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  1. Callender Girl

    Roos, gone, hen is "crowing"

    Recently, I found a good home for my two roosters. Moses was sexed at the hatchery as a female. Billy, a Cochin Bantam who was bullied by another rooster as a chick, grew up to be a bully. He hated me, my sister and every pet sitter he ever met. Flogging, biting and side-eying me was part of his...
  2. Callender Girl

    Blood on roosts again; can't pinpoint a cause

    For the second day in a row, I've found a fair amount of blood on and under the roosts in one of my coops. None of the three hens appears to have any injury -- I've checked combs, wattles, feet, butts and bodies. The Columbian Wyandotte has blood on some of her wing and back feathers, but I...
  3. Callender Girl

    Ameraucana cockerel in Iowa

    Misidentified as a female chick at the hatchery on July 1, 2024, Moses is a beautiful boy. But I already have a rooster and didn't want or need a second one. Also, he has recently discovered that he is a virile male and is driving his pullets (and me!) crazy. His current home is near Fort...
  4. Callender Girl

    Golly, the brave (?), faces an intruder!

    When I went out last night to close coops, I heard Golly, one of my American Buff geese, hissing loudly and without stopping. The more assertive of the two girls, I've heard her hiss many times, but never like this. As I looked past one of the chicken coops, I could see Golly with her wings...
  5. Callender Girl

    RIP Celeste

    Six years ago last April, I came home with two chicks from the local farm store -- Salmon Faverolles that I named Celeste and Camille. I fell in love with their fluffy faces and feet -- and their awkward gait when they ran. They have been inseparable their entire lives. Two days ago, something...
  6. Callender Girl

    Unusual hawk experience, no fatalities

    I thought I heard a wild bird in distress this morning, and something moved underneath a weeping willow. By the time I got to the tree, whatever had been under it was gone. I heard the distress call again and scanned the landscape but couldn't see a bird anywhere. As I was heading back to the...
  7. Callender Girl

    So proud of my clever chicks!

    I had been brooding seven chicks in my upstairs bedroom and moving them to an outdoor coop/run daily, then returning them to the brooder at night. Last week, as they were seven weeks old and fully feathered, I decided it was time for them to stay outdoors full time. They liked hanging out in...
  8. Callender Girl

    Murray Fest

    Is anyone else planning to attend Murray Fest in Webster City, Iowa? From June 29-July 1, Murray McMurray Hatchery is holding "a weekend of learning and community; a "poultry and homesteading festival." If so, it would be great to meet some BYC folks in person!
  9. Callender Girl

    Cats raided a bunny nest; what to do?

    Came out to my driveway to see a cat tossing something in the air. Turns out it was a very young bunny, about the size of a chipmunk. When I got closer, I found one dead, one dying, one that was just bits left and one live bunny. I'm guessing it's at least two weeks old because its eyes are...
  10. Callender Girl

    Golly has laid her first egg of 2024

    Although the American Buff girls are usually quiet until it's light outside, I heard one of them chatting loudly when I took out the dogs. About two hours later, I took in Gussie and Golly's feed and opened their coop door. Golly, who is NEVER one to pass up a meal, hightailed it out of the run...
  11. Callender Girl

    Another great girl gone

    Marietta, my Blue-Laced Red Wyandotte, was dead in the coop yesterday morning. I am sad, but not surprised, because she was clearly slowing down recently. She was fully grown when she came to live with me almost six years ago. A family that was friends with friends of mine was selling off its...
  12. Callender Girl

    A tribute to my Honey

    Honey, a Buff Orpington and the last surviving member of my original flock, was dead in her coop this morning. She had been slowing down for some time, appeared okay Tuesday but was extremely lethargic Wednesday and refused any feed or treats. She didn't get out of the coop when I opened it...
  13. Callender Girl

    What is the likely killer?

    Came home to find a dead rooster pheasant in my yard. At first, I thought it was probably killed by a mink because I couldn't see the head. When I picked up the bird, I realized it was just lying on top of its head, with its neck bent. There was a big chunk out of the pheasant's side and a...
  14. Callender Girl

    Runner duck has priorities

    One of my runner hens, Drew, has been disappearing as soon as I release the ducks from their shelter in the morning. I was pretty sure she was sitting on eggs somewhere. But by the time I got everyone fed, she would be out of sight all day, and I couldn't find the nest until today. As I was...
  15. Callender Girl

    My little Gabby is gone

    Yesterday, my red frizzle Cochin Bantam was out with the big hens, wrestling chilled grapes away from them and scooting away with her bounty. Today, she was lethargic and wouldn't eat even a single grape. I made the first possible appointment with the avian vet, but Gabby died a half hour before...
  16. Callender Girl

    Couldn't believe what I thought I saw my duck doing

    As I looked out the window, I thought I saw one of my runners carrying an egg in her bill and then dunk that egg in the baby pool. I dashed out, and sure enough, it HAD been an egg. But it was just the emptied and very clean shell that remained. The runners like to hide their eggs in...
  17. Callender Girl

    Worried. Hen not eating, drinking

    I have a hen who has been living indoors since suffering severe frostbite and dehydration last winter. I have been raising some chicks to live with her when she moves outdoors since her former coop mates attack her and she can't fight back with partial feet and nearly no toes. She and the...
  18. Callender Girl

    Sir Henry the Loud is now silent

    Sir Henry was a magnificent Iowa Blue rooster who came here as part of a breeding trio more than seven years ago. He and the two hens, Lady Emma and Lady Louise, were mature birds then, so I don't know how old he really was. But he was the last of the original three. Yesterday morning, when I...
  19. Callender Girl

    A happy day in Eleanor's recovery

    In December, my Midnight Majesty Marans, Eleanor, experienced extreme frostbite on both feet. Despite multiple vet visits, she lost more than half of her toes and is left with feet that look like clubs. She has been living in a dog crate indoors ever since Christmas. At first, she wouldn't...
  20. Callender Girl

    Score: Rooster, 1 -- Water Jug, 0

    Billy Boy, my jerky Blue Cochin Bantam rooster, is good with his hens but has a nasty habit of launching sneak attacks on me. As I was walking down the driveway a few days ago, I became aware of a tiny presence racing up behind me. I turned and tossed an empty plastic water jug in its...
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