Our Feathered Friends
Our flock of 15 chickens has been both a delight and a trial to us at different times over the past year. But we're thankful for the eggs they faithfully provide, and we enjoying learning about them and seeing the dynamics of their unique world. We'll try to provide a glimpse into that world with photos and stories, so read on.
Friday, June 13, 2008
The chicks seemed to grow up so much faster this time around! Having a mother to take care of them for the first few weeks of life must have made a big difference, as well as being a part of a flock of adult chickens. They were on their own after three weeks (mom went back to hanging out with the other hens) and were courageously exploring, eating grass and learning the ropes. Now that they're about 4 weeks old, they are feathering out and bulking up. It's an awkward look, but these little guys are still cute as they run around at top speed and play in the yard.
We made a little area for them in the coop where they would be protected from the other chickens.
The tiny chicks like to huddle together for warmth.
After a week, mama hen decided to move them up to one of the nesting boxes for the night.
Everybody's tucked in!
The head rooster gives a strong crow. After fathering the chicks, we decided it was time for him to retire.
This handsome rooster became the dominant chicken.
During the day, the chicks explored the coop.
It's getting a little crowded as the chicks grow bigger!
Mom supervises the chicks outdoors when they're two weeks old.
The chicks graduate to the perch for sleeping at night.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
We have chicks!! To our amazement, on Saturday afternoon we found little chicks hatching under their mother's belly. It was truly a sight to behold...One little chick was completely out of her shell, another had pecked her shell almost in half, and a third was just starting to make a tiny hole in her shell. We felt so blessed to be able to witness their "birth"!
So now there are 9 chicks (all the eggs hatched!), and we've created a little cubby for them in the chicken coop. They need 95º warmth for this first week, so it's imperative that the mother hen keep them under her as much as possible. She seems to have the instinct for it; we saw her nudging the chicks back under her wing when they strayed out. She does let them out for a few minutes at a time to eat and drink. But thankfully she is proving herself to be a good caregiver. And we're thrilled to have adorable little chicks again, almost exactly a year after we received our brood in the mail last year!
When we lifted up the mother hen on Saturday, we saw the hatched chick on the left, the half-opened egg in the middle, and a tiny hold pecked in the third egg.
Here's a closer picture of the same scene. These chicks are as newly hatched as you can find!
The next day we looked in to see that all the chicks had hatched.
As Nate lifted the mother again, we saw lots of little bodies and legs!
After lifting the mother off completely, we were able to snap a quick shot of the whole family!
By Tuesday, mother and chicks are resting comfortably in their little cubby.
Monday, May 5, 2008
This year, we're a little wiser. We started out the season by putting up a fence to keep the chickens confined to one area of the yard. That way we won't have to deal with the chickens running across the street to the neighbor's yard, ruining the flower beds, or pooping on the patio. It also means that they have access to their space all day long; they don't have to wait for us to open the gate. Another plus for us is not having to close the gate at night anymore (we'd sometimes forget!).
The chickens made it through the winter just fine. We had did lose one, but she seemed to be in distress from laying an egg. I guess that happens sometimes. Otherwise, they're doing well, and we even have one hen who's gone broody. That means she wants to sit on a brood of eggs. We tried to dissuade her for a few nights by removing her from the nesting box and taking out the eggs, but she'd go right back in. She even molted all the feathers on her underside so that she could heat the eggs more efficiently. So we gave in and made her a proper nesting box. We selected the cleanest, nicest eggs one day and transferred them to the box. Then we put her in and left her tzhere for one day. The next day we added a door to the box, but she only comes out once a day for a few minutes to do her business. She seems to be in a trance all day, just sitting, sitting, sitting. She does eat and drink a little, but mostly she's very still. We hope it actually works; eggs need to be fertilized for the brooding to pay off, and we're skeptical that the rooster is actually doing his duty. The incubation period is about 21-23 days, so we'll find out soon enough.
Nate gets to work putting up the chicken fence.
The chickens seem perfectly content inside the fence.
They have grass to eat and woods to relax in.
There's plenty of dirt for dust bathing.
An old box is now a temporary nesting area for our broody hen.
Peeking in to see the broody hen on her nest. Privacy is important so the other hens don't pick on her.
November 2007
We're getting more eggs now, of many different sizes and shades. The chickens are still free-roaming, but as it gets colder we'll probably start keeping them inside. They're feathers get a little thicker for the winter, and they puff them out more to stay warm. They also huddle together on cold afternoons.
The chickens waiting for us to let them out
into the yard.
No, they're not dead. They just love to lay in the dirt and take a "dust bath."
Grazing amidst the fallen leaves.
We think this red one is the prettiest rooster.
Sharing body heat to stay warm.
