It's a Chicken Thing

Spring has Sprung

2010-05-17T18:50:00.003-04:00

Spring is in the air! We have one hen setting, and eight new additions to the poultry family- four Black Astralorps and four Silver Laced Wyandottes. The two oldest Astralorps we recieved at a 4-H Farm Day, and the other six were purchased at the Co-op about a week later. The older two are probably several weeks older, and are nearly fully feathered. These guys were living in our bathroom. After about the fourth escape, they were relocated to the outside brooder.

Black Astralorp

Black Astralorp

Silver Laced Wyandotte

Black Astralorp

Silver Laced Wyandotte

Spring Chickens

2010-04-29T22:23:00.005-04:00

One of my good chicken-raising friends has decided to sell all of her chickens, and offered us first pick. So we now have two new Cochin hens, a Cochin bantam hen, and a golden Campine. Here they are!

Elizabeth Taylor the Cochin bantam

Chaniqua the golden Campine

Aurora the silver laced Cochin

Belle the golden laced Cochin

This is our Easter egg hunt!

April Fools

2010-04-01T11:20:00.005-04:00

We've had some strange weather this year, including snow at the end of March. I'm definitely ready for spring! The daffodils are blooming (which the should have done a month or two ago) and the tulips are beginning to poke up out of the ground.

In January, we got some great snow (great for the slushy, non-sticking snow zone where I live). Here are some pictures of our chickens and ducks enjoying themselves (or maybe not so much) in one of the first snows of the new year!

Snow Day

2009-12-06T18:49:00.002-05:00

Yesterday morning, the coop awoke to quite a strange sight- everything had turned white! The ground (and everything else) was covered with about two inches of snow. That's just about as much as we ever get at one time down here. When I first let the chickens out, they were very cautious of the fluffy cold stuff, but there were several brave birds who pecked around after a while.

But of course, by the afternoon nearly all of the snow had melted, save for a few shadowy places.

New Birds
A good friend of mine is selling the majority of her chickens, and she offered them to me. So, I am now the proud owner of a white Cochin bantam hen and a Russian Spangled Orloff (Elizabeth Taylor and Anastasia). I'm pretty happy about the Cochin in particular- I think she's the sister of my late Henrietta Marie. Pictures coming soon!!!

The Backyard Birds

2009-11-07T17:09:00.013-05:00

Mille Fleurs

The breed that I've wanted for a LONG time is: a Mille Fleur Belgian Bearden D'uccle. But I didn't get one... I got two. We went to the state fair, and these are what I picked out to take home. I paid $10 for one pullet and $5 for the other. After I brought them home, I was beginning to think that one was a rooster.... until she laid an egg!

Here's a little slideshow of the two.

Cluck, cluck, quack!

Here are some pictures from around the yard.

Cole, the White Rock rooster, hangs out in the fall leaves

J the Black Sex-link hen, pecks around at some scratch

The yet-to-be-named red rooster hunts around for some grub

Cynthia the Silver Laced Wyandotte

Pearl the crested White Pekin

Butterscotch the Heritage Rhode Island Red debates over whether to stay in or go out... hmm...

Sophia the cat

Sophia decides to try some scraps along with her feathered friends

Java the Americauna pullet

Baby Bella, the Americauna/White Rock mix who looks just like her mom, Bella, for whom she was named

The eggs that we get from our coop

From Left to Right: Mille Fleur bantam egg, brown chicken egg, Americauna egg, and duck egg

We found this egg in the Mille Fleur's cage....

The mini-egg compared to a duck egg

A Bit of a Scare

2009-09-04T22:54:00.002-04:00

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~

Return of the Blogger

2009-09-01T21:34:00.010-04:00

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

-----
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

-----
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!]

The Silkie babies, who, if they're girls, shall be named "Paris" and "Nikki", strut around the yard

Some of the big girls

Bethany the Golden Polish

Hangin' in the coop

Whoopi the Golden Polish

~chickengirl~

Chicks...

2009-05-16T15:28:00.005-04:00

Spring is the season for new life.

And here at our coop, we definetely have some new life.

In 4-H, we sometimes go to schools or the local fairgrounds for "farm days". At these farm days, we teach children about chickens. (Of course there are many other animals, like horses, rabbits, sheep, even bees.) About two weeks ago we participated in one of these. Every year someone brings a small brooder full of baby chicks, and then at the end of the day they raffle them away in pairs. So, my sister and I each grabbed a ticket and waited. What happened? You guessed it: we each won two baby chicks. I heard that they were Rhode Island Red/ White Leghorn crosses, so that's what I'll call them.

Today we went to the local Co-op for some feed, and what would we find but two huge troughs of chicks. I couldn't resist. We bought 12 chicks of these breeds: 2 Silver-laced Wyandottes, 3 Black Astralorps, 4 Americaunas, and 3 Golden Sex Links.

I've made a very short movie-slideshow to hopefully show all of the breeds.

Old and New

2009-04-21T18:30:00.004-04:00

Old

I am sad to report that we've had two losses: the white Cochin hen, Queen Elizabeth (Lizzie), died a couple weeks ago of natural causes. Also, my sweet little white Cochin bantam hen, Queen Henrietta Maria, was (probably) killed by a dog.

