Screech gets some new girlfriends

We were able to get two more Ameraucanas to flock with Screech.  When we put the new birds in the coop it was amazing to see Screech go right to them and she seemed so relieved.  She had been staying in the coop since Flo was killed.  After the week long ritual of keeping them in the coop they were released to the yard.  The 3 new girls stay together and the 2 bigger girls stay together.  There is a pecking order being worked out but nothing too aggressive.  The bigger hens don't like to give up their coop space so the newbies have to find a little space that is not intrusive.  After a couple of weeks all 5 are beginning to spend time closer together.  Since the two new hen are white and impossible to tell apart I call them the Wrigley twins, Scott calls them Zelda and Zoe.

I began to let Bixby out unattended again on Saturday and then today (Sunday) he and Stella spent the day in the yard while we were gone.  It didn't take him as long this time to understand that he had to leave the chickens alone.  Hopefully when he is outside he will keep predators away.

Sad day in the yard

Today I came home to find Flo's body in the yard.  Something had killed her between the time I was home for lunch at 1:00 and after work at 5:00.  There was a pile of her feathers in the viburnum.  She must have been attacked there and then brought to the yard.  We think the murderer must have been a cat.  Flocon de neige (snowflake) was a very quite bird.  She seemed to get along with the bigger girls better than her flock mate, Screech.  Stan said that white birds seem to be targets more often.  I suppose they don't camouflage as well.  I will have to see how Screech adjusts without her.  I don't know if she will be accepted by the other birds.  If not I might return her to Stan to be with her other flock mates.

Back to the country

October 8:  I had an opportunity to add two more hens to my small flock of two so we headed out to the country to pick them up.  We will also get to see Ernie, aka Spot.  Bert, aka Billina disappeared about a month after we took the young roos to the country.  Stan says it is brutal out there and they end up feeding a lot of the local wildlife.  Bert probably wondered too far from the yard and that was that.  Ernie has turned into a beautiful young rooster.  I think Stan likes him and is giving him extra protection.  He lets him out early so #1 rooster doesn't bother him.
The two new girls are Aracanas, a South American breed.  They are a medium sized chicken that lay blue-green eggs.  They are sometimes called the Easter egger chicken.  Stan brought them out to introduce us.

These birds are smaller and more prone to flight so Stan clipped their wings so they can be habituated to the yard and hopefully will not fly out.

When we returned home with them on Saturday night it was already dark so I opened the nesting box and put the new girls in the coop.  The older girls did not seem to take notice...at least not until the next day when everyone came out of the coop.  I was surprised that Hen was the least tolerant and chased the new comers around.  I decided to leave the new chickens in the coop for a few days and let the older girls out to roam the yard during the day.  Since the coop was closed Ms. Featherbottom has taken to laying her egg in the hay in the doghouse.  I hope she goes back to the coop later!

Tranquility

After about 3 months of training on a leash in the yard and many "leave it " commands, Bixby finally knows that the chickens are just other animals sharing his yard.  He can be outside with the birds and they are perfectly safe with him.  I thought he could do it but he has such a strong hunting instinct that I wasn't 100% sure.

Miss Featherbottom lays an egg

Today, August 2, 2011 at slightly over 20 weeks Miss Featherbottom laid an egg. She is the buff Orpington, on the left in the top picture. She has shown an interest in the nesting box lately so I thought she might be getting ready to lay. The temperatures have been over 100 for the past several weeks so I am surprised she started laying. I let the hens out of the pen during the day so they can get to a shadier spot. They enjoy being under the bushes. They have really enjoyed eating a cold slice of watermelon as well.  I have also frozen a litter bottle of water and laid it on the ground for the hens to snuggle up to so they can cool off a bit.  I put a smaller frozen bottle in the coop at night to help cool off the space.

And then there were two

We have taken the dogs out on a leash to see how they resoond to the chickens.  Stella is fine; she just ignores them but Bix wants to get one.  He has such a soft mouth that I don't know if he would hurt one but the chickens and I don't really want to test him.  So he will be out on chicken practice until I am sure.

The two girls are enjoying the sun.  When they get separated from each other they cackle until they are reunited.  They don't like to be apart.  

I checked on the roos and was told that they are doing really well in the country.  They have been out of the chicken enclosure and eating grass and bugs and they "look really good" out there.  I think I will also be getting two pullets this summer when Stan orders more chicks.  He is getting Aracanas, which are a South American breed.  They look interesting and are good layers.

cockerels to the country

Here is a picture of the chickens inside the coop.  Billina and Hen Maddox Hen are looking at the camera, Ms featherbottom is in the nesting box and Spot's tail feathers are just visible in the bottom right hand corner.
On Saturday morning, May 28th, I heard two distinct voices in a cock-a-doodle-doo contest.  I looked out the window and Billina was crowing and there was Spot sitting on top of the coop door (pictured above) answering the call.  The cockerels start out with a rr rr rrrr before they get into a full doodle doo.  They are 11 weeks old so Billina started at about 10 weeks.  A friend in the country came to their rescue and said he would take them.  We drove them out on Monday, May 30.  They were put in the coop with the other chickens very unceremoniously...gently tossed in.  Billina mingled with the flock and tried to look like he had always been there.  Spot, on the other hand was left in the enclosed area with #2 rooster.  #2 was staring him down waiting for a confrontation.  Spot didn't know what to do and luckily Stan stepped in and shooed them to the outside enclosure.  He said he had several underlings and since they are juvenile roos they might be ok.  Sometimes the newcomers  get beat up.  He was going to watch to see how they do.  They will all stay in the enclosure for 3 days then they will be able to roam the farm.  They could also become victim to coyotes but all in all it is chicken paradise.  When we left the two newbees were in the outside enclosure pecking away and looking a bit confused but I think they will be fine.  I'll get an update sometime later.  I also learned how to sex a chicken (or any animal for that matter).  You need a large metal staple with a string attached.  Hold the staple by the string over the animal to be sexed and start rotating it in a small circle.  When it is gently moving hold your hand steady and let the staple sway on its own.  If the animal is a male it will begin to swing back and forth in a straight line, if the animal is a female it will rotate in a circle.  We tried it on a mother cat, a tom cat, the two roos, and even my husband.  It worked every time!