Woody Creek Chicks

Ducks To Come!!

2012-01-18T13:09:00.001-07:00

Well, we've decided the Eglu will house ducklings! We are going to go with the Cayuga breed because they are least noisy. Unfortunately, we have lots of neighbors we have to cater to!

Taken from www.efowl.com:

"Cayuga Ducks

Cayuga Ducks characterized by a black bill and black plumage which is a spectacular iridescent green in the correct light. Their coloring makes the adults one of the most beautiful of all duck breeds.

Cayugas are recognized as one of the most adaptable of all domesticated ducks and are active foragers. Adults are fond of eating snails, slugs, and most other insects

They are the most popular exhibition breed in the medium weight class.

For those who wish to keep ducks, but live close to others that would make keeping the Pekin impractical because of the loud quack, The Cayuga duck is a recommended alternative as its quack is not as loud or frequent as the Pekin duck. These ducks exemplify a quiet, calm, docile temperament and they do not fly. Cayuga ducks tend to stay close to home, making them an excellent choice for a home flock or as yard pets."

This taken from www.omlet.uk

"History
This breed gets its name from Lake Cayuga, just west of New York, America. They were bred from the wild Black Duck and Rouen. They arrived in the UK when they were shown at the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in 1851.

Behaviour
As this breed was developed in North America it is used to harsh conditions. The Cayuga is a hardy breed and both the drake and the hen have good temperament and are quiet. When they first start to lay, their eggs can be completely black and this is a good sign that the resulting duck with have a good colour. The ducks do not remain black for all their life and often produce white feathers as they get older, which tend to appear after each moult.

Varieties
The standard variety is black with iridescent green feathers, although recently a solid Blue was developed in America."

We will place our order soon even though we will get a delayed delivery.

What is so great about efowl.com, is we can order just a few ducks, geese, chickens or guinea hens. Unlike other websites, where you have to order 25, efowl, for an extra charge, allows you to get what you want (breeds, females or drakes) & exactly how many you want. For us, this is so much easier than trying to find homes for 19 extras!!! Not to mention the mess of raising them all.

Hard to report.

2012-01-09T01:36:00.007-07:00

Well last spring was a tough one. We had a bear attack, more like a massacre. We lost all of our chickens except one, which we renamed "Lucky," a salmon faverolle. It was horrible. We unfortunately, or fortunately were not home at the time. We had a pet sitter who did all they could but it was just too late. Living in the high country of Colorado, it is one of those things that we live with. We have black bears here and they can be quite destructive. All I can say is, we were devastated. RIP: Wee-Man (Seen here in the photos), Victoria, Luna, Fav 1 & Fav 2. It has taken this long to be able to write about it. The worst part is not a week before Wee-Man was skateboarding, yes skateboarding! In attempts to curb as much child trauma in the situation we went with what we know best, distraction.

We got chicks soon after at Murdoch's in Grand Junction. It was Spring time and we were lucky to get there when we did; as they were running out of chicks. We bought 6 chicks (2 which turned out to be males), no idea what they were, and guarded Lucky with an electric fence, provided by the DOW. The chicks were reared in my daughter's bedroom in an aquarium under a heat lamp until it was warm enough to be released into the reinforced, slightly damaged coop. Lucky was still too large to be consolidated into the new flock. It was a warm Spring so we were grateful that the girls settled in quickly. Given that this was our second go around it was easy to spot the two roosters. Before any real neighbor disturbing crowing set in, we gave them to Sustainable Settings in C-dale. I think there may have been one 4:30 am crowing and that was it. I had many nights waking up thinking there was a bear, but thank god no return, knock on wood!

After awhile we introduced Lucky to the new girls: Jack (after Jack Sparrow, since she was/is attracted to my rings), Frannie who is a bit darker golden than Jack and the twins, Sara & Melissa, named after a set of twins I grew up with. Lucky immediately established herself as top of the pecking order going after the new girls and they did the flapping, jumping, pecking clawing at each other dance. The girls avoided her at all costs, we put them together in the coop and for a few weeks it was tenuous then things seem to settle down and now six months later, they're all one big happy family.

Mid June we inherited a Polish from Susti. She had been a special order someone had not picked up, and she was being picked on /abused by the flock to the point that her crown was almost bare. Poor thing. We brought her home and released her into the coop. Lucky wasn't having it for what seemed like forever and I was heart broken but then they all seemed to work it out with out any intervention. So Lady Gaga joined the flock. (She is quite the looker! Black and White and her crown is back and beautiful!!!) So we were back up to six girls.

We had a long exhale when Fall finally took over and the bears went into hibernation.

My husband and I are currently working on a new coop design complete with electric fencing... we will start work soon even though it's January I want to get a head start on the bears!

We are also looking at converting our Eglu into a duck run. I'm not sure about Colorado, but the duck eggs in France were amazing!!! Especially in custards... We found a website that allows you to order less than 25 chicks at a time!!! For a fee of course but this is so much more manageable! I think we will get ducks from these guys check it out:

Click & Drag it the link won't post for some reason...

http://www.eFowl.com/?Click=11307

It has been a bit of a mild winter this year and we were so glad to get the snow this weekend! I was fearing a drought was coming this Summer, we still have our fingers crossed about that.

The girls have been munching away daily on veggie/salad scraps from the restaurant. Thanks Romi, Alex, Toby & Scott! The girls are too funny and run towards the bottom of the coop for the fresh snacks. Garden planning has begun and seed catalogues are being rifled through now that the holiday season is finally over and the restaurants have calmed down a bit. Looking forward to finally replacing our bees this Spring! So we are a busy family, working, filtering waste vegetable oil for our car, composting in our new worm bin (more on that later), raising chicks (again), bees (hopefully this Spring), garden planning, washing stinky winter dogs, brushing a spoiled cat, rearing kids, and maybe soon raising a couple ducks!!!

First Frost...

