New Egg Layers!!

I am so excited!  I have three pullets and one rooster from my preschool hatch. I gave the other hen to my sister in law, and sold the other rooster.  As of this week, they are now 26 weeks old.

Two days ago, I found a lovely green egg in the run. It was the same color as my old easter egger used to lay, and the exact same shade as my front room wall. I was kind of hoping it came from the lighter lavender ameraucana in that batch because I wanted Cinderella, my olive egger, to give me a very dark egg.

Yesterday, I went out to check for eggs again. In the time out corner, where Fonzie's been living,  I found my black copper marans pullet (from that hatch). No sign of Fonzie. The black copper marans was not at all happy to be in there, and seemed trapped. Also in there was another green egg.

I lifted her out and grabbed the egg. I was a little concerned that even though she was SUPPOSED to be a bcm, maybe she was some mix. I didn't think so though. She looked like a hen on an egg laying mission.

Sure enough, a couple hours later, I found a nice marans egg out in the run. Yay!! Two out of the three are laying.

Cream legbar egg on top, Black Copper Marans pullet egg on bottom

I did some decorating of my nest boxes- added carpet and then shavings in the bottom. Then, as a temporary measure, I moved a rubbermaid tote under the boxes so they could hop up there easier. Immediately felt like an idiot because I watched Cinderella, the dark gray pullet from that hatch JUMP 6 feet into the air and land on my storage shelf at the top of the room. I helped her down, and then she hopped into one of my newly done nest boxes. All the other chickens in the hen house started singing the egg song except her.

Cinderella at the top of the chicken coop

After a few minutes, I found that same nice green egg in there.  So, I think I'll have to be working on getting another olive egger in the future. But, this is a pretty color.

Teaching Chickens to use a Nipple Watering System

When I introduced my big buckets with nipple waterers on bottom in the first place, my chickens got the hang of it after a couple days. I just had them watch while I toggled a nipple with my finger, and after a few minutes, they just picked up on it.

I lost Potsy to misunderstanding the watering system (which is odd, because she'd had it in the house and used it with no problems) and nearly lost Fonzie.

I was determined to really watch the new chicks and make sure they got the concept down.  They didn't.  It was maddening. I could tell they were thirsty. I would use my finger to make water come out of the bottle, but they didn't get it. After a day or so, they got all excited when they saw my finger, as they saw it, it was the magical water dispensing finger. Yesterday, at wits end, I ended up squeezing the water bottle. It is soft enough that it forced water to slowly drip out. They saw that, and a light bulb went on. Within a couple minutes, everyone was drinking from the nipple, and all was well.

I've heard of adult chickens continuing to have a problem, and my fix won't work if it's a 5 gallon bucket. I haven't tried this, but it makes sense. Someone suggested using grapes or cherry tomatoes, and carefully sticking them over the nipples. The chickens will nibble at their treat, and by the time the treat is gone, they'll have realized there's water coming out of that strange, silver contraption.

A funny thing happened at the feed store...

So. A funny thing happened to me at the feed store today. As we were driving there, my 7 year old asked if we could get a chick. I said, "Oh honey, they don't have chicks this time of year" ("thank goodness" under my breath).

So we get there, and the manager is telling about how a month or so ago, someone dumped a bunch of hens over the fence into their back lot overnight. George, one of the roosters, decided they were his new flock and was hanging out with them.  A couple days ago, they realized that a bunch of chicks had hatched from these rogue hens. Some customers yesterday caught all but one of the hens. They thought they'd gotten all the chicks, but it turns out there was a broody banty mama with a bunch of chicks. There's also a bunch of feral cats and kittens out there, so she was a bit worried. I offered to help an employee capture everyone. So, we get this tiny little mama captured, and her TEN chicks. As we caught them, we were talking about how we could make a safe area in the petting zoo part of the store for the mom.

We get inside, and the manager announces I'm taking them all home. Ummmm, NO!!!  Another customer was in there, and he was perfectly happy to take them all. I ended up deciding to take one home, because it's such a funny story.

This little girl (?) definitely takes after her daddy. He's a big, dark blue rooster. I think he is probably a Blue Langshan. Mom was a little bantam. I believe she may be an Old English Game Hen. Three of the chicks were yellow, the other seven looked more or less like my chick.