New

But, I do have some good news: about a week after the first chick hatched, we found another! I think that it is Lizzie's baby; a white Cochin/Ameracauna & white Rock mix. The next day, we found yet another baby! This one came from a green Ameracauna egg.

And, one day while at the local Co-op, we saw....you guessed it, chicks and ducks. But these were Easter chicks and ducks: there were yellow, red, blue, green, orange, and purple, and also Mallard ducks. We left with two little Mallards, a blue duckling, and a green duckling. They are growing fast, but their colors are still vibrant.

The blue one's name is Saphire, and the green Emerald :]

~chickengirl~

Hope and Chickens

2009-03-23T22:10:00.005-04:00

It's finally happened: I went out to the garage today to check on Momma Fluff, and found a little, still-wet Silkie chick underneath her! We were about to give up hope for the eggs, and I'm thinking about naming the little baby 'Hope'. Here are some pics of the adorable baby!

Here are some other pics of chicken from around the yard. I took them with our new camera, a Nikon D90, a very nice camera.

~chickengirl~

Eggs

2009-03-11T22:05:00.002-04:00

Well, the eggs that our setting Silkie were setting on have not hatched. Most of them have broken to reveal rotten contents (though one broken egg had a dead baby chick inside).

But, there is some good news: I put some newly gathered eggs under her a couple of weeks ago, and after holding a crank-up flashlight to the egg and borrowing a friends candler, we can see a little chick moving around in at least one of the three eggs! The egg is white, and I think that it may be a Polish egg, but not certain! The other two are Ameracauna and a brown egg.

Even more, yet another Silkie has gone broody, around the same time (or a little later) when I put in the new eggs. And the three Silkie eggs that she has been setting on also show signs of moving chick life!! They could be pure Silkie chicks or even mixes with the mixed breed! One of the eggs has a little dent in it, and it's unknown how it got there, but we can still see the chick moving...

Here is a description of the eggs: There are blood veins showing. The shadows of the chick are a little bit lighter, and there are dark spots moving around (possibly eye, beak?). There are also some sqiggly lines that seems to be moving, maybe part of the chick. If anybody knows how old fertile eggs are at this age, please tell me, because I don't remember when I put them in/ when the hen started setting!

Please pray for the best of luck and possibly some chickies soon!!

~chickengirl~

Day 15

2009-02-11T11:46:00.002-05:00

As of now, our Silkie hen is at about day 15. I've been trying to candle the eggs every now and then. The other day, I found two with blood rings (not good) and threw them out. Last night, I found another two with blood rings (Silkie eggs, sadly enough) and also threw them out. I have numbered the eggs from 1-14. The hen got off of her nest for a little while several days ago, but we gently placed her back and she re-accepted them. I have seen dark shadows in several of the eggs, and that gets me so excited! But I can't get my hopes too high; after all, I am using a flashlight for the candling =)

~chickengirl~

Setting!

2009-01-31T16:33:00.003-05:00

I got my wish- one of our Silkies is setting! She currently has about 16 eggs from all our different hens. It will be interesting to see what turns out! As of now, we're at about day 4. I'll keep posting! Here are some pics:

~chickengirl~

Snow Day!!

2009-01-21T22:41:00.004-05:00

We got our first snow of the year on Monday, January 20!! Where I live, snow is as rare as a... well, I can't think of anything that it's as rare as, but it's rare! Even just this much. Of course, me with my digital camera went out and took pictures of the chickens enjoying (and not enjoying) the thin layer of snow! The video in the background was done with a Nikon (not sure what kind- I just know that it was expensive). So, without further ado, here is my Snow Day with the Chickens video!

As you may be able to see, this video is a little different than my older slideshows. I got a new video-making software! It's called MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 14. It took a little figuring-out, but it's a really nice, pretty basic-but-with-some-cool-effects editting software. Please tell me what you think!

~chickengirl~

More Pictures

2008-12-26T10:27:00.004-05:00

Here are some pictures that I took along with the ones posted yesterday.

The chicks that we are taking care of.

A new Silkie roo.

Whoopi the Polish

A Silkie pullet that we hatched over the summer.

Fabio: king of the coop.

Princess Dianna, Cochin.

The gang chillin' under a bush.

Sue the Ameraucana.

Channel the buff Cochin. Look how fluffy!!

Little Bird is a mix between a Silkie hen and an OEGB rooster. He actually turned out beautiful! Look at the rainbow he's got on his back... He got (from his mother) five toes, a walnut comb, a beard/muffs, feathered feet, and a small crest. From his dad, he got the normal, slick pretty black feathers.

~chickengirl~

Going's On

2008-12-25T19:35:00.006-05:00

Merry Christmas!

We didn't have a white Christmas here this year... we seldom do! Our Christmas felt more like late September than late December. I know that I haven't posted in a long time, so here are some picture updates!

We Three Queens... the silver-laced Wyandotte trio, Sylvia, Cynthia, and Mi-mi

Pepper the Barred Rock struts her stuff

Follow the leader!