2009-09-22T11:08:00.003-06:00

The frost has officially hit! The girls were rowdy this morning making a racket I think they're not ready for the cold either. Last night, with the temperature dropping we rushed out to the community garden where we have extended our growing space. We headed out around 8:45 pm for some last minute veggie picking. Bumping around with our headlamps in the dark hoping not to run into a bear before we got into the bear fence! It was freezing! We picked some cucumbers that we were holding out for and a huge zucchini, not as big as the last though 17"!!! The garden really produced for us this year and the sun exposure at the community garden really is 360 degrees. Makes our little plot in the yard seem like a waist of time. I also volunteered this summer at a local sustainable farm in nearby Carbondale. What a great bunch of folks! I ended up working so much that we worked for a full CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share in trade. We also purchased a fruit share from a organic farm, Ella Family Farms. We have been enjoying peaches, apples and pears! I bought an extra case of apples and canned some apple sauce yesterday and made choc chip zucchini bread! Storing away... so far we have a pantry full of pickles, tomato puree, jams and sauce. Haven't braved the pressure canner yet but we're getting there. The girls have enjoying the scraps from all the sauce making. Our plan was to try to "put up" enough food stuff to make it through the winter with out having to buy canned goods. I also purchased a pressure cooker which has made bean reconstituting super easy. Amazing what little changes can make a huge different in your self sufficiency.

I know that this post hasn't been much about the chickens but I was hoping to inspire some out there that perhaps think that living on a "farm" is too far away. It really can be done in a super small space. I would love to hear about some small victories out there.

good summer so far...

2009-08-25T21:05:00.002-06:00

Well it's close to the end August and it's been a good summer. Huge harvest this year! And to boot we've added bees to our menagerie. The girls are doing well with the exception of the entire summer Victoria and Sylvia both decided it would be a good idea to stop laying. So weird. My friend Rose said that at times during heat spells, the girls will take a break. I think they're just stubborn! I know that this is a chicken blog but would anyone be interested in hearing our bee story?

We've added to more nesting boxes into the little ones coop and they're loving it. Sometimes they would get three chickens deep in the one box making such a ruckus! So my husband added two additional boxes and the first day they were in there!

They've been getting spoiled on all our garden scraps between the yard garden, the community garden and volunteering at the farm. We've been getting spoiled too!

My favorite recipe this summer has been a quick dish I whipped up at my mom's for my teenage vegetarian step daughter:

3 each Olathe corn cobbs (cut off the cobb), sauteed in a little bit of olive oil, cooled slightly and then tossed with the other ingredients

1 large zucchini, shaved thin on a Japanese mandolin
1 each Kholrabi, peeled and julienned
Tossed in a dressing I made with dijon mustard, Colorado honey, balsamic, chopped fresh parsley, basil and oregano and blended oil (EVO & canola)

It was so amazing and delicious. The corn has to be really sweet other wise it will be starchy tasting

I think we need a second nesting box!

2009-05-07T15:33:00.006-06:00

The girls have been piling on in here sometimes three at a time

The weather been amazing here and the girls are loving it. Catching some long awaited sun shine. The girls have been grazing in the yard and living it up getting fresh lettuce srcaps from the greenhouse!

Spring Thaw!

2009-03-20T15:28:00.012-06:00

Everyone has made it through the winter ok and I gave the girls eglu a good cleaning today and I've ordered my plastic replacement bars! So excited, those wooden bars are so hard to clean!

We are in full thaw now and the girls are not stoked about the mud! I'm busy in the garden prepping the beds for planting and I got a few things in the ground already. The greenhouse has already produced a full crop of arugula and baby lettuces. The swiss chard that over wintered in there has been producing all winter long. Crazy!

The girls laid most of the winter with a bit of slowing down though. The little ones are laying again but few and far between. They need a nesting box witch my husband has promised to build but still no box yet! Honey do list! The girls have been laying but the eggs fall through the bars because they won't go in their little house. So weird!

Look at my pretty Luna!!! Look at that plumage! Such a foxy Blue Cochin! She's my prolasp girl and seems to be doing really well. She is the only one that makes that pek--kaaa chicken sound. My Favs and Wee-man, our bantam make chicken purring (???) sounds. Wish someone would cover chicken sounds in a book some where.

The tulips and crocuses are popping up through the ground and it feels so good to see the signs of the much awaited spring!

Called back to post

2008-12-04T23:45:00.002-07:00

Suzanne has given me a nudge so here goes! Ok to catch up on the lost chicken. Turned out to be a neighbor's bird we kept her in our yard for a awhile giving her much needed food and water. We talked to our neighbors to see who's bird she was. She seemed to be ok after the "dog fight". Her name turned out to be Larry. I have to tell you, our neighborhood is known for attracting strange inhabitants myself included! Larry the chicken (and yes a female) is named after Larry our local wood carver and manager of our little art gallery here in Woody Creek. The locals call themselves woody creatures, strange I know.

Back to the tale of Larry: My neighbor was kind of wandering down the street looking around and I asked her in passing if she was looking for something. She was, her chicken! I was so happy to reunite her with her bird. Larry was a bit shaken up over the whole experience a couple of days in a strangers yard with other chickens to boot! Not even a thank you for care taking her bird! Can you believe it? Strange, very strange. I was raised for the first 10 years of my life in NYC and I have better manners than that. She was kind of spaced out if that maybe explains it... Anyways long story short. Larry and owner walked off into the afternoon Larry riding away on my neighbor's arm like a parrot. It was so surreal like out a strange artsy movie.

Months later now, I have had an extremely successful summer. We had a wedding (ours), a trip to South America not in that order, a trip to Miami for another wedding in July and then work work work. Being a chef is tough. We did a ton of work on our house with upgrades etc, and I did a TON of work in the yard. The girls had a blast. And I have to say our little feather footed creatures are much easier on the lawn and flower beds! They don't scratch as much but they are not proficient layers. They had their molt late September and haven't laid since. Usually molting lasts 6 weeks.

I extended our yard by ripping out a useless deck that rapped around our porch so the girls gained some more lawn. The green house is still producing Swiss chard and herbs and I planted some new spinach and lettuce which is doing really well even in the cold temps and snowy days. I also added numerous fruit trees to the property and a couple of nut trees. We'll see how they do in the high altitude.

