Chicken Tales - My First Year (and more!)

[Cinnaminute]

2022 First Flock: So last year I got my first chickens ever! June 6 I bought 6 Easter Egger chicks on impulse when I went to TSC. I had been wanting chickens and meant to get some Rhode Island Reds but at the time they didn't have any. I was absolutely not ready so I pretty much ended up keeping them in a galvanized tub inside my bathtub. I kept a heater in there so the room air was roughly around 75. I made socks full of rice that I heated in the microwave for them to cuddle up to until my brooder plate arrived a few days later. I had no food or water dishes so they ate off a paper plate and drank from one of my ferrets dishes. I swapped the water dish out pretty quick when I caught someone falling asleep with their head right on the edge of the bowl.



Not long later I moved them to a large box since they started escaping the bathtub. I ended up setting up a play area in my living room where they could run around somewhat contained by cardboard. They had their brooder plate but refused to go underneath it for warmth. They kept standing on top! Like they did with the rice socks... I had to flip the brooder plate upside down so they could actually use it. That's also when I realized they really didn't get easily cold. The house was usually around 70-75 degrees and most the time they just ran around like loonies and would briefly return for a quick warm up charge before darting off again. Some of their favorite hobbies were watching TV, perching on my arms to sleep until my arms fell asleep, and jumping out of their play area so they could belly bop each other.





I had spoken with an acquaintance well in advance about getting a coop built for the flock. They were getting some materials for super cheap (leftover stuff from their work) but their life got a bit crazy. In the end, they never found the time for a coop and I was left (again) not ready for my EE girls. Here I thought I'd be ready, but nope! Life is like that. Considering the weather was 105 on nearly a daily basis, I was also worried for their health being outside anyway so why not keep them inside longer? But I couldn't keep them contained in the living room anymore and I had no where else to put them... except for my closet. So in the closet they went and I took them for regular trips outside on days that were below 100. Note: I'd bring in stuff from outside like a plastic container full of dirt for dust bathing, branches from trees, etc. Note 2: I also had everyone named by this point! Zelda, Stitch, Kiki, Moose, Tilly, and Cleo.





New Edition: Cru(Ella) the 6mo(?) White Crested Black Polish bantam pullet
Around August, my mom found and got me a free chicken as a kind of surprise. Apparently she was getting picked on by her flock mates. I really don't know the entire story behind her. Just that the person's daughter wanted to show her and decided not to. Then they had to rehome her because their flock picked on her. I kept Ella quarantined from the others, but the first day my mom and them brought her to me, they all came right into my room. Ella even pooped on my floor barely a foot away from the others. I'm just glad in the end that Ella wasn't sick and made it through quarantine without any problems. Though I did have some scare when I encountered shed intestinal lining for the first time. Ella is a sweet bird and often hung out with me on the couch. I don't know if she ever had a chicken friend in her life, but I was hoping my girls would get along with her. I didn't realize at the time, though, that cresteds often get picked on in mixed flocks.



Outside At Last! Back to the EEs that were in my closet... I do not recommend keeping them inside the house beyond a couple months old, I really don't. Let's just say by October I was so happy I could finally get them out of the house. I bought a small starter coop just to have something to move them to in the meantime. My mom was ill too so I was having to take care of her and her responsibilities on top of my own. Plus the truck broke down and really, it was just a bad time all around. Keeping them in my closet caused so much dust. I suffer pretty bad allergies and really did not realize the extent of chicken dust until I experienced it firsthand. My closet would get coated in just a day or two which meant constant cleaning for not only my health but the chickens and really, my whole household. Besides the dust though, it was pretty precious having them so close. Felt so empty in my room when I moved them out, I was almost sad. Almost.



Ella's introduction
Thankfully Ella's quarantine was over in time to also put them out into the coop with the EEs. I also trimmed her crest to help her see better. She started laying right as I moved them outside and she got along with the others just fine. The EEs began laying later in October. Other than needing something larger for everyone, I was pretty happy with how well everything turned out! And very lucky!




