*chick-inn update

  Our buff laced polish chick - Fritter

Wendell and his girls.Oh and lets take a moment of silence for Rebels' sister, Ms Trump.  One morning this past week when I came out mid morning to sit in the swing under the big oak tree near the garden, I found Ms Trump laying in the watering hole. So sad. She had been well, no signs of distress on her body. We assume  she fell into the watering hole and couldn't get out for some reason this time..?

My beloved loves and his turkeys as well as the growing flock all over getting their morning treats from the kitchen bucket. 

Speaking of chickens, we have grown in numbers since I last brought you an update from Chick-Inn. We have our original chickens that we purchased two years ago January, many of which may or may not be laying on a regular basis. Some of them who are enjoying the plentiful lands to roam for food, enjoying supplemental grain feed when needed, as well as being placed in four walls of safety each night are NOT producing on a regular basis!  We have approximately 26 full sized laying hens, and we are only collecting on an average 15 eggs per day.  We are still able to fill our weekly orders so, we are good on that front. We are not in the business of keeping chickens just to keep chickens and while we picked up many of the hens to survey their vents in hopes of getting a clue as to who was laying and who wasn't.  Unfortunately we are not skilled enough to make the call and feel good about culling those who we have deemed non-layer. So for now we have started marking the legs of those who are laying with some thin colored tape.  This, as you can imagine, cause me to spend much time in  and around the barn.  The weather has been rather nice the last few days, so staying outside working in the garden and running back over to the barn to see who just announced the gift of an egg hasn't been hard to do. 

We have a hen who has 5 little pullets that are fully feathered out now. She is doing a great job taking care of these little chickens.  I am amazed at her leading, guiding and the care she provides for them.  Anytime we give scraps to them from the table, the mother hen will run over pick the food apart throwing it on the ground for her babies.  In fact, Eric and I are beginning to get a little concerned for her because she is light as a feather. She has visibly lost weight and we do all we can to encourage her to take food for herself.  (so that is 26 full grown hens, 5 pullets thus far)


We also have a hen who just hatched out 7 little baby chicks last week. They are so very cute! And this mother hen is showing wonderful protective mothering habits as well!  I have really enjoyed having chicks this time around because I do not have to do the work, the momma hen does it all. She teaches them to eat, to forage, she keeps them warm so a heat light is not even necessary. They are of course in a protective covering so no predators can get to them, but because they are not in a broody box with a light, I do not have to mess with wood shavings and cleaning out a poopy box daily! Now that is something to crow about!  (so this the total number of chickens.. ready?... 26 full size laying hens, 5 pullets with their sex yet waiting to be discovered, and 7 little chicks)  We will have to get our minds back on thinning the flock in the coming months...


 
 The turkeys are all doing great!  They love classical music, hard rock, whistling, twangy country music and probably a whole host of other music.  When we are in the barnyard, we play music for them at watch the toms puff up and show off. We have 4 sold, 7 that we are keeping for breeding purposes and several more that are available for someones Thanksgiving table!  If you are in the NW Florida area and looking for a heritage breed organically free range raised, we have a turkey for you!


 

*chickens gone wild

I have found that to me, chickens are like potato chips. I LOVE potato chips. I LOVE our chickens.  And you CAN'T just have one! I seek out more egg customers before I have the chickens to fill the orders just so I can get more - makes sense right? I mean if there is a demand, there must be a supply.

We started out a year or more ago with 10 chicks that we purchased from a local farm supply store in the area. At that time we only had three different breeds, all good layers.  Since then we have increased to 10 to 15 different breeds and a total of 35 chickens. AND.. I am frequently thinking about more. I have a sickness and I only feel better when I add to our flock. HA HA.