The girls are adjusting to the cold well. It's been down to 8 degrees F (-13 C) only a couple nights. The eglu is double insulated and does really well to keep the girls warm. Thy huddle together towards the back near the egg collection door. I changed their shade back to the full sized winter one and it's given protection from the elements. I have the run literally next to a 5' high wooden fence, so they are well protected from drafts and our harsh mountain winds. The girls do just fine. I close them in at night, which occasionally is a pain in the butt! Victoria likes to run out every time she hears the front door open, I guess she's looking for snacks. What a pill! So I have to wait until it gets late to close the door. I guess when she decides she's not interested in snacks. My little piggy!

The little ones, which aren't so little anymore, have started a weird behavior of perching together on their shelf in their wooden coop. Which is outside of the hut. I'm definitely going to hang a bulb in there for them soon. I have to scoot them up their ramp into their house and close the door on them! They are still sitting out there in 26 F (-3 C) degree weather! And they put up such a stink when I scoot them in. So bizarre! You would think that they want to be warm and toasty. I know I do!

My biggest challenge is keeping the water from freezing. We have a system of pulling in the bowls at night and filling them in the am but during the day, on extremely cold days it freezes. The little ones are going to get a warmer base for under the waterer but the eglu glug is a difficult matter. I have given the girls an auxiliary waterer on occasion and I'm thinking that this winter we may have to do a warmer for them as well. Last winter I just emptied it and filled it enough times that it never became dangerous, but it was a pain in the butt!

I will be starting to put Vaseline on the girl's wattles and combs, this helps to prevent frost bite. I also recommend to all the eglu owners out there, get the winter shade. I have pictures posted from 2 winters ago where the shade created a snow cave and the girls were quite cozy in there. Just make sure you don't let the snow get too deep and heavy! We had a leaning run that we had to shovel out.

Ok and on a totally gross note, our blue Cochin had prolapsed with an egg encased in her cloaca. This is not for the weak stomached but I really need to share this experience in case some one else has this problem. OMG! I really had to fight not to throw up. I brought her in to the kitchen sink and washed her bottom. Really assessed the situation, read so many things online and it scared the bejesus out of me. From everything I read, Luna would be a goner. I had to crack the egg to get the prolapsed cloaca to release it. It was have encased and dried around the egg. I couldn't believe I had missed it. I'm sorry to say that I think it was a couple of days that my poor girl was in this state. I felt so terrible, such a bad chicken mommy! I called the local vet and no one would see a chicken! All this farm and ranch land and no chicken vets? Anyway, I rinsed and rinsed with mild soap and warm NOT HOT water. Then, applied Preparation H (with an exam glove on) to the cloaca and pushed it back in. I started them on Antibiotics right away, I had some from a kit I purchased from McMurray Hatchery online. I was so stressed and scared. We had lost two girls before to strange causes and I was beginning to take it personally. I treated her everyday with the Prep -H and pushed it back in (with a glove) and thank god one day the red and irritated cloaca returned to it's normal position! I was so happy! She's doing well, eating, drinking and gaining weight. I have not been able to determine if she has laid since then, so I'm a little worried to see what's going to happen when she goes back into laying mode. But everything looks ok right now (fingers crossed).

I will get around to taking pictures and posting them! I hope I was able to answer some questions or concerns for Suzanne!
There are tons of books out there on care and maintenance my first one was "Keeping Pet Chickens" by, Johannes Paul and William Windham. It's a good place to start.

WEIRD!!! Rogue Chicken!!!

2008-07-29T17:39:00.003-06:00

Got a strange message from a neighbor that one our chickens was out in our neighbors yard and being harassed by a dog. I ran to the window and did a triple count. They were all there. I thought how weird, it must be a big wild bird of some sort. Then later I ran into my neighbor Rich and he said that there was a chicken in his yard! I thought he was joking until I followed him around his shed and sure enough there was a beautiful big girl sitting in his yard. I know I've inspired some people locally to keep chickens but not anyone this close in the neighborhood. So, I have no idea where this chicken came from. I went to the post office to report and check the board and Sherri of course knew before I did that "my" chicken was on the run. We laughed when I told her that the chicken wasn't one of mine and it was a lost chicken found. We're going to post pictures that she's been found. Rich and I caught her with a towel and I put her in with our large girls since we had a spot recently vacated by Penelope (RIP). We're thinking LuLu for a name. The girls are figuring it out in there right now losts of chicken talk in the yard. Lulu is a big girl with feathers on her legs. I can't identify her breed yet. I still can't get over it. Our neighborhood isn't the type to have random chickens crossing the road or the river! Our nearest chicken farm is across the roaring fork river and there's no way she made it this far. WEIRD! I think she's a Black Langshan. But who knows I'll post a picture later maybe you have some ideas.

We're Back....

2008-07-16T00:05:00.004-06:00

After a month long vacation to Peru and Ecuador and then back to work it's been a busy couple of months. So an update of what's gone on, we got back from vacation and all was well. My good friend Gina pet sat for us while we were away and she did a great job. The garden was looking good and the girls were all still kicking.

We had found homes for half the chicks on a farm in Paonia and then one of ours turned into a rooster and was crowing at 5:30am! EARLY!!! So we placed him with our friends down the road along with some other chicks. They're getting so big and are almost full grown. They're combs are coming in and their wattles too.

About a month ago we lost one of our layers. We came out one morning and she was out of the coop on the ground with her head tucked under. Penelope's comb had never come in after a year and a half. So we're not sure if she was just runty. No answeres on that one. We were all really sad about it. Then all seemed to be well. We slowly tried to introduce our chicks which are now huge to the other girls. In the garden they don't pay much attention to each other but when we placed Franny near the other coop she was attacked by Victoria and Sylvia. We're not sure if was stress or a stroke or a heart attack or what happened but she stopped eating and drinking and had a hard time moving her legs. We were completely beside ourselves. We thought maybe she was going lame so we tried oyster shells to treat against calcium deficency, we treated the girls with vitamins and she just got progressively worse. We separated her from the flock, heating pad, hand watered her and fed her mash but she didn't make it. She passed away today and we're having a hard time not blaming ourselves. I've been on some forums asking questions and talking to other chicken owners and the best we can come up with is that she had a stroke and then refused water and food because she was having seizures and then lost her strength. I called vets up and down the valley and there is no poultry vet. We are crushed. We've lost two girls in 2 months and are just distraught. If anyone has had similar experiences we would appreciate some feed back. We're going to treat the girls for worms again to rule out that.

