September 22, 2012 The New Chick on the Block

Friday, September 21st.,  Chicken Mentor Barb called and said she had a chicken for my husband Steve;  a Sicilian Buttercup...which is funny because his paternal grandparents came from Sicily...SO, naturally I had to adopt her.

She is 4 months old and I brought her home Saturday; made an isolation pen to separate her from the other Girls; and I hope to integrate her tonight while they are roosting and sleeping. All the chicken books say this is a good way to introduce a 'newbie': when they wake up in the morning with her in the flock, they are more accepting. I did re-introduce both Fearless and Blondie this way after they were in hospital isolation, so it does work.  I do expect some pecking as they fit her into the hierarchy. Fearless is gonna love moving up from her lowest status. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Miss Buttercup, as yet unnamed

UPDATE on Wednesday, 26th:
After 5 days, she is still living inside the little coop-house: occasionally being chased around or out by one of the others who wants to get in to sit on a nest or be bratty. But, thankfully, no vicious pecking  by her 'sisters'. She still pecks my fingers if I try to pick her up, but she is eating and drinking and for the most part seems to be okay and will come up to me if I "chick chick chick" call her.

She has the most beautiful olive green legs:

I think she will fit in fine with the others and it is just a matter of time before I know I will see her outside with the Girls when I go down in the mornings to open the pasture.

If you would like to toss a name suggestion in the hat, I am at the upper part of the alphabet with this first group, so her name can start with "A", "E" or 
a replacement "D" for the now-gone Dolly.

Stay tuned for name announcement and personality description.

September 8, 2012 Blondie Update

Here's a photo of Blondie 6 weeks after the gate accident, which cracked her beak.  You can see there is still a nick in both parts of the beak, but she is scratching and eating fine. The biggest news in her recovery is that she is able to peck corn on the cob again and sheer off pieces of green leaves; neither of which she could do for the first 3-4 weeks!

And she has become sweeter since her injury; always the first at the coop door in the morning and the first to run out into the playground ready to plunder worms.  Now I can even pick her up more often than before.

Here are the Girls in their newly grown pasture, which is attached to the chicken coop and protected from overhead predators with plastic chicken fencing. While this side gets destroyed and eaten, I have re-seeded the other side and it will be open for grazing at the end of October. I keep the rotation going, as well as letting them out into the bigger open aired playground - but I saw a coyote yesterday morning on the outside of the big main fence: scared him off with some clapping and I hope he/she stays away! Kind of worried about that but I guess I have to let that go and let them get outside and be 'chickens'.

I used some old leftover seeds: broccoli, corn, bok choy, sunflowers, and spinach as well as new alfalfa, oats and wheat. They seem to appreciate the variety!

Curious is STILL broody - it's been 28 days! Last time she was broody for 30 days and took another 16 until she started laying again. What a good mommy she would have made if she had been sitting on fertilized eggs.

August 13, 2012 Blondie Update and a Broody Hen

Blondie is doing so well in beak recovery!  She is back to pecking in the dirt, eating corn scratch and worms; she just has a little hard time sheering off kale or other greens. Chicken Auntie chops the greens for now, which is appreciated by all the others as well!

She still has one side of the beak uneven and the bottom shows a couple of "fracture lines", but I am hoping over time these will disappear. I guess I could get out the emory board and file down the uneven side...ha ha, like she would sit still for that!

The best part is she will allow me to pick her up sometimes, so at least I can make a close inspection of the injury. She actually does the chicken squat as I call it [they will squat down for a rooster to mount them] and let me pick her up from that position. Does that mean I am the Dominate One? Well, whatever....at least I can pick her up now and be a good nurse.

I did use my calendula-comfrey-olive  oil salve on the beak early on, believing that it and the goldenseal helped the healing.

[The salve is great on mites on their legs; as well as human dry skin conditions....if you are interested in a jar, just email me for details!].

                                                        *  *  *  * *

Dance of the Broody Hen

Exactly 6 months almost to the day, Curious starts her 'broody' dance again.

On thursday the 9th., she started growling and fluffing up her feathers, then she gets a vacant stare and stops hogging all the food. When I find her in a nest box at odd times of the day, I know her chicken hormones have kicked in and she wants to hatch a brood.  Sorry, Babe, but without a rooster to fertilize those beautiful eggs, ya ain't gonna get any youngsters.

The good news is the other 3 now get a good chance at worms and food goodies because she is just not that interested.  At least while it has been darned hot [90's +], I take her off the nest and she will drink a lot of water.

Last time she was broody for the whole month of February. I bet it will be about the same again. It takes 21 days of incubation by a momma to begin hatching eggs: of course, she would have to lay one a day first to get a 'clutch' of eggs and most ranchers let them sit on 6: and, actually they will all hatch within 48 hours of each other, usually based on the last egg laid.
Fascinating! Maybe I will have to get some fertile eggs from Chicken Mentor Barb sometime and have the experience.

