Flock!

[godfry n. glad]

An update on the chix hostel in the garden shed.

I've given them the latitude to scamble about the two side by side rabbit cages and get lost and separated in the garden shed. I've had to scrape up a few chix from the floor, but, by and large, they don't wander far. They've already made a mess of the shed with kicking most of the pine shavings out onto the floor, so there's hardly much worse they could do.





The perches were recently installed and they are taking to them quite nicely. Even the one lying loose on top of the cages...I had tiny fluffy log rollers.



That's my eldest, escaping the madding crowd and sucking up some heat.


I thought I was getting 3 gold sexlinks and 3 red sexlinks, but what it looks like I have is six of these:



My 3 eastereggers look pretty much like this:



And, my black sexlinks....well...they aren't very 'black'. Normally, black sex links show a little red striation in the hackle feathers, but theses are ridiculous...



That, and she got up on the wrong side of the perch and hasn't had a chance to groom...



"Sez who?"

[livius drusus]

Oh lawds they are just too, too cute. I love that awkward not-a-child-not-yet-a-woman phase.

[godfry n. glad]

Yeah...gawky.

That EE? You should have seen her tail at two weeks...two weeks ago. The teeniest, translucent natural colored tails, held straight up. It was squeeworthy...bigtime.

I really like the attitude of my eldest. She's so calm and collected. I don't phase her much, even. She'll acquiesce to a hand ride and knows that I'll lift her back to where she wants to go. The others (but for #2, pictured in the other 'red' pic, who is pretty collected, too) are still screamin' crazy every time I do stuff like change the water bottles or give them new food. Dumping out the remnants of the tapped out feeder brings on bedlam. So, I'm happy with the self-satisfied elder chicks....but then, I'm really interested in the EEs...Ingrid is my eldest hen at five years now, pushing six. I do like the 'partridge' look, but I'm curious as to how it will pan out on the adult versions.

All twelve birds will be headed to the farm once they've all 'feathered out'. Right now, I've only one, the eldest, who even comes close. The black sexlinks have a couple more weeks, at least.

[ChuckF]

I love how awkward young sex-links are! Then they blossom into lovely buxom ladies.

I haven't poasted any flock pix in a while. I've had bad luck with coop construction - cold and wet weather. All I really need is one or two nice weekends.

The girls spend a lot of their yard time in the mulch area, throwing mulch out of it. This starts to capture some of the intensity:



Here's a few butts. The Orpingtons really have those big fat Orpington legs now:



And here's an old picture of one of the Reds, looking me right in the eye. (You can tell this is old because the part of the yard that this was taken in has been completely denuded of vegetation - it's getting reseeded as soon as the girls are in the coop).

[godfry n. glad]

I just delivered the dozen pullets to the farm, where I got to visit Junior and his crowd of hens. He still has the six I delivered him with, plus an additional half dozen Welsummers and at least one Australorp. The tenants had harvested fertile eggs and hatched out two batches of chicks, one now about 12 weeks and looking mostly like Black Copper Marans (like dad) pullets...including two distinct Junior Juniors. Then, the other batch is a short dozen of mixed chicks at about three weeks. The full dozen of mostly Production Reds I delivered were at seven weeks. The Australorp they'd picked up with the Welsummers went off on her own and brooded a couple of chicks that, at about five weeks right now, are doing fine following mom around outdoors. Junior has certainly been holding up his end of the deal. (And what a handsome cock he is, too!)

I, of course, forgot to take the camera. Crap.

[ChuckF]

This evening the girls finally figured out that they could jump up into the bin for ripening compost and eat the worms directly. They had a great time and probably kicked about 20 pounds of compost into the yard.

[Qingdai]

The light one on the right has a good left leg kick, POW.

[ChuckF]

One of the Orpingtons has gone broody and is a total bitch all the time now. She looks so sad, with her coop wilted. She bogarts the good laying space and then growls at me when I change the water. I am throwing her ass out of the coop for at least a couple of hours each evening to try to break her (I don't want to do the wire cage thing) and she is happy enough once she's out in the yard. She does take the biggest dumps I have ever seen come out of a chicken - these are like German shepherd shits. I guess that's reason enough to rejoice. Then after a few minutes she decides she needs to get back to the nest; she attacked my feet when she saw me closing up the coop. At least she's eating again now. We thought about getting her some fertile eggs to hatch, but decided not to.

[godfry n. glad]

Okay...We did the annual pilgrimage to Schriener's Iris Farms and, on the way home, we stopped by the farm. This time, I had my camera.

Remember 'Junior'?







Handsome, eh? That's my boy. He and 'Bubba', who went to Qingdai's dad.

There is a junior 'Junior', too, but he's just a sprout from the last hatch. There now has about a dozen hens and another twenty or so unstarted pullets, so it's not like there's no room for an apprentice. Still, I think the tenders oughta swap Junior Junior out for outside influence. But it's not my flock. And, they have a broody...the same one who already brooded and raised a set of chicks. She's ready to do it again. Come August, they're going to have a lot of eggs.

[livius drusus]

What a fine plumage and finer strut.

[godfry n. glad]

So, Chuck, did you break your broody, or is she still sitting?


ETA: It looks suspiciously as though I've now a hen going broody. Little Sonja was found sitting in the darkened nesting basket last night, far from either the hencondo or the awning rafters. I picked her up and walked her to the hencondo (in my slippers in a forking deluge) and then dropped the rest over the side to the hencondo. She's spent the entire day today, so far, on the nest. Luckily, I have another two nesting baskets, one of which Eleanor uses regularly.

