The Feathered (half) Dozen

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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My backyard chickens are coming along well, five are around four weeks old and I added a sixth chick that’s around three and a half or so, they’re around 75% feathered, and they are starting to show some distinct and unique personalities.

Some I have named already, others need names, the flock consists of;

Two appear to be dark brahmas (but without the feathered feet), both are still skittish and generally don’t like to be picked up, the stereotypical chicken personality, one of them, who I have named Amelia, is always the first to attempt to fly out of their brooder container, lately, Amelia has taken to flying up and perching on my arm as I fill their food dish, she is starting to accept being petted, but still hates being picked up, the second chick has a generic name (egg production unit 1) and currently has no personality to speak of, aside from hating being picked up

The next group of three are Buff Orpingtons, these three are very social, very freindly, and also like perching on my arm at feeding time, the most developed of the three always makes eye contact and follows my motions outside the brooder, still thinking up names for the orp crew

And the newest arrival?(arrived tonight) Chiana, an Aurcana, her type lays blue-green eggs, and she’s the most interesting of the three, she’s the most laid back, doesn’t object to being held, and stands her ground in the flock even though she’s only been there for 3 hours so far…

When I brought the original gang of five home, they were panicky, shrieky birds, distress calling the whole way home…

Chiana slept the whole way home, and when I gave the flock a couple worms as a treat, Chiana walked right up to Amelia, snatched the worm out of her beak, and ran off to eat it…

Yes, I know the rule for baby animal posts, I’ll take pics over this weekend…

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Here’s the link to the photobucket page;

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Here’s the link to the photobucket page;

Yes, the brooder is getting cramped, but this weekend I should have their new home prepped, they’re moving into our old barn/outbuilding that originally housed the original owner’s Model T and that we converted to a small horse barn before my sis built her boarding stable a few years back.

There’s no way the chickens can outgrow the old barn, and it’s far sturdier and safer than a plywood chicken coop from the local farm and garden store, the barn is as old as the house (260 years old)

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Want!

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The dark brahma that you describe as *" the second chick has a generic name (egg production unit 1) and currently has no personality to speak of" * …if she continues to have little or no personality, I think it would be funny if you named her “Unit 1” or “EP1.” :smiley:

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The flock has already figured out that when Dad gets out his trowel, soon there will be nummy worms and grubs to fight over, the instant they see me pick up the trowel, they race over to me and all try to crowd each other out so they can stick their necks out beyond the crate bars and beat the others to the treats.

I’ve noticed a major increase in feathering out too, Amelia and two of the Orpingtons are 99% feathered out, and pin feathers on their heads are coming in, probably due to the delicious free range, organic worms and grubs. (we don’t chemically treat the lawn)

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Latest update;
The Orpingtons have a name, a group name, but a name…

They are the…
Minions! ('Cause they’re yellow and cute, like the Minions in the Despicable Me series), I have yet to feed them a banana though…

They are also well on their way to becoming rugged New England birds, they moved into their barn a few days ago, inside Cooper’s old crate, it was warm in the evening the first couple nights, but we’ve had a minor cold snap, par for the course here in New England, temperatures never rising above low 50’s in the evening, last night the low was 46, I was worried they’d get chilled and sick, so I packed their crate with some more loose hay for them to nest in, and insulated the sides of the crate with loose hay.
(No wall outlet in the barn for a heat lamp anyway)

The first night they did huddle and shiver a bit, but every night since? No problems, I just checked this morning, air temps were around 46, and they were happily chasing each other around inside the crate, no huddling, no shivering, they still had food left over from last night as well.

They’re hardening off nicely and becoming nicely cold-tolerant

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Hooray for the Minions! :smiley:

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We had 4 americuna/banam crosses that went everywhere together, and clucked disapprovingly at everything. We named them ‘The Gang of Four’ [Yi, Er, San and Si, numbers 1-4 in Mandarin]

We did also have a rooster named Cogburn as well, a very ornary cussed thing. To get to and from the car when he was out I needed to carry a broom and play rooster ball by bashing him into the pasture to make enough time to get to and from the car to house. After being both pecked and spiked, I was about to shoot him until we decided to keep him locked in the coop area.

The turkeys were named Roast, Giblet, Enchilada and Soup.

The lambs one year were named Legs and Lambchop - and it wasn’t after the little puppet :stuck_out_tongue:

And our newest feline overlord is named Five. First thing he did when we brought him home was dash over to the couch and into the emptied box of computer cable and hide for a few days.

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I need to stop worrying about the flock, last night, mid 40’s air temps, and the crazy birds were not just chasing each other around the crate, but doing Velociraptor-esque POUNCES on each other, complete with flapping, same thing this morning, chasing each other, hopping around, no sign of cold stress at all

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These girls have no fear, I’ve been taking Cooper into the chicken yard with me, and he has passed every test, sure, he occasionally chases them, but I think it’s some herding instinct on his part, not sure if a Portuguese Water Dog has any real herding instinct, although the breed is a working dog.

