| My big girls, the Buff Orpingtons, have a favorite hiding spot in the yard, under the "Pee Pee Tree" (it's officially called a Golden Shower, and the yellow flowers smell like piss, but we renamed it with a kid-friendlier name):
All three hens, in their spot. Bet you can't see all three.
When they are doing their best hiding, you can look and not even see any chickens.
Elizabeth is my little beggar. She's ALWAYS the first one to come ask me for treats. Always. She's a great layer, but not the broody type at all. She spends her days having fun and when it's time, lays her egg, and then gets on with her day: dust bathing, foraging, and more begging.
Elizabeth, with Diana in front of her
Victoria, on the other hand, is my Mama Hen. She's laying regularly and hasn't totally gone broody yet, but I can see the writing on the wall. The first time she laid an egg, she wanted to sit on it til it hatched. Now she spends much of her days in the nest, taking her sweet time laying her egg, and sometimes sitting on it for a bit too. If and when she goes completely broody and stops laying, I plan to get some fertile eggs from a nearby farmer and let her hatch them. The chicks, which will be a meat breed, will go back to the farmer. Although I dream of letting her hatch some Ameraucanas, because I just love them so much!
Victoria, in the nest box
Last but not least, there's Diana. My princess. until we got the chicks, she was the baby. Now my little girl is almost grown up. She's on the brink of laying her first egg, although she hasn't done it yet. Diana's new hobby is picking on the baby chicks. She zooms around the yard like a little race car, chasing them. And, as always, she is incredibly friendly to me and always comes to say hi when I'm outside. Lately, she's had a lot of time on her own, while her two friends are in the nest laying eggs.
Diana
Then, of course, there are the babies: Rose, Angel, Daisy, and Star (a.k.a. Dinner). Angel is my Angel. She's the lavender Ameraucana, totally gorgeous, outgoing, sweet, and friendly. She's always the first to greet me outside and loves perching on my arm or shoulder to share whatever I'm eating with me. (I've learned to only take my food outside if I'm willing to share.)
Angel and Rose, who scurried up to me to say "Hi Mom!"
Rose, the black Ameraucana in the picture above, is a little more shy than Angel, but she's totally sweet and friendly. Her beautiful black feathers have grown in and they have this lovely sheen to them. What a gorgeous bird!
Then there's Daisy, the Blue Ameraucana, who I call Crazy Daisy. Daisy, who I fear is a rooster, is the most independent of the four babies, and the most willing to go exploring on his own. My fearless little guy is also very outgoing. Today, I had Angel on my arm, eating bird seed out of my hand, and Daisy flew up to join her. Then Rose flew up too, from the ground all the way to my shoulder. Only poor little Star was left on the ground, all alone. (There was plenty of bird seed on the ground, but Elizabeth was doing her best to make sure the babies didn't get any of it until she was done.)
Crazy Daisy
Last, there's Star, shown below with Angel. Star and I don't have a very good relationship. Star's the only Wyandotte in the bunch, and his or her feathers are just now starting to come in and you can begin to see the beautiful silver-laced pattern they will eventually have. My room mate's youngest daughter named this chicken Star (after considering the names Moonshine and Gas Station as alternatives... I think she made a good choice with Star). Before that, I was calling this chicken "Dinner," because really, if one of the chickens is going to end up on the dinner table, it's going to be this one. It's very inconvenient to have a chicken who is terrified of me like Star, because I can't catch him or her.
Star, a.k.a. Dinner
The babies' favorite hiding spot, at the base of this tree, in what was Victoria's first nest where she laid eggs.
I'm sure you can tell, but I am having so much fun with my chickens. A few days ago, I sat out on the back patio reading, and all three Ameraucanas came up to me and perched on my legs, hand, and book. The other day, while I was trying to convince one of my cats to come inside, I left the front door open, and three of the babies (all except Daisy, my independent little chick) invited themselves inside. It was easy to catch Rose and Angel to put them outside... but in the end I had to chase Star out the door instead of catching him or her. I hope Star is a rooster so I can get rid of him or her without hurting the kid's feelings too much (the kid who named Star, who now considers it "her" chicken).
While I've seen Diana chase the chicks, and the big girls definitely don't let the chicks get in on their treats, all in all, they get along. We've had no pecking and no blood. I bring the chicks treats while the big girls are in their nest to make sure that they get some.
Last, I want to share the disease incident. About a week ago, I saw what appeared to be blood in the yard. I looked at all of the chickens and none were bleeding. The next day, there was more blood. This time my roommate's youngest daughter pointed it out, and for whatever reason, it clicked in my head that the chicken must be pooping out blood. That means coccidiosis. Uh-oh.
I asked for advice online on BackyardChickens.com and then drove to a nearby (okay, not very nearby, but about as close as I could find) feed store and asked for the med people recommended, Corid. They didn't have it. Crap. And I didn't want to spend $50 on a vet visit when I could just get the med at a feed store. I ended up isolating my two favorites (Angel and Rose), who also happen to be the two I think are most likely hens, in a cardboard box, and giving them medicated chick feed. After a few hours, they had pooped a bit and there was no blood. I put them back outside.
At that point, I put all four babies in the "upstairs" part of the coop with the door closed, so they could all have some medicated chick feed. I also cleaned the coop and thoroughly cleaned the waterer (with soap). I think the big chicks got into the medicated chick feed at some point, so I had to toss out a few of their eggs this week. Well, actually, I fed them to the dog. I made him an omelet. And I'm going to throw out the babies poop from the area in the coop where I put them with the medicated feed.
I only had enough medicated feed for about a day and a half. Then I ran out. I couldn't find Corid (the med for coccidiosis) locally, so I ordered it online with expedited shipping. It arrived many days later. If my chicks were actually sick enough to be at a major risk, they would've been dead by the time it got here.
Fortunately, it seems that everyone's healthy. Phew. |
