Setting MORE eggs/Kelly perfected his crow/stirring things up

Well It's been a while since I wrote in this journal OR my regular journal.  Have to get a little better at that.  I have some pictures to share from last week. I added three of the middle girls in with the big girls.  Introduced them through a cage for the first week and then tried letting them out just yesterday.  It wasn't as bad as I had thought but they didn't seem to be letting up by the end of the day so the last two nights I put them back in their kennel for safe keeping for the  night.  May do that one more night.  Today was the first day I let them out for the entire day with the big girls and all seems ok. No blood shed but still pecking.  As soon as the little girls get acclimated I will do the same with the two big hens I have.   I want to get them in the big hen house so I will have an extra brooder to use for the NEW eggs I jsut set!  Kelly sent me more silver laced polish and a member of a forum i'm on sent some blue/black/splash silkies!  So I have 15 eggs total.  I am hoping for 2 of each breed!  Day number one was yesterday...set the silkies 14 hours before I set the polish so they won't be to far off from each other. 

We have decided to build another coop...just a small one for the bantams we have.  They will have a small coop with a small run.  But I will have about 8 bantam hens in there.  They won't have electricity or a heat lamp but on real cold nights I can always bring them into the big house with a heat lamp if I need to.  OR I could run an extention cord out with a heat lamp.  Our thoughts are that it will be well insulated and smaller so they should throw off enough heat to keep it wam enough for them?  I hope!  Well here are some pictures I wanted to share from the past week....Kelly, the phoenix is UNDER the greyish one! LOL 



The Golden PhoenixI hatced out from Kelly



Here is the polish BCW she/he is so cute!  I can't wait to see that crest feather out...it's starting to now.  I have more pictures that I will share later...have to go check on the little girls in the run to make sure no one is pecking on them to badly.  Trying to let them work out their pecking order but it's hard! 

Crowing,freeranging,hens OH MY! And a surprise too!!!!!!

WOW WOW, do I have a lot to share tonight!  First of all we will start with what happened first.  At the end of this entry is a video of Kelly crowing!  YES, I got it!  It was 1am but I got it! 

 Well, of course it's up bright and early to let the girls out into their run, feed water everyone and then we load up our four pullets and one roo (at least we hope it's a roo) and were off to do our trading.  We did other things in between but this is a chicken journal so I share pure chicken stuff here ;) 

We get to Wendy's (our egg lady) at about 4pm.  She loved our chickens, we loved her chickens...trade done, and off on the road again.  We had to stop and get layer pellets for the hens because all I had was medicated starter food.  I have oyster shells already.  Then we stopped at Menards and blockbuster and it was off for home.  We had lots of stoppers checking our out hens while we waited for cory at Menards.  Nic and I pet the hens and talked to them.  They are very nice and have not pecked at anyone but the dogs...they deserved it!  They are happy...at least they seem to be.  I can't wait to get them in the bigger house tho.  We are planning on letting them out to forage in the grass Sunday.  Saturday we have the family reunion and will be gone all day.   My dads staying to look after them.  Here are my two new Welsummer hens!

Angel:





AND Teddy Bear:  She has a little bare back from being over matted by her roo boy friend but in no time she will be as good as new.  I bet she will enjoy the break!  LOL  Wendy said the other was just a faster runner! 

Aren't they just beauty's!?  I love them! 



OK so onward!   When we got home we ate dinner and then at 6:30pm we decided that it had been four weeks ago that we put the girls in the hen house,and two since they were in the run. Which means that they can begin free range!  So even tho we don't have a fenced in yard we thought we would just try it!  We sat out there the entire time with them and they LOVED it!  Here are some pics of that! 

Violet:  Our salmon Faverolle




My FIL just dug up some huge rocks  here so thats why the ground has NO grass.  The chickens love it.  Prob full of nice big bugs that were dug up!



Izzy:  Our Red Sex Link




Olivia, Izzy, Lacey: Barred Rock, Red sex link, silver laced wyandotte



And now the greatest surprise!  LOOK what I found when I went to check on the new girls we just got today :)  Angel laid this at 9:30 PM!  I was shocked!  I guess they are not under TOO much stress :)



One last picture I wanted to share.  My dad and our Boxer 'Max'.  He thinks he's a lap dog!  He's almost as big as my dad!  He just turned a year old...SWEET dog tho!  He sure does entertain us! 




OK now for some fun video!  Check out Kelly's crow!  And after that our FIRST time free ranging our flock.  OH was I scared something would come grab them!  We don't have a fenced yard so I was nervous!  We just love our chickens!  I even think my dad loves them ;)  He is always watching them and he sat there with us and watched them forage in the grass. 
SO I hope you enjoy the video...it starts with Kelly crowing, then our new breeder box we made...we are using it for the two hens we just got to quarantine them for three weeks before we add them to the crew outside.  Then we got to the free ranging :)  They loved it! I think you can tell by the video that were just a little protective of our flock!  Can't wait to add the two hens! 


