Hi, everyone!
In this article I will be telling about my flock and coop. I will start by saying that I have no idea how many chickens I have, even though I know all their names. That sounds like a problem, doesn't it? Well it's not for me.
Besides chickens I have turkeys, ducks and pigeons. I also have one Pharaoh quail hen named Cookie.
Cookie came from a local pet store, and she is one of the most recent additions to my flock. I bought her and a young male at the same time, but the male soon became a problem. He kept getting out of his cage and running off, and finally didn't come back. Cookie also got out once, (I found the small hole in the side of the cage after that) but she came back. She isn't very fond of me, but she would probably prefer the warm shed to the icy wind outside. To keep her from running away, I put her in with a batch of Cornish X meat birds I had recently brought home. I hoped she would tolerate the chicks long enough for me to mend the cage, but she surprised me.
I must point out that these chickens were only a week old, so they could not harm her. She LOVED them. This was only a week ago, and they are still together, Mama Quail and her twelve meat bird chicks (who are about her size now.) If I try to separate her, the chicks start panicking so I let them stay in the brooder together.
(Here is an image of her with her chicks.)
As far as ducks go, I have two female ducks who look like pekins, but could be white layers. I'm not sure which they are. These two ducks loved to hang out with my goose before he died, but now they content themselves with the chickens and my male muscovy. I really love my ducks, they are always super happy to see me. Their favorite treats are boiled potatoes, watermelons, scratch grains and snow. They LOVE snow. They eat it, play with it, sit in it and bury their eggs in it. It's adorable to watch.
(Here are two picks of my ducks. The first is of Omelete in the snow, and the other is Dumpling, taking a sun bath with my bantam cochin roo.)
I think of all the animals I have, my turkeys are my favorite. They are so clumsy, so silly, so impressive! At this present time I have five turkeys, three hens and two toms. Two of my hens are Heritage Bronze turkeys named Gypsy and Moth. They are about two years old. They rule the roost, and even the toms listen to them. Then I have a spainish black hen who is very interesting. She can never make up her mind wither she's a chicken or a turkey. She gets along better with the turkeys, but every once in a while she gets some strange notion in her head that she belongs in the chicken house.
My two toms are brothers. One is a Heritage Bourban Red and the other is half bronze had bourbon red. The bourban isn't fully matured yet, but he will gobble with his brother. They are ALWAYS getting into fights with my roosters, so I have to keep an eye on these two.
(I have pics of both males and my spainish black hen.)
My pigeons are the easiest to tell about, because even though I love them they are a bit boring. They hang out with each other all day and coo at me. I have two racing homers, a white female and a blue male. I also have a bunch of mixed breed fancy footed pigeons. In all I have six. My racing homer pair is a bit skittish, but they tolerate me as long as I don't touch them. The rest of the pigeons are cool with me. One of them is a young male named Squeaker, and he will nibble on my fingers if I don't give him treats.
(I have one good picture of my White racing homer, Marshmallow.)
Now... for the chickens. Like I said, I'm not sure of the exact number, so I'll start with my roos.
I have five-maybe-six roosters. One is a Colombian Wyandotte named Atilla. He is the beta roo of the flock, and has not reached his full size though he's almost two years old. He is a sweet, mellow roo and is OK with being held. I keep him with my second flock, which consists mainly of young birds and pullets who haven't started laying.
(I took this picture when I was painting and he waltzed right up onto the back deck as if he belonged there!)
Next come the rest of my roosters. I have a brown sex link named Prince Cluck and a Barred Rock named Kyle. Cluck is a bit on the aggressive side, but Kyle is tame. These two get along great, even though Kyle is the bottom of the pecking order and Cluck is the Top Dog.
(Here's a pic of Prince Cluck.)
I also have a polish roo and a cochin bantam (Who is in the picture with the duck.) Both are more ornamental then useful, but they haven't caused a problem yet so I still have them.
(My Polish roo.)
Then comes the last rooster, who is still a maybe. He's a barred rock, and too young to tell the gender.
I have about five or eight RIR hens, all of which are friendly but feisty. I have one bantam hen, who looks like she could be an American game bantam and she loves to boss the big hens around, though they never listen.
I have two Colombian Wyandotte hens and a white mystery hen, a few Delawares and a brown leghorn. I also have two leghorn crosses.
(One of my leghorn cross hens.)
Last but not least I have two Buff Orpington pullets and a bunch of Barred rock pullets, a RIR pullet named Kianne and a Welsummer named Paprika. I also have a Maran rock namerd Maren.
My favorite two Barred rocks are named Pepper and Salt. These two are super sweet and tame, and will willingly cuddle at any time. They, the Maran, RIR and Welsummer are several weeks older then the others.
(The first pic is Paprika and Pepper, the other is Sage, another one of the Barred Rocks.)
All my hens are great with the ducks and turkeys, but they don't really like the pigeons (Mostly because the pigeons fight them for the nesting boxes.).
That about sums up my flock. Thanks in advance to anyone who reads this!
