| It appears that our chickens are not all the same age. I would guess that Kate's the oldest - perhaps she's even close to six months, the age at which Buff Orps begin laying eggs! Victoria and Elizabeth seem to be a little younger, and about the same age as one another. I still can't tell them apart. And Diana, who is totally MY baby (she was the one I took to the vet), seems to be the baby.
Victoria or Elizabeth on the left, Kate in the middle, and Diana on the right
I could tell who this was when I took the picture... but now I've got no idea. Probably Victoria or Elizabeth?
Again, no idea, but she kind of looks like Diana.
As you can see, Kate's comb and ears and the area around her eyes have turned red. The others are still pink, but Victoria and Elizabeth's combs are larger than Diana's and they are showing hints of red. And, of course, it's still possible that any of them are roosters - even Kate, if her comb keeps growing.
I've got a little more in the way of chicken news. On Christmas Eve, I ran out of organic chicken feed. Because I buy it at a local nursery that closes for the entire week between Christmas and New Year's, I was stuck with nothing for that entire week, unless I wanted to find another source of feed (probably not a bad idea in the long term but I didn't do it). So I went to the bulk bins at the local co-op and looked for "chickeny" sorts of food. I came up with a mix of rye and barley flakes and hulled sunflower seeds. I should have gone with rolled oats, as they would have been cheaper than the rye or the barley, but due to the way the co-op is set up and because we always buy steel cut oats, I didn't see them or think to look. Needless to say, my chickens have LOVED their food this past week.
I was hoping to start keeping the chickens in their coop all the time instead of letting them free range around the yard where they can eat my crops. I've got a few conflicting goals. On one hand, I want them to poop on their bedding in the coop so I can compost it, and I don't want them out and about eating my plants. I'm not so bothered about the cover crops they've eaten but they've absolutely chowed down on my baby pea vines this year and I'm worried I'll have to start over with new seeds in an area of the yard the chickens can't get to. On the other hand, I want my chickens to eat grass and bugs as a significant part of their diets, and that means letting them out.
Mmmm....Mama's plants!
Lately I'm wondering if I should start growing grass in small containers and, when it's large enough, putting it in the chicken coop. I usually give them plenty of worms from the compost bin as treats, but after we left the worms out in 6 days of rain with poor drainage, I was afraid we'd had a mass worm die-off in our bin. I looked in there today and the worms seem OK. I grabbed a few to give to the chickens and realized that a few of them that I was trying to grab were actually IN THE ACT of mating (just like we learned about it in 7th grade biology class!). It was pretty damn cool to actually see that, and I left those two to finish what they were doing instead of feeding them to my chickees.
My other bit of news is REALLY great: I asked one of our neighbors how he felt about the chickens, to see if there were any concerns he had or questions I could answer. He replied that he loves them and, in fact, now he wants to get some chickens too! AWESOME!!!!!!! Additionally, I met someone at the New Year's party I went to last night who (legally) keeps many chickens in a nearby city and she gave me the name of a good local chicken vet. She's got several breeds, including a Buff Orp, and she said that for the first few years her girls laid all through the winter, but now, at age 3 or so, they are not.
And, on a sadder note, I caught Kate picking on Diana a bit today and my roommate said he saw her do the same the other day. I truly hope that this is just a matter of establishing the pecking order and that it doesn't turn into a bloody conflict. It would be sad if I had to get rid of one of my two favorite chickens... and it would also be sad if one of my two favorites started acting in such a way that made her no longer likable! |
