More Chickens

We have lost quite a few chickens this summer, a couple due to the heat (now we have no more White Brahma chickens) and others for unknown reasons, they have just disappeared.  Paul had mentioned this to Pres. Myers (member of Stake Presidency) in conversation, who said that we could have some of his chickens.   He was insistent that we come over and choose some chickens.  So tonight for our FHE activity we all went over to his home.  The girls were in heaven as they got to choose some more chickens. We came home with five more hens to add to our bunch.  One of them was a sad looking chicken with most of the tail missing.  Olivia said that she chose that one because she didn't think anyone else would love it, so she will.

He said that we could borrow his incubator if we wanted to hatch chickens!  Oh, the girls would love that.  We might have to take him up on his offer next spring.

Oh, they just love their chickens!

Mickey, the Rooster

Mickey, the rooster lived alone in the greenhouse for the winter because he aggressive with the other chickens.  I wanted to get rid of him long ago, but the girls couldn't bare the thought of it unless he went to a very good home.   So finally we posted him on craigslist and found another chicken lover who was looking for this particular breed. The girls loved him up before he left.  Even the cat tried playing with the rooster with no luck of any love being returned.  He was a handsome young lad!

Finding His Voice

Paul surprised us with 10 baby chicks during spring break.  He got them when we (the kids and I) were gone for a few days visiting family and visiting BYU-Idaho.  They are all straight-run, which means they didn't sort them by sexes before selling them.  So we are waiting to see how many of them are roosters.  We have always thought that this young man was a rooster - today he reaffirmed our beliefs with his very first crows.  He sounds like a teenager going through adolescence with his scratchy voice!  It's cute but not cute....now what do we do with him?

Naughty Rooster

Around Christmas time we gave away our beloved, Jack - the rooster.  We raised him from a chick so he was pretty nice and the girls adored him.  When I heard that a ward member had a friend in need of re-homing their rooster, I decided we were up for it.  What was I thinking?  After a full two hours, I realized my mistake and short memory.  I was already to get rid of him, plus the hens were now upset.  Poor little Chipper (the rooster) quickly was escorted out of the coop and had to live outside of the fenced area.  Soon the girls feared going outside because he was getting aggressive.    I just happened to get a couple videos of Olivia being chased.

After he chased Olivia, I went over to him to give him a scolding and he bit my wrist - so hard!  That was the last straw.  Within a couple minutes, I placed him in a plastic tote and off we went to drop him off down the road to find his next home!

He wasn't very happy about the tote or the ride!  The kids were very upset with me.  I told them that I was only saving their lives.

By Chipper, you naughty little guy!   

Jack the Rooster's Farewell

 This is Jack's last photo shoot and time with our family.  We decided to give him away because he just loves the hens way too much!  One of the hens has a broken leg (we don't know how that happened) and she happened to be one of his favorite ladies, which wasn't fair to her.  He also gave Paul a really hard bite on the calf one day (why do all the animals like to bite Paul?). Jack also started to be a little aggressive to other children by pecking on their shoe and flapping his wings to intimidate them.  However, we still really loved him, as you can tell.  He was very tame for a rooster!

Here is a picture of Jack and Emily, his girlfriend.  They have been known to kiss!

Olivia giving Jack his last loves.  She was terribly sad that he was leaving.  Both the girls were in tears when he was picked up.

Chicken Update

Vivian is loving up a chicken.  The chicken decides she wants a taste of the sucker, too!

We are enjoying the chickens, all 15 of them!  They are now laying eggs, somewhere around 8 per day.  There may be others that we are not finding.  Most of them lay in their nesting boxes, but yesterday Olivia found 11 eggs in the bottom of a basement window well.  So she climbed down the ladder and collected them - they were all good.  This morning we caught a chicken in the window well so we know one of the secret layers.  I don't know why that like that spot because it would be a pretty tough flight out!

I took a picture from the inside of the window through the screen (don't look at the yucky track).

Another Saturday Surprise

Paul came home from his Saturday morning game of flag football with a cardboard box and four new chicks!  They were given to him from Alex (whose uncle didn't want these Easter chicks anymore).  They are beautiful brown chicks, we don't know what kind yet.  I'm hoping the other eleven chicks accept them into their group.  All day they were huddled together in the corner.

WARNING:  Calling all friends to NOT donate animals to our family or else you will have the wrath of Tiffani.  :-)  

Miss Black Chickie Jumps out of the Brooder

Look at her!  She jumped out of the brooder yesterday (exactly two weeks old) for the first time, but I snapped these pictures today.  As soon as I open the lid, she gets all excited and quickly jumps to the water feeder and then onto this middle rail. 

Don't worry, I make sure that Smokey (our cat) is secured in a room, otherwise we would have dead chicks.

 The other chicks below wonder what she is doing as the black chick hovers above them.

She looks at the chicks below.  It's so funny.

I video taped her escape.

Easter Chicks Arrive

Paul promised the kids that we would get chicks around Easter.  So Saturday was the day!  We bought all the supplies, including a heat lamp, water container and base, feeder, chick starter feed, wood pellets, and chicks.  We spent about $50 in all.  The girls loved up the chicks while Paul built a brooder box for them.   At the time we didn't realize that they were only 4 days old, we were told they were older.  We then had some sadness because one chick died Easter Sunday and a second one died Monday!  That's not very good odds, considering we bought six chicks!

So Monday (after school) Corbin and I bought another 8 chicks for $12 (they only charged us for 5 because of the two dying and they added a bonus chick).  So now we have a total of 12 cute little chicks chirping all day long! Now the kids are praying for the health of the chicks.  They are a fun addition to our home and keep me company during the day.

Aren't they so cute?  These are the Brahma chicks.

 Here is the mixture of the Brahmas, Red Sexlink, and Black Sexlink Chicks

 Smokey watches the chicks daily with intense curiosity.  I think he is secretly counting how many chicken dinners this could be for him!  The chicks are completely safe from him so don't worry.

 Black Sexlink Chicken

 Red Sexlink Chicken

 Brahma Chicken

 

Here are some beautiful chicken eggs from Meredith, a friend in my ward who has two dozen chickens on her little farm!  The eggs are so beautiful and they made delicious scrambled eggs for Easter breakfast.  Hopefully our little chicks will produce eggs like this (in about 6 months).

Chickens?

For Sale $2.99 per chick

Yesterday I attended a backyard chicken class at a local store.  One reason I was excited to live out in the country is that we can have our own egg laying chickens.  But I realized that they are more work than I thought.  The teacher spoke about worming, dusting, caring for baby chicks (need specific temperature, etc), building coops, various breeds, molting, etc.  What am I getting myself into?  The children are excited for this new adventure but we need to get things ready here before they arrive.

We were told at class about a website, Back Yard Chickens, that is a great resource.  On that site I found how someone transformed part of their play set into a coop.  It looks totally cute.  We have a similar playset that could use a makeover, too!  Here is the link to their play set transformation.

I am seeing some potential here!