Lots of Feathers!

2008-03-18T18:25:00.002-06:00

We are getting close to putting the chicks outside but it's still a little bit chilly out there so we've decided to wait a few more weeks. It's starting to smell like a zoo in our laundry room! Even with changing the paper and wood shavings frequently it's stinky!

On a beautiful day I captured these photos of the girls lunging for lettuce treats. They've been very happy sunning themselves on pretty days.

I think the girls are very happy with the sunshine and have been producing three eggs a day much more frequently.

Feathers Coming In!

2008-03-05T21:36:00.008-07:00

The Chicks have now started to come right up to the camera. We're also starting to hand feed them to tame them a bit. We expanded they're brooder again and they seem excited running around.

I vacuumed in the room because it was getting really dusty with feather dander and feed dust. I also scrubbed all the surfaces with a orange based cleaner because it was getting stinky and musty in the laundry room! The chicks hate the vacuum but it must be done. We are now at 4 1/2 weeks now and the birds are looking less like chicks and more like mini chickens. They're little combs are starting to emerge and they're feathers are really coming in now.

We've also gone to 2 gallon size waterers because they were going through one a day. If the warm weather keeps up then we're going to start to bring them outside for short periods of time. We're also going to assemble their pen and coop. We're also looking to expand our eglu but we're brain storming some ideas about going vertical. But it might just come to buying the expansion piece from omlet. If anyone has any ideas let me know.

Chicken Littles

2008-02-26T23:02:00.005-07:00

King of the roost. I had to move the feeders and waterers back away from the cardboard brooder guard to keep this one in. The girls named him/her Mercutio, yes we've got a high school student reading Romeo and Juliet. I've named the little Batam that I found on his/her back Wee-Man because he's/she's kind of a runt. He/she's still going strong though. Delayed development but it's eating and drinking away. And we have a Houdini that some how escaped to the other side of the brooder guard, thank god it was just for the afternoon. I become accustomed to counting the chicks now just in case.

This little one is trying to get to the heater some how. It's too funny to watch and now the rare breed chick is doing it too. Haven't been able to snag a photo of it yet, but we'll see if I can. Some of the chicks have feathers coming in everywhere!

Since it's the start of their 3rd week we've turned the heater down to 85F. But it fluctuates between 90F and 85F.

Bath day for the girls.

2008-02-22T00:36:00.009-07:00

I put on a ruddy old T-shirt and I took the girls out one by one, bringing them into the house and bathing them. After they were finished I placing them in dog crates. The Omlet website has a great section in the "guide" as to how to bathe your birds.

Victoria went first, then Penelope and finally Sylvia. They weren't so keen on the idea. I think they liked the warm water rinse the most of the whole experience. Although, Victoria surprisingly enough stood in front of the hair dryer (on low so as not to damage their feathers) and when I'd move it around I swear she was posing. Sylvia was the most unhappy about being wet and held in the sink she tried to escape and managed to scratch me on the arm. Victoria didn't mind so much and Penelope wasn't sure what to make of the whole thing. I fed them some treats after the traumatic experience to ease their stress and they gobbled them up.

I made sure that they were completely dry (even felt under their wings just to be sure). They spent a good part of the day in the dog crates and I gave them some food and water. Needless to say we didn't have eggs for two days because of the stress of the experience. Or they were just mad and getting even!

It's been super sunny this last week and a half and no snow so we've pulled back the winter shade and let the girls have full sun all day. We've been getting 3 egg days again so Penelope is laying again! Very exciting. Tonight it was snowing when I got home so I made sure to cover the run back up again, but tomorrow hopefully it will be nice again. The girls so enjoyed the breath of fresh air and the feeling of Spring coming (even though we're a good 2 months out). The yard has started to thaw a bit and the shed doors are no longer iced up. Yea!

Chicks Growing Fast!

2008-02-18T22:02:00.009-07:00

It's been a busy week for us and I haven't been able to keep up with the blog. We lost the two sick chicks a couple of days ago. We had know idea what was wrong with them other than one had a bad eye and the other just wouldn't eat or drink for no reason in particular. It was very sad and we explained what was happening to the 6 year old and told her that they probably would not make it.

The other chicks are doing great however and I expanded the brooder using the cardboard ring from Murray McMurray hatchery. We've also turned down the heat from 95 degrees F to 90. I've stopped adding water to the pellet mix and they've finally started to eat the pellets dry, I did have to remove the lid to the feeder to get them to eat out of it. Now they're going crazy over it. The long feeder with the attached lid, they wont touch. There old enough now and steady enough on their feet that I don't have to worry about them getting stuck on their backs in the dish.

They have taken to jumping up and flapping their itty bitty wings about. The extra rare breed has taken to hopping up trying to attack the heater guard. They've also started to peck at the black lines and numbers on the thermometer. It's extremely funny to watch. Some of them have started to scratch and peck at the pictures in the newspaper. I tried wood shavings but they're still trying to eat it so I removed it since it's dangerous if they get it stuck in their crops and intestines. I've also been removing the poop off their buts when it gets stuck. All of us don't enjoy that process.

One of the Blue Cochins is doing a really funny thing I'm posting this video because you've got to see it he/she does it a couple of times at 1min 40 secs and at the end 2 min! He bumps around backwards on the floor!

