Naughty hens

Sometimes I think my hens are going to all think their names are Naughty.  I don't yell at my chickens.  I don't even try to discipline them.  Anyone who has chickens gets why this is.  You really can't train them not to be naughty.  They are going to do what they want to do.  What cracks me up is nearly all of the video's I have of my girls, I'm telling one hen or another that they are naughty.

I went out to tuck everyone in and discovered that the babies had knocked down the cardboard divider I had put up to keep them from sleeping in a nest box.  And here they all were.  All 6 of them jammed into a 12" by 12" nest.  Naughty!

Coco is nearly 6 years old and doesn't get enough calcium to put a hard shell on her eggs.  So each afternoon, she gets 1/8 tsp of powdered bird calcium w/ vitamin D mixed into a tablespoon of mash.  She knows this and expects it and gets very excited when she hears me in the garage mixing it up.  The other day, she jumped up on the sink to get to if faster.  Naughty!

I let the babies out of their half of the run into the garden for a few hours each afternoon.  But what do these two decide to do?  Explore the big hens coop.  Naughty!

I grew some forage blend grass for the hens and put it in the babies run to see what they would do.  Of course, one hen has to stand right in the middle of the pot of grass instead of nibble at it from the sides.  Naughty!

And this has nothing to do with being naughty.  I had a few things I was no longer using for the hens and offered them up on our local chicken chat group.  This sweet lady from one town over took all of the items and gave me eggs to say thank you.  At first I thought it was strange to give eggs to someone who has hens.  But I have brown egg layers.  She has green, olive and chocolate egg layers.  I'm in love w/ the colors in this egg carton.

And while I've grown used to this image, it is also naughty.  The three big girls make their lap around the garden when I let them out.  Then they Trick or Treat at the back door.  Pecking at the threshold or wiping their beaks on the screen to get my attention to come give them raisins.  Notice how I've had to flip my rooster door mat over to the rubber side.  The hens are very naughty!

Graduation Days

Well, believe it or not, but the babies are 6 weeks old already.  And this week was a big week of graduations.

They graduated supplemental heat last week.  And last Friday I moved them from their brooder box in the garage out to the small coop in the run.  I do have them separated from the big girls.  And while I'm happy to have them outside, I will readily admit that I miss hearing their peeping chatter from the kitchen.

They learned how to from from the run out around their protective barrier and into the garden when I open the gate.  And the three big hens are very accepting of their new minions.  Which makes it easier for me.

One of the Buff Orpington hens out in the garden.

Five of the six babies.

Penny is watching a bird fly over trying to decide if it's friend or foe.

I finally got a new flower pot for my wire chicken planter.

Peaches has the most intense stare.

Coco hanging out next to my chair on the patio.

The babies make their way up onto the patio to explore.

Penny is the black hen on the right.  Bella is the brown one on the left.  Bella is the smallest one by far.  But she'll likely grow up to be the biggest of the batch.

The big girls most favorite spot is by the sliding glass door.

Coco can't understand why I've only given them half the bag of chopped spinach.  She wants the rest of the bag.

Pearly digging her way through the Wooly Lambs Ears in the garden.  There's good bugging in there.

I still need to teach the babies to come back into the run when I call them.  That's going to take a little more work.  And they also need to learn how to roost at night.  They still sleep in one big pile of birds.  But they had a really big week last week so we'll save roosting for next week.

Can't wait to see them grow into all those feathers.

One week old babies

What a difference one week makes.  I can already see that the babies are getting bigger.  I wish I had weighed one last week to see how much bigger they are just a week later.

I put them in the dog crate and took them outside for a bit today.  It was sunny and warm and I want the big girls to get to know them too.  I stayed close as they can still squeeze through the gaps on the dog crate.  I think by next weekend, they won't fit through any more and I can relax a little more.

But there were two Coopers Hawks circling over the garden the whole time the hens were out.  I'm sure they are feeding young this time of the year and that makes me nervous to have the hens outside.

Penny is the black one on the left.  She's got the most adorable white, fluffy bottom.

One of the BO's is whiter than the others.  She's Daisy.  But I still can't tell the other three from one another yet.

Oh, that face!

I love Penny's back and blond face.  Even her beak is black on top and blond on the bottom.

Already their little tails are starting to grow.

This is Bella.  I'm already in love with her feathers.

And at one week of age, they figured out what that saucer of sand/dirt in the corner of their run was for.  They had the best time dust bathing together.  Hard to imagine that in just a few weeks, not even one of them will fit in this tiny saucer.

BABIES

Losing Pickles was really rough.  But as the saying goes, life goes on.  I knew I wanted to get more babies.  The challenge was working it into my busy schedule.

I was hoping to get Black Astralorps.  I love, love, love my Buff Orpingtons, but I feel like they just don't live as long as some other breeds.  I did a ton of research on hens that are quiet, docile, but still good layers.  Can tolerate some heat and generally get along with everyone without being a bully.  And Black Astralorps seemed to fit that bill.

But when I called around to find some, I was going to be a least a month before anyone had some locally.  When I called my favorite feed store, she said they wouldn't have any until June.  And out of the blue she said, "But we're getting a big shipment of Buff Orpingtons in on Saturday."  And I knew it was a sign.

So I picked up four BO's and then found out they had Cochins.  So I also got one black and one partridge Cochin for a total of 6 babies.

Three of the four Buff Orpington's peeking out from under their electric hen.

The Partridge Cochin is on the left and the Black is on the right.

Eating is a group sport.

This was the best group shot I could get. They were really shy the first day home.  These little guys go through a lot after hatching to get to their home.  Already today, they are so much more active. 

Good bye sweet Pickles

It's with a very heavy heart that I sit here and blog that we lost sweet Pickles today.

There was something always off about that little bird.  I had my suspicions that she wasn't right.  But she strut around the garden with her tail held high.  She scratched, she dust bathed, she ate, she drank and a few days a week, she'd reward us with a teeny, tiny egg.

Wednesday morning I noticed that she had caught her comb on something and tore it.  I treated it with ointment but she really tore it and kept shaking it which kept causing it to tear and I knew that it needed proper medical attention.  So I took her off to my favorite vet.  The vet said it was an easy fix, she'd give her a puff of gas to put her to sleep and put several stitches in the comb to secure it and keep it from flopping around.

But as soon as she received the gas, she stopped breathing and despite the vets best efforts, she never came around.  A mini necropsy confirmed what I had always suspected.  She had a big mass on her ovary.  Another one some where else inside her.  Her lungs were badly scarred indicating she had a chronic case of pneumonia.   And her liver was just a mess.  I'm amazed that she acted so happy and healthy after learning all this.

Here's hoping she's in a better place and no longer suffering.  I will miss you sweet Pickles.  You were a very special little bird.

She always wanted to know what you were doing.

Never had a feather out of place. 

She might not have a feather out of place but she ALWAYS had a dirty beak.  

One of my most favorite photos of her.  Life Imitating Art!

The last photo I took of Pickles.  She's the one in the middle facing Coco.  

Not sure which one she is but she was one of the four Peeps.

Pickles tiny little egg compared to one of her sister's large egg.

She LOVED to smell the roses.

And she loved a dust bath in the sun.  Especially, when she had the bath all to herself.

She LOVED this pot of forage blend I grew for the hens.  And she always had to stand on top to eat.

This is a card that someone gave me.  It is exactly how I picture Pickles.  A fairy princess with her tiara properly on top of her head just floating through life.  Always be fabulous Pickles.  Live up to your name.