August Giveaway!

On your mark, get set! - Cock-a-doodle-do!

Enter now for the August giveaway!

~

This month is rooster themed.

A rooster kitchen towel.

A sliver of Lush Red Rooster soap - made with refreshing orange and cinnamon.

A painted card from a Bayfield artist - F. Austin Miller.

And........

A small bag of candy!

Rooster eggs and multi-colored minty poos!!!

:)

Leave a comment to be entered!

One entry per person.

Good luck!

I will draw the winner at random on Sept. 1st 2009.

Chicken Basket Giveaway

I decided a long time ago to have a giveaway in July.

I have been collecting chicken things for months in anticipation.

There are chicken candles, chicken coasters, chicken soap and lots and lots of surprises!

Leave a comment and you will get one entry.

Blog about the giveaway and you get 3 entries!

Giveaway ends Aug. 1st

I will contact the winner, to get their address, and send them a huge chicken themed basket of stuff!

Here is the cute basket your prize will come in!

Here are a few things I'm putting in the basket. Every other day I will post a pic of something else I'm adding to the basket. Updates will be posted HERE - where you can read my blog *wink wink*

And the winner is............................. here

Thanks for entering everyone! Come back and enter for the August giveaway!

Choking Chicken!

Honey just choked!

The ladies were out in the run and I brought them some nice fresh weeds to pick through. I never let them have long pieces of grass, because I worry they will choke (!!!) and get impacted crops.

These were fresh dandelions, tiny sprouts about 5 inches long.

Honey gobbled up a sprout and it got stuck in her throat somehow, so half of it was dangling out of her beak.

No big deal. This happens all the time. Usually she scratches at it with her claws or shakes her head and it falls off.

Not this time!

She started walking around with her beak open and her comb turned dark purple.

If you've ever seen this you know what I mean.

Scary dark pansy purple!

I grabbed the weed, yanked it out and patted her on the back.

She closed her beak and her comb faded back to its normal fire engine red.

Whew! Scary!

Chicken Cartoon

I sent my BYC secret swapper's package today!

This is a cartoon I sent along with the package. It shows ladies 'helping' me find presents.

Pippa's New Home

I took Pippa to her new home today. She will be soooooo happy there! Her new family has a really nice barn for their chickens and they had a place ready for Pippa.

When I opened the door of her carrier, Pippa jumped right out. In a few minutes she was pecking and scratching around. She ate, drank and settled right in!

I loved seeing her new family's chickens. They had the cutest red frizzle. And a darling little cochin that decided to lay her egg underneath a pile of hay. She looked like a little mole rooting around underneath the hay!

They also have 2 beautiful roosters. They were huge!

I am so relieved that Pippa has such a wonderful new home!

Thanks to everyone for your support and messages!

We're All Friends

Catty is mildly interested in Lavender.

Mostly she's wondering, "Why is there a chicken in my living room? And when is it leaving?"

Catty overlooks Lavender's nest.

"Are you done yet?"


This is a pic of Lavender sleeping.
See-her head is tucked under her wing.
Awwww, so cute!
And she is such a good broody.
Nothing bothers her!
I even vacuumed next to her and she didn't turn a feather.
Not impressed.

Go! Away!

Seriously, what are you looking at?!

Boo!

The Eggs Are Here

The eggs arrived yesterday!

They were well wrapped in lots of bubble wrap.

The temps dropped yesterday and we had a huge snowstorm with 8+ inches of snow.

The eggs are from Utah.

What a long, cold trip for 6 tiny babies!

So far, the eggs look good!

None were cracked or frozen.

I let them sit on my counter at room temp. for 12 hours.

The experts recommend 12-24 hours, but I couldn't wait any longer!

Letting them set at room temp. helps the air cell (in the egg) settle. The eggs are all shaken up from their trip. I just hope they're not scrambled.




Lavender sitting on her 6 new silkie eggs!

I moved her inside.

The broody hen pen in the garage was too cold for her.

Broody Hen Pen

Lavender is broody.......again.