Little Red- Flamingo wanna-be

Foster Pets

Our friends who own chickens and rabbits went to Florida several days ago, and left us in charge of some of their animals. As of now (and until they get back), we 'own' 3 Cochin bantams and 1 Silkie hen, 6 teenage-aged chicks, and three rabbits. Here are some pics!

The Cochins & Silkie

The roo looks like Sergui's twin!!

And she looks like Henrietta's twin! Of course, we bought them all at the state fair from the same people... they may be twins!

One of the rabbits...

Dottie the Rex (they are SOOOOO soft!!)

Why, hello there!

~chickengirl~

New Chickens

2008-09-17T16:38:00.004-04:00

So, when we went to the fair one day last week, we got two new chickens. They are a pair of white bantam Cochins. Their names are Sergeui (Sirgay) and Queen Henrietta Maria (Henrietta for short). I took them into the backyard and took some pictures of the little featherballs. I love them!!! Okay, here are some pictures...

The Pair...

Sergeui

Henrietta

King of the Roost

Look what I found!! Yummy

Aren't they precious??!!

~chickengirl~

Chickens, Ducks, and Kittens-- Oh My!!

2008-09-09T16:38:00.004-04:00

Here's a slideshow I made of just some pictures that I took. Enjoy!!

(I tried to post it last night, but my internet quit working...)

~chickengirl~

Sorry for the Absence!!

2008-08-26T18:31:00.002-04:00

I'm really sorry that I haven't posted in what, a month? I've just been EXTREMELY busy! But, all of our chickens and ducks are doing fine.

September 5-14 is the county fair. We've entered about 21 chickens, and I'm really excited about it. I'm sure they'll do great!

The ducks are recovering well from the past dog dilema. All of their feathers are growing back, and we're entering two in the fair, also. It's pretty funny but we think that our ducks named 'Pearl' and 'Dolly' are boys, and 'Donald' and 'Daffy' are females! I've been finding a white egg in the ducks' house, and I'm convinced that it's Donald laying them... or is it Daffy?

I'll try to post some pictures of the chickens that we are entering soon. Until then, ciao!

~chickengirl~

The Last Straw

2008-07-29T17:45:00.003-04:00

It happened again: the dog came back. This was surely the worst damage of all. Not only did the dog get the ducks, but also the chickens. As you may know we let our chickens out in the summertime. We were just starting to think that the dog wouldn't be back, so we let out the chickens and the ducks. We were gone all day, helping at our church's summer music week. When we got home it looked as though there'd been a pillow fight... a feather pillow fight. We found two dead chickens around the coop, and one close too death. Several chickens and a baby Silkie were cowering in the corn field, our gorgeous white Cochin was lying down terrified in the field with her feathers spread around her, our white Silkie hen and splash Cochin looked bad. And, of course, two ducks were chewed bad. The splash Cochin died in my arms, as did an Ameraucana. A few days ago a missing chicken turned up, but it was dead, too.

I saw my Old English Game bantam rooster's tail feathers all over the yard, and knew he was gone. But there he was on the porch, with four tailfeathers in all! Poor thing. But he's safe. I think that he tried to defend himself and all of his girls, unlike our huge rooster!! with tail feathers

There was still one missing: Butterscotch the mama hen, the mother of four Silkies and a mutt. We were sad that she was gone, but I still kept up hope. And sure enough there she was that night when we went to put them up! Totally fine.

All in all the damage is: 2 dead Ameraucana pullets, 1 dead cockeral, 1 dead Cochin, 1 dead buff Orpington, two chewed ducks, 1 chewed Sex Link, 1 tailless OEGB rooster, and two stressed chickens. We're not sure what happened to it, but the dog's not around our neighborhood anymore.

~chickengirl~

Tag!

2008-07-21T21:35:00.004-04:00

I've been tagged by Don at A View from the Green Barn!

So, here are the 6 random things about me:

1. I love acting, and have been in at least: 1 or 2 television shows, a commercial, an independent film, a play, and I was a 'chicken wrangler' when my Rhode Island Red rooster, Rocky, was in a Jewelry TV commercial.

2. I have been to 35 states, 2 countries, and every county in my state. (This isn't about me, but my mother was born in Alaska!)

3. I've lived in one house my entire life. Our big white farmhouse is about 130 years old. Before we bought it, there were old outhouses and buildings in the yard. There's still a pigstye in the back, but it's now overgrown with black walnut trees.

4. Tonight I spent about thirty minutes out in our chicken coop shooting at rats with a BB gun. It was strangely entertaining! We probably have at least twenty rats... Ugh

5. I love art and recently painted a picture of a Canadian goose with her goslings. The painting is traveling around my state in an art show. I was awarded 2nd place in the entire state for my work. It helps to have such great subjects!

6. My thumbs don't match. One is short and squat, while the other is (shorter than) normal. They are actually different sizes, and the nails are different. If I commited a crime, I could probably be recognized by my thumbprint (of course I would never commit a crime!!)

Well, those are my six random things.

I've tagged:

Sparkle- 'Catch a Falling Star' One of my very close friends, she hasn't been on Blogger in a while, but I may be able to pursuade her!

Shine- 'Bling Bling' Another of my good friends, she shares the passion of chickens with me. They live 500 acres of land, have chickens, rescued baby turkeys, a beautiful peacock (that just showed up), and recently took care of 5 rescued goslings.

