Who's Your Daddy???

The baby chicks are now about 5 weeks old.  Remember when they were itty like this? http://www.farmwithoutaname.blogspot.com/2012/07/and-2nd-one-hatches.html  Fannie and Barry are growing like weeds, and their ever-protective momma, Ida Mae, has taught them to free range.  Fannie is a girl, and I'm pretty sure Barry is a roo.  I am quite attached to them, and contemplate daily what I'll do with 2 roos.  Only time will tell.

 They eat some corn from the garden...

 Crockpot looks over their work, making sure his flock gets enough of the good stuff.

Notice how orange and brown Fannie and Barry are?  It's because Ida is not their biological mother.  Mable, our RIR hen is, and I suspect, Hawk, is their father.  My friend Sheri took Hawk home to watch over her flock.  That's one of the many things I love about chickens.  Their ability to not give a hoot about biology, but to adopt babies, pellets and even adults into their flock as though they were blood.  Ida has taken care of these little ones as though she laid them herself.  It's truly an example to live by and to practice.  Not looking at the exterior package to determine worth.  I love that.  See, chickens can teach you quite a bit about unconditional, color blind love.  

Dixie Chicks Version 2

I got 9 chicks April 1st.  I've been meaning to update you on their progress, but time gets away with me.  I bought them before my precious Dixie Chicks were murdered eaten by a hungry fox or raccoon.    It seems hard to believe that Pyper was holding these fluffy little chicks just a few months ago...

Then they grew into teenagers.  We had them in a horse stall to separate them from the other flock, which became only 2 birds over night.  In order to protect them all, Shannon made a chicken run off of their coop.

It's not pretty, but it's effective.  This saddens me, because I loved calling my chickens and have them run to me like well trained puppies.  They would convene around the back porch and wait for me to throw out tidbits of love to them.  Our neighbors complained about them in their yard, so we had to build something to contain them.  I'm still bitter, but I grudgingly understand.  Not everyone loves my chickens like I do.  Crazy, right?

We opened the coop doors to both the teenager and adult coops one day and they all mixed in the barn.  Ida Mae and Mable, the adults, certainly showed the younger ones who was in charge, but no feathers were lost and no feelings were hurt. After several days of this, we threw them all together in the main coop.  Now, they are all considered adults, even though my younger hens haven't started laying.  However, of the 9 I bought, I have 4 roos.  *sigh*  Oh, well.  I enjoy watching them prance around, and crow.

Joshua named this white roo, Patrick.  I'm guessing from Sponge Bob?  I don't let Pyper watch that craziness, but hey, it's a roo.  He LOVES to crow.  And he loves Mable.  That's Mable in the back.

The handsome roo in the middle (red with green tail feathers) is Hawk.  He's gorgeous and seems to be pretty mellow.  The white and black one is Liberty.  She's a hen. 

Here's my sweet Ida Mae.  She's broody and sitting on 2 eggs right now.  Shannon and I candled them, and it looks as though they are fertile, but we'll find out for sure around July 26.  She rarely leaves her nest.  Her comb and waddle have become VERY pale, but from my reading, this is normal.  I've been hand feeding her meal worms and Shannon thinks I'm crazy.  I just love my chickens. 

This is Crock Pot.  He's the most handsome of all of my roos, I think.  I really like his personality.

And this is big handsome guy (on the right) is Puff Daddy.  Yes, I know he's white and he's not a rapper.  But he has big fluffy, puffy cheeks.  The white lady next to him is Foghorn Leghorn because she's a...LEGHORN!  The buff colored one in the back is Thelma, her sister which looks nearly identical to her is Louise.  The black and white one behind Puff Daddy is Liberty.  They are all Easter Eggers, except for Foghorn.  They will lay blue, green, or brown eggs.  They have greenish colored legs.  Foghorn will be my only white egg layer.  Her legs are bright yellow.  They are very docile and let me hold them.  I love them and their sweet ways.  

Shannon and I are trying to decide what to do with the 3 roos we don't keep.  Eat or sell?  I'm leaning toward eating.  But which ones?  Puff Daddy is a bit aggressive with the ladies, Hawk is nice, and Patrick is too loud.  My favorite one is Crock Pot.  What do you think? 



Baby, It's Cold Outside!

In this unusually cold weather, I look back to a few weeks ago (EASTER!) when the sun was out & warm, the wind was cool, and the Dixie Chicks had a grand time being herded by Naki.