On a serious note, we sold 14 dozen eggs a few weeks ago, some for consumption some fertilized for hatching.  We vaccinated our chickens this past week for "chicken pox" (better known as Avian Pox), and while there is no withholding time, it does cause their production to slow down a bit for a few weeks.  We sell 8 dozen a week to regular customers for consumption and have a steady customer who desires to by as many dozen as possible every few weeks or so for hatching baby chicks.  Speaking of baby chicks, one of our Australorpes has gone broody and has 13 eggs she is setting on now. OH! I just realized, that means I WILL have MORE chickens!  Some will stay and replace some of our girls that are no laying for one reason or another, some will likely be roosters (therefore.. meat birds) and some will be sold as young chicks to someone who needs them.

 Isn't this crazy. Absurd. Especially since Eric made sure that there were ample nesting boxes for the number of chickens we have.  Yep, it is true, they have their favorite box to lay in and they will pick at each other until someone wins.  I have also seen two head strong chicks stay in the nest together and lay their eggs on top of the other one if necessary. There were four chickens in this basket, but when I got back with the camera one had already thrown in the towel.

 On the far right end you see one of the largest eggs collected on that day, it was produced by an "easter egger" and beside that one is a regular sized egg, a large one mind you.  You will also notice what looks like a little marble, that is our Silkie's first egg. Isn't it the cutest thing ever? It was about the size of a quarter, perhaps a bit smaller.

 Down to two now, two Light Brahma's duke it out for the box. This went on for about an hour, yes.. I didn't have anything better to do than watch my chicken's fight over a nesting box.

 Say goodbye to Husan. Husan lost all of his manners once we added other chickens to "his" barnyard. The introduction of a few new roosters sent him over the edge. He flogged my mother as you might remember and he also began to show aggression to almost everyone who entered the yard.  If you look closely you can see his LONG bone spurs off of his legs, it had just gotten too dangerous to keep him around. Our neighbor has a friend who now had added Husan to their place. I am sure that he is glad he avoided the iron pipe (the instrument for breaking their necks here at Erilyn) at least for now he is safe. I hope he gets his manners back in order for his sake.

*rebelious behaviour

I do not recall asking these two in the garden. Oh, that's right, it is Rebel and Mrs. Trump and they pretty much do what they want to around here. No amount of fence seems to keep them in. Perhaps they are eating the bugs and leaving the veggies bug and peck free. We can only hope!

*chick inn news

These first two pictures are both of Gwendolyn Wendell.  We purchased Gwendolyn as a pullet, but turns out we got a rooster, Wendell - Surprise!  His name is now Wendell.   He is a most beautiful rooster, he is a Black Copper Maran.  For now, both Wendell and Husan (our other rooster) are getting along nicely.

 These are our youngest bunch of chickens as well as the broad breasted turkeys. 

Eric loves his turkeys.  He is on the hunt for a blue slate turkey to add to our bunch.  This is one of the two broad breasted bronze turkeys that we are raising for meat.  

 Husan had an unfortunate event just a few days ago.  Momma was bringing some table scraps out to the flock and Husan felt it necessary to flock my mother!  I could hardly believe it when she came in and told me.  He should really be watching his actions from here on out.. He not only spurred her about 5 times down the back of her little legs, he also pecked a hole (I mean it was small, but a hole nonetheless) in the side of her leg before he spurred her.  Unbelievable.

 This is a photo I took during the choral performance one evening. It really does look like the are in a chorus doesn't it? They are all ready for sleep. 

 When we added this Silver Laced Wynadotte to our flock, she was TINY and younger in age of any of our chickens. Eric dubbed her "Dot", so it was. Dot is very partial to the turkeys and can often be found right by the turkey's side. 

 The white chicken is a result of an Easter Egger egg having been fertilized by Mr. Baggins our Light Brahma rooster.  We are still not sure if this one will be a rooster or pullet. The large buff chicken is a Orpington  and one of my favorites. She is like that kids you went to school with that was twice your size. She is awkward looking among the other chicks her age.  I think we will name her Hilda or Gertrude, or .... what can we name her? 

This red one to the right is a Welsummer hen and the cute little black front and center is a mix of a Black Australorpe and our Buff Brahma rooster.  She is a pretty little thing isn't she?

 Our heritage breed turkeys have just graduated into a larger roaming area in order to start free ranging habits and instincts.  We had to trim their feathers this morning due to many of them taking flight right over the fence.

