better days :-)

Well, we survived last week's red mite nightmare, coop relocations, flock integrations, chook rehomings and a massive heat wave + a mini-hurricane, so I guess we can survive just about anything!

I now have only two flocks - the sleeping quarters are a bit tight but they're at least dry and bug-free so the birds will just have to endure. They are outside all day anyways, it's not so bad.

24 birds in one coop, 30 in the other - and that's it.

No more for a long time, my flocks are closed.

Every day I inspect for mites and so far so good, only had about two dozen under one sleeping plank a couple days ago, I squashed them then sprayed with permethrin so hoping I got them all. They were probably left-over eggs that hatched and had a first feeding, hah! Dead now. Fuckers.

Lovely breeze out today - can't wait to let the big girls free-range again...

Does anyone know how long it takes to reprogram a chicken's GPS?

I don't want them to wander around lost at bed-time since the coop where they used to live has been locked up and condemned... I want them to head to their new coop.

Guess we'll have to test it at some point...

Coco

That's my girl!

She makes me smile every day :-)

the year of CRAP

Name 15 awful things that can happen to a chicken owner, with red mites in the coop being the Worst Thing Possible, and I've been hit with absolutely everything the past year.

I'm so fed up.

Exhausted physically, mentally and financially.

It's not much fun anymore, even if I love those chooks with all my heart.

Death #4 since the beginning of July in progress this morning, my Sweetie is in a coma and will cross the bridge today after weeks of declining health. I'm thinking liver failure as her face is yellow, but for sure she is anemic from the blood-sucking vampire mites.

I'm not sure I even want to go on being a chicken mama, since I obviously stink at it.

So. Tired.

Oliver Mongfoot

Isn't he just the most handsome roo? :-)

Oliver will turn 6 months old on July 20th

and he's still growing -

hims gonna be a big boy!

His mom is a pure white silkie

and his dad is a partride frizzled silkie.

I can't wait to get babies from him one day :-)

hot chickens!

Yep, the dog days of summer are here - HOT!

What do you do to help keep your flocks cool in this weather?

Mine free-range so have plenty of access to shade and cool dirt, the ones penned up all have the same in their giant runs. I put out bowls of fresh cold water and offer them treats of fresh fruit, but mostly that's all I can do.

I don't trust fans in the coops, too scared of a fire risk :-/

They pant, they hold their wings off their body and mutter but so far
knock on wood, everyone's still accounted for...

Miss Daisy, my latest white leghorn addition:

She's 6 months old and lays like a dream :-)

Lucky she's white, it's my big fat black hens that are suffering

through this summer - although they are all affected.

At least it's not freezing!

hilarious! football chickens!

I should totally get a ball for my chooks :-D

caption this!

I wonder what that hen is thinking... LOL!

more losses :-(

RIP Dizzy, our awesome white leghorn girl... just a year and a half old, found her cold and stiff on the coop floor Sunday morning - no idea why she died, she seemed fine the day before. Her skin was almost purple, her legs stretched out straight from her body, wings tight on her side, neck bent towards her chest and eyes closed. No broken neck, no signs bodily damage.

Any idea what could have caused her death?

RIP sweet Holly, our gorgeous buff orpington hen (July 18, 2010 - June 22, 2011).

Holly got sick this spring along with quite a few other hens, some sort of pneumonia. Three girls died before I got my hands on penicillin, which didn't eradicate the illness but allowed a return to normal life for the survivors.

Except Holly fell sick again about 3 weeks ago and this time meds didn't do a thing - she stopped eating and drinking and never managed to shake it. After 10 days in isolation I stopped treatment and put her back with her flock so she could have a few nice last days in the sun...

Three days ago she crawled under our back deck and never left.

She was waiting for death, which came and took her away sometime during the night.

Even an expected and in this case a welcomed death for a sick and suffering creature strikes a blow. Holly was our big silly fluffernutter, the cartoon of the flock, gentle as a feather duster but three times cuter.

Not a happy day :-(

i can haz chicks!

Fourteen chicks, in fact :-D

I love these little stinkers!

Can you spot the breeds?

spicy chicken?

Annabelle

I came thisclose to rehoming this little brat...

Put her up for sale,

had a guy call and he say he was coming the next morning

to pick her up.

I waited all day, phoned but there was no answer.

Can I tell you how relieved I was for the no-show?

