City Girl in the Country

Week one

2012-01-28T14:21:00.003-06:00

The babies are a week old! They are all eating and drinking and pooping like crazy. Little wing feathers have started to pop out and everyone is getting zippy. They tend to sleep like the dead the first few days, but now we are active and starting to be verbal. Cheep, cheep, cheep all day now. Thankfully they conk out at night, so it isn't cheep, cheep, cheep all night too!

This is one of the buff silkies.

This shot got most of all of them. One of the buffs is hiding behind the larger blue chick (an ameraucana from my pens). The one in front is a buff. The tiny one to the right is a black silkie. The black one with white eyes on the left is a black/lav split. Apparently one of the combinations you can get is a "flashy" black. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it possibly means spotted with white. It will be interesting to see what that little one turns out to look like.

The black and a buff silkie

A better shot of the black/lav split.
They are starting to scratch around in the shavings and I have started tossing them a few mealworms every now and then. The danger at this stage is "pasty butt" where poop clings to their fuzz and clogs up thier system. Warm paper towels and some cleaning take care of the problem, but they don't like having their tushies cleaned. I've had to do it a couple of times and now they all eye me with suspicion when I open the brooder. Hopefully I can bribe them enough for them to forgive the indignity.

It has been a happy, growing week!

Baby pictures

2012-01-20T20:29:00.003-06:00

The five babies are out of the incubator and into the brooder. The red is from a heat lamp overhead. The heat keeps their body temps up and the red keeps them from picking at each other. It also means that they will go to sleep. If you use a regular light bulb the chicks are up all night long.

The tiny baby to the left still has some fluffing to do. It also got shrink wrapped due to humidity loss. After a day or so I will give it a bath to help it along the way. The others are fluffing up nicely though.

All five have had water and played with the food some. They aren't hearty eaters right at first. They eventually figure it out. Mainly right now they want to sleep. They will toddle about for several minutes, eat a little, drink a little, do some cheeping and then fall dead asleep. They are like puppies that way. Well, except for the cheeping part. HA!

So that's Hatching 101. We started with 25 eggs and have ended up with 5 chicks. The odds are pretty rotten for mailed eggs. I wish more had hatched, but at least I got these five out. They are looking good and will be a nice addition to the flock.

Hatching pictures

2012-01-20T20:17:00.003-06:00

So the hatch got started with a pip on Wednesday morning. Nothing happened for most of Thursday, but there was a flurry of activity Thursday afternoon. By the time I got home from work there were two out and a couple more working on it. This shot shows one out (at the top of the picture) and another that is zipping (the broken up looking egg in the middle). The baby up top came out of the shell on the right.

They come out of the shell soggy and wobbly. After cheeping madly for a bit they settle down and take a long nap. It takes hours for them to really dry out and fluff up.

The egg below is the lone full size egg that hatched. This is an ameraucana. The baby looks HUGE next to the little banty silkies. In this picture it has started zipping. You can see the beak tip if you look closely.
They worked and worked at it for hours. I finally helped two out this morning. They had gotten shrink wrapped in their shells. Old timer wisdom says you shouldn't help, but I always give in and do. I can't stand for one to die just because the humidity is off. A little judicious chipping away at egg and liberally applied warm water get that chick right out of there. Plus, it's pretty cool for one to be born into your hand.
Final count right now (and probably the FINAL final count) is four silkies out and one ameraucana. Two of the silkies are buff. One is a black/lav split and one is from the BBS pen. I think it's going to be black as well. I had one splash that hatched, but it died during the night. It had obvious deformities and had not absorbed the yolk sac when it hatched. I sort of figured that it wasn't going to make it. That's the sad part of hatching. Sometimes they die and there is nothing you can do about it. Sometimes it is more humane to help them on their way. It is rotten to have to do it, but is the price you pay for hatching.
There are four eggs left that were viable at lockdown. I have no idea why they didn't hatch. The chicks were fully developed. I'll leave them in there another couple of days in hopes that something will hatch, but it likely is a done deal.

The Hatching has begun!

2012-01-20T20:11:00.002-06:00

Little Overachiever

2012-01-18T07:57:00.002-06:00

We have a pip! One of the BBS eggs has a tiny little pip. Technically they aren't supposed to start until tomorrow, but apparently this little guy can't wait to come out.
Hopefully by tonight the first chick will be out! Whoohoo!!

The final countdown!

2012-01-17T21:59:00.002-06:00

Today is day 18 and that means LOCKDOWN!! YAY!!

I candled the eggs one last time last night. I could see little heads moving around and toes flexing. Over the next two to three days they are just getting bigger. All of the assorted parts are fully formed now. They will absorb the rest of the yolk sac and their "belly button" will close up. That yolk sac is what provides nutrients over the next several days. Chicks don't really need to eat or drink for the first 24 hours due to the nutrition this yolk provides.

In the next day or so they will start pecking through to the air cell at the large end of the eggs. Sometimes you can hear them start chirping inside the shell. Sometimes you can see the eggs start rocking around as the chick squirms around.

Somewhere around day 20-21 they will peck through the outer shell. This is called pipping. Once they have a hole pipped, they will "zip". It is just what it sounds like. They peck around in a circle until the top pops off the egg, just like you unzipped it. Sometimes there isn't any time at all between pipping and zipping. Something they like to take a little nap to work up to the zipping part. Generally though it doesn't take them more than 24 hours between pip and zip.

Once the shell has been pipped and zipped the little chick will push furiously with its little legs until it pops out of the remaining shell. They are wet and kind of slimy when they pop out. Generally they lay there cheeping and panting for a bit. Eventually though they will get their wobbly legs up under them and stagger around the incubator. Once one is out it becomes a game of chick rugby in there as they careen around and into the other eggs. It can get quite chaotic as some are toddling about and others are working their way out of the shell. Eventually they will all settle down for a long nap.

I leave them in the incubator for around 24 hours after hatch. Or until I can't stand it anymore. Generally I let them dry out in the incubator. Once they look mostly fluffed out I move them to the heated brooder. Moving them is a guessing game because once you open that incubator you make it hard for all the remaining chicks. You can kill the remaining chicks by opening the lid at the wrong time. Hopefully this lot will all come out together. Once one makes it out the others can hear it cheeping. This seems to encourage them all and all of a sudden you will have a ton of pips and enthusiastic zippers.