*sigh*

She is broody about 4 times a year.

I've decided to let her (try) to hatch some eggs.

Lavender in her broody box.

I don't have a rooster, so I bought some fertile eggs from a BYCer

They are silkie eggs. Hmmm, the poodles of the chicken world!

The broody hen pen.

It has a light that turns on a 8am and turns off at 8pm.

Food and water, although she's not very interested in eating.

And a cozy nest. She's still sitting on her golf balls, but soon there will be eggs!

Chicken Feet

Tappity! Tappity! Tap! Ta Da!!

Chicken feet!

Can you believe people eat chicken feet?

Yuck

Don't they know where those feet have been?

What Is Grit?

Pippa looks for grit.

What is grit? And why do my chickens need it?

Chickens (like many birds) seek out and swallow small stones. The stones stay in the gizzard and help the bird grind and digest its food, much like a human chewing.

Chicks will not need grit until you start giving them treats or they go outside.

Chickens will naturally pick up stones and swallow them, but you should provide some free choice grit just in case weather conditions (snow/ ice) prevent them from finding stones.

Bathing Chickens?

Yes! - You Can Bathe Your Chicken!

After a long cold winter, I gave the ladies a bath.

Use gentle baby shampoo and warm (not hot, chicken soup?) water.

Gently blow-dry the chickens' feathers dry or let them dry naturally.

Don't put your ladies back outside wet!

They can't keep warm with wet feathers!

Baths make chickens sleeply.....

Air dried tail feathers!

Ahhh - what a nice chicken spa day!

How Long Will Chickens Live?

The Guinness World Record for oldest chicken is/was held by Matilda. 16 years old!
Just like any other pet, chicken age will depend on their care.

How long will chickens lay eggs for?
Chickens molt at about 18 months of age.
Molting is where they lose all or some of their feathers and stop producing eggs for a few (2-4 months).
This is a natural shedding of feathers.
Factory farms usually cull their hens at this time, BUT if these are your pets you don't have to cull your hens.
They will continue to lay eggs after their molt, until they die (hopefully, like Matilda at 16+ years old!).
They may not lay as well as they did during their first year, however they will still be sweet and cuddly pets.

What's A Broody?

What's A Broody? Or Why Does My Hen Hate Me?

A hen lays only one egg every day or two.

She does not start to incubate them until the whole clutch is laid.

This way all the chicks will hatch at the same time.

When the instinct strikes, and the hen believes she has enough eggs in her clutch, she will go broody.

Hens can not count, so if you are taking the eggs away every day this will discourage broodiness, but not necessarily stop it. If she feels like it she will go broody!

Lavender demonstrates broody behavior

A broody hen will make muttering, growling sounds if disturbed, and may even peck or otherwise try to defend her nest. She will only leave the nest once a day to eat, drink and defecate. You should make sure the hen does do this at least every other day so she will not starve.

Watch out!

Broody hen droppings usually come out in one large, very bad-smelling glob.

They save it up just for you!

Some hen breeds (silkies, cochins or other bantams) are excessively broody. They will try to brood anything, including rocks, golf balls, air, other hens, kittens, ect.

If you want chicks:

It is best to move your hen to a protected nest once she has been sitting tightly for a few days.

This protects her from being chased off the nest by more dominant hens, leaving the eggs to chill and die.

Move her gently at night and keep the new nest dark for the next day.

Place a few golf balls in the nest.

If she stays on these tightly for a couple days, then give her the eggs you want her to hatch.

You can order fertile eggs from someone with a rooster. Maybe you want a variety of chicks - order a variety of eggs!

A hen is also called broody when she is raising her chicks, protecting them, teaching them to find food, and hovering over them to keep them warm.

Can I Make A Broody?

In a word - No.

Hens decide when they want to be broody. It's instinctive for some breeds, other breeds (Leghorns, sex-links, ect.) will never be broody, because broody tendencies have been bred out of them.

These non-broody hens will lay more eggs, but they won't be broody mothers.