He’s taken it upon himself to herd the girls into the barn, even during the day, he won’t let them into the yard…

And tonight, he passed a real test, I was closing the barn up for the evening, as he approached Chiana (the aurcana), she looked at him quizzically, and then proceeded to jump up and perch on his back! Twice!

Cooper got the most endearingly befuddled look, but made no aggressive moves against her, looks like Chiana has a rather brave streak herself.

Actually, all of the chickens seem to be okay with Cooper, they’re clearly not afraid of him.

Cooper definitely earned his good boy treats tonight, and he actually seems a little calmer now that he thinks he has himself a “job”

Cooper, Mighty Defender of the Flock!

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No picture of this girl on her mighty steed?

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Over the weekend, I let the chickens out for their first bout of true free ranging, which was a rousing success :slight_smile:

They spent most of the time scratching in the gravel in the small stand of trees/rock garden next to the coop, as well as the lawn around the coop proper, their real favorite area however, was the blueberry shrubs a few feet away, they spent most of the day gorging on fallen blueberries

As night fell, they put themselves back into the coop
The second day was the same, a rousing success, I even got Cooper to simulate a “predator” attack, the girls would run straight for the heavy shrubbery near the rock garden, or back to their coop, flawless instincts

Soon, I’ll be able to open them up in the morning and let them free range until dark every day

…looks like they’ll start laying soon as well…

I also finally figured out what type the dark feathered chickens are…

Partridge Plymouth Rocks

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The NYT recently did an article about city chickens that includes a sweet video of an urban homesteader with two dwarf chickens. They are adorable!

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Good boy, Coop!

I keep thinking about getting chickens, but I eat very few eggs (I just bake with them) and I could never kill one, so it seems pointless. But I could keep them down in the barn away from my dogs (who, I’m afraid, wouldn’t be as tolerant as Cooper). How much trouble would a few hens be?

StG

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If you go with Bantams (dwarf chickens), they can take up very little room, especially as babies, a bantam chick is about the size of a golf ball when it hatches, bantam eggs are about half the size of a large chicken egg

Baby chickens grow amazingly fast though…

Time to the first egg is typically 6 to 8 months

What kind of environment would you be raising them in? Rural, city, town? How much space available to the birds?

We have 50 acres of farmland, about 5 acres is lawn, it takes me 2 hours to mow the lawn on an old Kubota G5200 garden tractor, the chickens have free run of the lawn and the fields next to their coop

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Rural TN, 14 acres, although I’d probably confine them to the area around the barn, with small door into a secure stall for roosting.

StG

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Here in central BC we had our chickens in a large fenced back yard. It’s amazing how much grass, weeds, and insects they eat! However, our winters are long and cold so I built them a small insulated barn with two windows, then added heat lamps to be used on the coldest days. Then I built a large greenhouse that butted up against the barn and one of the two barn doors opened into the greenhouse. I kept that door closed during the growing season for my garden, then planted wheat in the greenhouse in September. By November, the wheat was a foot high and I’d open the barn door into the greenhouse on mild winter days. The chickens loved eating the green wheat and quickly established their dust baths in bare spots. I called it the “chicken sauna”.:smiley:

Loved the free-range eggs with their bright orange yolks.

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Plenty of space then, as far as “maintenance” goes, they’re pretty low key, keep the water fresh, and a supply of commercial food, and they basically maintain themselves

If you let them free range, they’ll find lots of free food in the yard, grass, bugs, worms, berries, fallen fruit…

The more “free” food they eat, the cheaper they are to feed, and the brighter and more intense the egg yolks are, my sister’s chicken eggs from her free-range flock have yolks that are nearly fluorescent orange…

My flock free ranges on grass, clover, mosquitoes, ticks, any other insects they can get their beaks around, hay, lawn clippings, table scraps, they’re basically feathered garbage disposals, and their poop can be composted to make great compost

If you want eggs for just yourself, one two two hens should be fine, chickens are social birds, and would be happier in groups, if you end up with an “over abundance” of eggs, you can sell or give them away, once someone’s tasted a farm fresh egg from a backyard flock, especially if free ranged, they’re hooked for life, supermarket eggs will seem beyond bland and flavorless, yes, even the expensive “free range” or “organic” eggs

Best part of backyard chickens? You know exactly what went into making your eggs, and you can’t beat home-grown food

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StGermain, if egg production isn’t a big priority, you could do a kind thing and rehome some ex-battery hens. Many commercial egg productions slaughter or otherwise decommission their hens at a pretty young age, since their fertility does decrease over time.

You know what? Since I wrote the above I’ve done a bit of Googling, and this doesn’t seem to be a “thing” in the US. It’s pretty common for commercial egg producers to offer their retirees to the public in the UK and Australia. Maybe US battery chickens are even less lovable :frowning:

Still, maybe you can work with a local rescue to find a place for some unwanted chickens. I know our local shelters here in CA accept and place homeless hens. OR, hey, ask your local 4-Hers! I bet they have great recommendations for local conditions, and could maybe even hatch you some “to order.”

I love chooks! (That’s the informal Australian term). I wish we could have some, but we live in a condo, and the city ordinance says they need to be at least 6ft away from our neighbours - tough when we share walls!