Sir James- 'Lords of Chivalry' My knight in shining armour.

Alena8- 'BIG PINK FAN' Although I don't exactly share her passion for pink, I still love her.

Here are the rules:
Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on the blog.
Write six random things about yourself.
Tag six people (or however many you'd like) at the end of your post.
Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

~chickengirl~

The Life of a Farmer

2008-07-12T15:09:00.003-04:00

Duck Disaster II
You can tell from the title that this isn't too great. The neighbor's dog got in, AGAIN. This time the damage was bad.... Real bad. Where to start?

We got home from a fun weekend at the lake. But, only two of the five ducks were in our yard. "Oh, no," I thought with a sinking feeling. It was Dolly and Donald, and Dolly was bloody. I was cleaning out their pool, I saw something lying on the bottom. I picked it up and realized that it was a flea collar. Obviously our suspect was NOT a coyote. After a while, when I was taking care of the chickens, Daffy the black Eastern showed up from seemingly no where. I looked and realized that she looked pretty bad. After closer examination (from inside the house), we decided to take her to the vet the next day. We did, and I was surprised that she had made it through the night. The vet said it was pretty bad; the jugular was ripped in two, but fortunately ducks have two. He said if it was his duck, he'd probably put it down. So, we made the decision to do that. It was terrible, but if we hadn't done it she'd have gone through much paid and extensive surgery... There wasn't even a guaranty that she would live. The night before, we'd found one, Pearl, across the street. We took her and Dolly in also, just to check on Dolly, and because Pearl had become infected with maggots. The vet told us that the eggs would hatch within 8 hours! They got her cleaned up, though.

The next day, somehow the other black Eastern, Abby showed up. But as it turned out, this was the real Daffy. We'd mixed them up, but that didn't really matter. At least she was back! She wasn't NEAR as bad as Abby had been. But she had maggots. We did what the vet told us to do, and got them all out. Now, Pearl and Daffy are living in our upstairs bathtub, while Dolly and Donald stay out in they're pen.

We called Animal Control, and they talked to the owners. We also talked to them and showed them the collar. The owner said that she had bathed her pooch the night before and put that very collar on her. We've not seen the dog since, and we hope it stays that way. If not, we have a court date set.

Babies!!
We have at least ten new chicks, including 2 half white Silkies/ half black Old Englich Game bantams. we've lost a couple due to drowing, but the rest are running around with their mommas. One hen is still setting on a couple eggs, and I think that one more hatched this morning!

The rest of our chickens are all doing great. We've been letting them all out, and they can't STAND it if we're even late letting them out. They are so funny.

~chickengirl~

Chick, Chicks, and MORE Chicks!

2008-06-30T23:45:00.005-04:00

It's true: two more chicks have hatched! A little white one and a little black one. At first we thought that the black one was an Old English Game Bantam.... that was, until we saw the feathered feet, five toes, little crest, and small comb! Plus we found all four eggshells: they're all Silkie eggs!!! So, looks like the father is:

Bruiser the Old English Game Bantam.

And the mother is either:
Rita the white Silkie,
Georgeous the white Silkie,
or the hen in the top right corner, Paris the white Silkie.
Anyways, here's a short video with pics and clips of the newest additions to our poultry family!

~chickengirl~

The Chicks are Hatching... Again!

2008-06-28T22:12:00.003-04:00

Here's a little movie I put together. It's got some clips of the chicks playin' around with their mommas. (If you hear sniffing, sorry, I have a cold!!....That seems weird to say in June-- almost July...)

~chickengirl~

Guess What??

2008-06-28T15:45:00.003-04:00

Two of our Silkie hens are setting on eggs. And guess what? I went out there are found a little fluffy chick!!

We went out of town Thursday and Friday and got back late last night. This morning, I went out to check on them... And another chick had hatched!! So now we have two tiny little babies.

The rest of the once-tiny-little-babies aren't so tiny any more!!... Actually, they're huge!

~chickengirl~

What's Going On

2008-06-13T15:32:00.008-04:00

Missing Mallory

The title describes the happening:our Mallord duck, Mallory, dissapeared some day last week. We found feathers (that looked like hers) around the duck pen. She wasn't with "the gang", which was extremely rare. But we'd seen her that morning. Later in the afternoon, my sister ran in, Mallory in her arms. "I found Mallory, but she's chewed up bad!" she exclaimed. She told me that she'd been out walking around and had seen the duck limping behind the house. We stuck her in the tub and washed her off. Then we let her go back to her buds outside, after a thorough look-over. We were glad that she was back. But, unfortunatelly, the happiness was short lived. Tuesday, she'd dissapeared again. We searched all around our house, through the field, down by the creek. No sign. So, here's in memory of Mallory, one pretty Mallord duck:

A Good Old Girl
Last week we found one of our first chickens, Maria the Rhode Island Red, dead in the chicken coop. She was one of the eight original girls that we had left. I don't know what made her die, maybe just old age. But that's life. May she rest in peace.

