Turkey Mom

Anyone who's ever had a broody knows exactly what this is.  It's when a hen puffs up every single feather on her body to make her look three times her normal size and is used to intimidate the other hens.  Someone on my favorite chicken Facebook group described it as "Back the Cluck up Bitch" mode.  And while some may find that offensive, it really is a great description of what the hen is thinking.

This is Marigold yesterday.  She was on day two of being in the broody breaker trying to get her to rethink her broody ways.  I put her out in the garden to stretch her legs and hang out with her sisters.  I also wanted to see if she would attempt to get back into her nest box.

Today is day three and while she's still making the broody, chuck, chuck, chuck sounds, I did get her to roost with her sisters tonight so I think she may be over it.  Fingers crossed that she's back out in the run like normal in the morning.  It breaks my heart to isolate her in the broody breaker.  But letting her brood when there's no chance of her having babies is even more cruel.

First broody of 2017

I came home from a work trip to one VERY broody hen.

Marigold is 9 months old.  For the last 3-4 months, she has walked around making the chuck, chuck, chuck, broody mama sound.  She'll even puff up and go all turkey mom on any of the other hens if they get close.  But she never quite tipped over into being fully broody.  She continued to lay eggs and roost at night.  So I just let her be.

But last week I felt she was acting a little more broody than she had been.  And I was right.  When I got home last night, she was nestled into a nest box as happy as could be.  I scooped her out, gave her a big hug and put her up on the roost.  Ten minutes later, she was back in the nest.  I thought, it wasn't quite dark and now that it's dark, I'll try again.  Nope, off the roost and back into the nest.

So this morning, I moved her to my dog crate/broody breaker in the garage.  It breaks my heart to isolate her like that.  But I'm not in a position to let her brood, so breaking her is probably the most humane thing to do.

I suppose I should get used to this as I've got 3 more young Buff Orpingtons and 2 Cochins and all are prone to going broody.  So as we head into spring, this is not the last time I'm going to have to deal w/ this.

I know people say you should tip the dog crate onto its side but I've always had good luck doing it this way.  They like to stand on the big block and it kind of blocks them from nestling down into the towels.  Hopefully, she's over being broody in a day or two and I can get her back out with her sisters.

Happy New Year

New Years resolution - blog more.  I always feel I need to have a specific topic to blog about and fabulous photos to go along with it.  And the reality is, sometimes it's just statue quo around here.  So in the new year, I promise to blog more.  Doesn't mean I'll necessarily have these deep informative insights to share.  It's more just what's going on in my yard at the time.

And speaking of my yard, it's trashed.  We FINALLY got rain this year and lots of it.  And I don't even live in the wet part of the state.  But we needed it.  I think most things are enjoying this really good soaking we've received.  I hope my garden survives it.  Unfortunately, what's surviving is also being eaten by the hens.

 

I have a bunch of these wire rings around the garden.  The problem is I need about 25 more to protect everything.   I did replant my patio pots and put up some temporary fencing around that to keep the ladies from grazing "the salad bar" and it's working.  

Coco is nearly 6 1/2 years old.  And her age is starting to show.  But she's still the queen of the flock.

We nearly lost Peaches last year from a crop impaction.  Every day I thank the lord that I was able to save this bird and she's still with us.  She has these soulful eyes that just stare right through you.  I really love her.

And a photo of my three older gals. That's Pearl at the top. She's the least friendly of the bunch but I still love her.

This is Marigold.  We call her Squirt.  She's small, wiley and can squeeze through the tinniest of spaces.  I've found her in OUR house a few times cuz she just slips through the 3" crack I leave the door open so I can hear them.

And Bella, she's a Partridge Cochin.  She is darling.  Just came into lay at 10 months of age.    Not the best photo of her.  She has the most amazing feathers.

So that's the latest from here.  More photo to come.

SaveSave

Carving pumpkins with chickens

This may come as a surprise to some, but I don't like carving pumpkins.  Probably stems out of an accident I had as a child where I sliced open three fingers carving a pumpkin.  But I feel a sense of obligation to do at least one every year to show we are open for Trick or Treating on Halloween.

