Holstein chicken

It's not easy being the roosters favortie girl.  He "likes" her so well she has no feathers on her back anymore.  Poultry romance is, well, kind of violent.  So with a bald hen it was time for action. Either Rooster would need a pedicure or  the hen needed some protection.

So now there's a chicken running around in my yard with a jacket.

The free pattern I used was found on Back to Basic Living.   The one I made is from the same template but I used scrapcanvas and lined it with fleece.

Weekending

Baby Robins in the grape arbor.

new baby

old baby

Zucchini - Zucchetta Trombolina 

The weekend seemed to fly by. Lots happening in the gardens, new arrivals, and friends dropping by.  Mrs Brown has been setting again. (I remembered to write down when she started this time.) On Saturday her first egg hatched. She has abandoned  one of her other eggs but she's still on the nest with a blue egg. This will be the last batch of eggs sired by  Mr Fancy-pants. He had been getting more aggressive with us this last year and after one more round of rooster golf, he took a short walk to the woodshed. The chicken yard is much quieter these days.

In the garden, harvest time is upon us.The zucchini is going nuts and we dug the potato bed with some help from Bucky. The potato plants hadn't died off all the way but a mouse had taken taken up residence. So it was either dig them now or loose the crop.The mouse seemed to have a preference for the Yellow Fins , he mostly left the reds alone.  As it was the harvest weighed in at 25 pounds!!  I can't fault the mouse for his excellent taste, the yellow fins are marvelous.

From the Coop - baby pictures

At two days the chick is fuzzed up and eating crumbles like a champ. 

From the Coop

After a lot of work - here's the newest member of the flock. I took this photo last night just after the last bit of shell came off his rear. Mrs. White is working on his feathers here. The chick is still damp from the shell. This morning he's all puffed up and fuzzy. Mrs. White still has another egg under her so this little guy may have a pal in the next few days.

 

On the other side of the coop from Mrs. White; is the gimpy chick who now has 2 moms. My goldies are now sharing mothering duties to Gimpy.  Since Ginpy is only happy when someone's sitting her, this works out well. When one gets tired of her, the other comes in. They both sit on her at night.  Gimpy is finally putting on weight but she's still way behind the rest. Her leg is still a problem but she seems to get around.

Drama in the chicken house

 Heard in the chicken house last night;

ME : "Do you remember when you put the eggs under Mrs. White?" (2 eggs from the big hens)

Mom:  "No I thought I wrote it down. Maybe we should candle them to see if anything's happening." 

We got out the drop light and retrieved the brown eggs from a grumpy hen. 

Mom:  "Do you see anything?"

ME:    "I can't see anything. Shouldn't we see something through the shell?"

Mom:  "Oh my God! The shell just cracked!"

ME :   "What!!"

Mom:  "I think it peeped!" Holds the egg to my ear.

ME:    "It's peeping! It's peeping!" 

Mom: "Look, look there's a beak!" A triangle of shell breaks off as a small beak pushes out.

A few minutes later after much giggling from us, the chick broke off another chunk of shell

So the answer to my original question; Mrs. White's been on the nest for about 21 days.  As of this morning the chick is still working it's way out the shell. Mrs White is being extremely protective of the egg, she hissed and pecked at Buck when he put his face in her feathers. Buck likes to rub his face in her tail feathers. What can I say the dog like soft things. Mrs. White usually tolerates it while she's on the nest.

I think these eggs are from my Rhode Island Reds. So the odds are good for a golden brown chick. Of course the father is Mr. Fancy-Pants (Partridge Cochin) so who knows what will come out.

FYI - How to make a homemade egg candler  - this also has info about what to look for - which is no help at all if your chick is actually hatching!

The Chicken Report

So the Cornish X roasters have gone on their final destination and we have new babies in the brooder again.

First the new babies - 6 Black Sex-Link chicks. These girls are to replace some of our geriatric hens that while still being good bug eaters are not laying so much these days.  This set of chicks, about 2 weeks old , are very skittish and freak out every time someone is near. As if they've never seen a person before. I'm in their room at least twice  a day and usually more.  With our other chicks, they have become used to people fairly  soon.  Not all of them want to be to held but everyone clues into the fact that the people bring the food. Food bringers are generally popular around here.

The only calm chick in the bunch has leg problems and may not make it. She's got one leg that is bowed and on the other foot her toes are too long. I separated her from the others because they spent all their time standing on the poor thing. She has her own little apartment in the cat carrier with a seed heating mat to stay warm. She seems to eat and drink okay, but she won't put weight  on one leg. I'm hoping this is something she'll grow out. In the mean time she's becoming very tame. I spent a good deal of the weekend with her in my shirt pocket. She hates to be alone, and sits in her cage a yells. I'm hoping one of my Bantam hens would take an interest but they've been no help so far.

Now as to the Roasters:

Mom and I butchered them in two batches over Memorial weekend.  And by the time I was finished I was glad we hadn't gone for two dozen! It really wasn't too bad once we had everything set up and the system down.  So here's how the math worked out.

12 birds  @ $1.79 as chicks = $21.48

about 200 Lbs feed @ ~          $81.99  (consumed in 7 weeks!)

Finished weight =                    63.5 Lbs  in my freezer

So that's           =                   $ 1.62 per pound

The average dressed weight was 5.5 Lbs with a couple of roosters at 7 Lbs. I can't imagine what size they'd have been if we'd waited until 11 weeks like some poultry sites said to.  

As a side benefit for the cats, we saved the chicken organs.  Clyde begs and gets down right surly if he doesn't get his liver in the morning, but the other cats could care less. This seems to be the final victory in my campaign to win him over. He has become a lap cat and even slept a few nights with Mom. And his coat is so glossy!