They grazed in the pastures with the horses...




Ate bugs and refused to play with Naki




Happy to feel the warmth of the sun on their feathers refusing to pose for pictures.





A Roo (?) and a Roost

So sorry about the lag in between posts, but we had a severe thunderstorm last week, and our Airport (Apple wireless router and modem) was blown to smithereens. The second one in 2 years. I'm seeing a theme...Anyhoooo! There are lots of pics in this post, as we've been busy and I've been taking pictures!

While watching the Dixie Chicks grow, I've noticed "Mable" (right) has developed a distinctive comb and waddle (the red fleshy bits on top of her head and under her chin). Her sudden growths have far exceeded those of her sisters, Myrtle (left), and Ida Mae (Bottom). Not to mention, her feather color is different than the other Rhode Island Reds we have. "Mable" has blackish-green feathers coming out at the base of her tail and around her neck. None of her RIR sisters have these colors. This leads me to think that "Mable" is really a Roo. A Rooster, that is. Pooh...I mean Stew. So, "Mable" will be renamed "Stew Pot." He'll be in the stew pot if he is hateful and mean to any of my girls or to my family. Now, I do understand that there are benefits to having a Roo. They protect their flock of women, and if I ever want to expand my flock, he will be an essential part of that endeavor. BUT, I have also heard of nightmarish stories of aggressive Roos and my mom has scars on her legs from the spurs of such beasts. Shannon is not in agreement with me on the sex of this chicken. He just thinks "Mable" is in the 90th percentile of growth compared to the other ladies. I think he's in denial. So, for now, we have a transgendered chicken.

Shannon built the girls a nice roost, and to encourage them using it, we put their favorite treats on several levels. It worked. That night, when I tucked them into bed, Goldie was already hunkered down on the top roost.

Goldie and Ida Mae checking out the roost and the watermelon.

Once they figured it out, we put the watermelon back on the floor. The next morning, it was nothing but a green shell...

We decided it was time to let them out to forage. They love going out, and run past me as soon as I open the doors in the evenings. They still come in and out of their coop, but mostly stay outside eating grass, clover, bugs and scratching through horse pooh.

Here's Myrtle, Blanche, and Goldie enjoying a beautiful day outside.

Hammish, our mighty barn cat/hunter, was at first only interested in a chicken dinner when he discovered them in the pasture. After the girls ganged up on him, pecking his ears and paws (he bears the scabs on both), he soon realized 9 against 1 weren't good odds, so he has become their faithful flock protector. He lays out in the pasture, surrounded by his girls, basking in the sun listening to their clucks and coos. His eyes stay in what seems like a constant state of half closure and contentment. He's in heaven with his Dixie Chicks.

We decided to go ahead and hang their feeder and waterer. The girls were roosting on top of the small waterer we had in there, and the water was a constant mess. So far, I love how this has worked out.

Two of the girls check out what Shannon and I are doing to their coop.

Shannon starts the process of putting up roosts...

We used recycled materials from around the farm. No use buying new, when the girls are just going to sleep and pooh on them...

The finished product. The top roost is a landscaping timber, and the bottom two are decking boards that we bought as face boards for our 4 board fence. They were damaged, and instead of taking them back to Lowes, we decided to just use them. The side braces are old oak from the barn...probably about 65 years old or so.

The girls checking out their new diggs.

Completely unrelated to chickens, here are some pretty pictures of my lillies that decided to finally bloom. They are near our side door and the smell is heavenly...

This one is my favorite. What's growing in your garden???

Getting Ready...

Shannon and I thought we'd add another horse stall to the barn last spring. Luckily, Shannon is very handy and did all the work himself. My friend's daughter, Jordyn, who loves horses, helped out too. It took a few weeks, but it turned out really nicely, I think. We've recently decided to transform this horse stall (which we rarely use) into the new chicken coop. With some fencing and thought, I think we'll have it predator-free in no time! Shannon is very proud of himself. As he should be. He did a great job! Jordyn scrapes off 60 year old cow manure off the walls. This is clearly an initiation of sorts to see if she can really handle the barn life. She passed with flying colors.

The finished product from inside the barn. Now, Shannon is going to add a screened door to the top of this one, and screen to the rafters down to keep out owls, hawks and barn kitties. I think my Dixie Chicks will love their new digs!