August 17, 2015: Growing Up and Laying Eggs

After Amelia died, Gabby seems to have been pushed into lowest of the original 3 by Fearless. Gabby, in her easy-going way, is just taking it but she does let the other ones know they rank below her.

But, there's war between Jasmine and Kiwi. Both positioning themselves as leader of the Young Flock. Jasmine outweighs Kiwi by about double, but that doesn't stop Kiwi from squaring off eye to eye with her in a real game of 'chicken'. It's hard to tell who gives first. And, I'm not sure which one has the top position yet. Wherever Kiwi is, Jasmine goes. If Kiwi jumps up on a perch to sit next to me, Jasmine jumps up on the higher perch to sit behind my head. Kiwi can fly up onto my arm - Jasmine is to hefty for that, but it doesn't mean she doesn't want to be noticed and cooed over [by chicken auntie - "Pretty Bird"]

Most pullets start laying generally between 5 and 6 months so we really have until the first part of September to be on track

In our egg producing arena,  Jasmine is first! She laid her first egg a week ago, at age 20 weeks.  In true fashion, a pullet [chicken under 1 year] starts laying a small egg and they will gradually get larger until reaching the size for their breed and hers have started out at soup spoon size. 



Jasmine should eventually lay a large, dark brown egg.

.......... She got the dark brown right!

And she has only missed 1 day out of 8.

Way to go, super-Chick. 

I'm not sure who is next. I watch the growth of their combs and wattles. Jasmine's grew pretty fast and got dark red as well, which I also know is a sign of a healthy layer.

Hosta might be next, Lilly is big and looks ready but her comb is still small and light red.

The 2 Buttercups have a ways to go, I think.

                   See all their current portraits on the Chicks page.

Here is group nap time.  At least for the New Flock....The 3 Old Biddies are still maintaining their distance and cool reserve, so they nap and dust bathe separate from the New Girls.

I have even added ice cubes to their water founts to tempt them with cool water.Right now it is so hot here (100 degrees this past weekend) that everyone is hanging outside in one of the cool pastures, dug into their own depression in the ground. Wings are spread open and they actually 'pant' with beaks apart. Chickens definitely do not like temperatures anywhere near their own 103 degree body temperature.

June 12, 2015: Amelia just...died

Friday night: I went down to check the new chickens. They won't go in the coop to sleep and they all seem to fly up to the top of their temporary coop and it's about 42" high.

But, I looked in and saw a lump on the floor of the coop pen. 
Uh oh...oh NO!......Amelia was dead..!

There will never be a sassier chick than you!

My sweet, sassy Sicilian Buttercup who loved and hated me at the same time. She would fuss around me until I bent over and she could fly up on my back and chirp and walk around.
Or she would peck my hand, quite strongly, as if to say "I'm higher in the order than you...take that!"

I'd feed her the daily treats on top of the trash can, where she was safe from the hungry Old Biddies and I know she felt special.

She was a loner: given to me by chicken mentor Barb, who took her in and thought she'd make a good addition to my flock....and she did, but clearly never made it to full acceptance by the Original 3 [Curious, Fearless and Gabby]. So, she would hang out by herself, sometimes in the coop on a perch watching the others lay their eggs or outside scratching and dust bathing. I was hoping that the 5 new ones would become part of her "flock".


Her eggs were beautiful, small white with the most wonderful matte luster and so smooth to the touch. A surprise tangerine-colored yolk always made me thank her for her efforts. She was a great layer last year but for some reason this year, after her impacted crop she never really got back up to speed. 

And so, maybe it was her time. 

There is a 'chicken sudden death syndrome' which can be caused by many things and without a necropsy [chicken for autopsy] I can't be sure.  But sometimes they just get sick and you don't know it in time to save them. Or stressed from being low in the order with all 5 new ones scampering around....I just don't know.

I'm sad she is gone and I will miss her following me around, attacking my hand, and laying those gorgeous eggs.

A quiet service at the chicken cemetery. Good sleep, Amelia!

May 28, 2014: Integration Day

Today Steve went into the barn early to get some tools before heading to the job and ... uh oh....4 of the youngsters were out of the brooder pen and sitting on top of it ! He called me to clue me in, "Your chickens are out."
Huh, out? Who's out? Thats when he told me that the teenagers staged a coup.

So, down to the barn I go and there they are: sitting on top of the 2x4 bracing, but kind of nervous. I get 3 back in the pen, but Hosta did not want to be picked up and she jumped down to the floor, skittering around.
I had to open my little side door. When she heard peeping, she came over to the door, saw the others and hopped inside. Jasmine, who is Miss Amazonia, was inside the pen the whole time, so she either couldn't hoist and fly up and out or she wanted to be The Good Girl.