 

Kelly is CROWING!

OMGOSH it is so cute!  I heard it loud and, clear...not so much! lol   He was trying last week already but just made a tiny little sound...that I wasn't even SURE was a try but oh is he a cutie!  He makes the three sounds in a row now.  I am trying to get a video of it...just TO cute.  When he does it the others look at him like he's nuts.  It seems tho, that he only likes crowing through the night and NOT in the day time. I  was down there trying to get a video of it and he doesn't do it!  LOL  My dad said he got up at 5am to use the bathroom and he heard him crowing away lol  I went down at 1am and that's when I heard him at least 5 times he did it.  I wish I would have thought to get the camera then.  I love crowing!  I WILL get it on video it's just a matter of time.  Stay tuned!  

Pics and updates...new hens that lay eggs! :)

OK first...I think I may have mentioned in here that I am going to be getting a hen?  If not...well, I'm going to be getting a hen!  AND not just one hen...TWO!  And they are about a year and 1/2 yrs old and the best thing...they lay eggs!  Were picking them up on Friday.  Tomorrow Cory will be getting off work a little early (he thinks) and then were going to be working on more cages.  I'm hoping for two cages so we don't have to used the dog kennel...as Max (our dog) still needs the kennel when were not home.  They will be used for possible breeding pens later if we choose to breed later on.  Right now we need one for our two welsummer hens were getting Friday because they need to be quarantined for 30 days....and the other is for in the hen house introducing the other middle girls to the flock.  The three I'm introducing will need to stay in that cage for a week or possibly two.  Until the girls get used to them being around.  I HOPE all goes smoothly! 
A few in the middle brooder are fighting, not real bad but I see some marks on the combs...Kelly seems to be taking the brunt of it.  And the smaller male D'uccle too.  what's happening is the bigger D'uccle male is picking on Kelly and Kelly is picking on the smaller male d'uccle! LOL At least that's my theory.  No one fights or anything when i'm there. I sat and watched them an hour so I could see if anyone fought but everyone was good.  The reason I think that the bigger D'uccle is the "head roo" is because his comb looks perfect!  And I did witness Kelly pulling someones head...I thought it was a girl but maybe it was the small roo. The little babies are doing wonderful and growing nicely.  THEY all love each other ;)  There is only 8 in that brooder tho and they are still very tiny!  Only a week-to two old. 

Ok enough talk, time for some pictures! 

Here is my guy Kelly (my indoor chicken Serama)he's getting pretty big but still the other babies outgrow him in three weeks time lol.  He has been moved once to the younger chicks...now we may have to separate him again because the hens are getting way to big for him.




Here is an example...the black australorp girl is 2 week younger then kelly but quite a bit bigger already. We try to let them out every day so they can stretch their wings a bit...the don't go anywhere just roost on the edge of the cage.  It's funny when 7 are up there. 




Her is my top roo...Harry   Look how nice HIS comb is.  He is VERY nice to us.  No pecking at all with us. 



Nic loves feeding them and they LOVE eating ;)



He says it tickles...as they pull skin on his hand!  LOL



We love taking Kelly out.  Can't wait to get a hold of one of those diapers for chickens! 



Now he has Ebony out our black australorp pullet



Here is MY baby!  OH I love this little cute chick! Haven't named it yet...gotta think of the perfect name. It's my black crested white polish





And my other favorite Shelby not sure if it's a he or a she...i'm THINKING a he but we will find out.  This is the only lonley one that hatched out from the eggs kelly sent to me.  A golden Phoenix







That's it for today :)  Hope you enjoyed seeing my babies today. 

My last hatch! Sumatra/one polish

OH they are adorable!  These are for a friend from BYC which will be delivered today.  The polish is mine tho :)  Here are the Sumatra's I ended up with 5 out of 8... 12 total eggs (4 were clear)...the blue one is a mixed Sumatra but adorable just the same.




Here are some close up's



Three are like this one (below)




Deb, here is the feathering on the one's feet.  It sure is a cutie! 





NOW here are my other ones...this is my youngest brooder crew.  6 BBS orps, 1 Golden Phoenix, and one Polish (WCB)

My first thought...I'm going to throw them all in together while they are still young so I don't have to make THREE transitions!  I already have to make two the way it is.  Middle to big girls...and then the small crew to the big pen when THEY get older.  That's enough!  LOL  So I did it...this morning I stuck the two little ones in with the 6 orps i hatched last week.  There was a little picking of beaks and pulling of hair but nothing really bad.  The little ones fought back so I wasn't real worried until the black opr grabbed the crest of the polish!  Poor baby!  She squawked and I had to break them up and put the meany in solitary  confinement!   LOL  15 min later...added him back in and all is well.  Three hours later they are all sleeping together.  Lets hope they continue to do well.  At first I had the polish and the golden phoenix together but the golden kept picking on the polish so I thought I'm going to just move them in with the bigger ones...that stopped the picking...gave the golden something else to pick on....and that he did.