Had a bad, creepy feeling about the guy - 

and I was right.

Took her for sale ads off the innernets

and what do you know -

the jerk showed up on our doorstep

a whole day later

without calling, without apologizing, nothing -

wanting to"pick up his bird".

Like, seriously?!

I told him to get lost!

She's my baby, my responsibility, she's a good healthy girl

and I have to endure her big personality, that's all.

I have one too, I should know better ;-)

my chickens are frying!

Anyone else's flocks suffering in the brutal wet summer heat?

My poor birds... panting like dogs with wings outstretched, even in the shade buried in cool dirt. I try to keep them supplied with fresh cool water, I put a fan in the main coop at night to get some air moving around but still, it's HOT.

I'm collecting hard-boiled eggs from the nesting boxes, LOL!

OK not really, but you get the idea.

A few girls have had a relapse with the lung issue thanks to the heat, one is isolated and on penicillin since she stopped eating and was acting really downbeaten (my sweet buff orpington Holly). The others are still laying and acting fine so I'm leaving them alone.

Gotta get the coop ready for two new girls tomorrow, a white leghorn and a red production hen - both at POL (point of lay). I've gotten hens twice from this breeder before and they're awesome so I'm hoping all goes well this time too.

Yes I have a lot of chickens but not many are regular layers, I'm getting between 14 and 20 eggs a day for almost 60 birds - bad, eh? Yes OK I have baby chicks, pullets too young to lay, old hens past their prime and a handful of roosters, hens in molt and others who just don't lay much at all no matter what.

I have to stress the point that these are my pets, eggs are a side-benefit!

But... people want those pastured (free range) eggs real bad so... I gotta get me more young, ambitious and reliable layers, no?

*grin*

the most logical explanation!

(click to enlarge pic)

Meet the peepers!

It's so hard to take good pics of the wee ones

when they're under a heat lamp!

60W yellow bulb here, hence the yellow hue:

I gave the white crested polish back to my friend

as I was 90% sure he was a roo, and to be honest

we just didn't "click".

So in all there are now 14 babies:

1 three week old white jersey giant, named Doudounne

3 easter eggers

2 salmon faverolles (which are roos according to wing feather... damn!)

4 barred plymouth rocks

3 blue orpingtons

1 splash orpington

Can't wait to see them grow up and be part of the flock!

knock knock!

Hand over the treats or we'll poop on your porch!

Cluckle, cluckle - who are we kidding, we'll poop no matter what :-D

(good thing I love these girls, LOL!)

Monday cluckles

Chickie love!!

OK they're not here yet but I'm picking up a bunch of sweet chicks Saturday morning - can't wait!!

They will be between 3 days and 1 week old, a mix of: barred plymouth rock, salmon faverolles, easter eggers and orpingtons (blue, black or splash - don't know yet).

Squeeee!

In the meantime I'm having a blast with my little bantam frizzle babies, they're the softest, sweetest, funkiest things ever - I really need to take some pics or a video, just waiting for some good light!

More. I want more :-D

Sharing the chook love :-)

It was a beautiful day today -

a happy flock makes for a happy mama!

Hope you enjoyed watching this

as much as I enjoyed living it :)

beware the roose

Good-bye my sweet Angel

I can't believe she's gone...

My sweet Angel, one of the first silkies

to grace our mismatched flocks...

She wore her name well...

Never sick a day in her life,

she survived a crop surgery on our kitchen table last summer -

and now she's gone because of a stupid eye injury.

One day she was fine,

the next day her right eye was closed 

and it was obvious she was in a lot of pain.

I assumed someone had pecked her in the eye,

gave her antibiotics to ward off infection

even if there was no sign of anything awry

except her tightly-closed eye -

She went blind on one side.

In she space of a couple of weeks 

she lost half her weight.

She lost her balance 

and her status in the pack.

She kept swinging her head from side to side,

trying to see

or trying to alleviate the pain.

Everyone started pecking on her.

I found her on her back earlier today,

head twisted to the side -

when I lifted her up I noticed blood on her neck feathers

then her eye, or whatever was left of it.

Absolutely horrible.

She was half passed out from pain and shock.

There was only one thing to do,

the kind thing, the humane one.

The final act of mercy.

Thank you to my dear husband

for ending her suffering,

I just cannot do it.

Can't.

I feel hollow inside.