One's not doing so well

2008-02-14T01:06:00.005-07:00

One of the Salmon Favorelles isn't eating or drinking. We found her upside down under the heat lamp. When I examined her she isn't having normal growth, she had an empty crop and one of her eyes is terribly swollen. I'm not sure what to do. I've posted on a couple of sites but no reply as of yet. I'm not sure if I should separate her out of the box with the other chicks but I only have one light to go around. I held her in a paper towel and using a zip lock baggie (since I don't have a feeding tube) I tried to force her to eat. You have to be really careful when you do this because they can aspirate really easily. She took some liquid but any mushy solids she kind of pushed away. Baby Parrots are much easier to hand feed because they almost beg for the food. They open up real wide and "take" the food bobbing there heads so the food goes down quicker to their crops. No such luck with a chicken. I've been using the "dropper" method of bringing her liquid to her beak with my finger and she drinks but she is not well. The eye is getting bigger and I've never seen anything like this. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Can you take a 5 day old chick to the vet? Or should you let nature take it's course?

The extra rare breed chick that McMurray Hathcery sent us I think is a Old English Game fowl. Taken from McMurray website: They have their origins almost with the beginnings of history. With the outlawing of cockfighting in England, the Pit Game was bred for exhibition. Modern Games were developed from the Old English and have an extremely high station with a rather peculiar style and carriage as a result. Modern Games are dubbed (have their combs cut) as chicks when used for showing.

This is our chick. What do you think?

Growing Fast!

2008-02-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

The chicks are growing so quickly and it's only been 2 days. They're runing around the box like crazy. Last night they slept so quietly with only a few chrirps here and there. And this morning they're back at it again peeping less then yesterday but still chirping away. They've been busy eating drinking and eating and pooping! Lots and lots of poop! I keep adding more paper towels down for a fresh clean surface. Still wetting down their food because they haven't seemed to take to the dry feed yet. Checking on them every half hour or so now except when we're and they're sleeping. One of the darker striped Bantams got stuck upside down for I can guess a while, and was quite cold and limp when I got to him/her. I was so freaked out and scared but my old veterinary technician days kicked in! I wrapped him/her in a wash cloth and I held him under the heat lamp stroking it's back to stimulate it and used my finger to drip the electrolyte water on it's beak to get him to drink. He/she took the water and I did this for at least 15 minutes almost burning my hand! But it seemed to work and I placed him/her back under the lamp when the body temperature came back up and after a while (which seemed like hours) of watching and waiting and finally after having to walk away and return 30 mins later he/she was up and eating and drinking by himself. What a relief! It's scary sometimes when I go to check in on them and they're lying down sleeping but it looks as if they may be dead. But I watch for awhile and they're breathing. Such a new mom I am.

Peeps!

2008-02-10T12:03:00.002-07:00

After working really late last night, 8:30am came really early this morning! Our wonderful neighborhood postal officer called me and when I slept through the call, she came to my house! She had let the driver know that they were coming and he called her to let her know that they would be there at 7am. I'll be baking some cookies for both of them and giving them some eggs!

I was so surprised to see how small the box and the chicks were. They were all snuggled up together in the corner all pushing together like a rugby scrum. And they're peeping and cheeping away! I wrapped up the box up to protect them from draft and Linda gave me a mail sorting box to put the bundle in. I hurried to the warm car and drove them back to the house. Niko doesn't know what to make of them.

I had the box ready to go and warm with the heater, thermometer and I put paper towels on the bottom of the box to keep them from injuring themselves by sliding around. I dipped their beaks in the water before I let them go and they all found the corner again. I must have been sitting there for 3 hours just watching them. All 22 survived (they sent 1 extra rare breed). I'm a little dissapointed that they didn't have a successful hatch of the Partidge Cochins so we they sent 1 extra White Cochin Bantam instead.

The chicks have started to run around, a little wobbely on their feet like they were drunk! I swear that they are growing before my very eyes! The little ones opened their eyes and now they're all eating and drinking. I added some sugar to the their water along with the Quick Chick powder, full of electrolytes and vitamins and minerals to give the chicks a good start.

I gave them some food with warm water to mush it up a bit and they love it. I already see a pecking order being established and the Bantams might have to be seperated out from the rest since they're so tiny. We'll see how it goes!

Today's the Day!

2008-02-09T14:09:00.000-07:00

I called Murray McMurray yesterday to find out if I'd be notified when the chicks were mailed to give me an ETA. She told me the chicks were scheduled for hatching today, Saturday and that they would be placed into the postal system today! We may get a call tomorrow from the Post office to pick them up. I thought it was strange for a Sunday pick up at the Post Office, but I guess with live chicks they make exceptions. We picked up a bag of Start and Grow from the co-op today as well as a long plastic chick feeder and a couple of new waterers! Tonight we're going to set up the brooder to regulate the temperature and get it nice a toasty in the laundry room for the chicks. Wish us luck for a successful clutch.

On a warmer note:

The girls have gotten some extra special attention lately. We've had two warmer (27-32F) days with bright high altitude sunshine! FINALLY! I strong-armed the girls out of their run to sit in the sun for awhile. They were not happy standing on the hard pack snow and at the first chance they had they scooted back into the run behind my back! Tricky birds! Next time I'll try putting a towel down on the snow. I also pulled the run cover off and aired out their space all day letting the long awaited sunshine in. I replaced their wood chips and replaced the straw in the nest area (my girls are very funny, they like to scratch all the straw out of the eglu). Today after returning from the co-op and the dog park, I coaxed them out of the run with some organic sweet 100's tomatoes, they would come out, grab the tomato and run back in. Penelope wouldn't even come out, she'd just chase Victoria (my alpha hen) around and eat up all the seeds that were squirting out in Victoria's panic of losing her tomato. I swear Victoria was growling. Sylvia I thought was second in the pecking order but now I'm not so sure. I'm going to bathe the girls, I was hoping to do this before the chicks came but that's not going to happen now. I guess I'll wait for the next bright warm day. Or maybe the girls will have a night inside in a pet carrier.

Cave in!

2008-02-06T02:20:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a little scare the other day, i guess the weight of the snow on the run started to collapse the run! We knocked the 3 feet of snow off and it popped right back into place. I guess we figured it would just continue to hold but I think we were pressing our luck with letting it get that far. Yikes! The girls refuse to come out of the run even for treats. I'll have to send the people at Omlet a picture of the eglu (igloo more like!) It's too funny. Everytime I open the eglu to collect eggs, I'm so surprised how warm it is in there. Tonight it was 2 degrees F outside. We checked on the girls when we got home (super late from making chocolate truffles for a benefit) and the girls were snuggled together, poofed up in the feather coats and it was warm in there. I was so worried about the winter but they're doing great and we've had a hell of a winter let me tell you! The snow hasen't stopped, we've had 19 feet fallen so far, it's really ridiculous. Global warming's extreme weather is in full effect here in Colorado. Niko our Akita Rottie mix is in heaven!