It makes me chuckle to watch her strut around the coop, with feathers puffed up like a Thanksgiving turkey.  I know she is hoping that there is a whole line of little chicks following her! "They" say the Plymouth Barred Rock makes a good mother - with the way she acts, I know that would be true.

Naturally, egg production, such as it is with 4 girls, is down while Curious, my best layer, does the maternal thing.  I do have a great routine to monitor my egg production. I have one of those small calendars where I write each day who laid an egg and then I have an individual log for how many eggs each one lays in a year. That is how I know who is the lead-layer and who is the least productive [Fearless]. Curious will be bumped out of top spot because of the broodiness and Gabby, #2, will take over the honors. Will have to see if Curious catches up or not..humm...that will be interesting to log in.

It's actually really fun for me to know who lays how often and how many eggs a week they are producing...okay, maybe too over the top for most chicken owners.....

Bye for now ..... Cluck on where ever you are!

July 29, 2012 A Broken Beak

If it's not one thing, it another! And, it was a terrible accident!
I went out to the coop/pen Friday morning to feed the girls and let them into the playground. Well, it seems like when the gate door is open as I enter, there is an intriguing spider web in the space between the door and the hinge-side jamb.


I always have to shoo 1 or 2 of the girls away from there so I can close the door. Did that as usual, did the morning duties...and I opened the gate to leave, shooing Gabby away from the space. But, just as I was shutting the gate, Blondie darts in to grab a spider [I think], and I CLOSE the GATE ON HER BEAK!

Blondie's boo-boo - My Fault!

She squawks and runs away. I panic...and dart after her...She is always the one who is the least friendly, so I had to chase her into the coop, shut the little door, go in and corral her in a corner.


I pick her up and she is really bleeding! I dab it off with an alcohol wipe I keep in the supply trash can... then I have to un-panic myself and think what to do. So, I put her back inside the coop where she is safe and isolated and I run up to the house, and really run...which is hard to since I am kinda still recovering from foot surgery.  I grab some goldenseal, which Steve and I always use for bleeding wounds and the cat carrier and go back to the coop.  A little more triage with putting the powder on the cut.


What to do...what to do...So, I'm here by myself with a deaf, 16 year old cat and 4 chickens as Steve is working on a landscape job in Bend, Oregon.


Okay, I call the avian vet in Santa Rosa. His office says he is leaving this afternoon, so could I come in at 10...it's 9:30-ish now; no make up, hair barely brushed and I'm in the grungy clothes getting ready to stain the front door....whoosh, a quick change of the top and I'm off with the chicken for the 25 minute ride Santa Rosa.


Oh, and let me mention, I had 2 pork butts to cook and cookies to make for my sister's company party for Saturday....Quick, turn off the oven on the way out the door.


Dr. Thorne, a very tall and quiet-spoken gentle man, says it looks like part of her upper jaw is broken, the beak is pushed over toward the other side and the lower beak is cracked but not broken. And, at least the roof of her mouth isn't damaged which means she would be able to eat and drink - drinking water being the most important thing. He says he could wire the beak back in place and epoxy the wire. Oh boy...I have to talk with Steve about that.
But he does say there is a chance it will heal fine on it's own.


He suggests isolation until the blood dries and isn't so noticeable so the others don't peck her: and that she may not eat or drink much today. Mush up her feed anyway for a while.


Home to put her in the hospital pen inside the coop. She can see her sisters and she wants out really bad! I cordon off part of the inside of the coop so she can roost inside near her flock-mates. Since the other wanted to peck her bloody beak, it is a cautionary move to keep her separated.


I finish cooking and shredding the pork butts and making the cookies about 8 pm that night, exhausted and emotionally drained from chicken crisis....remember, Dolly has only been "gone" a month.


SUNDAY update:  Last night Blondie slept in the coop with her sisters. I got home from the company party just at dusk as the others were heading in to roost. Curious was still outside in the pen, so I let Blondie out with her. They seemed to accept each other without pecking order issues, and Blondie did a few walks around the pen and then up the ramp to the roost. Curious followed shortly after and I saw that they were all on the upper perch safe and sound.


Blondie is drinking water and trying to scratch around for food. I think she does pick up small stuff, but she is having a hard time biting into things. I don't know if it is a functional problem or a still-sore problem. And, she is definitely lighter in the weight category.  She and Fearless do squabble a bit; I think Fearless wanted to move up out of last place, but Blondie wouldn't step down. Even with her beak broken, she still commands her spot in the pecking order [altho Curious pecks them all away from food].


Monday I will check in with the vet and see what he thinks about the next steps..whether her beak will be okay or better wire back into place...


Stay tuned...