Growing
All of the chicks are getting big, and I mean BIG! We put Athena, the Cornish setting hen, with the rest of the chickens. As for Butterscotch and her two Silkie chicks, I put them with the younger chicks. She's pretty much adopted them all! One night I went out to put them up, and she was sitting on a stump with her little fluffies under her. How they got up there, I don't know! But it sure was cute!!!

~chickengirl~

2008-06-13T15:32:00.001-04:00

Chickens- Pictures from Around Our Yard

2008-05-30T09:25:00.002-04:00

The title of this post is the title of this video! Enjoy! (PS- there is even a pic of the newest Silkie babies in there at the end!!)

Geese and Cochins

2008-05-27T10:41:00.004-04:00

Good-Bye
It's time to say good-bye to the goslings... The rightful owners have come back from Florida (YES!!) and will be picking up the goslings, maybe sometime today. I will miss them, but it will be 5 less mouths to feed... And water... And clean up after..... (Of course it's not their mouths that I clean up after.)

Newbies (Chicks)
You know that with that title, we've gotten ourselves into something! We went to this guys place, looking to buy Cochin chicks. He's crazier than us! In a good way! He's got chicks in his garage (along with 'poults'), and a barnful of animals: Guineas, goats, rabbits, llamas or alpacas, peafowl, quail, Chukar, horses, dogs out back, and a barn cat!! Phew! Even though he's crazy, I think I'd love to have most of those..... Even the Guineas! Anywho, he had barred Cochins, splash Cochins (my fav), and buff Cochins. We bought one mixed breed (which is buff, but has barring and dots of black), one splash (mine), and my sister bought what she hopes is a buff rooster, for her buff hen. They're with the other chicks that we hatched (for now). Aren't we crazy?

~chickengirl~

Unexpected

2008-05-17T22:44:00.002-04:00

The most unexpected thing happened to me today (hence the title). I was feeding and watering the setting hen, Butterscotch, and I thought that I heard peeping. "Ooh," I thought, "maybe an egg is hatching!" I looked under her and was shocked to find that the noise was coming from a little Silkie chick!!! I nearly shouted, but instead went and showed my sister. Then I ran back and checked for more and found another! They are so cute. If you didn't know, we put some Silkie eggs that the Silkie hen had been setting on underneath Butterscotch. I didn't see any more pips in the eggs, and I only found those two chicks. They seem perfectly fine! I just can't believe they hatched right under our nose. I've been checking every now and then to see if there were any signs of hatching. I wonder how old they are; they're all fluffed up, and yet the egg tooth is still on both of them. Probably just a day or two. I'll get some pictures soon.

~chickengirl~

Geese

2008-05-15T08:52:00.002-04:00

Here are some pics of the goslings!

All five together.
Audrey, my fav.

~chickengirl~

New Coop

2008-05-09T22:14:00.005-04:00

Lots has happened since the last post. I guess I'll start with this: We let the chicks out into the pen while we built a new coop. The coop will temporarily be for the chicks, then for the Silkies. Here's a video (I wanted to put HSM "Breaking Free", but couldn't get a hold of the sound track):

Also, last Tuesday our friends won two chicks in a drawing at a 4-H farm day, and since they're going on vadation for two weeks we ended up with them. So our baby chick count has gone from 3 to 5 PDQ (pretty darn quick). Plus, the same friends found some abandoned baby geese near their house, and took them in. Again, vacation got in the way, and we are now the foster parents of 5 baby Canadian geese for 2 weeks. I'll try to get some pictures, because they are SO cute!! Their names are Audrey, Lucy, Peep, Giselle, and Sweetheart.

~chickengirl~

Breaking Out 2

2008-05-02T09:57:00.003-04:00

Here is my video of the Silkie chick hatching. I also have some pictures of the AWPR(Ameraucna/White Plymouth Rock) . I don't have any video clips, though. Sorry!

~chickengirl~

More...and More!!

2008-05-01T22:31:00.002-04:00

The Ameraucana/White Rock egg hatched yesterday. It's so cute; it looks like a White Rock, but has an Ameraucana's comb! The Silkie is doing fine. another Silkie egg was hatching this morning, and my sister and I stayed out there for a long time. We were afraid that the hen would break the egg, because she was moving around so much, so we had it under a heat lamp. I put it under the hen for about 20 seconds. A huge mistake. She accidentally trampled on it, breaking part of the egg shell. The chick was still moving inside, thankfully! Finally, after a 20-30 minute struggle (both the egg and me, too!), the little chick hatched. We nick-named it "Lucky". We were so happy that it made it out okay! We put about 8 more Silkie eggs under Butterscotch the RIR, and she still has about three eggs from the other batch. We are very un-experienced with hatching chicks, so we really just threw a bunch of eggs that we thought were fertile under, some maybe even on different days. The 3 chicks are now in our upstairs bathroom. The AWPR (I made that up for the cross) is named "Chloe", because that was her dad's name, before he turned into Cole. The 'lucky' Silkie is May-Day (because it was born on May Day, and when there's trouble, you shout "mayday!"), and it's nickname is May. The first Silkie is stuck. I want to name it April, so we'll have April and May, but my sister thinks otherwise.... I think she wants it to be Fluffy? If it's a boy, I think I should call it Louie Vaton! Well, if you have any ideas, leave them in a comment on this post! I'll put more pictures of the other hatches tomorrow, or at least I'll try!!!

