January 16, 2013 A New Girl in Town

We have a new member of the flock, adopted from mentor Barb who felt bad and ask if I wanted a replacement for Blondie after her untimely meeting with the hawk.

Our new girl is a Buff Lace Wyandotte, so she is in the same breed family as Fearless: with a rose shaped comb and feather pattern but her coloration is peach-caramel and pearl gray,  just beautiful in the morning light.

In keeping with using the first part of the alphabet, I decided to think of an "E" name .... and came up with "Evie" which is really short for EVOO which is short for Extra Virgin Olive Oil, as that is our other hobby, Chianello Olive Oil.


So, group dynamics have changed once again.
Fearless is maintaining her higher status in the flock by chasing both Amelia the baby and Evie, the newbie.  AND, Evie pecks Amelia away from food, so I think she is saying, "I'm bigger than you so I'm not going to be on the bottom."  Amelia just skippty-do-dahs around everyone and could care less. [Secretly she know I give her special treats and she can sit in my lap when I sit down].

Evie is less shy and skittish now, as it had been almost 2 weeks of flock integration. She knows I'm the meal ticket and is waiting in the back of the others at the gate every morning and afternoon for her share of a snack. I have to feed the other 4 first and then sneak to the other side of the coop to give Evie her meal.

She isn't allowed on the roost at night yet and seems to spend the night in a nest box.  I think that will change as she is more accepted by the others because even Amelia wasn't allowed on the upper roost for a while and now she hangs out at one end with Curious during the night.

Evie is still coming out of the winter molt [loss and re-grwoth of feathers] so she hasn't laid an egg yet. I noticed on the others that the pale comb they had at molt started to regain it color when they came of out the molt and started laying again. I'm pretty confident that this will happen in her case too, and she is not quite ready yet....oh, and a little relocation trauma probably didn't help either.

Thanks for reading!  Cluck on, Karla

January 4, 2013 New Construction

After the death of Blondie, my Mr.Wonderful decided to build his 9th. chicken complex project: another covered pasture area.  We made it smaller than the uncovered playground and it is tucked in behind our concrete water tank; still large enough for all the Girls to scratch around and be protected from overhead.  All the old plastic green poultry fencing Steve was able to use as the top cover.

Steve pounding in giant staples to hold up the chain link

View into new pasture from east gate

It is now a very secure place: but if a predator wanted to dig under the wire, I suppose with effort it could get in. I don't leave the gates open overnight which helps deter any mean guys.

Amelia having a salad

I bought a 'suet holder' normally used for wild birds  and decided to use it as a 'greens holder' for the girls. Here is Amelia pecking away at the assorted gains from my dumpster diving. All the Girls enjoy having to peck at something that is up off the ground.

Amelia is still picked on by [mostly] Fearless who is trying to maintain her #3 status in the flock. But, Amelia is still Miss SassyPants and loves to jump up on my back or lap whenever she can and is learning how to avoid any nasty pecks whenever I'm around. Fearless is very vocal to me if I give a lot of special attention to Amelia: it's pretty comical to hear her scolding me, so I have to give equal attention to Fearless by holding out a tasty leaf for her to peck.

We are getting a new chicken from Mentor Barb: blog to follow as soon as I get her portrait! She is coming out of a molt and looking a little scruffy, but I will have her whole story in the next post.

.....stay tuned!