Still nothing much to see in there. Temps are holding steady at 99 degrees and humidity has been upped to 55%. The lid is closed and will stay that way until we have babies! Stay tuned. Unless something goes horribly wrong we should have babies by Saturday!

Update on Day 13

2012-01-12T21:24:00.002-06:00

Well, life got busy and I have been bad about updating our progress. Truthfully, from the outside it doesn't look like much is going on. The incubator is still humming along in there. The cats are still napping on top of it. Temperature is still holding consistent at around 99 and humidity is at 35% or so.
I candled the other day. I tried to get pictures, but apparently my camera doesn't like to work in the dark. Check out this website though. They have some interesting photos.
http://www.avianweb.com/candlingeggs.html

Candling is great fun. These eggs are all beige, so you can really see what's going on in there. There are definite veins and at this point there is a dark vaguely chick shaped blur. Sometimes you can see the little chicklet move about. It is very, very cool.

Out of the 26 eggs I set, there are 12 still developing. There are 7 buffs, 3 blue/black/splash and 2 black/lav eggs still going strong. Out of the 14 that I tossed, about half had blood rings and the rest were clear. Blood rings happen when the embryo starts developing and then quits. It shows up in the egg as a dark ring when you candle. The ones that were clear were most likely damaged in transit. Eggs have an air cell that is easily detached with rough handling. Most detached air cell eggs just won't develop.

I wish I could get pictures for you, but you are just going to have to do a google image search. Suffice it to say, things are still perking along in there. Middle of next week we will hit lockdown and then in a week we will hopefully have chicks. Yay!

Starting the New Year

2012-01-02T18:08:00.002-06:00

I don't usually start hatching until March. My girls are all on strike right now, so I don't have a ready supply of hatching eggs. Plus our weather is iffy until March or April. I have found if I wait and time my hatch to come out mid-March I can brood the babies in the house for four weeks and then move them safely outside and not have to deal with heat lamps and all that. Smart, no?

Well... this year I am trying something new. An online contact had a great mix of silkie eggs available at the end of December. She has gorgeous buffs and I am wanting to expand my genetic diversity. I decided to take the plunge and do an early hatch. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I'll be able to easily move them outside when the time comes.

Several folks have asked me about the hatching process. I will try to keep you updated as the next three weeks go by so you can see what happens. Step one is getting the eggs. I ended up splitting this order with a friend. They got here on Thursday and we were able to meet up over lunch to divide them up. I ended up with a dozen buff eggs and another 14 mixed up of black/lavender splits, splash, and blue/black/splash. Basically I can get buff, black, lavender, blue or splash out of this lot. I'm hoping for a couple of really good buff roosters and some lavendar hens. The rest will just be frosting and for fun.

Once I got the eggs home I let them rest until Friday morning. Eggs have a hard time in transit. The post office is not gentle with packages even if you mark them "Fragile". This seller had packed everything really well so we didn't have any that were broken. They can get shaken up though, so the rule of thumb is that you let them sit for 24 hours with the air cell up.

Friday around lunch time I finally got the incubator up and running. I do what is called a dry hatch, meaning that I keep the humidity really low. In the summer I don't add any water at all until the very end. My humidities in the summer tend to be around 30-35% with no help. Winter is a little drier, so I have added a small glass of water to help things out. I never put water in the incubator trays. I can't control things once the water is in there and I have no recourse should things get off. I have found that using a glass of water works both to up the humidity and to act as a heat sink to help stabilize temperatures.

I also line the wire with the cushy shelf liner. It makes for really easy clean up when all is done and it provides a solid footing for the young chicks. It also helps to keep the eggs from rolling around so much.

The eggs went in around lunch time. The seller very neatly wrote colors on the ends of the eggs so I am using that as my direction marker. I had three ameraucana eggs from my pen that I added in as well. I have a new rooster in that pen and I want to see what he is doing. In for a penny, in for a pound I guess.

This is a shot of the incubator doing its thing.

The shot glass looking thing in the top left corner is my water. It's actually a really snazzy measuring cup, but size wise it holds about as much as a shot glass. Humidity is all about surface area. I have a couple of different size glasses that I use to get humidity where I want it. So far this is holding humidities at about 28%.

The grey thing at the bottom is a thermometer/hygrometer unit. These are seldom accurate right off the shelf, so it is a good idea to calibrate them before using them.

So everything is humming along in there. The incubator is a Genesis Hovabator 1588. It has a built in thermostat and holds temperatures really well. All I have to do at this point is turn the eggs. Some say to turn 5 times a day. I pretty much turn them once a day. The hens don't seem to turn them five times a day. Turning them keeps the developing chick from sticking. I tend to leave shipped eggs alone for the first little bit. I'll start turning twice a day after about a week.

So that's it for the next week or so. On day 10 I'll candle to see what is developing. By then I should be able to see veins running around the inside of the egg and a dark spot that is the developing embryo. Fingers crossed!

The only problem at this stage is keeping the cats off the incubator. It is a nice, toasty place to catch a nap!

Stay tuned!

Chickeny Carl Douglas

2011-12-16T23:46:00.003-06:00

Everybody was kung fu fighting...

Those birds were fast as lightning...

In fact it was a little bit frightning

But they fought with expert timing.
'Cause everybody was kung fu fighting!

And now, for gratuitous pet pictures

2011-12-16T23:22:00.002-06:00

It has been a while since I posted random pet pictures. I know it has left you sad and forlorn. Never fear though! Gratuitous pet pictures are here!

Lucy Lu fearlessly guards the kingdom.

While Lily looks for bad guys to bark at. Or imaginary things. Whichever shows up first.

Fagin the Imaginary Cat takes a nap. Sort of.

Lily and Lucy join me for a Two Dog Night on the sofa.

Lucy sometimes has issues with the paparazzi. Poor baby was trying to nap.

This concludes our Gratuitous Pet Picture segment. We will now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

The Ameraucana flock (and friends)

2011-09-18T16:00:00.002-05:00

The chickens are all enjoying the cooler temperatures and time out in the yard.

This is the bulk of the ameraucana pen. At the moment I have 2 barred rocks, 6 black hens, three blue hens, a splash cockerel and a blue rooster in there. The blue roo and four of the black girls will be going to new homes before winter. I hope to hatch out a ton of splash and blue babies from this pen next year.

Won't it be interesting to see what a splash AM crossed with barred rock looks like?