In this article I will be telling about my flock and coop. I will start by saying that I have no idea how many chickens I have, even though I know all their names. That sounds like a problem, doesn't it? Well it's not for me.
Besides chickens I have turkeys, ducks and pigeons. I also have one Pharaoh quail hen named Cookie.
Cookie came from a local pet store, and she is one of the most recent additions to my flock. I bought her and a young male at the same time, but the male soon became a problem. He kept getting out of his cage and running off, and finally didn't come back. Cookie also got out once, (I found the small hole in the side of the cage after that) but she came back. She isn't very fond of me, but she would probably prefer the warm shed to the icy wind outside. To keep her from running away, I put her in with a batch of Cornish X meat birds I had recently brought home. I hoped she would tolerate the chicks long enough for me to mend the cage, but she surprised me.
I must point out that these chickens were only a week old, so they could not harm her. She LOVED them. This was only a week ago, and they are still together, Mama Quail and her twelve meat bird chicks (who are about her size now.) If I try to separate her, the chicks start panicking so I let them stay in the brooder together.
(Here is an image of her with her chicks.)
As far as ducks go, I have two female ducks who look like pekins, but could be white layers. I'm not sure which they are. These two ducks loved to hang out with my goose before he died, but now they content themselves with the chickens and my male muscovy. I really love my ducks, they are always super happy to see me. Their favorite treats are boiled potatoes, watermelons, scratch grains and snow. They LOVE snow. They eat it, play with it, sit in it and bury their eggs in it. It's adorable to watch.
(Here are two picks of my ducks. The first is of Omelete in the snow, and the other is Dumpling, taking a sun bath with my bantam cochin roo.)
I think of all the animals I have, my turkeys are my favorite. They are so clumsy, so silly, so impressive! At this present time I have five turkeys, three hens and two toms. Two of my hens are Heritage Bronze turkeys named Gypsy and Moth. They are about two years old. They rule the roost, and even the toms listen to them. Then I have a spainish black hen who is very interesting. She can never make up her mind wither she's a chicken or a turkey. She gets along better with the turkeys, but every once in a while she gets some strange notion in her head that she belongs in the chicken house.
My two toms are brothers. One is a Heritage Bourban Red and the other is half bronze had bourbon red. The bourban isn't fully matured yet, but he will gobble with his brother. They are ALWAYS getting into fights with my roosters, so I have to keep an eye on these two.
(I have pics of both males and my spainish black hen.)
My pigeons are the easiest to tell about, because even though I love them they are a bit boring. They hang out with each other all day and coo at me. I have two racing homers, a white female and a blue male. I also have a bunch of mixed breed fancy footed pigeons. In all I have six. My racing homer pair is a bit skittish, but they tolerate me as long as I don't touch them. The rest of the pigeons are cool with me. One of them is a young male named Squeaker, and he will nibble on my fingers if I don't give him treats.
(I have one good picture of my White racing homer, Marshmallow.)
Now... for the chickens. Like I said, I'm not sure of the exact number, so I'll start with my roos.
I have five-maybe-six roosters. One is a Colombian Wyandotte named Atilla. He is the beta roo of the flock, and has not reached his full size though he's almost two years old. He is a sweet, mellow roo and is OK with being held. I keep him with my second flock, which consists mainly of young birds and pullets who haven't started laying.
(I took this picture when I was painting and he waltzed right up onto the back deck as if he belonged there!)
Next come the rest of my roosters. I have a brown sex link named Prince Cluck and a Barred Rock named Kyle. Cluck is a bit on the aggressive side, but Kyle is tame. These two get along great, even though Kyle is the bottom of the pecking order and Cluck is the Top Dog.
(Here's a pic of Prince Cluck.)
I also have a polish roo and a cochin bantam (Who is in the picture with the duck.) Both are more ornamental then useful, but they haven't caused a problem yet so I still have them.
(My Polish roo.)
Then comes the last rooster, who is still a maybe. He's a barred rock, and too young to tell the gender.
I have about five or eight RIR hens, all of which are friendly but feisty. I have one bantam hen, who looks like she could be an American game bantam and she loves to boss the big hens around, though they never listen.
I have two Colombian Wyandotte hens and a white mystery hen, a few Delawares and a brown leghorn. I also have two leghorn crosses.
(One of my leghorn cross hens.)
Last but not least I have two Buff Orpington pullets and a bunch of Barred rock pullets, a RIR pullet named Kianne and a Welsummer named Paprika. I also have a Maran rock namerd Maren.
My favorite two Barred rocks are named Pepper and Salt. These two are super sweet and tame, and will willingly cuddle at any time. They, the Maran, RIR and Welsummer are several weeks older then the others.
(The first pic is Paprika and Pepper, the other is Sage, another one of the Barred Rocks.)
All my hens are great with the ducks and turkeys, but they don't really like the pigeons (Mostly because the pigeons fight them for the nesting boxes.).
That about sums up my flock. Thanks in advance to anyone who reads this!