The eggs still vary in size!
Monday, October 15
Production has now increased to six eggs a day. As each hen matures and starts laying her own eggs, we expect to get about 12-14 eggs a day. That's far more than we can eat! If you're interested in getting some fresh, healthy eggs, we're looking for people to share them with. See the "Fresh Eggs" page to read more!
The eggs are mostly brown in color.
They've been coming in varying sizes!
Thursday, September 20
Our first eggs! We found two this morning in the nest! We can't wait to try them out and see what they taste like.
TOPThursday, September 6
Did you think that roosters only crowed in the morning? That's actually a myth. Our rooster crows ALL DAY LONG. Over and over again. Our patience is wearing thin. Maybe it's just hormones; after all, he seems to be going through puberty. I'd say in human years he's probably about the equivalent of a 17-year-old male. But if the behavior continues, maybe we'll have to invest in ear plugs!
The chickens snack on tomatoes from the garden.
This hen found a big, green worm!
The nesting boxes are ready to go...we hope to find an egg in there one day soon.
The crowing rooster. He's not our favorite chicken right now.
Wednesday, August 8
The chickens are now three months old. In another two or three months they will be full-grown and should begin laying eggs. We wonder how much bigger they'll get, because it hardly seems like they're growing sometimes. They certainly eat enough—grass, flowers from the flower beds, bugs, all in addition to their own food!
We are beginning to see that having free-range chickens comes with a down-side. Nate lets the chickens out of the barn every morning, and they are free to roam and explore until dusk. That's when the roosters round up the flock to usher them back inside for bedtime. One of us closes the gate so that they're safe for the night. But while the chickens are out during the day, they don't discriminate between our property and the neighbor's yard. And sometimes they just hang out right in the road. We're getting tired of chasing them back to our yard, and embarrassed when people drive by and have to stop to avoid hitting the chickens. So it looks like we'll have to put up a fence (and clip their wings?) to keep them in our yard.
One new thing that's pretty cute is that the roosters are learning how to crow. It sounds like a little squeak at this point. Every few days we'll hear one giving it a try. It's like they're going through puberty. Maybe someday it won't be so cute when they're crowing at the crack of dawn!
They love grazing in the backyard.
Uh oh—across the street!
I'm chasing them back across the street to our yard.
A dirty habit—rummaging in the compost bin.
Monday, July 9
It's a rough life for a growing chicken. There are dogs to dodge, hawks to watch out for, and rain to seek shelter from. Ours' are still learning the ropes of life...at least, we hope they're learning. They can't even remember where the door is to get back into their coop! It's a good thing we're around a lot to help them out with the tough situations.
The chickens love to forage in the weeds and high grass, looking for bugs and eating greens.
Jen feeds them a treat of cut-up grapes. They love kitchen scraps, and were raiding our compost pile.
They've ventured close to the road in recent weeks, but the noise of a car passing will usually send them running back toward the house.
Our three roosters. The one in front is at the top of the pecking order, probably because he's the biggest. He's been establishing his dominance since they were chicks.
Nate built a small perch about four feet high, but didn't anticipate the popularity of it! Every night hens literally pack onto it. Here there are seven.
The roosters are developing their comb and wattle.
Friday, June 15
Our small chickens are growing rapidly! They still snuggle up together on cold nights to keep each other warm, but now they spend the rest of the day outside in the yard. They love exploring, scouring the ground for bugs and filling up on grass. We learned from a book that chickens can't taste anything but salt. And they don't have any teeth, so all the food gets digested whole. We also learned that their eyesight is as sharp as ours, and we often see them cocking their heads to get a better view of something up in the sky.
Unfortunately, tragedy struck yesterday. A hawk took one of our young Golden Comets. We didn't actually see it happen, but two hawks were flying very low around the barn when Jen pulled into the driveway around noon. The chicks were all inside the barn, which is very unusual for the middle of the day; they are usually roaming around in the yard. After counting the chickens, Jen realized that one of the three Golden Comets was missing. So we were sad and disappointed, because the Golden Comets are the prettiest and softest of the chickens. Now we'll have to re-evaluate our free-roaming hopes, and maybe confine the chickens in the small fenced-in area behind the barn to keep them safe when we're not home.
An unfortunate problem that we've run into is that the chickens like to hang out on the patio. But they leave unwelcome souvenirs in the form of poop. Yuck. Not to linger on an unsavory topic, but the chickens poop constantly! They are like pooping machines. We'll have to find a way to keep them off the patio.
The chickens enjoy sitting on the barn steps.
We can finally tell which ones are males by the pronounced comb.
They love scrounging around in the yard.
Leaving little presents on the patio...
Last updated 6/08 | The Paine Family © 2008 All Rights Reserved