Loss and Gains

Sadly, I lost Potsy. Unfortunately, I think it's my fault. I moved the chicks outside a week or so ago. Their water container was changed with the move. Instead of being a clear bottle with a silver tip, it was a green bottle with a red tip. I showed the chicks where to get water, but I got really busy, and didn't really check closely to make sure their water levels were going down. She died a few days later. The next morning, I found Fonzie laying on the ground. Noticing that the water seemed awfully full. I toggled with the nipple and found it to be completely dry, a sure sign they hadn't been using it. I made him drink from the cow trough, and then showed him again how to use it. Within a few minutes, he perked up, and has been drinking from the watering system just fine. I feel bad that I didn't notice Potsy going downhill though.

This evening, I picked up three new chicks. I am so excited!

First off, we have WowWowWubsy (my 5 year old named it). She (?) is a white silkie.














Next, we have Lucy, a Patridge Sizzle.

Last, and my favorite, is Diana, a Wheaton Frizzle.

Another One Bites the Dust

Last night, I was checking on my chickens before bed. In the "clean" pen, I noticed that Fred, my BLRW from my daughter's classroom hatch, was not on the perch with the other chickens. I found it odd and troubling.

This morning, I went to check on her, and found her in the henhouse instead of out with everyone else. She was kind of sitting low and was really puffed up.  I knew this was a bad sign, so I separated her from the others.

Within six hours, she was dead. I happened to have friends over when she finally passed, and one of them dug the hole for me, which was nice. All of the recent rain made the digging go very quickly.

I am feeling sad about the whole thing, and also extremely frustrated.  I honestly believe the three deaths are unrelated. Fred was never exposed to either of the other two chickens.

As I was really getting warmed up for my pity party, I remembered Fred's life, and some things kind of possibly clicked into place.  Fred was the last of the chicks to hatch in my daughter's class, and she was really, really overdue. She's also been a lot smaller than her hatchmates.  I'm now wondering if maybe she had something wrong with her from the beginning, and it just finally caught up with her?

I told my seven year old, and she took the news fairly well. She was sad, of course, but she accepted the news.

I was going to post a picture of her with this "obituary", but I can't find a recent one. My husband will be shocked- he is appalled at the sheer number of photos I have of my chickens.

Update and New Layer!

Today I exchanged a few emails with the vet at the extension. Evidently disposal of the animal is included, but that's just tossing out in the landfill (admittedly, I have no problem with this, even though that probably makes me a heartless pet owner). If I chose to incinerate, it was an extra charge. When I mentioned that I didn't see landfill as an option, and why I chose it, she said she would reverse that charge, which I thought was very decent of her. I also thought it was very kind of her to answer my questions about my flock. I've been losing sleep over what I could be facing, and she helped put my mind at ease.

Essentially, LL is incredibly common in the chicken community. She used the term ubiquitous, which is such a lovely word, and not used frequently enough. Ubiquitous means that it's found everywhere- more than 90% of chickens have been exposed to it. She said that the only way to guarantee a flock is LL free is to have each chicken tested before having them join the group, and to be prepared for a lot of positives. Having them actually get the tumors and die is fairly rare. If a flock starts having a lot of losses, it's probably a good idea to cull the rest, but odds are, it won't go that route.

My plan is to keep the remaining six chickens separate for a few more months. If nobody else gets sick, I can basically relax. Yes, they are all exposed, but it sounds like it isn't that big of a deal most of the time.

I also have great news! My cream legbar is officially laying! I was pretty sure that she laid an egg yesterday.  My lavender ameraucana eggs have had a particular shape to them (almost pear shaped), and always have some little calcium deposits, called "pimples" on the narrow end, and have a greenish tint.  The egg I got yesterday was smoother, more oval shape, no pimples and appeared more blue. Today, I got one of each, so I have my answer!

Ameraucana egg on the left (see the pimples at the very tip?) and Legbar egg on the right.

Chick Pictures

Ok, without further ado, here's my chicks:

Named after her auntie, this is Potsy.

And this is Fonz. Pretty sure he's a boy.

And the two of them together:

The other two haven't hatched, and I don't think they will. When I was taking these guys out of the incubator,  I checked for pips and found none. I also tapped on both eggs, and didn't hear tapping back. I've always gotten a response when I do that with term, living eggs.