Next week our chicks arrive and I spoke to the Post Office yesterday to let them know they were coming and gave them my cell number to call when they arrive, I think they're excited too. 5 Salmon Faverolles and a mixed bag of Cochins, blue, buff, black and I think white. I was talking to a neighbor about taking some chicks to thin the flock but maybe I'll keep them till they get a little bigger. We're all set up and ready to go. We've decided on putting the chicks in the laundry room because it's the warmest room in the house right now and it has a window with indirect light. I can't wait.

Snow Cave

2008-01-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

The girls eglu is starting to look like a snow cave. But I think the added insulation over the run is keeping them warmer. I've left the door open a couple of times and not only will they not roam around they climb out of the snow cave and they turn right around and jump back into their run. We're setting up our new computer so hopefully I'll be able to post some new winter pics of the snow cave. The snow coverage on the top and covering the sides of the run has kept the run nice and dry, but frozen and the girls are looking a bit dusty but they seem very happy. Victoria has now started a new thing where she tries to rip the treat bag (a custom pasta blend) I've been giving them right out of my hand. She's so feisty. A challenge we're having is keeping the eglu turd tray from freezing and making it extremely difficult to remove.

We're counting down to new chicks in a couple of weeks and we're very excited!

Freezing!

2008-01-06T01:34:00.000-07:00

Good Lord! It's been freezing here sometimes below 0F! We've been putting vaseline on the girls combs and wattels. The girls have been refusing to come out of their run into the snow. There's a a foot of snow on top of their run cover! This is as far as they'll come out. Victoria comes out and then back in again!

Snow!

2007-11-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

We've had our hopefully first of many snow falls (cause we need it) and today the girls had the first day out. We had put their new Omlet long winter cover on them and it seems very dark in there. We're having to pull their water in every night to keep it from freezing solid. We put it out in the morning and it stays a liquid (so far) through the day. When it starts freezing in the day then they're going in the greenhouse.

Today I rubbed some vaseline on Victoria and Sylvia's combs and wattles but Penelope eluded me up until we had to leave for Thanksgiving dinner. I hate chasing the girls around the garden and it just gets them, the dog and myself all worked up. So, I figure I'll just wait till tomorrow to get her little comb done.

The girls were walking around in the snow without too much fuss. I guess it doesn't bother their feet, I wasn't sure if it would. They did however spend most of their time outside today in a patch of the garden that was thawed but maybe it's just because of the good eats!

Sad day today.

2007-11-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

Well, we gave up today. It was the 23rd day and still no action. Everyone is broken hearted. The whole household is very down. I unplugged the incubator when we got home from seeing a Peter Pan elementary school production. I removed the eggs and placed them gently in the garbage bin. Part of me wanted to open them and see what had happened but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I've been preparing myself since Friday that nothing was going to happen. I'd look in and see no action and not be surprised. It was easier to expect nothing rather then keeping my hopes up and being crushed all over again. It's sadder still because we're all set up for chicks and the kids were so excited as well.

We came to a family decision. We talked about it and decided to go with chicks instead of eggs. We just couldn't go through this heartbreak all over again. I checked online tonight on Murray McMurray's site to see what chicks would be available and I saw that they'd posted chicks for spring availability and we decided to go for it. We picked out chicks! So I guess it's a bittersweet day. A little patience and come February we'll be knee high in 25 baby chicks! It's a sure thing going with baby chicks no more heartbreak of 21 days with no results. This is instant gratification, well sort of (3 months later). But this way the chicks will be 4 months old and ready to go outside by the time the snow starts melting. We ordered 5 female Salmon Favorelles, 5 St.run White Cochins, 5 St. run Dark Brahma, 5 St. run Blue Cochins and 5 St. run Partridge Cochins. St. Run are male and females (you don't have any idea what you're going to get). We'll raise them all and then when the males get to big we'll find them homes.

On a lighter side: We had another 3 egg day! The girls were busy digging a hole in their run this morning while I was sleeping in. They almost dug under their predator proof wiring. It comes 6"out flat on the ground from the run to deter predatory animals from digging around/into the run. I filled it in and placed a rock on top of the wiring to keep the girls safe.

We also received notice that our new chicken hutch/coop will arrive in 7-14 days from the Boston depot.

I want to say thanks to everyone that's been following our story and wishing us the best, we'll continue to post until we get the new chicks since we've got three beautiful hens to chat about and share their stories and pictures throughout the winter.

Candled all the eggs.

2007-11-16T19:39:00.000-07:00

So I candled all the eggs because it's not looking good. We had 18 eggs to start with and 5 were not fertilized at all (mostly the tiny eggs). There were 7 embryo deaths; looks like a range of 5 days to 9 days. You can tell that they've died because of a ring around the egg, it's caused by the blood leaving the embryo. There are five eggs left but 3 out of the five look like they have an air pocket, which shouldn't be there. The chick should be taking up the entire egg and using the air for it's first breaths. So I guess we'll see tomorrow what will happen.

21st day

2007-11-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

Well, today at 4pm was the 21st day and I'm a little heartbroken because we've had no activity. I've read that if the incubator is at a lower temperature then the recomended 102F, then the hatch may be late a day. The incubator has not stayed at a constant 102F the whole time the eggs have been in there. It's been extremely frustrating. The temperature has fluctuated between 99F-102F up and down periodically. I've had to keep adjusting it maunally from the beginning. I'm not sure if it's a faulty incubator or if that's normal. I woke up at 3 am this morning in antisipation of something but alas, nothing. Today I got home from a food show at 5:30pm and expected to see something and there was nothing and the temp was close to 98F! How frustrating, I wanted to cry. Today was supposed to be the day and nothing. Tomorrow it's all or nothing. I guess if we fail we'll wait to try it again next summer or just go with chicks.