Trouble in Paradise
Things got a bit troublesome in December. Ella stopped laying for the winter and suddenly she began acting fearful. She'd hide in the nest boxes most of the day and avoided the EE girls. I eventually found out that some of the EEs were picking on her but I couldn't find out who. Mid December Ella got injured. No flesh wounds, but a patch on her head got plucked bald. They got some of her pinfeathers so she was bleeding. I separated her and treated her with some Clot It. Once healed, I still kept her separated but let her free range with the others during the day. I found out that Tilly and Moose were picking on her. She was also nervous around Stitch, Zelda, and Kiki. However, she did display dominance towards Cleo and Cleo would let her. Cleo is my lowest on the pecking order so she's usually pretty easy-going.



That's it for my recap of pivotal moments in 2022! Now for 2023...

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Oh wow! Chickens it the house is so messy. I did it once and never again too. Lovely girls though and quite the adventure! Hope your sailing is smoother from here on out. Did you ever get the big coop built?

 

[TwoCrows]

You have a lovely flock, thanks for sharing their story!

 

[Farmgirl283420]

Yes wonderful! Love it!!

 

[Cinnaminute]

Thank you! And @BlindLemonChicken, I'm actually finally working on that now! Got some plans wrote up last month and began work. Sadly it won't be anything fancy but it'll be far better!

 

[Cinnaminute]

January 2023 - The Mini Molt Mystery!

Well, this actually started at the end of December 2022. Zelda's comb started getting shriveled and pale. She also stopped laying eggs, had a decrease in appetite, and mellowed out a bit. She's the dominant girl and often would peck at me when I cleaned the coop. If I reached into the run, she'd hang at the back behind everyone but charge forward at me if I handled one of the girls. Despite all that, she wasn't really mean. She was just bossy and a bit overprotective. Plus I hadn't been spending much time with them since I moved them outside. Perhaps in her mind, she ousted me from the group. Regardless these behaviors declined drastically. I started to worry that she was ill but couldn't find anything wrong. No mites, no lice, no crop issues... checked regularly to make sure she wasn't egg bound and worried if I was even checking right since I'm new...


It was January 6th when someone laid a pink egg! I thought I was very familiar with everyone's egg colors and had identified all 6's personal egg colors. In fact, I saved the shells of each girl's first egg because I'll make "fake eggs" from those shells as a little memory piece. (I still need to get to that!) But it's easy to mix up some of the girls in the dark nesting boxes and I had been very overwhelmed so it's no wonder I had things mixed up...
At first I thought that Zelda was laying weird alien eggs due to being sick (the pink color made me worry it was like, blood tinged or something). The timing couldn't have been better. But thanks to folks here, I learned about how pink eggs are brown eggs with bloom. Zelda lays weird eggs that are olive with some kind of blue bloom. The blue color vanishes when the egg is wet and comes back when it dries. So she couldn't have laid a pink one. Well, I investigated and soon realized that it was Kiki's first egg! So she was a late bloomer. It was time to figure out who was truly laying what color! Just 'cause I'm nosy.

Kiki's First Egg


Zelda's Eggs - Dry Egg (left) VS Wet Egg from Condensation (right)


Finally a few days later I started noticing Zelda was losing feathers on her head and neck. So she was molting! Tilly soon started losing feathers, then her comb paled and she stopped laying. Thankfully I knew exactly what was going on. Still weird, considering they were so young, but reading online revealed that it does seem to happen sometimes. Tilly mostly still acted herself, but she was definitely a bit crankier. While free ranging, she'd actually charge and chase Ella around! I made it a habit to supervise anytime Ella was with them and stop fights from happening.
I also noticed that the other girls ousted Tilly. They started bullying her and she began to act a lot like Ella did, hiding in the nest boxes most of the day to avoid the others. I was worried about them hurting her so I had to separate her like I did with Ella. Even Cleo, who would back down to Ella, would actually peck at and chase off Tilly. I could only theorize that they were trying to oust the "sick". I did notice some of the others trying to challenge Zelda but she held her own despite feeling icky. She's a proud girl.

