Chicken Watching,

sitting, minding or what every it is you call looking after some chickens. Our neighbours went away for a few days and asked us to keep on eye on theirs for them. We just made sure they were fed and watered, opened them in the morning and shut them up at night.    

                                                                             

                                                             

  Three of them are silkies but I don't know what the other breeds are. Little L was expecting to walk in and pet them as she used to with ours but they were very timid and hid. All except this one.

We had been warned that this hen does try to escape when ever the coop door was opened. The first day she didn't try anything, after that it was a race to get out before she did. I'm glad she didn't get out because I'm not sure if I'd be able to handle her, she's massive. Maybe she's not that big for a chicken, I'm just comparing the size to the little bantams we had.

Our chicken watching duties are now over and the best thing .. not having to buy any eggs this week.

Our 10th Wedding Anniversary

It's ten years ago today since Anders and I were married. Ten years sounds like a pretty long time but the years have gone by so quickly, it only seems like yesterday when we met. We've not done anything to celebrate today but Anders has tomorrow off work so we might be going out for the day.

My present from Anders was this ...

an Atari 2600. Not some thing everyone would appreciate I know but he knew I've wanted one for a while. I used to love playing on ours when I was a kid. My children had a good laugh at the graphics but still wanted to try it out. I'll have to get some sneaky practice in so I can beat them.

On a sadder note we got up this morning to discover that our chickens had gone. All that remained were a couple of tail feathers from our frizzle Pekin. No feathers off the other chickens, none in the garden at all. We don't know if someone has been in our garden and taken them or a fox has had them. I found out later on this evening that chickens had disappeared from another house two nights ago. Little L is distraught that they have gone and told us earlier that she'll never be happy again. Nothing that we say at the moment seems to be taking her mind off it. Hopefully after a sleep she will feel slightly better.

Chicken News

Last month all three of our hens were broody so my sister sent me four eggs for them to sit on. One hatched last week so we now have a lovely fluffy little chick. As soon as we discovered the chick we moved it along with the hen who hatched it to an empty rabbit hutch as the other hens tried to attack it as soon as they saw it. My sister had warned us that they may over mother it and kill it as they were all broody.

The chick is a sablepoot which looks like this but hopefully ours will be a hen so we can keep it. The sablepoot cockerel is the photo is Gorgeous George ( before he grew his full tail ) who lived with us for a while. Last year my niece hatched a clutch of sablepoot eggs and ended up with one hen the rest cockerels so she asked if we wanted one. I said on condition they have him back if he starts making too much noise (I live in a residential area so I don't think being woken by a cock crowing would go down to well with the neighbours). It took him quite a while to find his voice and for a little thing, he was very loud. Also he started to attack us which didn't hurt us at all because he could only reach our legs. He was becoming very protective of his girls and didn't like us hand feeding them which while we knew to keep an eye on him, he could easily get Little L in the face so we set him back to my sisters. He's settled in well and hangs about with their sablepoot hen. Our chick is from those two getting together so at least my sister knows George is fertile.

Chick Update

The chicks are now six weeks old and we are down to three. We lost one a couple of weeks ago (it never looked as strong as the rest ). They are still growing feathers on their heads so they look a bit tatty at the moment. Now they don't need the heat lamp we were able to move the house coop on to the lawn so they could have a dig around in the grass.

Last night when we cleaned them out they had their first wander a round the garden. They didn't  go far and stuck together in their little gang.

Reading this I realise that the word 'they' is here an awful lot but its because I don't know what sex they are yet and only Little L has named hers. My sister told me to look at the combs ( the bobbly piece of skin above the beak ) and said that cockerels have larger ones then hens. Well I keep looking and they are either all hens or all cockerels, they all look the same to me. I hope they are not cockerels though as I live in a residential area and if they start cockadoodledooing it won't go down too well with the neighbours. My sister has kindly said she would put them in with hers if they are. Fingers crossed they all turn out to be ladies because we have all got a bit attached to the cute, funny little things.

Chicks First Week

The chicks have been with us a week today and I think they have grown quite a bit in that short space of time. They are losing some of their fluffiness and grown a few proper feathers on their wings. Little L's chick ( the black/yellow one ) has feathers which curl up away from its body so I hope it is a frizzle, They are really fluffy looking and remind me of feather dusters. One batch of eggs we bought were mixed with some frizzle eggs in it. The smallest one looked like it had been pecked at by the others so my sis told me to hang an old CD inside their house to distract them and it seems to have done the trick.

We usually get the chicks out after tea time then the boys and Little L can have a quick hold of them and the chicks get used to being handled. They don't seem scared at all as when I put my hand in with them they come straight over. Maybe chickens are just naturally nosey.

New Family Members

To add to the excitement of Little L's birthday yesterday we also acquired some new additions to the family. These cute tiny balls of fluff.

A bit of a family discussion had taken place not so long ago as to whether to have either goats or chickens in the garden. I personally have wanted some goats for years and goats did get more family votes but chickens won in the end as they seemed easier to look after and I know the children will soon lose interest and it will be left to me and hubbie to look after them. 

Anyway a chicken coop was purchased then it was a phone call to my own chicken expert, my sis, for her advice on what kind of breed would be best for us. Jay recommended Pekin Bantams as they are very tame and also small enough for Little L pick up. I started looking at local breeders for Pekins which were already old enough to lay eggs but didn't find any for sale. Jay had a look around her neck of the woods then rang me to say she thought that they were expensive compared to what she pays for her chickens. My brother in law said that if I wouldn't mind having them from chicks that I could buy some hatching eggs instead and he would hatch them in one of his incubators ( he is incubating his pheasants eggs at the moment). We ended up with 4 chicks out of 12 eggs, which isn't very good and I hope that none of these are cockerels as we can only have hens here as it is a residential area ( my sis said she could take any cockerels ).

I really hope that this one is a hen as Little L has chosen it as hers already and named it Chicken Little.

eggciting news from the chicken pen

My mixed bunch of chickens have reached the age where they have started laying. For the last week ive picked up 1 egg a day and today there were 2. Once all my ladies are laying I should be getting around 50 eggs a week. The plan being we sell any surplus and the kids will split the money. Im  most looking forward to my araucans or easter egg chickens laying as they are the only chicken that lays a blue egg.