Here is all eight of them.  The little ones here keep bugging the bigger ones who are trying to sleep!  Picking and pulling on their little white feathers that are growing on their wings. 







Here are some of my Middle girls/guys (1 Serama boy, 7 D'uccle's, 2 orps, 3 australorp) These ones are ready to leave the brooder very soon!  Next week in fact.  HUH we will so how THAT one goes!  Should be very interesting to see what the big girls will do adding new teens to the house.  Stay tuned on that one.  Only three will make the trip to the big house...the rest have new homes to go to. 




THen we have the big girls who are already in the hen house/run...they are eight or nine weeks old now. 

Here is Izzy and Steele sunning themselves.  SO cute! 



PS We tip our chairs upside down so we don't have to sit in poop! Plus they love drinking rain water out of the cracks in the chair lol.



Our dogs patrolling the area

Look at my new addition!

I had a hatch yesterday AND another today!~  Yesterday my Golden Phoenix from Kelly hatched!  He/she is adorable! It is all alone right now waiting for the polish to bunk with him for a week before we move them in with the small brooder chicks (my six orps) Check out this adorable baby!



The six Orps are looking in on him...he is a lot smaller then they are so I hope they are all ok when I put them togther!



Today  he is still doing awesome...I have added food and water now and he was eating but still does not get the water thing...I'm sure he will drink when he's ready. I will spend time tonight trying again to get him to drink again.



Below is my Polish (White Crested Black) on the right of the incubator...to the left is a Sumatra (I'm hatching the sumatra  for a guy on BYC).  Very cute!  Just hatched bout an hour ago and the sumatra moments after. 




My middle crew is doing great and growing fast!  Kelly look at that comb on the Serama!  He is such a nice boy now!  We love him!  At first he was a little mean but now he's lightened up.  He NEVER pecks at me anymore.  This brooder is getting a tad bit small for this crew and they are starting to argue  a little more.  This next week we will be re homing 5 so that will make more room.  All the roos except kelly are going and then after that we will be putting 3 or 4 pullets out with the big girls.  That will leave two D'uccle girls and Kelly to have the Serama house.  Unfortunately none of the Serama's Kelly sent made it :(  They all died in egg.  SO looks like Kelly will get 2 D'uccle girls! 

Update on my BBS Orpingtons..what do I have?

Well the lady emailed me back and she was VERY nice about it and assured me that her rooster was indeed a Blue Orp and his comb only looked like a rose comb because it had gotten frost bite this last winter and was frozen off :(  So that's a relief (for me anyhow...not the rooster)...and she assured me that there was no other male that could of gotten to her hen so I can't have a mixed breed :) And did tell me that she would offer me a refund if I was not happy with their coloring later on.  I figured if she was trying to get away with something she wouldn't have offered me a refund because I was totally happy with her explanation in the beginning.  SO I DO have pure orps.  Now the fun part is watching them grow and feather.  She said it looks like I may have 2 black, 3 splash, and one blue! My initial thought was 2 of each. I HOPE that blue is a girl!  AND I hope one splash is a girl.  Thats what I wanted. I didn't need any blacks so they will be sold.  You can see new pics of them in the previous email...they are just dolls!  So I'm a happy relieved camper :)

100% Hatch from my Bator, Hatch #2, part 1 of 3

Well, there was a big drama about my eggs...I won't get into the full story here but in short the lady that sold me these BBS orps sent me the wrong eggs (I think) either that or her rooster isn't what she thinks it is. Will be contacting her soon.   Either way I didn't get what I paid for :(  Which means I will NOT get my splash Orp like I wanted.  ANYWAY...the chicks I DID get are cute as a button and SO very friendly already.  They already run to me to pick them up and they are only a day old.  One is only hours old.  Here are my first Beautiful Six chicks...part one hatch of 3 parts...I have three different hatch dates.  Next one will be on the 11th and I will have four Serama, one Golden Phoenix, and one Polish :)

Here is the first to hatch out:





The second to hatch:





Third (I think) I was sleeping ;)





Fourth (??? I was also sleeping)





The fifth (again I was sleeping)





And the last one number SIX..I watched this one so I know she/he was last to hatch.





They are all sure cute and for all those from BYC reading that may have been reading the thread I started... they DO all have single combs too.  I checked now that I can see them better :)