Adding more water.

2007-11-14T16:45:00.000-07:00

This is where the chicks are at now and I can't believe that they're crammed in the egg like that. I've added more water today into the second trough the ("T" trough). To increase the humidity for the hatch. We've also removed one of the two red plastic caps to increase the oxygen flow because we're at high altitude and want to make sure the embryos have plenty of oxygen to exchange. In some places you want to be sure that there isn't too much moisture but up here it's so dry that we're not worried about that. Tomorrow I go pick up the feeders, water dispensors and wood chips for the chicks. The brooder guard, the brooder thermometer and our chick starter mix arrived today from McMurray Hatchery. I can't believe it's going to happen already. It's so exciting. As soon as it starts happening we'll post pictures! If you have kids this is a great site I found. It's hosted by the Sacremento Zoo and has so much information and great activities to do with the kids. Go check it out. http://www.saczoo.com/3_kids/17_eggs/_egg_develop.htm

2+ more days and counting!

2007-11-13T22:05:00.000-07:00

Two + more days to go. I removed the automatic turner this morning, given that it was a little over the 18th day. I put the eggs in at 4pm on October 26th and figured it took at least 3-4 hours for the eggs to get up to temperature. I started counting from the 27th being day 1 of 21 putting the hatch date on the 16th of November. But figuring the hatch date from October 26th, November 15th would be the hatch date around 7pm - ish. I put some unprinted newspaper paper on the bottom of the incubator, but not to cover the entire thing. I wanted to make sure that there was plenty of space for the humidity to get to the eggs/ chicks. The chicks will need the paper to assist in standing and walking. I a surface is too slippery they can injure their legs easily. I laid the eggs on their sides and the narrow/ smaller end tilted down and it was hard to keep them from rolling around a bit. I have to do everything to keep from hovering over the incubator and watching for anything, a sudden movement of some sort. But minute after minute nothing moves. No pipping. 2 more days!!! What am I going to do? I just have to get out of the house as much as possible.

4 days left!!

2007-11-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

We're busy getting ready for the chicks. With only 4 days left there's a lot to get done. I have already ordered my brooder heater and thermostat control unit from www.shopthecoop.com. From McMurray hatchery I ordered my cardboard brooder ring and thermometer. I've candled the eggs two more times and can't believe the rapid growth. The embryos are almost doubling in size every day. I'm having trouble keeping the incubator at 102F it keeps coming down and settling on 100F. Which is scary since everything I read says we may have a late hatch and there may be problems with the chicks. Tomorrow I remove the automatic turner and lay the eggs down on their sides. You do not turn the eggs in the last three days of the hatch! This can cause many problems. Pretty exciting! The kids ask everyday "how many more days"? They can't wait. The excitement is growing and growing. Even our house guest is totally excited!

The girls outside are still happy, frisky and laying!

Jumping Chickens!

2007-11-08T15:29:00.001-07:00

The girls started doing the funniest thing yesterday, I went into the green house to harvest them some greens and they ran over to meet me at the path. When they saw the spinach they started jumping off the ground to get the greens in my hand. I thought it was the funniest thing ever so I had to post some pictures of it.
Air Chickens!

Our First Three Egg Day!

2007-11-06T16:11:00.000-07:00

Our Flock:

Today we had our first three egg day. All three girls are laying now! Sylvia and Penelope laid early this morning, before 10am and Victoria laid after noon. I'm still in shock. I never thought it would ever happen since it usually takes up to 25 hours for an egg to form. It's pretty exciting and I think I'm going to do some baking with them, since we have quite an accumulation. Over 10 eggs stockpiled since Friday morning.

The New Clutch:

I added more water today into the incubator since it was almost out. I guess I let it go too long with out checking, it's only been a couple of days though. It's very difficult to see the water well through the automatic turner. We candled the eggs today with a homemade candler. We made a cone with dark paper and left a 1" hole at one end and stuck our maglight flashlight in the other end. I put the eggs up to the end of the cone with the 1" hole and counted 10 out of the eighteen eggs fertilized and growing embryos. Which is more then I expected because some of the eggs are so tiny. We were only expecting the 12 eggs so we have more chickens then we expected. One of the eggs looks as if the embryo is sticking to the side of the egg shell so we'll most likely lose that one. Good site to check out for embryonic development is:

http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/Embryology/EmbryoPhotos.htm

It's totally amazing that a fully formed chick starts to pip out after only 21 days. If you think about it, they're pretty evolved for such a short period of time. We bid and won on ebay on a different kind of coop to house the Bantams in. Like the eglu it has an attached run and the whole thing is enclosed and covered by a solid roof. The coop is also off the ground to protect against predators and from draft. There is a ramp that the chickens can walk up and down into the coop. My husband just wanted to combine all the chickens together, but this is a big no no. Salmon Favorelles are very docile so they tend to be picked on (literally) by other breeds and they're are a Bantam breed so they're about half the size of our other chickens. We want to keep every body healthy and happy.

We have a 40 gallon tank that we will put the chicks in as a brooder and when they've grown out of it, we will use a cardboard barrier (which can be found on McMurray Hatcheries website). We're waiting for the omelt people to start importing their large coop and run the "cube". It houses about 10 birds. It's pretty sweet and colorful! Go check it out at www.omlet.uk

This is where we should be now:

Peneolpe is Laying!!!

2007-11-03T12:58:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was my birthday and what a great present, I went outside to check on the girls and Penelope was missing! I immediately went into a panic looking to see if she could have dug her way out of the predator proof fencing. No holes and then much to my surprise, Penelope's little face came poking around the eglu door from the nest. Probably to investigate whether or not she was missing out on some goods. I waited anxiously to see if she had laid. She came bolting out of the eglu right to the food and sure enough there it was! A teeny little egg, reminiscent of when Victoria and Sylvia started laying. I felt like such a proud parent! Penelope is the most spunky of the flock and she loves to chase the other girls. She runs across the yard with her feathers flying and goes darting toward the other birds. I thought it was a dominating behavior but it's strange that it's coming from her since she's the youngest and the lowest in the pecking order. So now it's been a two egg day, two days in a row!