~chickengirl~

The Most Wonderful Thing

2008-04-30T09:11:00.006-04:00

I looked at the rest of the eggs and guess what I found?!? A little pip in a green Ameraucana egg!! I looked some more and found a hole in a little brown egg! I stayed in the garage aaaaall evening, and after waiting, watching, and filming with the digital camera, I produced this movie. There was a lot more footage, but if I left it in, the movie would be about an hour long! So, here it is, my masterpiece: "Breaking Out; Finally Hatching". The filming wasn't too great, but hey, you get to see a chick hatching!! Now if you have any, please give me some ideas for names!

At the very end of the hatching, the camera said "Memory card full". I nearly tore my hair out, but I think I got some OK pics after it came out. I'll post updates, because as we speak, the little Ameraucana egg is hatching!

~chickengirl~

The Saddest Thing

2008-04-29T16:31:00.000-04:00

Okay, I'm about to tell you about the saddest thing that I think has happened to me this year, so if you don't like sad stuff, do not continue:

Just a few minutes ago, I walked out to our garage. I fed and watered the chicks, as usual. And they were even bigger than the last time I saw them (yesterday), as usual. After I finished that, I went over and talked to Butterscotch, the setting hen. I gave her some food and soothing words. Then I walked around her cage and my heart stopped; lying there was a tiny, motionless chick on the floor. It had blue skin and white feathers, and was still slick. A little spot of blood was on it's head. It's body was cold, but the blood was not dry yet. I couldn't beleive it. That was our first nearly successful hatching. I mean, it at least got out of the egg. I feel like crying, but I won't. The weird thing is, we couldn't find any eggshells around the cage, but there was one less egg under Butterscotch. Isn't that odd?

Sadly signing out,
~chickengirl~

(PS- Yeah, I know the same post is on The Coop Scoop.)

Chicken and Egg Festival

2008-04-17T22:35:00.003-04:00

So, we went to the festival, and participated in the contest. We had a fabulous design, one that no one else thought up (the were all the same... kind of strange, I admit). We made air bags for the egg to land on, but when we had reached 42", the egg was slightly blown by the wind and was accidentally skewered by a popsicle stick... Oh well. We still got to check out some cool artwork and stuff like that, and played games like Bingo (which my sister won) and the egg toss (which we didn't win). Overall, it was okay in my book. Hey, I got a T-shirt that says "I rule the roost", so I'm happy! Well, I gtr. It's late and I'M TIRED!!!!

~chickengirl~

(PS- My family and a friend got to be extras in a local independent film that premiered tonight! They made it like a big Hollywood red-carpet type of event. The movie was pretty funny. About softball. I was laughing my head off at some parts. But the best part, was that I WAS IN IT!!...okay, maybe it was about 6 seconds total, but still...gotta give me some credit! Check out My Journal for more details. I'll post about it there.)

Duck Video

2008-04-11T21:13:00.003-04:00

Okay, these pics aren't as great as the chick pictures, because the ducks were outside...duh, and they are ducks. 'Nuff said....

Chicken and Egg Festival

2008-04-11T20:25:00.001-04:00

This weekend we've traveled to Alabama for the annual Chicken and Egg Festival. My sister and I will be competing in the "Catch a Falling Egg" contest. We will have 30 minutes to build a device that can catch an egg dropped from four different heights, each greater than the last. There will be materials supplied, such as straws, cups, newspaper, pipe cleaners, etc., but we won't know what they actually are until we get there. We found this event on the internet (I love the web) and signed up for the contest! There are supposed to be 100 bantams, 25 breeds, brought by the same guy. Talk about a lot of chickens!! It sounds pretty fun, and I'll take lots of pics and get them on the computer.

Thanks,
~chickengirl~

(PS- I brought our laptop, so that's how I can post and put pics. Don't you love wireless?)

Quick Notice

2008-04-11T20:21:00.002-04:00

I made a new blog! Just thought I'd let you know. It's called The Coop Scoop. Check it out! Go there.

Ducks

2008-04-09T13:18:00.000-04:00

Vet Appointment

We got home from running errands Saturday night, and found the dog that broke into the ducks' pen snooping around the pen again. The ducks were all in the pen, but Daffy was lying on the ground....alive, thankfully. We got the flashlight and found that one duck, Dolly, had had her gashes re-opened, and the other ducks were scraped up. We got them all inside and washed them off. Dolly had huge gashes and Pearl (a crested Pekin) was slightly bloody. Daffy didn't loo good at all. His leg, we discovered, was the source of his problems. He just held it behind him, never using it. We thought it was either broken or worse: paralyzed. We called the local vet, and they didn't take poultry. So we called Animal Sciences, and just a trip down there would $140. But they gave us some names of other vets that would take "exotics". The first was a keeper. We took Daffy in, and the people were very good and very nice. They did an X-ray on Daffy, and came back with the results. No broken bones, no paralysis! Slight nerve damage, possibly, but after some pain killer, he should be okay. They gave us seven days worth of painkiller, not shots, but honey-flavored medicine. The whole trip was $150, still quite a bit, but less than the Animal Science place would have been!! Daffy is doing so much better already; using his leg little by little. Here are the X-rays:
I just thought it's cool to see a duck X-ray! (The little white spots are just stones in his gizzard)

Three Strikes and....You're Out!
Too much. When we got home from the vet, the dog was back in the pen! Third time in two weeks. We got it out quickly. It didn't hurt anybody too badly, but again Dolly's wounds were re-opened. My mom called Animal Control, finally. Sunday, we'd talked to the owners of the dog, and they said they would tie it up. But apparently, they didn't. I feel bad for them, but we haven't seen the dog since. The ducks are doing much better, especially Daffy!

