It's a Chicken Thing: September 2009

Friday, September 4, 2009

A Bit of a Scare

Today I went out at about 4:30 to feed some scraps to the chickens, and I saw one of the little Silkie chicks floating in the big duck pond!

At first I thought it was dead, with only it's head sticking out of the water, but then I saw it's beak open and close, slowly and silently. I ran into the pen and pulled it from the water. It was soaked through and through, and I hurried it inside. We wrapped the poor half-drowned little chick in a big fluffy towel, then set it in a cardboard box.

Several hours later it's all fluffed back up and was pretty freaked out of being inside the 'big house'! I think the little fuzzball is going to be fine!

~chickengirl~

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Return of the Blogger

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted! There's been a lot of growing-up since my last post.

The 'baby ducklings' are no longer babies or ducklings... We had some raccoon trouble when we went on vacation, and we now only have the two mallards and one Pekin, Emerald, plus good ole' Pearl of course.

But, we also bought a pair of Indian Runner ducks! They're names are Queen Victoria and King Albert. I've wanted Runners for a long time; I just love how they walk!!

Queen Victoria & King Albert

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And those little tiny baby chicks? They are big, fully feathered, and should start laying soon! Oddly, we've only lost one of the four, and none of the Co-op chicks.

"Friendly" the (possible) Red Sex-Link

"Sugar" the Americauna

Some of the chicks are watched by Tiptoes the cat

We have three of these chickens, the breed of which we are not sure... The Co-op folks told us they were Jersey Giants, but they have red breasts and look suspiciously like Black Sex-Links....

Cynthia and her mini-me, Gladys

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Aaaand one of our Silkie setters (after a loooong wait) hatched a little baby Silkie! And then a few days later, Butterscotch the Rhode Island Red hen (who has hatched chicks before) hatched another one! [At one point in time we had about a half a dozen hens setting all at once!]