Chickens!

Baby Ducks
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Here's a picture of my baby ducks when they were one day old.  They hatched 8/30/15.  They have adapted so well since I brought them home.  They play in their tiny water basin.  The LOVE to eat their bird seed in the water (where the chickens can't figure out how to get it in the bottom of the water.)  In this photo they are yellow.  When they mature they will be white with black spots like their mother.  I have a pair (male and female.)  The breed is Ancona.  I purchased them 9/14/15.

These hatched 8/1/15 via Cheryl's incubator.  Three are Marans from a lady on Craigslist.  Six are a mix of Orpington, or Red Sex Link hen and Easter Egger (Wiggles) rooster.



Seven new chicks hatched (out of 15 eggs).  I was a rookie and gave my first good brood hen too many eggs to fit her clutch.  But here are the survivors -- and a cute picture to boot.  Hatched 5/22/15.



5/29/15  Sadly the same day the new chicks hatched, their father, Pluto the Lavendar Americauna was killed defending the flock from a red fox. 



Luckily Wiggles the 1st generation Easter Egger was willing to step up and be our rooster.



3/21/15 Added two roosters and four more pullets to the flock~  purchased on Craigslist.            

I'm soooo excited to introduce some new chickens to our flock.  We brought them home today.
Pluto (the rooster) is gorgeous!  He is a lavender roo.  These are not Easter Eggers.  They are pure Ameraucanas.  Just look at his long, flowing feathers.  You can read the full post here.


Here's the three of his girls:
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I also got a pair of F1 Olive eggers  (pullet & cockerel).  I guess it's mixed with an Easter Egger and a Black Copper Maran.  It will be interesting to see what color eggs their babies will have???  Dark, bright blue... dark chocolate?  Can't wait can't wait! 

 
 
5/17/15 -- Worming plan found on BackyardChickens.com
 
For more information on this, read:  http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=385238

WORMING
YOUR CHICKENS   -    FROM THE GOSPEL of JAMES (Chapter dawg53 1-2-3)
*****
1. Wazine17  - two ounces in two gallons of water for one day - dump eggs for two weeks
*****
...Ten days later:
2. Valbazen -one half cc/ml for standard size chickens, one quarter cc/ml for smaller chickens including silkies. You can use an oral syringe to squirt it down their throats individually or you can inject it into a small piece of bread and give each chicken a piece of bread....they gobble it up.  - dump the eggs for two weeks
*****
3. ...after a couple of days of using each of both wormers....give your chickens plain yogurt or buttermilk(probiotics), canned beef cat food (extra protein) with scrambled eggs all mixed in their feed and give it to them to build up their immune systems, do this about 3 days in a row. Then you'll have healthy, happy chickens lol.
The next time you worm,say in about 6 months or whenever you see fit...you can use the Valbazen first, no need to use the Wazine 17 unless you want to. Please PM anytime and I'll be happy to help you with worming. Jim.


10/2/14  Free Range Chickens!

Today was the day they officially free-ranged the yard.  They loved it!  They really like to chase me back to the house.




8/14/14 -- Three Barred Rock hens added to the group.  These girls are approx. 22 months old.  Unfortunately these chickens never got better.  I had to watch a bunch of YouTube videos and learn how to butcher a chicken.  They just wouldn't stop eating each others feathers and would not adapt to eating the correct diet.  They also only laid about five eggs per week (for the three of them.)



7/10/14 -- Tiana the Brood Hen



7/6/14 -- Keeping the chickens straight.
I have banded the chickens so that I know about how old they are.  I'll forget about how I color coded them...  So I have this reference here.




5/24/14 -- The big move.
All the chickens from my friend were moved "home" today.  You can read about it here..






5/15/14
Here they are at about five weeks old.  Four of the original six are left.
The have been moved to a larger crate at night in the old garage.  They have an fenced-in area by day.



4/11/14
I've wanted chickens for the last few years.  Our son is now six.  My friend is moving.  I bought her chickens and coop and all.  I couldn't wait to get the ones that she had, so I decided to buy six at our local TSC.  You can read more about that here.
They are living in the kitchen.


 

 





 


 















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