*spaz and wry neck

Our sweet little polish chick is doing about the same. Wry neck is a condition that I do not wish any chicken to have to go through. One day out of no where it comes upon them and literally turns their world upside down. It is very frustrating and confusing to the little chick. It is almost as if her neck went limp like a cooked noodle.

There is hope. Many chickens whose owners recognize this contortion as a chicken sickness can treat their little chicks with baby vitamins (poly-vi-sol) in liquid form. Spaz gets vitamins three times a day right now. She/he is eating and drinking nicely which will help her/him maintain strength. Hopefully wry neck will soon be something of the past!

*growing like weeds

The gardens had their soil turned weeks ago and the areas that weren't immediately worked soon were full of lush green weeds. With each passing week it became thicker, fuller and filled with weeds that grew like crazy. Speaking of growing like weeds, the chicks that were born in January have changed so much over the past few weeks. Even the little turkeys are growing by leaps and bounds!

This post is all about Queen, who we have since named Spaz. My dh decided to give this adorable chick a name that would work for a hen or a rooster. We are still not sure what the sex of this one will be. One thing we do know is, she has captured our hearts!

 Spaz is a polish ornamental chicken, who are not normally known for their amiable personality but this little one runs up to the feet that enter the run and she waits to be picked up. I normally pick her up every time I walk through the area.  She likes to perch on your hand and then she settles in for a stay.  She also likes to sit on my shoulders balancing while I walk around.   I have her up under my wing protecting her, loving her and watching over her as much as I am able.  You see, this breed has several things going against them.  The polish ornamental have a top hat (feathers) which tend to hang over in their eyes which as you can imagine blocks their vision. Often they will be confused acting, they might get themselves into bad situations because they are not able to pay attention to overhead predators,  and because of their plight of feathers they may become the focus of bully chickens who will pick at their top hats.   She is my newest pet, who adopted me.  I was not really looking for a pet chicken, but I am thrilled nonetheless.

I wrote this post earlier this week and posted it for today's delivery.. since writing this post, my sweet little Spaz has developed "wry neck", it is a condition that Polish Chickens as well as Silkie's get due to a cranial injury or even lack of proper nutrition. I am so sad that she has this. One of the Silkie's in our group had it and was nursed back to health, now I am nursing her/him. Each morning she gets a little drop of Poly-visol vitamins and a Vit E gel capsule (broken open of course) and then again in the evening. She is living in a small basket inside the house for now.  She is pittiful. Her head is completely upside down, turned and twisted in a painful looking position.    If you pray for animals.. please pray for Spaz. 

*spring cleaning

Yes that is Little Red, up on the hay roll.. laying an egg...

Today's spring cleaning started in the barn, but I have already started spring cleaning in the house too! Just this past week I cleaned out a few closets, mind you we have only been in this house for one year. In just one year of not knowing right where you want to put things, all sorts of odds and ends can end up in space that is not used regularly. The barn is a different story.

I can always count on the girls (and Husan our rooster) to help clean things up!

When we first moved in I made judgement about the previous owners and how they neglected the barn. I know, I know - it is just a barn. I do realize this, but I prayed for this barn so it is more than just a barn to me, it is a gift from God himself. Anyway, sorry, back to my story... I made judgement based on some obvious neglect as well as the cobwebs everywhere. Um, we power wash the barn every 6 months - cobwebs are every where both times we have power washed. So perhaps I was a bit hasty in my judgement. I am grateful for the spiders as they eat unwanted bugs and if the spiders get low enough to the ground the chicks eat them, so it all works out good.

Today was cleaning day in the barn. We are soon to be getting our Nubian buck so a bit of reorganization is called for. While I was cleaning up today I opened the Chick Inn door and allowed the chickens free range of the inside of the barn today. We do not allow this on a regular basis, because they make new nest, new hidden nest and I have to play egg hunt. I don't like to play egg hunt. On the occasion that calls for the extra help cleaning I allow them in to pick the place clean. They are such great workers!