Tragedy hits flock!

Today we mourn the loss of two little chicken.
It was the first day back to school. (bus driving is my day job)
When we got home we noticed that Cotie (the dog) was not under our feet or right there ready to clean up anything that Jane dropped on the floor.   Joe remembered that Jane had opened the back door just a few minutes before.  Mike went out into the garage and there was Cotie, two dead chicks and five others scattered all over the place.  We will surly miss Daisy (Light Brahma)  and the Black Copper Maran that Cotie just couldn't resist. What do you expect from a bird dog. Needless to say they have been moved into a very secure home. Mike and Joe were building them a great new coop. They were just putting the finishing touches on and if we would have move them out just one day earlier they all would have been safe. Hind sight is 20/20.  Due to the sensitivity of the issue there will be no photos to go with this post.

Faverolles: Photo time-line

The Final Four

Hatched March 22

March 23 - April 5

2011

image taken March 23

We have a good home but we need some names.

March 31

March 31

April 1

April 1

April 1

April 5  Its hard to get them to stand in a row now, so the next two images are two and two.

April 5

April 5

Cuckoo Maran Photo time-line

Grace and Q

Hatched on the 8th of March 

Added to the flock on March 22

1st Image taken March 23

 Grace: March 31

Q: Taken March 31

Grace: Taken April 5

Q: Taken April 5

Araucana PhotoTime-line

Patty and Penny

March 15 - April 5

2011

Hatched on the 14th

Penny: image taken 3/15

Patty: image taken 3/15

March 21

March 23

March 31

April 1

April 5

Penny and Patty are easy to tell apart.

Penny has the lightest face with the dark spot on her head.

Patty has the darker head and face.

These two are so mellow Jane picks them up and carries them around with her every time she goes outside.

Photo Time line of the Light Brahma Chickens

Bella and Daisy

March 13 - April 5

2011

Hatched on either the 11th or 12th.

March 13

 Bella on the left and Daisy on the right.

March 21

Bella in back. Daisy in front

March 23

 Bella on the truck.

March 31

Photo time-line

Black Copper Marans

March 12 - April 5

Meet the rest of the flock.

Meet Penny

image taken March 19th

We added Penny and Patty to the family on March 15th. Its an Ameraucana The "Easter Egg Chicken" originally came from Chile in South America, discovered by the Araucana Indians.   The color of their egg shells vary from pale blue to dark blue, to various shades of green. Very friendly and some may have beards and whiskers.

Hannah says she has the coloring of a chipmunk.

 Meet Patty

 When we named her Patty I really didn't connect the dots (Chicken Patty), someone pointed it out to me and I think its great. We named her Patty because Jane can say it. This is the one she likes to pick up all the time.

Jane is very gentle with the baby chic's 

 

 

 

 

The last 6 Chic's that were added to the family March 22.

 Named her "Q" because I love the way Jane says the letter "Q"

Cuckoo Maran

Cuckoo Marans are a rare breed of chicken that has black and white banded feathers similar in appearance to a barred rock.  The Marans were developed in France in the town of Marans during the mid 1800's. It is a dual purpose bird and is know for it's deep chocolate brown eggs. They are a fast growing bird and a very rare breed here in the United States. Q and Grace were about 7 days old when these images were taken.

This is Grace.

This is our special Chic. you can see from this image that her little right foot looks funny. That's because it is not forming right. We (very inexperienced farmers) didn't know enough to look at such things as leg development. You'll see as she gets bigger it will be more noticeable. I just hope its a hen.

The Final Four

2 days old Salmon Faverolles

Originally bred as a utility fowl in France, now it is raised mostly for exhibition and novelty. It is good sized with a beard, muff, feathered shanks, and 5th toe. The male is colored in straw, reddish brown and black; the female a creamy white and salmon brown. Baby chicks are creamy white with muff, fuzzy legs, and 5th toe.

These four are still unnamed. If anyone would like to help name them just leave and comment. All names will be considered. If we use the name you suggest, you will receive an egg when they start laying, just come and get it. 

A family affair!

Jane collects the eggs, and most of them make it into the fridge. 

Raising the backyard chicken is really a family affair. This is Joe, Hannah and of course Jane. Everyone is getting involved. Even Mike, though he wouldnt admit it. He gets in on all the action too.
Joe built a Coop and run for a friend and Mike is helping him wire the run. Joe is the one that really does most of the day to day work. Cleaning, feeding, watering, and letting the chickens out in the morning and closing them in at night. My job is more of the nurturing, naming and photographing them. I do put in time helping Joe with the more mundane chores. We all enjoy eating the eggs.

Joe and the coop he built.

showing the nesting box

finishing up the run.

Mike and Joe finishing up the run.

My job, you guessed it, play with the chic.

Joe said I looked concerned. I thought she was going to fly off my shoulder.

Getting a second opinion!

Today we took a road trip to see a man about a chicken. We put the lame chicken in a box and went up to Sparta. Darron runs a hatchery called Golden Willow Farm and Hatchery. He has been raising chickens and other poultry for quite sometime now. He has many varities and really knows his chickens. After he showed us all around his place, he took a look at our little chic and reasured us that it indeed has a deformed leg, but not broken. He told us not to breed her but, if it was a hen that it would lay fine eggs.
Darron thinks that its a rooster. I spent an extra 50 cents on her because the man we bought her from said it was a girl. I have a feeling Darrron's right. I'll let you know in time.

If anyone is looking to purchase baby chic, I highly recommend checking out Darrons web site.
www.goldenwillowfarmhatchery.com
He will be hatching chic's all year. Check it out.

I learned some more about raising chickens today. He showed us a really easy was way to tell a baby roo from a baby hen. If anyone is interested I'll share it in a later post.
Thats it for now. I will be posting more pictures soon.
Carol

Update on the lame chic

We were able to tape the leg, quite the job I must say. When we put her back in the box she flopped around and couldn't even stand on it. We observed her for awhile and decided she was more uncomfortable that before. She finally sat down and started to peck and the tape and her feathers. We decided to remove the tape and watch her for the day. I spend most of the day with her. I took them all outside in the sun today for a couple of hours. When the sun began to go down I put her in the box with the youngest of the baby chic's (1 1/2 week old faverolles) She is eating, drinking, perching, flying as much as the other ones, and she is growing, so I really think its just deformed. I am not going to be culling her, (which means to put her down) I'm going to keep a loving eye on her and love her just the way she is. I still don't have a name for her what do you think about Ilene? just kidding. I think Ill name her Grace. Good night.

Dislocated leg

Well this is another first for me and for my son. I sure wish my daughter was here to help. I was photographing the chickens yesterday(will post images later) and discovered one of the Marans has a dislocated leg. She is eating, drinking and still gets around. We have searched the Chicken blogs and have call some people that have had chickens for many years and the conclusion is that we need to set the leg. So today Joe and I are going to attempt to set the little leg of this cute little chick. If anyone reading this blog could offer some advice it would be appreciated.

 Ill post again after the procedure is done.