This guy will be my new flock rooster next season. He hatched out earlier this spring and is coming along nicely.
Yorrick

Beatrice, one of the original hens

Lady Margaret, also one of my original ameraucana girls

The ameraucana flock has done well this summer. It has been the summer of cranky, broody ameraucana hens though. Thankfully they have shut down for the winter and are back to happily marching around the yard gobbling up bugs.

Random freaky chickens

2011-09-18T15:50:00.002-05:00

This has been the summer of freaky deaky chickens around here. Somehow I have ended up hatching out a herd of mutts. Oh well. They ARE awfully cute!

Meet Elvis.

She is from a buff silkie daddy and a blue sumatra mama.

This is Priscilla the frizzle.

I'm not exactly sure what she is. She came from eggs a friend sent me. I think she is part frizzle ameraucana and part something else. It will be interesting to see what color egg she lays.

This little guy doesn't have a name. Hopefully soon he will have a new home. There are actually two of them out there that look like this. They came from eggs that were supposed to be pure cochin. They seem to be a silkie/cochin cross. They are both adorable and super sweet though.

Wheaten Marans

2011-08-22T23:54:00.003-05:00

I have started another breeding program. We'll see how it goes. I'm hoping they will be up to speed by next summer. This lot are all wheaten marans. My first round of hatching didn't work so well. I only got one baby out of the 18 eggs and it has a gimpy hip. She's awfully sweet though and her coloring is going to be gorgeous. I don't know if the hip thing is genetic or an incubation problem. She's too sweet to cull though so one way or another she gets to stay.

This second lot of babies are feathering in darker than I would have liked. They are in that mangy phase right now, so they look pitiful. I'm hoping some of the black will molt out with their grown up feathers.

This is one of the two little roosters. This one has been roostery from day one. It will be interesting to see what he turns into. I caught him trying to do the deed with the bigger girl this evening. He's barely a month old and he is already trying to make more chickens!

Two of the girls

The marans lay a really dark chocolate colored egg. It will be nice to have more dark, dark eggs. They are so pretty!

More babies!

2011-08-22T23:48:00.002-05:00

Every morning when I have gone out to check on the chickies I have been pleasantly surprised to find a new silkie baby. Apparently the broodies were pilfering one egg a day back there. We are currently up to five! The little baby in the middle was the new one this morning. It spent the day trying to take a nap and getting trampled by the bigger chicks rampaging about in that pen. At one point I picked it up and it nestled down in my hand, complained a bit about the traumas of life and then settled in for a long nap. Sweet!

That buff lump on the right is the rooster. The babies have followed him around all day. I think we have some gender differentiation problems out there.
There are still two hens sitting out there with another dozen eggs between them. Stay tuned for a final count.

This post brought to you by the letter Zzzzzzzzz....

2011-08-20T16:26:00.002-05:00

'Tis a fine day for a nap.

The first buff baby of the season

2011-08-15T14:12:00.003-05:00

Now that the last of last season's buffs have been sold it is time to start with this season's hatch. This little baby is the first out. She is as sweet as can be and very adventuresome.

The joy of this line of silkies is that they will all mother all the babies. I don't think this hen hatched her out, but she is content to act as mama anyway. Even the roosters will take a hand at parenting. It is awfully sweet.

There are a ton of eggs under the four hens sitting so hopefully we will have more silkies hatching out soon.

Frizzle!

2011-08-15T14:06:00.004-05:00

Next in a long line of freaky deaky chickens is this little baby. She is a frizzle ameraucana, silkie and perhaps cochin cross. The friend that sent the egg isn't exactly sure. Beats me. I know there is some silkie in there because of the 5 toes. The frizzzle means that obviously her young frizzle boy is able to do the deed. Who knows about the cochin.

It doesn't really matter. She's adorable!

She still has some feathering out to do. We are in the mangy phase of chickdom at the moment. Eventually though she'll be covered all over with those flipped feathers. CUTE!

Scenes from the porch

2011-06-18T22:57:00.002-05:00

I looked out the other night to see this.

No, that isn't photoshopped. The world really was pink for a few minutes. It was quite lovely.

In Memory of Moon Pie

2011-06-18T22:49:00.002-05:00

I am sad to report that Moon Pie has died. She was a great kitty full of personality and will be sorely missed. Moon Pie was only a year old and her death was a huge shock.

I just happened to take this picture a couple of days before her death. She was having a pensive moment with me on the sofa.

Goodnight, sweet Moon Pie. You were loved.

Lily and the Cow

2011-05-25T12:57:00.002-05:00

Lily the Dog has resumed her cow tipping hobby. Unfortunately for Lily, this cow came with tips. This is the cow.

This is Lily the day after her adventure. The best I can tell is that Lily aggravated the pokey horned cow and it stabbed her through the fence. Lily has a long history of try to bite cows on the nose. It seems likely that she bit this one and it bit back.

Lily needed a dozen stitches to close the hole in her side, but all in all came out of it mostly unscathed. It could have been a LOT worse than it was. Four days later she is back to her normal zippy, goofy self. She does seem to be staying further from the fence when the cow is over our way. Let's hope she has learned a lesson and will quit biting the cows on the nose. Dumb dog.

Helping with the weeding

2011-02-27T19:33:00.002-06:00

The weather was nice this afternoon, so I took some time to get a head start on the weeding. The chickens were very interested once they realized I was turning up worms.

The young ameraucana pullets were VERY curious about the proceedings.

Dorito and Frito helped from the wheelbarrow.

Robin decided to stay right by my side. You just never know what yummy treats will show up. She kept peeking around the corner to see what was up.

Spring hopefully is on its way!

We are not amused.

2011-01-10T11:22:00.001-06:00

It snowed last night and the chickens are not happy about it. They grumbled and fussed at me like it was all my fault. I pointed out that I didn't do it, but they were not convinced. Poor little southern chickens.

Out in the snow

2010-12-30T22:36:00.004-06:00

We got a dusting of snow for Christmas Day. Of course it happened right after I moved the babies outside. All in all they handled it well.

This one is my favorite. Do you see the brave little chicky taking on the big silkie?

Little fuzzballs are practically round they are so fluffed up.

You've got the cutest little baby face!

2010-12-30T22:32:00.002-06:00

Moved into the Big Girl pen

2010-11-08T18:51:00.002-06:00

The baby silkies aren't babies any more. They moved outside and are doing great, despite the unseasonably cold weather we are having.

A shot for scale. They are still pretty little compared to the ginormous rooster that rules the roost in that pen.

The babies are all fascinated with Fred the Cat. They rush the fence every time he comes to visit.

A pen full of fuzzy!

I will end up selling most of this lot. There are a couple that look really, really good. The others will all be sold. I have another dozen silkie eggs in the incubator, plus two of the grown hens in this pen have gone broody. I gave them a half dozen eggs and told them to go for it. In about a month I am going to be covered up with silkies! I see a huge spring silkie sell coming.

The Phyllis Diller stage...

2010-08-29T22:55:00.002-05:00

The buff silkies are feathering out nicely. They look a little unfortunate at the moment, but that should end soon. All have nice topknots coming in and sweet little feathered feet. They are such happy, good-natured chicks! Nosy too...

Mangy little babies

2010-08-29T22:50:00.002-05:00

The last BBS ameraucana hatch has hit the mangy phase. Poor things look just pitiful! There are little feather stubs popping out everywhere.

The mama of this lot is actually a blue sumatra. She did a great job brooding the ameraucana eggs and has been a fabulous mama hen. All five of her babies are doing great!

Random pictures of the BBS ameraucanas

2010-08-29T22:45:00.002-05:00

This lot is 7 weeks old or so.

I think this one is quite lovely.

Most of this lot will get sold. Two of the light blue pullets have been promised already and the black cockerel will be off to a new home as well. Hopefully the others will find new homes as well! They are good looking birds.

Moon Pie plays with Fagin

2010-08-10T10:55:00.001-05:00

Poor Fagin. Moon Pie is having some internal NASCAR issues.

Buff silkies are hatching!

2010-08-03T19:07:00.004-05:00

My first buff silkies have hatched! I am quite pleased so far. I have high hopes that these babies will feather out nicely.

They are coming out in two distinct "looks". One is fairly light and the other fairly dark. Clearly I won't know anything until we get grownup feathers, but they are both really pretty.

The really tiny, slightly damp baby hatched this morning. Mama broody wasn't sure what to do with her, so I hauled her inside to the brooder. Other than a propensity to topple over on her back and lay there squeaking, she is doing great.

This one already has quite the crown and beard. She should be really fluffy when she grows up.

Moon Pie

2010-08-03T18:57:00.002-05:00

Meet the newest addition to the family- Moon Pie!

She is all of about 11 weeks old and is adorable.

It took about a week, but the other kitties have finally decided the little diva is okay. Max was not so sure at first.

Random happy pictures for my mother

2010-05-20T12:26:00.003-05:00

Dodger curls up with his dog.

The apple tree has tiny apples on it. YAY!

The yellow rose of, umm... the chicken coops

Fred guarding his chickens.

Fagin the imaginary cat takes a nap.

Happier days all around.

The rains came down and the floods came up

2010-05-05T23:55:00.004-05:00

Over the weekend Middle Tennessee was overcome by terrible floods. Parts of Tennessee got almost 15 inches of rain in two days. My area was more fortunate. We only got about 10 inches in two days. My little farm was mostly untouched (unlike many, many people in Nashville). I lost three chicks to drowning on the first day. These pictures from the second day show why.

For reference, the blue board on the bottom is a 1"x6".

The area under the platform was the broody pen. Again, that is a 1x6 at the bottom of the white slats. This is where the babies were with their mamas.

Thankfully the water drained out fairly quickly, unlike many of those suffering in Nashville. My losses were minimal. There are many, many in the middle Tennessee area that have lost everything and most did not have flood insurance. In addition to the private loss, many of our local landmarks and treasures have been completely destroyed. The pictures from inside Opryland and the Grand Ol' Opry are just heartbreaking. Historic downtown is submerged. The Titan's football stadium had 4' of water covering the field. The list just goes on and on.

Usually this blog is light and fluffy. I figure no one out there really cares about my personal views on anything. Most of us are here because we love chickens. But just this once I hope you will pardon me for begging your thoughts and prayers for the people of Nashville. At least 18 lives were lost in Nashville alone and that number is rising as the waters recede. The great fear is that more people will be found in their homes. Many Nashvillians are like you and I. They wouldn't leave their homes because of their animals and were surprised when the waters continued to rise. Lift up your prayers for safety for the rescuers and support for those that lost everything. If you find it in your heart to help, the Red Cross is accepting donations to help those in need. At the moment they need everything.

A gratuitous cat posting

2010-05-05T23:42:00.003-05:00

We take a break from our normal chicken posting to honor the kitties.

Dodger likes to hang out in the front window staring intently at Fred the outdoor cat.

Fred is not intimidated.
Max the Cat with the big blue eyes.

Contrary to popular belief, Fagin does actually exist.

Here he is wrapping up a lovely brunch of tuna.

Dodger is fond of tuna as well.

Max is entirely too dignified to act crazy over cocoa puffs (aka tuna).

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

The last hatch moves outside

2010-04-29T23:18:00.002-05:00

The babies are now 6-7 weeks old and are enjoying the great outdoors.

The little brown baby has turned into a boy. He's an interesting one for sure.
The ameraucana looks to be a blue boy. What is it with me hatching out so many boys?

Finally, a girl!

Cricket has babies!

2010-04-29T23:06:00.002-05:00

Cricket the Old English Game Bantum is a mama! She successfully hatched out a little black ameraucana baby and accepted a random Easter Egger baby that hatched out in the incubator.

Can you find the second baby in this picture?

Look close- the white baby is under her left wing and the black baby is under her right wing.

Mama and babies are doing great!

The first hatch of 2010

2010-03-20T22:13:00.003-05:00

The first test hatch of my Easter Eggers and Ameraucanas hatched out on St. Patrick's Day. None came out green, but all should lay green eggs one day. That's somehow appropriate, don't you think?

All six of these babies are Easter Eggers. The two blue chicks are from Horatio the blue ameraucana roo and Pooh the white/buff EE. They are both blue with random white spots. The black chicks are from Hamlet and the girls in the large fowl pen. I'm never sure who has laid which brown egg, so there is no telling who the exact mother for each is. That pen is a mix of wyandotte, buff orp and Easter Egger.
This baby is one of the blue EEs.

Genetically, all of the babies from Hamlet's pen should have been black. All were black except for this baby. She popped out brown with yellow legs. Won't it be interesting to see what she turns into!

The pale chick in the back is the lone ameraucana to hatch. I think she is a splash. She was the second baby out and she is FULL of personality!

Another shot of the EEs along with the week old barred rocks. It's amazing how fast they grow!! A week ago the barred rocks were the same size as these new babies.

All in all it was a successful hatch. There are three more ameraucanas under a broody. I figure at least one of the silkies should broody up here any day now. I'll slide more ameraucanas under the next couple of broodies and we'll see what we get.

Spring is here!

Hamlet, the great dane...er... rooster

2010-03-10T17:08:00.002-06:00

Hamlet has turned into an excellent rooster. He is ever attentive to his girls and quite the protector. On the plus side, he is still scared of me so I don't have aggressive rooster issues to deal with. I have 7 of his offspring in the incubator right now. So far all 7 are developing and doing well. We'll see how many hatch out. All in all, Hamlet is a great roo!

The babies officially have names now!

2010-03-10T16:58:00.002-06:00

Meet the silkie!

Sweet Pea

Pumpkin

Daisy

Basil

Sage

Boy #3 is off to his new home on Saturday where he will get to be head roo of his own harem of girls. These five are keepers are will form the basis of my initial breeding stock.

Snow on the farm

2010-01-31T20:54:00.002-06:00

The little farm has a beautiful coating of snow and ice.

The run netting has had a hard time of it. It's beautiful, but fraught with peril.

Fred is not amused.

The dogs, on the other hand, have had a blast!A view of the back

Snow Day!

2010-01-31T20:41:00.002-06:00

We had a freak snow and ice storm. It snowed and iced for 18 hours straight. The chickens were not amused. A few brave, hardy souls ventured forth this afternoon. I guess they were feeling cooped up. HA!

The silkie babies didn't budge though. They stayed in their happy little coop.

Some of the large fowl were feeling pensive.

Most of them wouldn't leave the snow free shed area. Chickens!

The sun sets on a snowy day.

Poor Lucy

2010-01-03T12:31:00.002-06:00

Lucy has developed a hematoma on one ear. There are several options about what to do about that, but in the meantime it was recommended that I wrap her head to keep her from damaging that ear further.

She is not amused.

What a sad doggy face!

To add insult to injury, all of our little friends are mocking us.

What a sad, sad day for Lucy.

The truth of it though is that in about 5 minutes Lucy tired of the humiliation and managed to get it off her head. I decided she was doing more damage trying to get the thing off than she was doing shaking her head. The ear will just have to do what it is going to do. Clearly the head wrap isn't going to happen.

A silkie fieldtrip

2010-01-03T12:03:00.003-06:00

I finally got the silkie playpen finished. The babies got a whopping one afternoon outside before the temps dropped to the low 30s. Sigh. These babies will be inside until spring at this rate.

They were slightly freaked at first. The outdoors is scary!

They soon got over it and happily explored their new kingdom.

Some close ups-

Puff the Magic Dragon

2009-12-15T20:30:00.002-06:00

We are moving past the awkward stage and getting fluffy. Soon it'll be time to move outside!

Look at that face!

The buff babies are incredibly sweet. They are the calmest, sweetest babies I've ever had. I am completely smitten. Their feathers are unbelievably soft and the babies will sit and make happy noises when I rub their heads. Actually they go to sleep. These babies are sweetness embodied!

Horatio and the girls

2009-12-15T20:19:00.002-06:00

Horatio and his ladies posed for me today (after a liberal handfull of black oil sunflower seeds). The three black chickens facing the camera are the last babies hatched. They are getting really big! Still no eggs from this lot, but nobody is really laying right now. Slackers!

The little fuzzballs

2009-11-29T22:57:00.003-06:00

These six are the last of the babies for the year. All six are buff silkies from a nice man named Jack Ferguson. While they are currently in an awkward stage, they will be gorgeous soon.
For now they're just funky looking. This one looks a lot like Phyllis Diller.

They are very sweet, very calm babies though. I can't wait to see what they turn into as they grow.

If all goes well with these six, they will be the beginning of my buff silkie project. They should start laying sometime next spring. We'll see what kind of offspring we get out of them. For now they are just funny and sweet.

Ophelia

2009-11-29T22:53:00.002-06:00

The girls are starting to fill out a lot. Thought you'd like to see her fluffy face.
She's quite lovely with her nice blue color and pretty lacing.

Ophelia also has a very quirky personality. Yes, she's a little crazy, but she's fun.

Meet Fred the Bonus Cat

2009-10-24T19:53:00.002-05:00

Fred used to live down the street until his family moved. As Fred is a confirmed wandering tomcat, the neighbors didn't feel that he would do well in their new apartment. I agreed to put out feed for him and the rest is history. Fred happily moved down the street and now hangs out at my place.

He was very helpful during the coop building.

Fred mostly ignores the chickens unless they are running about squawking. Then he does feel obligated to run amongst them. Mostly though he just hangs out and watches. He guards the front yard and occasionally goes off and does Fred Things. I have no idea where he goes or what he does. He shows back up after a couple of days and will hang around for another few days before he goes off on walkabout again. All in all, Fred is a good cat.

To be or not to be...

2009-10-24T19:31:00.004-05:00

Horatio, the big blue roo

Hamlet, the black roo (standing in front of Pooh)

Gertrude the black hen

Ophelia the blue hen

The ameraucanas are getting big! Still no eggs, but the boys are starting to dance for the girls. That's a good sign. Maybe a little blue egg will show up soon. Whoohoo!

The Blue Coop

2009-09-13T00:03:00.003-05:00

The Blue Coop is done! Finally. The blue chickens are inside and fairly unhappy about the whole deal. Chickens are not big fans of change.

I'm pleased with the final product though, even if they aren't.

The food and water will live under the coop. I may end up using one side as a broody pen. I'm still trying to decide who to add to this pen.

This is the egg collection side. The nest boxes are just inside the door.

This is the roost side. I can park the wheelbarrow next to the door and just shovel that baby out. This means no shoveling!

Covered in roosters!

2009-09-12T10:43:00.006-05:00

Well, sad to say, five of the seven ameraucanas seem to be roosters. Sigh. It makes me glad I went ahead and did a third set of ameraucana eggs. Fingers crossed that they are mostly female. It's hard to have a breeding program if you have no hens! Here are some pictures of the boys. I'll be selling at least two of them.

Group shot. Aren't they lovely?

Look at that face!

The splash that is going. He's pretty, but not as friendly as the other. He's outta here!

This is the lone black roo. He is this amazing irridescent green over the black. You can only sort of see it in the picture. He also has the prettiest tail coming in. Lovely all the way around. He'll stay and go into the large fowl coop. He's Cheeto's replacement.

This is splash #2, also known as Alas Poor Yorrick. This is the baby I smushed in the coop door. I'm hoping he can stay. I think he's lovely. This is the darker of the blues. I have heard that a dark blue roo creates offspring with better lacing. I'm still doing a bit of research to decide if that's true.

This is the other blue roo. I think he's lovely. I'll keep one of the blues.

The last BBS hatch!

2009-08-14T21:27:00.003-05:00

Well, the last of my BBS ameraucana breeding stock has hatched out. We ended up with two black, one blue and one that is either light blue or dark splash. I can't tell yet. Also in this group are two barred rocks. I think one is blue and one is black. They are two with yellow legs. The ameraucanas have slate colored legs.

A picture of Shorty with babies

They were so tired. Everyone fell asleep standing up.

Much like human babies, chicken babies mainly eat and sleep.

A blue barred rock chick

Two barred rock chicks. I think one is a blue barred and the other black barred.

Napping under mama

The unknown chick. I can't decide if this one is a splash or a light blue. I guess we'll know in a month or so!

All six chicks with mama!

BBS bigger!

2009-08-14T11:07:00.002-05:00

The blue/black/splash babies are getting bigger! They actually look like real chickens now and not babies.

This is Yorrick, the chick that got smushed in the coop door. I am happy to report that he/she is perfectly fine now. No sign of limp or weakness. Yorrick is a splash, meaning that there are smudges of color on her. I think she's such an interesting looking chicken.

And Ophelia, the other incubator baby. She's smaller than the others and a little spooky. Thus the name...

These are the two black girls (at least I think they're girls...). Can you see the green sheen to the one in back? In the sunlight they are absolutely striking! I didn't think I was going to like the black coloring, but I have to admit it is becoming my favorite. They just sparkle all over!

Elvis has left the building...

2009-08-14T10:58:00.003-05:00

This is what you get when you mix a blue silkie with a mille fleur d'uccle.

She gets funkier looking every day.

She's still spending time with mama Speedy...

And mama Dot.

What a funny little baby!

I'm so blue...

2009-07-25T21:59:00.003-05:00

The BBS babies are growing like weeds! They are really starting to fill out and show their true colors.

This little one is suspiciously roo-ish looking. He/she is a dark blue and is quite lovely. I would love to have a blue roo, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Blue chickens have "lacing" on the edge of each feather. You can really see that from the back.
The fun of blue coloring is the wide variety of blue tinting. Both of these chickens are blue.

To make life more fun, you also get what's called "splash" coloring when mixing blue and black genes. It is called splash because there are these random splashes of color throughout. This baby is even lovelier in person. This is the chicken I accidentally smushed in the coop door. She is doing much, much better and is finally walking without a limp. Unfortunately, I'm afraid the name "Alas poor Yorrick" is likely to stick. My sister has been calling her "Tiny Tim". Oh well... God bless us everyone.

This is the second splash baby. She is as yet unnamed (since she may be a he). This one has smaller splash markings.

For comparison, a blue and a splash next to each other.

This grumpy face is a black chicken. Black, blue and splash can all interbreed and you still get "pure" colors. Chicken color genetics are weird.

As the black chickens get bigger they start showing a green sheen to their feathers. It doesn't show up great in photos. In reality is is absolutely stunning. They look like a stained glass window with green and blue and lavender peeking through.

They are very curious birds!

Funny little bonus baby

2009-07-25T21:37:00.003-05:00

So for weeks Dot the mille fleur and Speedy the sebright took turns being broody over one lone egg. I left the egg with them as I thought it was dead. They weren't terribly good about sitting on it consistently and I was forever finding it stone cold. I was just stalling them until I could break the broody. Imagine my surprise one morning when out popped this little head! Against all odds Dot and Speedy hatched an egg. The problem is that they have both claimed the baby! The poor thing has the two most neurotic mama hens on the planet.

So this tiny baby is a silkie/ mille fleur d'uccle mix. Her biological mama has to be Shorty the blue silkie and daddy is Spot the mille fleur d'uccle. She is a funky looking little thing. Her coloring is vaguely mille fleur and she has poofy cheeks and feathers on her legs. She also seems to have the funky little cowlick on top of her head. Who knows what she'll look like as she grows!

She is remarkably well-adjusted and mellow considering her upbringing.

Knock, knock...

2009-07-25T21:31:00.002-05:00

Who's there?

Greedy little PIG-CHICKENS!!

We might have tiny brains, but we have definitely figured out where the treats come from.

Everybody loves Maude!

2009-06-28T21:49:00.001-05:00

We are starting to look like real chickens!

2009-06-28T21:34:00.002-05:00

These are the two incubator babies. They made the move outside and are doing great!

This one is looking like a splash. She the little bits of black sneaking in there?
This one is starting to look roo-ish. Fingers crossed! I'd love to have a blue roo.

This is the older blue. She's really starting to fill out.

Note how her lacing is coming in. Each feather should be outlined in a darker blue color.

The other splash. Maybe.

The jury is still out as to whether this one is a splash or a light blue.

Either way she's a cutie!

This is the younger of the black babies. You can't really tell in the picture, but the black chicks have this amazing green sheen to their feathers. It's really lovely!

All 7 babies are doing really well. Fifi has given up on motherhood completely (and in fact is broody again). Shorty is still mothering them sometimes. I noticed tonight she was roosting with the other big chickens and had left the babies to fend for themselves. I guess she too is tired of motherhood. Poor babies!

What it sounds like at my house when an egg is coming...

2009-06-10T22:57:00.002-05:00

Cheeto is the one in the video. He didn't lay anything.

He just likes to join in with the singing.

More babies!

2009-06-10T22:52:00.002-05:00

These aren't my fault though. I found a nest full of eggs in my little pine tree yesterday. Apparently the babies hatched out today.

I must have shook the tree trying to get a picture, because they all woke up!

Mama and daddy were keeping and eye on things.

And bringing dinner!

Jolly!