This year I have a thousand things going on in both my personal and professional life and as Halloween approached, the thought of carving a pumpkin was simply one more chore on my list.  And then I thought, I wonder if I can get the hens to carve it for me?

So I took the big pumpkin off the front porch and used a melon baller to start the eyes, nose and mouth and put the big gourd in the chicken run.  My past batches of hens have shown no interest in pumpkins what so ever.  But this last batch of babies (who are not six month old I should add) did show some interest in the pumpkins in the garden, so thought what have I got to lose.

Turns out, nothing!

Pumpkin freshly set in their run with the eyes, nose and mouth started.

The babies immediately showed interest in the gourd.

Even Coco got in on the action.  She's molting really hard right now and not at all herself so I was pleased she felt up to giving it a go.

This was the pumpkin about 24 hours later.

This is the other side of the pumpkin 24 hours later.  I thought I'd give them two sides to carve.  One, to give everyone access to the gourd without fighting and two, to make sure I got at least one good side to display.

And heres the finished product.  Most of the seeds and guts are gone.  They didn't do such a good job on the mouth.  But why bend over when the eyes and nose are right at their eye level. 

I also dressed up the chickens in their halloween costumes.  They went at Chickens of the Sea this year.  For my foreign followers, we have a brand of tuna here in the States called Chicken of the Sea.

I bought a lobster and a shark costume.  The lobster wasn't as big of a hit.  I think the big hood was hard for them to figure out.  But the shark was a scream.  Several hens tried it on and gave it a go.

But I couldn't get them to pose together in their costumes.  Oh well, they were still super cute.

Add caption

So we're ready for Halloween here at my house.  Pumpkin is carved.  Chickens are fat and happy and full of pumpkin seeds.  Oh, and my run and garden are covered in orange speckled poops.  Probably TMI but I thought it was funny.  Good reminder that chickens really are what they eat.  And what they eat in turns makes for some really yummy eggs.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Update on the babies

The babies are 17 weeks old tomorrow.  Woo Hoo.  One more week and we can start to co-mingle them with the big girls.  They all get along just fine.  I keep them separated so that the babies don't eat the big girl food yet.  Or at least I try.  They still manage to get their heads under the bag I put over the feeder and get in a few bites.

It will be nice for me and for them to have them exist as one big, hopefully happy, flock.  It's more work for me to have everything in duplicate, 2 feeders, 2 kinds of feed, 2 waterers, 2 coops to clean out, etc.  And it will give the babies more real estate.

I took a bunch of photo of them today in the garden just to show how big they are today.

Penny seems to think my chicken sculpture is the perfect perch for her.

Big Coco is still the Queen of the flock.  She'll be 6 years old in October.

Penny is turning out to be a beautiful bird.  I love the green sheen on her black feathers.  I can't wait for her to fully mature so I can see how big and fluffy she ends up being.

Bella is another beauty in the garden.  I wish you could hear her walk.  She sounds like a lady who's wearing her trousers too long as those long feathers on her feet drag on the ground.

Peaches has begun her first ever molt.  She was fine one day when I left for work.  I came home and it looked like a chicken had blown up.  

Peaches on the right and Pearl on the left.  Pearl hasn't started to molt yet and you can see how tight her coat is still.  But she should begin molting anytime now.

Peaches up close.  She has some bald spots.  The pin feathers are three days old so you can also see how quickly those new feathers come back in.

Peaches has a totally bare bum.  She had really soiled most of those feathers any way when she had vent gleet that went untreated for so long so I'm happy that she's going to finally have a fluffy, covered bottom once again.

The babies having snacks on the patio.  They are so big that sometimes I have to look twice to tell them from the big girls. 

The babies working their way through my flower pots.

And a little sun bathing on the warm patio. 

Rocks and pieces of broken pottery work great for deterring chickens from beaking out soil from flower pots.

Wire rings help protect plants from hungry beaks till they can get established.

I planted hens and chicks in my strawberry planter and it's finally all filled in.

The babies are losing their juvenile feathers and growing in their adult feathers.

And some of Peaches feathers for comparison.  Hens typically molt when they are about 18 -24 months old.  Peaches is 29 months old.  So way over due to replace her worn feathers before winter.