Week 2

2008-04-06T21:54:00.000-04:00

It's the beginning of week 3... We have had the chicks for 2 weeks. I can't believe it! They've grown so much since Day 1. Here's a slideshow with their pics. I figured out how to do some more neat things, so tell me what you think!

Duck Pictures

2008-04-04T20:09:00.000-04:00

After the disaster. They're sitting on my dad's lap. Dolly has a big bloody spot, while Donald is kind of letting his head flop.

This is one of the ducks having fun in their pool. Aren't they so huge?

Duck Disaster

2008-04-01T20:40:00.000-04:00

Sunday, I was at a birthday party, which would soon be over. As my mom stepped out of the car, I could tell something was wrong by the anxiousness in her voice as she ushered me to the car. As we drove away, she began, “Dogs got into the ducks pen today.” I stared at her. Questions and mental pictures zoomed through my brain; were they OK? Which dogs? How did they get in? “Oh my goodness! Are they OK?” was all I could say. “Well, the black ducks were bloody, but we didn’t see any broken skin. Pearl and Mallory were fine. Dolly was bleeding for a long time… and we think that Donald has a broken neck,” she finished grimly. I asked her solemnly, “Do you think he’s going to die?” “....yes.” I thought I was going to cry. “I can’t believe it.” As we rode home, we discussed what had happened. Apparently, the dogs had jumped on a hay bale and hopped right over the short wire fence. My dad heard dogs barking (which never happens) and ran outside to see dogs in the pen. I am so proud of him, because he ran out there in his socks and scared them off. They had Donald on the ground, with the others huddled in the corner. He brought them inside and washed them off. When I got home, I wanted to cry again. The five ducks were all piled on top of my dad. Dolly had a bandage wrapped around her chest, and then I saw Donald; he was sitting between my dad and my sister. An Ace bandage was wrapped around his neck, which would flop everywhere if not for my sister holding his neck. I sat with them for a long time, then it was time for bed. The ducks (excluding Donald) were taken out to the water trough. We fixed Donald a bed in a cardboard box inside a cage. Before bed, we gave him a drink of water, which he sloshed around as he tossed back his head. He slept in the bathroom, and I checked up on him every now and then….not much sleep for me. In the morning, we checked on him….and he was 200% better. He could eat, drink, move his neck, and stand. I was so happy! We put him back with the rest of the ducks. Yesterday, his bandage was off (he probably had a little help), and you could hardly tell he’d been hurt…except for the bald, bloody spot on his back. My little buff Cochin died, but I’m okay about it. Now, I’m most worried about Dolly…she lost a lot of blood. Well, I’ll keep you posted on their condition. The chicks have been flying around like little dare-devils!

~chickengirl~

Day 2...Or Is It 1?

2008-03-25T21:27:00.000-04:00

Well, this has been the first officiall day with all the chicks. Here is a video with every breed we have:

I'm sad to say that one of our White-Crested Black Polish died today. But, at least we still have another White-Crested and a Buff Laced.

Chicks---They're Here!!!

2008-03-23T20:52:00.000-04:00

Guess what? We got six little chicks yesterday at the Co-op! Two Barred Rocks, a Rhode Island Red, a Black Sex Link, and two New Hampshire Reds. I made a slideshow with their pictures:

Also, we got a phone call this morning saying that the chicks were at the post office! After some searching and knocking, we found the people that gave us our 32 adorable chicks. They were peeping in protest, but we got them in the car and warmed them up. They're now settled into the brooder with the other six. And guess what? Our free rare chick is a buff Polish!! We were so happy. I took pictures, but I can't get them on tonight. Tomorrow the other 6 Ameraucanas are coming, and I'll try to put pictures on then.

Video

2008-03-19T14:21:00.000-04:00

This is a video I made of the rainbow-colored chicks from the Co-op. I'm so new to this cool software, I added lots of stuff to it!

Bath Time

2008-03-19T13:52:00.000-04:00

These pictures are kind of old, but here are the ducks enjoying their time in our bathtub!

2008-03-19T13:12:00.000-04:00

We went to the Co-op for duck food, and look what we found! These cute little Easter chicks were not hurt while they were dyed. How were they dyed? you may ask. Well, food coloring is injected into the egg while the chicks are still in them.
This chick looks like a Grinch chick!
Here's all the 6 different colors!

If you want to buy some dyed chicks, you can go to http://ideal-poultry.com/ and search for 'Easter'. I think they have dyed chicks, ducklings, and wild turkeys.