Well, I got the hint that this little space was too small. As the weather was getting warmer at night, into the 50's, and we had built out the area for them, I decided to go ahead and move them over.

A cat carrier worked to make two trips from the barn to the Chicken Hilton.

Steve built a nice roosting area which doubles as a spot to hide in, away from the Old Biddies.

And, they have an open area to get some sun and visually see the other girls while being safe for now. Since Kiwi and Ivy belong to the flying Earhart family [along with Amelia], we ran plastic poultry netting up to the roof line.
One escape is enough!






I call the new girls "my little chirpas", as they are almost non-stop chirpping.
They have happy chirps, nervous chirps, a cooing-chirp and a squawk [as in don't pick me up!].

And, after the initial fear of a new place, they settled in to exploring, scratching in the dirt and watching the Old Ones.

Here they are checkin' out the outside.....

  and here are Fearless, Gabby and Amelia pretending they don't see the Chirpas.

The 4 Big Girls have pretty much ignored the little ones: unless I give the Chirpas sunflower seeds and the Big Girls are left out, then Curious has a fit and paces in front of the net until I give her and the others their own handful of sunflower seeds...jeeze, talk about a jealous chicken!

April 27,2015 Almost 5 weeks old

Well....what a few weeks makes in the life of a baby chick. They are almost flushed out in their adult feathers and little combs are starting to peek out on the top of their heads.

Yet...they still scratch, eat, poop and nap. The 2 Earhart sisters like to fly up my arm and walk up to my neck. They are the 2 Sicilian Buttercups, Kiwi and Ivy: and just like their grown sister Amelia [Earhart, as she also is a flyer].

Kiwi climbing the arm

I can relate Kiwi and Ivy to a certain sister-in-law who is always busy and she never seems to rest. Neither do these two...busy busy busy ...scratch, flap wings, run around and when I'm at the brooder coop they want to fly up into my hand, walk up my arm and dance around on my shoulders! They are pretty good at flying back down, too.

Jasmine's feet - not tiny by any means

  

Jasmine is a really really big girl! Oh - and the feet just seem to be way bigger than they need to be at her age. Kinda like my sister, who was a pre-teen with large feet and believe me there were no fashionable shoes to be had back in the mid-60's. Now, at a stately 5'11" she is into fashionable high heels! [Making up for those early years. Thanks, Zappos!]
I think that Jasmine will grow into her feet, too! [no high heels allowed in the chicken coop, tho]. She is definitely at least 1/4 larger than her flock-mates and maybe destined to be a leader of the group.

Finally over the last 3 days or so, my sweet little runt, Ivy has grown in size and is now the same size as her sisters and coming out of her earlier behavior of just sleeping under the light by herself. Hosta is likewise shy and runs away from my hand, unless it has chick mash in it. Oh well, I guess they can't all be gregarious can they?

I've been moving the brooder coop out for a little afternoon r & r. They all love taking dust baths in the sun and laying with wings outstretched. Of course, they are supervised - we wouldn't want any opportunistic predator snatching a baby!  

And, they don't really look like chickens right now...maybe some exotic bird? The fact that they are terrestrial seems strange for a bird...like an ostrich or emu....or chicken!  It's weird when you think a bird should fly and these don't so when you see them on the ground, it just seems strange...

I've expanded the coop now 3 times and we are about 1/2 way in length.
As they get bigger, you can just tell they want a little more space to scratch, rock and roll. But, they still like the comfort of napping in a pile under the lamp.

March 25, 2015: A Hatching Birthday to You

 I adopted 5 baby chicks on Saturday, March 28! The flock needs an influx of youngsters. Chickens do slow down in the egg-laying department as they age and since 3 of mine are 4 years old and Amelia is 3, this is definitely happening.

...Oh, by the way, Amelia recovered from the grass episode, but now she has a droopy left wing. I suspect one of the Mean Girls grabbed her at the shoulder blade and might have broken or tweaked something. She can't turk it up and under like normal, but doesn't seem to be in pain or limited mobility, so I am just watching! I could wrap her wing, but that's an invitation for pecking abuse by the others and she really hates moving to a hospital cage for recovery. So, it's live as you can...

Steve built a chick nursery. It's expandable as the chicks grow and need more space! We edged it with cardboard and it has wheels so I can wheel them out for some supervised fresh air.

Portable Chick Nursery

Back to chicks...Well, a local supplier was getting 600 newbies in on Friday so I thought I was sooooo clever and raced down to Napa on Saturday morning at 8:30 only to find that they only had 4 ... YES 4! ... left.  I was about to cry, when she said 2 Buttercups and 2 Silkies....Oh, Someone was watching out for me, because I wanted 2 more Buttercups for Amelia to have breed-friends! YAY, scooped them up, and raced home with the car heater on to 84 to keep them warm. Into the brooder box and then off to Santa Rosa. [this means up the mountain from Napa, stop at the barn and down the mountain to the other side into Santa Rosa]. 