Zelda Molting


Tilly Molting


By the end of the month, all concerns were (mostly) resolved. Zelda and Tilly were healthy, just molting, and enjoying scrambled eggs as treats to give them a protein boost. Tilly and Ella were separated to give them some breathing room from each other and everyone else. Ella's feathers had nearly finished growing back in on her head so she was back to her beautiful self:


And... I finally took a trip to my local feed & seed store for the first time so I could get some feed. I had an issue during the winter with pest infested feed from TSC (it was old stock but I couldn't check the dates due to ordering it online for delivery). Now that I had transportation again, the feed store definitely was the place to go. I also discovered their website and started eyeing the new chicks due to come in February! I began to wonder if I should get Ella her own flock of crested friends...

 

[Cinnaminute]

February 2023 - New Feathered Friends

The Guard Pup: Something I haven't really spoken about yet here is that I've been trying to train my Shetland Sheepdog puppy to guard the chickens. My family got him for me July last year and he's pretty much been around them since. I'm not sure if he'll be a good protector, but he absolutely adores the chickens. In fact, I think he thinks he IS a chicken. Everything the chickens eat, he wants; zucchini, spinach, cabbage, you name it. He's even gone after their feed.

He's really good at watching them. He'll follow them around the yard and if they're split into groups, he'll check each group out at a time. It took some time for them to ignore his puppy antics, but they don't mind him now and he's learned to be a bit more careful. They still get tail slapped from time to time but they have such a good attitude about it!


Ella's Return to Laying:
I forgot to mention that Ella started laying again January 30th! I also noticed the EEs began to treat Ella nicely again. The only one who bullied her was Tilly, but everyone else suddenly change their opinion of her. Chickens can be so weird sometimes!


Reserving Chicks!
As for the chicks... I continued to peruse my local feed & seed store's expected chicks. A breed I wasn't familiar with caught my eye: Crevecoeur. After looking into them, I decided they might get along great with Ella since they're crested and the same color as her. I got my heart set on getting 2-3 of them on the 10th when they were due to arrive. However, as I checked the feed store's site daily for updates on other breeds coming in, I noticed various breed types getting reserved out. I made the call to reserve a few Crevecoeurs and my family wanted me reserve 4 of the 6 they had left so I did.

But then later after some discussion, my family wanted to reserve a couple Rhode Island Reds. I had them handle the call for me at the time, which was a mistake? blessing? Probably both. ♥ They went ahead and reserved the other 2 Crevecoeurs as well as the last RIR that wasn't reserved out of the February 10th bunch. Then they reserved 2 Leghorns that would be coming in February 24th. Here I am trying to be responsible and not give in to my love of chickens too much and here they are feeding my addictions!

New Chicks Arrived! Needless to say, I was very excited to see my new chicks! I already had some name ideas ready. The Rhode Island Red I named Marceline. The Crevecoeurs I needed to be able to tell apart first. So I put into use my nicknaming!

Milk Mustache - The white on her beak blended in to the white around her beak.
Big Mustache - Two little white lines above beak like a mustache, the bigger of the two.
Little Mustache - Two little white lines above beak like a mustache, the smaller of the two.
Big Grey - Lots of grey in the crest.
Little Grey - A little grey stripe in the crest.
Blackie - No color in crest; all black. Also the smallest chick.

Unlike my EEs, these girls took to the brooder plate properly so that was also a relief!




Day 1: Pasty Butt & The Chick Who Wouldn't Eat But Also Struggled to Poop
Seems I was in for a bit of trouble with these chicks. I had dealt with pasty butt once before with my EEs. Pretty sure it was Moose who I found had pasty butt when I got my EEs home. But it was also a very hot day and our AC in the truck didn't work well. A quick cleanup and I never saw pasty butt again.

Well, I got my chicks into their brooder. Showed them all their food and water. Everyone except Blackie ate and drank. I let it be for a while. I checked everyone for pasty butt not long after. I had to cleanup Blackie and another chick that I don't remember. Blackie's pasty butt wasn't too bad. The other chick, however, had quite a plug. Not the worst but it took a bit more time to get off her and boy did she have a pretty big BM after that.

