Surprise!

Today was the first day we had been out in the yard in several weeks.

Red neck Coop

Here's a series of videos about making my chicken run/coop out of mostly freecycle and donated items. You can't be too proud when you're trying to build something from nothing. It may not look pretty but its functional (almost) only two chickens get out on a regular basis.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

Double Yolkers

I believe all of these green eggs were laid by the same chicken. They all ended up being double yolkers. The white one is a large egg from the store for comparison.

Really? Both of you?

Hmmm. I guess it's time to get more chickens.

This mornings Duel. The darker one has been crowing most often, I guess the other one figured he had enough of the showing off and he was going to be a part of the show today too.

Dogs & Chickens a good mix? Pt 2

I've been wondering how Tasha will do with the chickens out side. As soon as the tractor run is done I planned on supervising her in there with the alpha chicken and see what happens. As it is she's been running up to the coop as if trying to get them to play with her. The alpha chicken runs up to Tasha from her side of the fence and they face off. It seems like they might actually get along once Tasha can quit trying to get them to 'play' by chasing them.

Well, I came home from work today and holy cow the chickens are out! It was only a matter of time, like I said before, the run was very temporary and just has wire draped over stuff. They were all near the coop, it looks like they just couldn't figure out how to get back in. All but one that is. Julie/Julio was in the dog run! I guess that answers that question. Both the dogs were just sitting in the shade and Julie was at the fence trying to make her way back to the rest of the flock.

Cold? or Just good friends?

Awwww, how cute. I guess they haven't gotten used to their new spacious diggs yet. They are all sharing about a 1sq ft corner of perch. I wonder how long it'll be before they start fighting. Yes I still think we have 3 roosters. Only time will tell.

Redneck Chicken Run

After keeping the chickens in their house for a week, I figured they probably wanted to go outside for a bit. I got some old chicken cages, the kind that commercially rasied chickens are kept in, from a local freecycler, and took out the dividers. What was left worked fairly well for my temporary makeshift chicken run. Throw some wire over top and prop up/hold down with other various yard junk and voi' la...

No Chickens in the House

The coop is finally ready enough to get the chickens out of the house. YAY!


Before:


After:

Julie or Julio?

So, I've been telling Diane that 2, maybe 3 of the five chickens are looking like roosters. One of those being the Brown Leghorn that Aric named Julie.
I told her that he may have to re-name it Julio or we could just call it dinner! Any way I took them outside last night while I was planting my two berry bushes. I made them a little makeshift cage and stuck them in. At first they didn't seem to know what to do. I went and got them some food and tossed on the ground to get them to start scratching in the dirt. After they recovered from thinking that the sky was falling and all ran away, they sort of got the hang of the whole dirt thing. The area I was cleaning out for the berries has become a sprout garden. I was raking out 4" thick sections of nothing but sprouts. Dang those tumble weeds. I started uncovering not only a plethora of worms but some grubs or caterpillars too. I was throwing the sprouts in to the chickens so they could dig through them and look for bugs. They mostly just ran away scared (the whole sky is falling thing again). Then I tossed in a couple of the grubs. Again they ran. Julie (Julio) was the first to discover that it was food. (s)he would pick it up and then run around (litteraly like a chicken with it's head cut off) trying to keep her prize away from the other chickens. She would finally get to a 'safe' spot and gobble it up. (no pun intended) After throwing a couple more in, Julie caught on fast. She realized that when I came over I usually had something good and while the other chickens cowered in the corner she would run up and snatch the treat almost as soon as it hit the ground. It was very cute - darn it now I don't want to eat a smart chicken for dinner. I'll try to get video of it to share. I've got to work my butt off over the weekend to get the coop ready. The chickies need to go out! They are very cramped and starting to get very smelly.

Chickens, Recession proof?

I had called Murdochs yesterday and their chicks were sold out by noon, so was the store in Hygeine. I talked to the guy there for a bit and he said they can't even guarantee that most of the orders they did place will come in. The hatcheries are that far backed up. I told him I guess we know one business that is thriving in this economy. Makes you think... Hmmm one rooster... I could sell my own chicks!

Chicken Bath!

The first two chicks are already getting very large and starting to grow their wing feathers quite a bit. The tail feathers are just starting to grow. I can almost measure the growth of them daily. I look at the feathers in the morning and when I get home they are noticeably longer. I gave them a bath yesterday. They loved it - not ! LOL They had some poopy bottoms that looked like they should be cleaned.

Dogs & Chickens a good mix?

Shar'ai's pain pills seem to be helping. She's still limping but is not afraid to walk or even run on it when it suits her. I've been getting more pictures of the dogs with the chicks. Shar'ai is fine - she put's her nose right on the poor little girls and just sniffs them, all over! No agressive moves, just lots of sniffing. Tasha has tried to eat them several times on Sunday, but did much better last night. Only one attempt at 'chick in mouth' :) She get's a severe reprimand and then she just tries to avoid the chick so that she won't get into trouble. We've got a couple pictures of her where she looks like she is scared of the chick. It's very funny.