I'm sending a request for a half dozen fertilized ('Juniorized') green EE eggs from the reserve farm. I need to think about Ingrid's replacement...why not have Sonja do the honors?

[godfry n. glad]

It's confirmed. I have a broody. She would NOT go to the coop tonight. She is presently safely ensconced in the nesting basket inside the garden shed. She has her own food and water. I'll let offer her time out during the day, but I can't leave it open or all the girls will move in there....I don't want that. The order for a half dozen green or blue 'Junior specials' is in.

[godfry n. glad]

The deed is done. Returning home after a foray to the farm, I went out to the garden shed, lifted Sonja off the single wooden egg she was so determinedly heating, set her down next to the nesting basket, and collected the warm wooden egg. I then then placed the seven "Juniorized" eggs I'd returned home with (3 green, 1 speckled, 2 dark, and a regular tan brown) in to the nest, picked Sonja back up and placed her on the new cache of eggs. She was entirely compliant the whole process, and seems to be comfortably ensconced.



Let the brooding begin in earnest!!!

[Qingdai]

OK mothertruckers, I'm upping the game.

Fawn and white runner ducks have been purchased this Saturday.




They are very cute and tiny. Qingdai jr. is busy reading to them now. Dr. Seuss "One Apple on Top." I got them because of slugs mostly and as a pet. They are pretty noisy.

[Demimonde]

ZOMG! That is so fantastic! So cute!

Please send lots and lots and LOTS of pictures, please?

[godfry n. glad]

Yes...More pix, please. I am interested as to your experience with ducks, as I've heard...and you've seen me recommend...ducks for fly eradication. Now usually, it's Muscovy ducks which get the rave reviews, probably because they are considered "quackless" and thus less noisy. This is what I found in a Backyard Poultry article:

So what do Muscovy ducks eat? Once people find out what Muscovies like to dine on, then this duck becomes a must for their farm or estate. Every year, our neighbors complain about the flies and mosquitos that they have to put up with. They purchase lots of chemicals and go to a lot of work to keep these pests down. However, we use nothing except the Muscovy duck itself. Muscovies love to eat flies, maggots, mosquitos, mosquito larva, slugs, bugs of all sorts, black widow spiders, the brown fiddleback spider and any thing else that creeps and crawls. As a matter of fact, they will search in, under, around and through places to find these tasty morsels. They will even eat ants and destroy ant dens. The Heifer Project Exchange of Africa quotes a development worker in Togo reporting that the local people were not bothered by flies because their Muscovy ducks killed them all. They even slaughtered some ducks, opened the crops, and found that the Muscovies had their crops filled with dead flies. The organization ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) has reported the same findings. In addition, a Canadian study of fly controls with dairy goats found that Muscovies caught 30 times more houseflies than commercial flytraps, baits or flypaper. The ducks also ate spilled feed and the flies that were in the feed, along with any maggots that happened to be there. In addition, Muscovies love roaches and eat them like candy.

Now, amongst the poultry crowd I run with, Indian Runner ducks are the second duck of choice, as both species' demand for water features is less than other ducks. I'm hoping that your Runner ducks will prove out as a positive insect and gastropod control mechanism.

[Qingdai]

Duck video, with sound.
VID 20130606 085612 - YouTube

[Qingdai]

Here's what the Fawn white Indian runner ducks look like when they're older.

Fawn and White Indian Runner Ducks | Farm Raised...

They may be skittish, but they are less skittish than chickens. So win.

[Qingdai]

Here's what the Fawn white Indian runner ducks look like when they're older.
Fawn and White Indian Runner Ducks | Farm Raised With P. Allen Smith - YouTube
They may be skittish, but they are less skittish than chickens. So win.

[godfry n. glad]

So...Sonja continues to brood determinedly. She's at 16 days now. I open the door at least once a day and she's rarely changed position even.

On the other hand, the tres chicas malas are busy making friends and influencing the neighbors...







Eleanor, Ingrid and Chance. Ingrid is now boss lady, the alpha hen.

They are, of course, strolling and loitering on top of the fence on the property line with the neighboring duplex. *sigh*

Of course, it is, in part, my fam dault. They are there because I trained the grape on to the fence. They can only prune the leaves off so far up, then they have to hop up to the top of the fence (using the composter frame as a step ladder) and work as far down on the vines as they can reach. They've always hung out at the composter, perched on the front bar. Lately, they've moved up, into the tree limbs above the composter frame and stroll the fencetop.

[livius drusus]

Oh my God they are such a perfect chorus line. In that last picture they all have one little foot up! Rockettes they are.

[godfry n. glad]

The Bukka Sisters.

It's at eye level right outside the back door. They're soliciting attention. Treats.

[godfry n. glad]

The waiting is over.

Sonja is a momma hen now.

Just before I left for work today, I stuck my head in the secured garden shed to see how my broody hen was doing. She looked to me as though she had a case of gas and she was shifting around a mite more actively then she had been for the prior three weeks. Sure enough, announced with prodigious peeping was a tiny black on black baby chick face. The glint of eyes and beak, both shiny black, against the soft black of the chick fluff, was difficult to see in the recesses of Sonja's dark auburn feathers, but it was most definitely a new gallus gallus domestica at Ravenswood this day. This shall be the first ever actually hatched at Ravenswood.

I had to run, or you'd have to suffer pix. Plus, I don't know if there will be more over the next couple of days or not. I'm not even sure how long I should let her sit on the duds, if there are any.

More to come.

[livius drusus]

[Qingdai]

Here are the runner ducks at week 3, now batting around the container they used to swim in.
VID 20130616 165024 - YouTube