The Big Move

2008-03-12T22:03:00.000-04:00

It finally happened..... We moved our ducklings out to the garage! We put them in the water trough and put one small clip-light and the big light. I hope that they stay warm and the cats stay out! Today we took them outside to play and tried to introduce them to our crazy demonic cat, Sophia, and she tried to attack the poor little thing! It's OK, but it really scared me!! By the way, we've named all but one. Their names are: the Pekin is Donald, the crested is Dolly, the two little black ones are Daffy and Abbey, and the Mallard is Mallory. The possible Pekin/crested is not named yet, and we aren't really sure if it's a crested or not... Well, that's it!! They are so big, and I'll try to take new some pictures soon!

Swimming

2008-03-09T21:32:00.000-04:00

The babies are growing sooo fast! I'll try to get some pictures soon. We put them in the bathtub yesterday and let them swim for the first time. They absolutely LOVED it!! They would zip around, and try to stand up in the water to flap their tiny wings! I love them. I named my crested duck: Dolly. Yeah, my friend gave me the idea. She has a big puff on her head, but if she's a boy, I might name him 'Billy Ray'. I want to make a little duck house for them out of cardboard and fabric. If I actually do, I'll post how to!

Duckling Pics

2008-03-05T21:09:00.001-05:00

Here are the pictures I promised! We're all huddled up. Ain't we so darn cute?

Here's the whole gang! The yellow-striped black chick is the Mallard, the yellow one behind it is the possible crested, the other yellow ones are Pekins, and then the blackies are unknown.

This is one of the breeds that is unknown. Do you know what we are?

We took a quick dip in the bath tub. Did you know that water is REALLY wet???

The spotlight is on us!!....OK, maybe they're heat lamps...

We're eating out of an old waterer and our new feeder that attatches to a jar. Pretty cool, huh?

This is our temporary home.

Oh yeah, I'm fabulous!!

Check us out! Are we cute or what??

Guess What???

2008-03-05T20:28:00.001-05:00

Today, we went to the Co-op for bedding (not that much longer till the chicks come!!!), and there were chicks and ducklings there! You'll never guess what happened........my mom said we could get a couple ducklings!!! Long story short, we now have six adorable little ducklings sitting in a RubberMaid tub in our Game Room (den). We used our old chick waterer and new feeder and put heat lamps above the cage(the clip-ons). We're not totally sure about the breeds, but I think we got one Mallard, one or two Pekins, maybe a White Crested Pekin (a duck with a funky hairdo), and two of an unknown breed. I've been looking all over the internet this evening for stuff on duck care!!!! If you have any tips, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me!!!! I'll try to post some pics as soon as possible--maybe even tonight, if there's time!! They really are adorable. Thanks!

Trough Brooder

2008-03-04T14:12:00.000-05:00

This is a clip-on heat lamp that, well, clips on to stuff!!!
(In this case, the side of the trough.)
This is an inferred light bulb. Strangely, chickens can't see inferred!
This is the water trough from my grandpa. When I go to the Co-op when they have chicks, they're usually in one of these!

More Pictures

2008-03-04T14:06:00.000-05:00

Side view of the brooder....
The holes are covered with Plexi-glass. This side is cut in half, so the chicks don't suffocate.
Each window has four knobs, which MUST be turned up. If they aren't, the glass can fall out and scare the jibies out of the chicks.....and me, too!!
This is what a heat lamp aluminium cover looks like. It fits perfectly into the hole on top.

Big Chick Brooder

2008-03-04T14:00:00.000-05:00

This brooder is on loan from our friends and was hand-made by their dad (thank you SOmuch!!). We will most likely put the 24 Americauns chicks in here.

The top of the brooder has a circle cut into it, which the heat lamp fits perfectly well. There is a lightbulb inside, and there is even an outlet to plug the heat lamp and light into!!

Here is the top of the brooder. The doors on either side are hinged and open up for easy access to the inside.

Chicks

2008-03-02T19:39:00.000-05:00

I am sooooo excited!!! I just placed the order for our chicks from McMurray Hatchery. This is what kind of chicks we are getting:

2 Buff Cochin Pullets (one for me, one for my sister)
2 White Cochin Pullets (again, one for me and one for sis)
2 White Crested Black Polish Pullets (same as the last two)
1 Salmon Favorolle Pullet(I just decided "what the heck?" She's just for fun)
24 Americauna Pullets (this is the big order, and we're raising them for my grandpa)
6 Americauna Pullets (what started it all. these are through 4-H, three for me, three for my sister)
1 Mystery Chick (the hatchery will just throw it in. it will most likely be a rooster, but we can give it to my grandpa)

That's all the chicks we are getting! Tomorrow, I'll try to take pictures of our brooders (which are in our garage) and post them, so you can get a feel of what these chicks will live in.

~chickengirl~

27...26...25...24....

2008-02-29T22:44:00.001-05:00

OK, so maybe we don't have any baby chicks now, but they'll be here March 24! I'm counting down the days. When they get here, I'll take tons of pics and blog about their lifes! We know we're going to get 6 Americauna's, and we're ordering 24 Americauna's from McMurray Hatchery to raise for my grandpa. We might even order a couple cochins with them! I hope we can even get a couple of ducks!!...but that's highly unlikely. So check back on or after March 24!!! Thanks a ton!

~chickengirl~