Chick's - Week 7

I'm referring to my Cornish x's as "chicks" only euphemistically these days. They have packed on weight so fast that at 7 weeks about a third of the flock is ready to butcher. I figured on everybody being ready around the middle to end of June. Oh well, it will be easier to do it in batches.

Contrary to most of my reading on the internet about this breed, there haven't been any problems No one died unexpectedly or developed any leg problems.  Although if they keep growing at the current rate I can see where leg problems will be an issue. I think having them on grass and not overcrowding has helped more than anything.

Doesn't everything do better with fresh air, sunshine, and room to run around?

Chicks - week 3

The chicks have now moved out into the great outdoors. They are slightly more feathered and really packing on the weight. Some line in their development seems to have been crossed where they've gone from vaguely normal to wide bodied eating machines. The Internet abounds with tales of raising this breed. Some people hate them, others love them.  Everyone seems to agree they are very strange chickens, some calling them mutants.  I've separated the feed and water so they have to walk around. The Internet was right about them not wanting to do anything. They would be happy to sleep with their heads in the feed if I let them.

If you're interested you can read more about raising meat birds at The Happy Homesteader. Which if you're not or are squeamish and don't want think about where the shrink wrapped packages are from, don't follow any of the links on the page.

Anyway this is where my weekend went.

Eventually I will post about about something other than chickens again. Promise.

Chick's - week 2

The  extremely fast growth rate of the Cornish X  means that at two weeks they are already out of the cute fuzzy stage. All poultry breeds go through the gangly half-feathered phase,  these guys also have the fast weight gain to add to the oddness of this stage. These pictures were taken just after feeding so they're getting ready for a nap. It's hard work eating so much. Cornish X  are the most popular meat birds in America, but man are they strange.

Chicks!

  
For weeks one of our Banty hens has been brooding. Staunchly sitting on her nest egg. (The nest egg is a fake egg with an face on it to remind the girls where they ought to be laying. Chickens sometimes forget.) Last year we snuck chicks under our broody hens and let them raise the new people. We had some mixed results but over all it worked out. Well except for Junior who turned into Godzilla Chicken. But I digress. So with the beginning of Chick Days at our feed store, 12 new chicks came home. Chicken logic being right up there with Murphy's Law, no one will take them. Goldie #1, who has been on a nest for most of a month, decided yesterday to get up and refuse to go back. So my little mother hen fantasy died and we got out the heat lamp. They'll hang out in the chick brooder for a few weeks until they get enough feathers to be out in the big world  aka the former duck house/run.. In the mean I shall try not to play with them too much as they are  Cornish Cross Broilers - as in destined for the pot.            

Mrs. White and Goldie #1 after running away from peeping chicks.

Here the girls are frolicking in the new grass and chasing the dog. No one wants to play Mom this year.

April Fool's from Mother Nature

 Mother Nature played a state wide April Fools prank by snowing. 

Again.

  Just look at it piling up on Mrs Brown! It didn't really stick and it sort of cleared up later that afternoon. The hens really don't seem to care. They're just so happy to have dirt to play in. Mrs. White looks like she's wearing brown boots all the time now. To combat the gloom and warm up the kitchen,  Mom made scones. Lovely Irish White Soda Scones from Darina Allen's recipe.

I am of the opinion that life cannot suck too bad if you have warm baked goods. Besides there are few things that raspberry jam can't improve. 

Snow Chickens

The Hens are acting like Spring chickens even thought the weather isn't cooperating. Since the official first day of spring just about everything that can fall out the sky has. We've have snow, hail, graupel, icy rain, rain, blowing rain, and sleet.(Graupel is an actual type of snow, I didn't make that one up. Upon first moving from California I thought the locals we're pulling my leg, but it's a real thing. A very strange thing.) In between and among all the stuff falling from the sky, it's been windy. Lots of trees down and roofs in the area are looking a little worse for wear. It even knocked the power out one day. March is certainly going out like a lion this year. 

Rainy Day Session

It's been raining everyday this week and some people just don't want to go in. 

Testosterone's a killer

 

. In the space of 4 months Jr. has gone from cute fuzzy chick to Godzilla rooster. That's him up there looming over a hen. The goldie is the same size as his mother. Remember him with his mother; she was so protective and wouldn't let him leave her feathers. Well testosterone poisoning has set in and the shine has come off that relationship. Mrs. White has been taking feathers off the side of his in an effort to get him to stop trying to mate with her and anything else that doesn't move quick enough.  No respect I tell ya.  

If he doesn't stop giving me the evil eye, I'll be having 'Jr Piccata' this weekend.

Good Morning

I like to leave the kitchen door open in the mornings when the air is soft and the bugs are still asleep. The dog and cats come and go on their own while I have coffee and watch the news. This morning Mrs. White decided to join me. She has free run of the yard around the house and she's pretty tame but this was a first. I was half asleep waiting the caffeine to kick when I looked over and there's a chicken in the living room. I just sort of stared at her for a minute before cracking up. She checked things out happily burbling away. I walked her back out, past the dog,  to join the other yard chicks. She kept clucking away in no great hurry. It was as if she just came in to say good morning.

still here.....

 The mucus hasn't killed me yet but it's been touch and go this week. I think the antibiotic has finally made some head way. I'm to irritated stage in my recovery. This is the point at which I feel good enough to notice it's sunny outside and there is three weeks worth of weeds in the yard, but not good enough to actually do anything about it. And look how big the chick is. When did that happen?