Our new full length shade came as well yesterday and my long awaited door pin for the front door of their run. DHL delivered my box a bit bashed up. We were missing a corner square piece for the run and the door pin. Omlet sent them out no questions asked but they had to come from the UK so it took a little while. Yea I now get my screw driver back!

The clutch in the incubator is still doing their thing. I don't have a candling tool to check the eggs so it's going to be a waiting game. I keep checking in there for what I don't know. It feels kind of silly since there isn't going to be any action for two weeks. Maybe it's the mothering instinct to check in every once in a while. Surprise surprise, their still there!

More Picts of the Eglu and the girls

2007-10-30T20:17:00.001-06:00

Some pictures of the girls

2007-10-30T20:10:00.000-06:00

Still adjusting...

2007-10-29T22:59:00.000-06:00

I'm still having to adjust the temperature on the incubator about twice a day. Checked the water level. From what I've read, it's better to have less water in the first couple of weeks and add to the amount later on in the last week for hatching. The turner is working well and when I pop by to take a look at the thermometer it's changed positions again and again. It's funny now how I was nervous that it wasn't working. We have eighteen eggs in there right now and we're so excited. The eggs are about half the size of "normal" grocery store eggs and cream colored. Can't wait to see how many hatch. We're hoping for at least a 50% hatch.

Yesterday we had 2 eggs in the morning (pretty exciting!) and today there was only one. We're hoping that Penelope will start laying soon so we can have two egg days all the time. Her comb is just coming in so we're thinking that in a couple of weeks now. The girls were accidentally locked out of their coop this morning around 7:30am and when I came out around 10:45am to let them out for a while there were no eggs. So I opened the eglu door and Sylvia went right in there and when I came back out at 11:45am there was an egg. I was so surprised that she would wait to lay in her usual spot instead of laying out in the run. In some books I've read chickens have been known to lay eggs in the garden if you let them out to roam in the am - so imagine my surprise when she went back in to lay right away. The girls were ravenous this afternoon when I let them out to free range, little chicken maniacs! They did not want to go back in when it came time for me to start dinner.

Automatic Turner

2007-10-27T14:33:00.000-06:00

Here's a picture of the clutch so far!

I was a little freaked out by the slowness of the automatic turner and it seemed that every time I checked the temperature of the incubator the turner was still in the same position. It rotates every four hours and I just happen to check it when it was back in that position. This morning however, it was in a different position so my worries went away. I did have to adjust the temp a couple of times today. I think that's going to continue. The girls were so funny this morning. They bolted out of the run and made a mess in the garden. I caught them ripping up my strawberry plants so I relocated them to the asparagus that had bolted they seemed happy with that.

Welcome to Our Flock!

2007-10-26T15:59:00.000-06:00

Welcome to our Flock!

We wanted to track the incubation and the (hopefully) hatching of our clutch (don't count your chickens before they hatch) sorry I couldn't resist! We also wanted to provide information from our experience which hopefully someone can use and gain from. I've found a lot of information on the net but not from personal experience so we wanted to try to fill that gap a bit.

First off a little information about our flock. We live in Colorado - in the high country and started this summer with three hens which we got from a friend. They were still young - grown but not laying yet, I belive they're called pullets. Our girls live in an pink eglu which we purchased from omlet (www.omlet.us). I'm a chef and had read about the eglu and keeping urban chickens in Gourmet magazine years ago. It was something that I had always wanted to do but never had the space to do it. So long story short, in our attempt to go as green as possible, we started growing our own veggies. This last summer we put in a greenhouse and with it, started having an extensive infestation of grasshoppers and slugs (yuck!). They eat EVERYTHING!

We've had a composter for a couple of years but we needed some kind of natural pest control, the next logical step, to me (the man took some convincing) was to get some chickens to naturally balance our garden. The girls are awesome, even our dog thinks so (we have a 93lb akita rottie mix). It took some training on his part but he's doing spectacular with them. We named our girls Victoria, Penelope (2 Barred Plymouth Rock hens) and Sylvia (an Australorp). The girls are so much softer then we ever imagined. Victoria is the most tame and she follows me around the garden waiting for me to over turn a rock or two hopefully awaiting to enjoy some slugs. They are hilarious. The children love them. We started getting eggs two weeks ago and it is still so amazing when I open up the eglu and there's an egg sitting there. A small gift but a large treasure. I made a huge batch of banana bread with our first weeks worth of eggs. The family enjoyed the bread immensely.

Our Salmon Faverolles: We received our eggs on Wednesday afternoon via fed ex after being purchased from ebay of all places. I finally resolved to purchase our eggs on ebay because every where I had been searching had been sold out for the season. We also didn't want 25 chicks because we don't have enough space for that many chickens. All the hatcheries I looked at and the private breeders would not send less then 25 chicks at a time, because the chicks need to keep each other warm during their travels. We decided on Bantam Salmon Faverolles because of everything I've read about them, but mostly because of their good and affectionate nature. The fact that their damn cute is a total bonus! This breed was also a good option because of their capability to withstand colder climates (due to their feathered feet).

Check them out:

www.omlet.us/breeds/breeds.php?breed_type=Chickens&breed=Faverolle
www.ansi.okstate.edu/poultry/chickens/

Today I set up our Hovabator with the automatic egg turner. I started around 11am and waited and waited for hours for the temperature to stabilize before adding the tempered eggs (temper to room temperature 70F before placing in the incubator). Our breeder sent them in an egg carton each egg individually wrapped in paper towel (for extra protection) we received 18 eggs when we only ordered 12 (very nice of her!) Since we have a still air model we set it at 102F (with a circulator you go with a lower temperature 100F). I had been storing the eggs in the coldest room of the house (low 60's high 50's). I hadn't realized that we could store the eggs for up to 2 weeks without incubating. Found a ton of information on the internet mostly on university sites. This is a good one: www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/hatch.htm#care So the eggs went in at approximately 4pm and we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Here are some pictures I found of Salmon Favorelles: