Chicken Wisdom

Chickens have a reputation for being stupid. Though some of their antics appear foolish, I have found watching their interactions and behaviors gives great insight into human deportment. I'm not joking. Really.

Take this rooster for example. He is the same Buff Catalana rooster featured on my banner art, only now he is in molt which leaves his tail feathers and the rest of him lacking a bit.

Funny thing. He knows it.

He is not the same rooster when not fully plumed. He is not as haughty. He is kinder with the hens, not chasing them down for a quickie. He doesn't scream "Look at me!!!" with the same aplomb. He doesn't rush over to the scraps I throw out the back door thinking he is entitled to the best.

Chicken Wisdom

1. Looking your best gives you confidence to demand respect.
2. Balding men are probably more attentive to the needs of women since they are not so fixated on themselves.
   

Chick Update

Remember the quandary we had about the three mothers and one set of chicks. The outcomes so far are surprisingly good. We have had 10 chicks which I gave to the chicken sitting the longest. We started with five bitties and each day we had another. Now things have slowed. In fact, we haven't had a new chick for a few days, but the other two hens are still sitting and still stealing each other's eggs.

The hen I chose to nurture the bitties is being a fantastic mother. She is teaching, protecting, and doting. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get a picture with all the chicks together. They are roaming the orchard and front yard with their mother searching for bugs, dusting, and keeping an ever watchful eye out for the very curious yellow dog. He has been good, but has had much encouragement to be good from the mama hen. Protective does not even begin to describe the bristly attack mode she dons at the first sight of The Yellow Dog.

Pink Panther's chicks don't have that fierce protection, but they too are learning to stay well away from the curious mouth of the yellow dog. The Domilana didn't turn out very beautiful, but she is Pink Pan's favorite. He sold the young Buff Catalina for $10. He was so proud. The Dominecker appears to be a male, so selling him is doubtful. I doubt he will be able to sell the Domilana either, unless a beautifying fairy visits and invokes powerful magic.

Parenthood Issues

We have a small problem down on the farm.

About a month ago, I had a hen go broody in the corner of the roosting shed. I let her stay where she was because she was out of the way and safe from predators. A couple of weeks ago, another hen joined her. Unfortunately, she only had the one egg under her. I mistakenly let her stay. Last week, the hen on the right joined them. I was glad this particular hen was out of circulation because her back was getting raw from too much rooster activity, so I mistakenly let her stay.

A few days ago, one of the hens left her eggs to get the corn I threw out and I saw one of the other hens reach over and steal an egg. Now that the eggs are starting to hatch, they are fighting over the chicks. The unhatched eggs are not as well attended as you can see. I disturbed them before this picture so I could count the chicks, but still the eggs should have been popped back under. They weren't.

Later, I went out to gather the last eggs of the day and there was a just hatched chick on the floor. No chicken was warming it. No chicken noticed. Instead they were more worried about the day old chicks that were skittering from one mom to the next while the moms were pecking at each other while herding the chicks away and underneath. I took the forgotten newest chick and put it in an incubator.

Tonight, I chose a mother and took all the chicks and put them in a separate hutch. The other two, if they remain, can concentrate on the last few eggs. I had a friend who had two hens share chicks, but mine don't seem to be able.

Chicks

These chicks are about a week old. They still have their fluffy chick look, but have a few feathers, especially on their wings. Chick on the back left is a Buff Catalana, chick on right rear is a Barred Rock, affectionately called Dominecker in these parts, and the chick on the front is what happens when you aren't careful to keep your different breeds separate. Should we call her a Buffinecker or a Domilana?

We have two broody hens, but I haven't been brave enough to see how many eggs they are sitting. Broody hens are scary, nest protecting, pecking maniacs but who can blame them. I might peck a few people if they tried to take my babies or babies to be in this case.

Chickens

This is one group of my chickens that rummage through the paddock seeking tasty morsels every day. When Mr. Wisteria was on his sales trip I fed a big round bale of hay here to lure the mama cow that had a piece of stick in her eye. We haven't fed here again, and the cows have been moved across the road, but chickens are still working that bale making sure that there is not one piece of hay left on top of another and that there is not one seed remaining.

Chickens are great that way unless they are doing it in my garden or flower beds!

Eggs!

My new hens have started laying!!!! The roosters are going crazy chasing hens and hens are squawking to announce their productivity. I wonder if I went around the house squawking would the family notice that I cleaned the kitchen, washed their clothes, and mopped the bathroom floor. Sorry, I got distracted. We have started finding eggs all over the yard. This is the children's favorite time of chicken ownership because eggs turn up in the most unexpected places (the pullets have no clue what is happening the first time they lay) and the miniature eggs are so cute. We have a few hens who have already found the nesting boxes and are using them. I leave a wooden egg in each box so the hens continue to think it is safe to lay there. It may not work, but it makes me feel better. I always have a few hens who make me search for their eggs in the hay, or on the fence row, or in the feed trough - annoying when I am in a hurry, but fun most of the time.

Now that I am ready to click the publish button, I realize that I should have put one of the extra-large eggs of my old hen next to these minis for proper scale. Trust me they are tiny - not more than a mouthful for the smallest.

Free Ranging

My chickens have been steadily moving further and further away from the chicken hut. When I first gave them free range I was scared that I had waited too long. They just didn't seem inclined to move more than 50 feet from the hut. All of the other chickens we have had in the past seemed to burst forth much more quickly. This past week the chicks have been in the back yard, side yard, and further into the pasture than ever before. They progressed by leaps and bounds.

Still, if I or either of the children go anywhere near they run up to see if we brought any treats, pecking frantically at our feet. They love waffles and pancakes especially if they are dripping in strawberry syrup or honey. They are also partial to grits and rice, but will grab and run with anything thrown their way. Then the whole mob will fight over it. We always bring enough for every bird, but the competition is still startling!

Isn't it funny how homeschooling, children and farm animals have so much in common.

Roosters

Roosters are so vain and rightfully so. This is my full grown Buff Catalina. He struts around the barnyard like he is a king and seems offended if I walk through the paddock on my way to the barn. I suppose I should give him a royal right of way, but I remember him without his tail feathers, wattle and comb. He was certainly less regal looking then. Truly, he is a good rooster. He finds tasty morsels for his hens and calls them over. He is not overly aggressive and seems to offer some protection for the hens. He doesn't crow non-stop all day and night like some of his predecessors. His mom, Henny Penny, took on a hawk to save his life, so I spared his life during the rooster cull even though his feet are not blue enough. I think he is beautiful unless he is in my garden.

The lighter colored bird is a young Barred Rock rooster and the darker one is a pullet. The adolescent rooster does not look as regal as the older Buff, though it won't be long until he will demand respect. The bird wire is part of the restructured chicken house. There is an outside yard and a building. I open the door at 5:30 each morning so the birds can free range and close it after sunset to protect them from predators. So far, The Yellow Dog has been respectful of the little birds, but I am keeping a close eye on him. I am always amazed at the anatomical changes that take place in such a short time. Remember when I first got them?

The Chicken Coop Saga

My husband and I(mostly my husband) reconstructed one of the hundred year old structures on the place into a chicken coop. Its past life was a feed storage building/calf feeder. We had to replace the floor and a door and replace wood so that it would be secure enough that raccoons would have a difficult time getting into it. We carefully used old wood that we have salvaged so that it would match our house and the original wood. The chicks have been using it about three weeks and it was working well.

The next step was to add the outside yard for the little chicks. We let the big chickens just roam, but need to control the environment more for the bitties. My husband worked a good part of the weekend transforming the calf feeding shed into a chicken yard. All we needed was a load of dirt to even out the area. I was going to take a picture when we were finished.

Monday, late afternoon, Mike(names changed to protect the innocent) delivered the dirt. When Mike dumped the dirt the back hatch hooked on the building and when the truck moved forward, the building moved too. Ripped from its foundation blocks, the hutch was teetering. I heard the screech and crash from my office and knew there was a small disaster. When I walked out, Mike was trying to decide what to do next. You know everyone, personally, here and it is hard to be mad at someone who you know feels terrible. He was able to get a backhoe and prop the building up with the backhoe arm while he moved the dump truck away. Then we could look at the damage. The coop was not sitting on the foundation blocks, and one side of the building was pulled away from the other three. The bitties were cowering in the corner. This is when my husband pulls in from a long day at work. Welcome home! He was speechless.

Night came and the building could not be fixed, then, so we wrapped chicken wire around the holes and covered the bigger holes with tin and wood and hoped for the best. Of course, the temperature was expected to drop and the chicks don't have all their feathers.

Yesterday afternoon, my dad and two or three of his workers, including the dirt man, came to fix the coop. They used two tractors and a backhoe to lift the hutch back onto the lighter stumps. They couldn't get the building level and replaced the stumps with concrete blocks so they would have more flexibility. In the meantime, they ripped the outside shed part off the structure and broke the ceiling joists. I couldn't watch. I got what they needed and went to my office to work. By nightfall there was still a gaping hole in the side of the building which we covered with a tarp, while the chicks cowered in the corner.

These are some tough chickens. I would have expected to have lost a few because of stress and cold. This morning the bitties were alive and well. I had to go through the chicken entrance (a hole two feet by three feet that was four feet off the ground) just to feed and water the chicks. Now that would have been a picture worth publishing for a few laughs. I should have used a ladder or something, but I wasn't thinking clearly. Then once your leg is that far up and lodged in there is no going back. I am glad no one was watching and that the chicken entrance is not facing the road. The town would have been a stir with gossip.

I'll keep you posted.

Baby Chicks

Today our new baby chicks came in the mail! Having had some really bad luck last summer and this winter with critters(a hawk, two dogs, and a racoon) and weather (Katrina) I found there were only two hens and a rooster left this Spring and they are so skittish. We may get chicks from them and maybe not.

So with the impatience that plagues me, I ordered fifty chicks -- 25 Buff Catalanas and 25 Barred Rock. We have had Buff Catalanas for a few years and they are a wonderful dual breed bird. When they are not stressed, they lay beautiful whitish eggs and have good meat, as well. I got the Barred Rocks (everyone around here calls them Dominques or Dominikers, though there is a real Dominque breed that looks almost exactly like the Barred Rocks)because they are a better dual breed bird than the real Dominques. Aren't they cute!

Because of the trouble we had last summer, we have reconstructed an old calf feeder that is next to the barn and a few hundred feet from the back door. This new chicken house should provide better saftey for the chicks. I am only hoping for warmer weather until they feather. The building is somewhat drafty. I've rigged heat lamps and used cardboard boxes to shrink the inside footage. It should be enough.