At Western Farm, I was lucky to get 2 of the other breeds I wanted: Ameracauna [lays blue or green eggs] and a Welsummer. I wanted a Black Sex Link, but they had Gold Sex Link instead so I took her. [Sex links mean they are easily 'sexed' at birth by coloration to know males from females which is not so in most of the other breeds.] ...Raced home with them and all 5 happily chirping away under the heat light in the nursery in the barn.

Newbies under the heat lamp, staying warm

My goal is to work my way through the alphabet with naming chickens.
                        This group is H-I-J-K-L.... so we have
                     Hosta .... Ivy.... Jasmine ..... Kiwi ..... Lilly
Notice a trend? Last group was mostly 'attributes' hence Curious, Fearless and Gabby...this group is plants. [Amelia was named for Amelia Earhart, since she is a flyer! But the "A" kept my trend going].


 Here's Hosta, the Ameracauna.....she's not yellow, it's the camera. Right now she is carmel colored and will have a 'ruff' at her cheeks

Jasmine is a Gold Sex Link and a beautiful blonde!

These are the 2 Sicilian buttercups, Ivy and Kiwi. You can see a little difference in the black eyeliner. 



Kiwi is very curious and is showing leadership in the pecking order already! There a battle between her and Hosta, as she is also a strong personality.

And, here is baby Lilly. She is a Welsummer and right now, a runt! Smaller that the other 4, quiet and naps more. She seems to get easily over-run at the feeding trough. I am worried about her size and behaviour, but she is perky, not acting sick...so maybe she will catch up.




Thanks to my sweet friend, Brenna, for holding each one while they had their photo taken! Her favorite? Little Lilly! 

February 29, 2015: There's Always Something

...yes there is...and this time it was chicken Auntie's fault.

A normally perky Amelia

In my exuberance to feed feed feed my 4 girls, I went into the field and collected sprigs of clover and short pieces of grass. Thinking greens were good and the new seeded pasture wasn't ready yet, I tossed all this greenage into the coop Sunday night.

Monday, Amelia was a little off and by Tuesday she was less perky than normal and not really wanting to eat much. The term "picking at her food" pretty much described her actions. I also noticed that the side of her neck was swollen...uh oh. So I googled that and found a lot of information about impacted crop, especially if they eat a lot of grass. And, where did she get grass? Yep...me, the over-feeder. 

The upshot being I had to work on getting the impaction cleared before more deadly side affects set in. I found a great resource, if you are interested...
[Dealing with an impacted crop]

Brought her up to the house and caged her in the garage. Started her on an epsom salt flush - luck to have that in the house - several times that evening.
No food. Forcing water down a chicken's throat without choking her is tricky, but I managed with what I had, an eyedropper. Also, fed her olive oil as a lubricant and massaged the neck up and down, but any attempts to get her to vomit didn't work for me.

Eating breakfast Saturday in the  "hospital"

Wednesday morning, a couple of nasty smelling green, runny poops.
Mixed scrambled egg with Ducolax liquid per the on-line instructions to keep flushing the crop and break up the mass.

Chickens don't have teeth so they don't chew. Everything goes down the throat into the crop where food is stored until digested. It is pushed into the stomach and into the gizzard before being eliminated.

My theory is the long blades of grass got stuck on the way down and formed a nasty mat in the esophagus.

By Thursday, she was slightly better and the neck bulge had gotten better.
I kept up the same routine. She is not happy being caged, so she enjoyed a little playground time standing on the garage floor or sitting on the back of the chair. But, still not the lively Amelia I'm used to.

Friday, she laid an egg! And out came more smelly, green fibers in the poo....Even a distinguishable blade of grass! Bad Auntie. Friday evening, the neck is better: some normal poos which is good. My theory being that we are successfully flushing out the grass lawn!

Today, Saturday 2-28, her neck is almost normal; the hard lumpy mass is quite smaller and her appetite returned. This morning's breakfast was some yogurt [with the Ducolax] to get some good bacteria back into her, a small amount of softened chicken food, all of which she gobbled up. I am still flushing with epsom salt water to keep moving the greens out and I am hoping that tonight I can return her to the coop with her sisters.

Yes, I have learned my lesson: no more grass blades. It is better that they clip off small amounts of grass blades with their beaks; those they can digest easier than a 2" long piece!

stay tuned!....keeping my fingers crossed that we have 100% recovery!