I only have one picture of her, will try to get more later today!
Finally, here are the two super massive Cornish x broilers we have. We originally had 5 of these but three were eaten by the neighbor's cat. It took us a week to figure out what was killing them. But now 2 of our 4 dogs guard them 24/7. As do I, with my BB gun (I just shoot next to it....most the time..). They are the gentle giants, the biggest of all being Gigantor, the roo. He is still working on his crow so he sounds pretty silly. One of the neighbors thought he was a sick human impersonating a chicken. Close, but...no, not really. And the other meat bird is Gojira. These two just came home form a 4 day bug-eating, lawn-fertilizing adventure to my father's place. It is something else trying to transport these big butts in the car for an hour. They are incredibly tame, fearless, and gluttons for feed and treats.
I hope y'all enjoyed meeting our chickens!
I will post later about the ducks, but in the mean time, here is a short video of a dung beetle rolling around some chicken poop that I took yesterday. My first Youtube post!
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