I shouldn't be allowed any leisure time. I've been run ragged by the whole family lately, but, yesterday, when I found 15 minutes for myself, guess what I did? Yeah. I was just going to pick up some chicken feed because I thought the girls were getting too big for starter feed. But, when I went inside the farm store, they had new batches of chicks out. It seems like I can't stand it when things get easier, so I got two new ones. It seemed a shame to waste a half bag of medicated starter feed. These are called Sextons, which cracks Lissa and her friends up because it has the s.e.x. word in it and kids are assholes. Truthfully, I have no clue about this breed, I just wanted these cootie wootie, widdle, teensie, bwack ones! They are so soft and adorable. But, they seem even needier than my others were. They were just hatched yesterday. Aren't they cute? I named the little one Janet, from RHPS and Lissa calls the other one, Shadow. Shadow and Janet beg and cry to be held already. Man, are they loud! I introduced them to Sunny and Cher and the big chickens pecked them. How rude. Jealousy seems to be a chicken trait. It's raining hard today, so, they have to stay inside where it's warm. I do remember one thing about chickens..they shouldn't get wet. It's not good for them.
There's Sunny and Cher exploring the driveway and fighting over who gets to sit on me. The first one up on me will cock block the other one until there's a big chicken fight and feathers fly. Chicken TV only gets one channel, but, it's pretty good. (Thanks, Christina, for dubbing this goofy hobby 'chicken TV', it's fitting). I guess I get two channels now. One outside and one inside. PEEP, PEEP PEEEEEEP. Oh, the pleading. How can anyone resist it? It's nice to be loved and wanted...even if it's just by chickens. Who fought over your affections today? (Moms with small babies don't count.) See? That's what I thought.
17 comments:
OMG.....They have huge feet ( or whatever they are called)! Glad you are enjoying chicken tv :)
Hi Eriny! Yeah, Sunny has huge (ugly) feets and she keeps thinking she can still sit on my finger like a parakeet. She's so funny/dumb. Cher likes to sit on my head.
LOL!!! You know what the accumulation of more chickens is called? It is referred to as "chicken math". They multiply magically. You start with one or two, and suddenly you find you have (in my case 22), or just more. I love it! They certainly are cute! I have never heard of sextons, before. Maybe they are like sex-links? Birds that are cross bred, to increase laying capability, and also because when the chicks are hatched, they can be sexed more accurately. The hens have a color variation different than the little roos. I would bet that is what they are! You are going to have some mighty fine egg layers in a few months!
Christina
I was just going by what some old coot said. Old coots hang out at the farm store. Wait..I hang out there. Nevermind.
LOL @ Chicken math.
Hey, how long until they start making icky eggs?
Most breeds start to lay around 20 weeks or so, though it varies with breed, and some don't lay until 7 months or thereabouts. While daylight hours are increasing, stable, or decreasing only a little, egg production remains up, when there are fewer daylight hours, egg production goes way down, or stops altogether. Some people use timed lights in their coops to try to have their birds lay consistently throughout the year, but I never have. I decided to just let their little bodies do what comes naturally. It is so exciting when you get your first eggs.
You will know when they are getting ready by the way they squat, with their wings extended only a little, when you are around. Their headgear gets really red, too, rather than pink.
Christina
Oh, great. I hope they never do. I don't want to gather pooped on eggs from dark boxes of shit. Eww.
Can you stop them from laying eggs? I wonder. It would be handy since you don't want them, and sooner or later they get egg bound and then you really have a problem. And they suffer. So stopping egg production sounds good, but then they were bred to produce. Hmmm. Best ask an old coot.
WTF is 'egg bound'?? I've had chickens before (and ducks and geese and peacocks and guineas). I have never heard the term 'egg bound'.
Is it like being Alabamee-bound? No.
egg bound, egg get stuck in there, like a baby who won't come out.
Oh man. You had to tell me.
Now I have Leadbelly stuck in my head, crabs. Thanks.
Awww, they are so, cute. And the new chicks are very precious. I would love to have a black chicken, so pretty.
Just put pine shavings in their nest box, and they will likely lay there. Most eggs don't have any poo on them. If they do, it is most likely that the bird pooped on them afterwards. Or another bird came along with poo on its feet, and was trampling around, trying to lay an egg there,too.
I have had an occasional egg-bound bird. There have also been several prolapses. We have done the warm water soak and preparation H with replacement of the tissue that was prolapsed. One of the birds died, I think as a result of repeated prolapse, but another bird survived by at least a year, and continues to lay eggs. I have had a lot of birds, though, so that is a very small percentage of my flock. I am starting to lose them to old age. I lost my pretty little Zip a few days ago. She was a black Australorp. She must have been about 7 or so. She got the name Zip because as a tiny chick, she would just put her little head down and run full out around the pen. She was so fast! She was also the first bird that I saved with Poly-vi-sol (baby vitamins without iron). The other birds were bigger, and she was getting weaker and weaker because they would push her away from the food and water. The baby vitamins, twice a day did the trick. She didn't like them, of course, and it was difficult to get them into her. (I just wore old clothes and made my peace with smelling of multivitamins the rest of the day) but it worked.
Most often egg-laying difficulties don't happen until later in life, if I remember right.
Christina
Thanks. You know so much!
Thanks! I had hoped I wasn't being too much of a know-it-all. I tend to get carried away about chickens.
Christina
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