2009-06-10T22:41:00.002-05:00

This moment of joy brought to you by Lucy and the makers of the Jolly Ball.

Blue and black and splash all over!

2009-06-04T21:01:00.002-05:00

The babies are all doing well. Wing feathers and tail feathers are sprouting out everywhere!

These are the two incubator babies. They are currently living in the indoor brooder.

The stuffed seal has taken the place of mama. They pretty much snuggle up to it like the outdoor babies do with the mama hen. It's pretty sweet.

The older babies have hit that awkward adolescent phase. Bless their little hearts...

Max the Mighty Hunter

2009-06-04T21:00:00.001-05:00

Can you tell that he's a ferocious hunter?

Hatchlings!

2009-05-23T00:09:00.002-05:00

And yet more babies are hatching in my kitchen. HeHe!

This one was working very hard at popping out the top of her shell.

It's exhausting work!

This one finally made it out, but needed a little nap.

They are more slimey than cute when they first hatch.

Thankfully they fluff up in a day or so.

Both of these babies hatched out this morning. By tonight they were a bit drier and were toddling about in there. I'll take them out tomorrow and put them in the brooder.

The sleeping baby looks like a dark blue and the zipping baby looks like a splash.

Cute, cute, cute!

Sort of.

Team parenting

2009-05-23T00:04:00.002-05:00

Apparently Fifi and Shorty have decided to co-parent. All five babies are running together.

Yay! Hopefully this means we won't have the integration problems typical when you put a new coop full of chickens together.

The tiny babies are infinitely curious about what the big chicks are doing. They look all the world like younger siblings pestering their big sisters. Thankfully the big babies are very tolerant of the tiny pests.

Shorty's trio

2009-05-22T23:57:00.003-05:00

Ta Da!

(or, if you are my niece, Da Ta!)

Shorty's three are unveiled.

From top to bottom- a splash, a black and a blue.

How cute are they?!
Mama and babies are all fine. She had them out in the run today learning chickeny things. Apparently tonight they couldn't figure out how to get back up the ramp, so Shorty just settled down on the ground next to the coop and went to bed. I had to put everyone back into the coop when I got home.

How handy to have a babysitter!

2009-05-17T23:56:00.001-05:00

Can you see the babies to the right of Shorty?

They have been using her as a jungle gym. Poor Shorty!
Her babies hatch this week! Yay!

Poor Lucy

2009-05-17T23:52:00.002-05:00

What is this? A cat in my spot on the sofa?

A disgusted dog, if ever there was...
Maybe if I poke at him...

Pitiful. Just pitiful.

(Note that the cat never moves throughout this saga. Clearly he is intimidated by the ferocious dog.)

Cheeto is a strappin' lad!

2009-05-13T22:06:00.000-05:00

Black and blue and growing all over!

2009-05-13T21:58:00.002-05:00

Fifi's babies are getting bigger!

They are making little forays out into the run. Fifi has decided to share the mothering with Shorty, who is confined to her nest. Periodically the babies go huddle up next to Shorty and Fifi goes out to do her own thing. Built in babysitter, I guess.

Shorty's babies are due in about a week. It'll be interesting to see what happens when there are new babies in there with Shorty.

Playing dress up

2009-05-13T21:52:00.002-05:00

Okay, not really. I haven't gone off the deep end. This is a chicken saddle. Cheeto is so "amorous" with his women that he is tearing up their back feathers. These saddles will protect them so their feathers can grow back. Poor girls!

Blue and black babies!

2009-05-05T21:11:00.003-05:00

Fifi's babies have hatched!

It was actually a pretty dismal hatch- only 2 of the 8 eggs hatched. It's my first attempt at hatching mailed eggs. Shorty is sitting on some more though and I'm trying my hand at incubating in the house (my own little summer science project!). We'll see what happens in about two and a half weeks.

The grey baby is a blue and the black/yellow baby is a black. They are true ameraucanas (a recognized pure breed) from the Garners in Georgia. They will be blue egg layers. Shorty is sitting on blue eggs from Cree Farms. They are quite lovely. More of the Cree Farms eggs are in the incubator, as well as some random eggs from my girls that I'm using to test failure rates of shipped versus local vs my hatching abilities. We'll see what happens.

Vixen laid an egg!

2009-04-24T18:17:00.002-05:00

Out of the blue, Vixen laid an egg. It's about the size of a quarter, but she's laid two now. GO Vixen!

The February babies

2009-04-24T18:13:00.002-05:00

The babies are getting big! The nieces named them for me.

Introducing Apple. I didn't get a good picture of her sister, French Fry.

And this is Nugget.

Nugget gets more roo-ish everyday.

I'm still waiting for a crow or an egg to be sure, but it's not looking good.

To be or not to be...

2009-04-24T18:07:00.004-05:00

Shorty can't make up her mind. She hunkers down in a nest box like she is broody, but then hops up to go see what all is going on. Silly broodies.

Hmmm... what to do?

Spring is here!

2009-04-11T22:19:00.002-05:00

Clearly it is as Fifi is broody again. She is currently sitting on 8 blue/black/splash ameraucana eggs. BLUE EGGS! Three weeks and we'll see what we've got. Until yesterday she was valiently trying to hatch out two plastic easter eggs. I'm thinking she has a better shot at the BBS eggs.

A lady I know tells the story of a yard near her childhood home that planted spring flowers into the words "Spring is here!". She said over time some of the flowers had died. Now it says "ping is he!". So now this time of year I walk around saying "Ping is He" in my head. Now you will too.
Near Mom and Dad's is a yard that spells out "hello" with grass... except the "o" is really hard to see. It always looks like they are cussing at all the people driving by.

The moral of today's lesson is to be really careful what you spell out with vegetation. Or to count down the days to BBS chicks. Whichever works for you.

It's very quiet out there.

2009-03-30T22:00:00.001-05:00

The buffalo has vanished. I think he went off to be bison burgers. I didn't do it. Really.

Ka BANG!!!

2009-03-13T14:20:00.002-05:00

So for weeks I've been trying to figure out what all the clanging is at my neighbor's house. There has been this horrible banging at all hours of the night and day. The worst of it is that my dogs go nuts and bark like maniacs. Well... I've finally figured it out.

Big, dumb buffalo. He does this all the time. Apparently in adolescent buffalo land this is a great game. If only he had a couple of rusted out cars to throw around. So much for peace and tranquility in the country.

We look like chickens now!