Later that day I got worried about Blackie. I saw her squat and tremble. It didn't really click what she was trying to do until I saw her do it again; she stood up really really tall and trembled as she squatted down. She was trying to poop? But she also wasn't eating. I offered her the feed wetted down but she wouldn't eat that either. My family and I decided to give her scrambled egg and it did the trick! She gobbled so much down and finally started pooping without struggling! She still didn't want the dry feed so I tried to the wet feed again and she finally ate it! Such a relief!

Week 1: Names! And the end of Pasty Butt!
As I got to know my new girls, I started handing out names!

Milk Mustache - Mim
Big Mustache - Yzma
Little Mustache - Helga
Big Grey - Leslie
Little Grey - Gaz
Blackie - Alice

Alice soon began eating her dry feed. Sadly that first day was not the end of pasty butt. Alice got pasty butt about twice more which isn't a lot but I had to keep my eye on her for a few days as a sanity check; I checked her morning and night. My setup was fairly similar to my first girls' setup; home varies from 65-75 degrees so they had both their cool and warm spot. I didn't understand what was wrong. But thankfully it cleared up in those first few days.

Alice Starts Coughing - Aspiration? Also poop ball toes...
February 21st I had an unforeseen issue again. It was the first day I introduced dirt to everyone and they had a blast, dust bathing and eating the dirt. I also switched them to partial straw bedding since they had started getting poop balls on their toes and that was a thing I had to clean off every day multiple times a day.

Later that evening I offered some wet feed for a treat. It had been a couple days since I fed them some. They all started gobbling it down greedily. Yzma and Alice both had to pause and take a bit more effort to swallow their mouthful because I think they nearly choked themselves on it. Yzma recovered just fine and went back to eating (although I took the food away a moment later). Alice, however, sneezed a couple times. After that, she coughed again and again. For hours straight, she had a chronic cough. I at first wondered if it was the dirt, did something make them sick and it's just showing now? Did her airways get irritated and the food made it worse? Or was it the straw dust? I removed the straw. I was panicking. I've never seen them choke before, so why would they now? Especially when they had plenty of dry food still. No one was particularly hungry. Then I realized that she might've aspirated some of the wet food. Sadly the next day, the cough wasn't gone. Nor the next...

February 23rd - Ella's Green Poop
As if I needed yet another thing to stress over, I was doing my morning rounds when I saw that Ella had pooped green all night long. She also wasn't interested in her food despite not eating all night long. It dawned on me that I haven't seen any eggs from her for about 3-4 days too. She just started laying 3 weeks ago and suddenly stops? I checked her and she didn't feel egg bound. I felt her crop but it just felt empty.

Thanks to the wonderful folks here, I was told her poop wasn't particularly concerning. Likely from something she ate. But she had only been eating Purina Flock Raiser pellets for the past 40ish hours (she didn't go out foraging the prior day). The idea was that she might've eating some red clay. I had no idea that could cause such a reaction!


I decided to quarantine her for a few days just to be on the safe side but nothing changed. She had a weak appetite and consistently pooped green. I finally let her out into an enclosed area of the yard separate from everyone and she spent the day mostly eating dirt.


A few hours later she started pooping brown (all that dirt she ate) and after a few days her appetite finally came back. She would poop green during the night and normal during the day. It took a few more days but she finally stopped pooping green. Glad she got that out of her system but it sure gave me a scare at a very inopportune time! But it's all about the learning process! And I'd rather be worried than not. Always good to err on the side of caution and be vigilant.

Leghorn Chicks!
Of course, the day after Ella started pooping green, it was time to pick up my Leghorn chicks. I felt sad that I wasn't mentally or emotionally ready for them. Alice was still coughing, Ella was pooping green... I was pretty stressed and questioning whether I should even get the Leghorn chicks. I also didn't like that they were 2 weeks apart in age from the other new girls so I couldn't put them all together and I only had the one brooder plate.

Still, I went to get them anyway! Both very sweet, timid chicks and thankfully no pasty butt! I named the lightest one Tirdy (right) and the darker one Gretchen (left). I realized right away the difference in temperament. They were far more skittish than the EEs, Crevecoeurs, and RIR.


