Lots and Lots

March 18, 2016March 18, 2016 ~ debc ~ 5 Comments

Well, I’m not sure where to start because I’ve been busy this whole week and it’s caught up with me. Tuesday was My Girl’s birthday and I’ve been busy planning her Sweet 16. Hard to believe. Then Thursday was my birthday, as well as St. Patrick’s Day.

Friday was the Australorp & Buff Orpington babies’ 1-week-aversaries. I took pictures, as per the usual.

Day 1 – Black Australorps and Buff Orpington

Week 1 – Black Australorp & Buff Orpington

Today was their 2-week, but I’ll have to get it later because I’ve been busy with party planning all day. I also missed the Mystery Bin Girl’s 2-week on Tuesday. I’ll try to snag pictures of at least Peanut tomorrow.

One of the reasons for the busy week was this – one of my Littles had a bum leg and I had to take care of her.

I have video of her leg before and after-care on my Youtube. We named her Baby and brought her into the house in a Chick Containment Unit.

Here she is today… about 4 days after being returned to her flock.

She was actually crouching to jump down. In the brooder, she is no different than anyone else.

My Pip Chick is turning 16 weeks tomorrow…

Here he is today…

For those of you following along at home… I’m calling the “Pip vs Pippi” drama over. This chick is a BOY. He stands tall and walks more upright than the girls, behaves just like papa, and already has pointy little nubs where spurs will someday be.

And look at those waddles and comb!!! It’s bigger than the adult hens now. NOT a girl. If this child lays an egg in 4 weeks… it will be a miracle.

My ‘Littles’ are Not So Little Anymore

June 4, 2015June 3, 2015 ~ debc ~ 4 Comments

Rhode Island Red chicks, age 4 Weeks.

My ‘Littles’ (as I’ve been calling the Rhode Island Red chicks) are not so little anymore.

As you can see, they are losing their baby down.

They love to jump and fly and right now, it’s a challenge to feed them or clean out the brooder. They jump out and sit on the edge of the box, watching me work. A couple of them have jumped down and run around the barn.

It’s time to get them out of the box and into a bigger coop.

The trouble with that is we don’t have an empty coop, just the one that my Golds are in right now. And they are a little over 2x the size of the chicks.

DH’s plan (since he can’t build a coop in so short a time) is to split our coop in two separate sections with chicken wire and put the Reds into their own half. It’s not ideal, but the two flocks will be able to see each other and, hopefully, get used to each other. We’ll keep them separate for a couple of weeks, or until the Reds show signs of getting bigger, then make an attempt at integrating them, sans chicken wire.

Bud (our special needs chick) is no longer ‘Bud.’ That is to say, I cannot tell which chick he is. He no longer holds his neck at that little tilt, no longer runs in circles, and he doesn’t respond when I talk to him (any more than the others do, I mean.) He’s just… one of the guys now. And I’m glad of that, because that’s exactly what he needed to be.

If you’re interested, I posted a photo dump yesterday, with some of the highlights of the last two weeks with my chickens.

Week 5 with the Golds, and an update on the sick baby

May 18, 2015 ~ debc ~ 4 Comments

chickens-week-5 — I can’t believe how big they’ve gotten, even since last week!

Well, here is it, 5 weeks and I’m counting the days until my few hold outs who still have noticeable downy feathers to hurry up and lose it. One of the hens has some on her neck yet and a couple of the boys do, as well, but everyone else is pretty much ready for the brooder lamp to go away.

Does ALL the down have to go, or could my hen with little tufts of down on her neck do okay without the lamp? Most of then don’t even sit under it anymore. They all like the boxes of straw now.