2009-03-13T14:14:00.002-05:00

The babies are getting bigger. We seemed to have made it past the really awkward stage and are finally starting to look like chickens and not babies. The two with the black smudges are the wyandotte mutts. The buff is, well... the buff orp.

So far the mutts look like girls. Who knows about the little buff? Both mama and daddy were early comb developers. I really though Dorito was a boy until she popped out her first egg. I guess we won't know about this one until there is an egg or a crow.

All three are healthy and thriving. Good chickies!

Vixen's gots dots!

2009-03-13T14:12:00.002-05:00

Vixen is the remaining December baby. She is really looking like a grown up chicken these days. Most of the time she runs around with Shorty and the kids. She's a cutie!

Snow chicken

2009-03-01T10:15:00.004-06:00

The big chickens...

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

2009-03-01T10:07:00.002-06:00

The sad thing is that the hyacinths and daffodils had already come out.

Oh well. Maybe spring will come again.

Dogs of the Frozen Tundra

2009-03-01T09:49:00.002-06:00

We got about 6" of snow. Lily had a fine time frolicking in the white stuff.

Lucy is more of a hot chocolate and marshmallows kind of girl.

She mostly stayed up on the porch.

Silly dogs.

So long, farewell...

2009-02-23T21:22:00.003-06:00

The big boys are off to their new home. One of the three will possibly have a lovely rooster life. The other two, well... I believe dumplings may be in their future. Ah, such is life on the food chain.
Vixen on the other hand is doing really well. She sat in my lap for a bit this morning all snuggled in. She also has taken on the role of big sister with the new babies. She hangs out with Shorty and the kids and tries to tuck herself up under Shorty every chance she gets. Of course, it's a little crowded in there, but Vixen is giving it her all. She and the little babies seem to get along just fine. All in all a good deal.

Saturday morning pictures

2009-02-21T17:43:00.001-06:00

Hmmmm... this doesn't bode well...
Perhaps there is safety in numbers?

Tails are getting longer

Wings are filling out

All in all we are growing up nicely!

Don't you just hate it when the kids won't leave the nest?

2009-02-15T18:17:00.002-06:00

Especially when you are trying to lay an egg?

The big babies just won't leave Fifi alone. She is now pecking the boys on the head to get them to leave her alone. (Vixen she seems okay with.) They still take every opportunity to snuggle up with her. Silly babies!

Valentine's babies

2009-02-15T18:12:00.002-06:00

Why is it all the kids must have a window seat? Hmmm?

Tiny chick tushie (with a tee tiny tail)

Stretch!
Family shot

The big babies

2009-02-13T07:32:00.002-06:00

The big babies are still growing like crazy. The three boys are already bigger than some of my banty hens. Vixen is still a tiny little thing. She's hidden between the two white boys. The four of them still tend to hang out together most of the time. Vixen has continued her friendship with Shorty and can often be found pecking around with Shorty and the new babies. She doesn't bother them and they just zip around her like little satellites.

Outside playtime!

2009-02-13T07:23:00.002-06:00

Shorty and the babies are enjoyed the mild temperatures. She takes them out every morning to zip about the run.
Little wings are growing like crazy. Won't it be interesting to see what they look like?

It's hard getting pictures of the little squirts as they don't stay still for very long. All of my shots turn out fuzzy! This one is fun because you can see the wing and tail feathers of the chick on the left. The chick on the right is the little buff orp baby. She's a sweetie!

Free Firewood

2009-02-13T07:19:00.002-06:00

The big winds the other day blew down my old dead tree. Dodger and Fagin are pretty pleased about it all in all. I'm just happy it misses the truck and fence!

But, sadly, we are back to three...

2009-02-09T20:16:00.002-06:00

The chipmunk marked baby died today. She fell out of the coop last night and got chilled before I found her and put her back under mama. She struggled all day, and died this afternoon despite my best efforts. It's a sad part of having pets, but an inevitable one, I guess. The baby was quite lovely. It's sad that we won't get to see her grow up.

And baby makes four!

2009-02-08T09:34:00.004-06:00

The last one is up and active!

The little yellow one on the top is the lastest to hatch.

Apparently even chicks consider mama to be a jungle gym...

I think the last three eggs are duds. I'll give them through tomorrow before tossing them. Who knows? Maybe there's just a slowpoke in there.

And then there were three...

2009-02-06T10:50:00.002-06:00

The first three are out, dry and fluffy! They were toddling about this morning making happy little cheeping sounds.

These three are marked differently from the last lot. Maybe that means these are girls.

Good night, sleepy...

Shorty's chicks

2009-02-05T18:35:00.003-06:00

The first two chicks popped out at dawn. I know this because I neurotically moved hen and eggs into the dining room last night due to the expected single digit temps. At 5am the frantic peeping woke me up so I dashed to the brooder coop to see what was what. One damp little alien was flopping about with the second little alien still coming out of the shell. Within a couple of hours they had fluffed right on out. A third one hatched out this afternoon and is still fluffing up. Stay tuned for eggs 4 through 7...

Getting ready for baby

2009-01-31T19:12:00.002-06:00

Shorty is getting ready for her lot to hatch out this Thursday. This photo is horrible, but it catches her rearranging the eggs. She uses her beak to shove them back up underneath her.

Once Shorty got settled the big chicks came to check out the new digs. When I shut the coops up tonight all four big chicks were tucked in there with her. I'm not sure what they are going to do when I put the chick barrier up.

Family pictures

2009-01-31T19:03:00.002-06:00

Fifi and the kids spent the afternoon exploring the big girl coop. The big chicks are almost as big as Fifi!

Vixen is still a tiny, petite little thing. She is very, very sweet!

The big chicks are enormous! They are actually the same size as the bantum hens now.

Maude did it!

2009-01-31T18:57:00.003-06:00

Maude laid an egg! It's the long, skinny white one on the left (the light brown is from Patience the SLW, the darker brown is from Dorito the buff and the green is from Pooh).

Maude is beside herself with excitement.

(She's actually very, very loud about the whole egg laying process. There was quite a bit of screeching and squawking today as she announced to the world that she is an Incredible Egg-laying Phenomenon. The neighbors are so happy, I"m sure.)

You've got the cutest little baby face!

2009-01-31T18:55:00.002-06:00

Hope springs eternal

2009-01-31T18:53:00.002-06:00

We just purely love eggs around here.