I went ahead and got the space heater going in a room for the older girls so they could stay a tad warmer without the brooder plate. They were already rarely using it anyway so I figured they'd be okay.



February 27th - Sour Crop???
I'm still not quite sure if it was sour crop, but the symptoms all point to it. The 27th started out fairly normal. I keep a sleeping box in the bathroom for the older 7 chicks with the space heater on low. They go in there at night. During the day, I bring them to a play area I have setup in the living room next to my couch.

Everyone was running around and having fun. Marceline was normal to start off with. She ran around playing too. But late morning she suddenly started just standing around doing nothing. After about 30 minutes I realized she was acting lethargic. I picked her up and she just cuddled into my hand. She's very calm about being handled but is always far more active; looking around and such. But she just fell asleep in my hand as I was walking around the room. I had to run to the store and when I got back, she was still lethargic. I finally thought to check her crop. It felt full but it was just squishy like it was full of air. I began gently massaging her crop and wondering how the heck this could happen. She seemed to really enjoy the massage. I ran back out to the store after that and got some Miconazole cream and plain Greek yogurt for her.

I couldn't get Marcy to eat, though. Not their feed, not the yogurt, not scrambled egg, not the medicine... I managed to get a tiny bit in her beak and then massaged her about once an hour. After a few hours, she pooped and suddenly perked right up. She began to eat and behave normal again. Thank goodness.


End of February, End of Troubles?
Despite all the various happenings, I'm glad things seemed to be going well and grateful nothing tragic happened! Marcy was getting her medicine once in the morning and once at night. She had one more little bout of her crop getting gassy? again. I massaged her again and I felt a couple bubbles move or pop or something? Regardless, that was the last time she had a soft squishy crop. So Marcy was on her way to recovery. Ella was starting to poop normal again so she was on her way to recovery. The only real concern was Alice's coughing that still hadn't gone away.

Marceline


Alice

Despite everything, everyone was seemingly doing great! The older chicks were also already flying around a lot more than my EEs did at that age.


Yzma always visits me:

Helga (left) Yzma (right) The Two Mustache Girls


I even let the Leghorns play with the older chicks; supervised only. Tirdy is the bravest one. She squeezed in there in between two of the big girls! Gretchen is more timid.




Here's to a more peaceful, healthier March! ♥ And the chicks' first trips outside!

 

[TwoCrows]

February 2023 - New Feathered Friends

The Guard Pup: Something I haven't really spoken about yet here is that I've been trying to train my Shetland Sheepdog puppy to guard the chickens. My family got him for me July last year and he's pretty much been around them since. I'm not sure if he'll be a good protector, but he absolutely adores the chickens. In fact, I think he thinks he IS a chicken. Everything the chickens eat, he wants; zucchini, spinach, cabbage, you name it. He's even gone after their feed.

He's really good at watching them. He'll follow them around the yard and if they're split into groups, he'll check each group out at a time. It took some time for them to ignore his puppy antics, but they don't mind him now and he's learned to be a bit more careful. They still get tail slapped from time to time but they have such a good attitude about it!
View attachment 3424170

Ella's Return to Laying:
I forgot to mention that Ella started laying again January 30th! I also noticed the EEs began to treat Ella nicely again. The only one who bullied her was Tilly, but everyone else suddenly change their opinion of her. Chickens can be so weird sometimes!
View attachment 3427953

Reserving Chicks!
As for the chicks... I continued to peruse my local feed & seed store's expected chicks. A breed I wasn't familiar with caught my eye: Crevecoeur. After looking into them, I decided they might get along great with Ella since they're crested and the same color as her. I got my heart set on getting 2-3 of them on the 10th when they were due to arrive. However, as I checked the feed store's site daily for updates on other breeds coming in, I noticed various breed types getting reserved out. I made the call to reserve a few Crevecoeurs and my family wanted me reserve 4 of the 6 they had left so I did.

But then later after some discussion, my family wanted to reserve a couple Rhode Island Reds. I had them handle the call for me at the time, which was a mistake? blessing? Probably both. ♥ They went ahead and reserved the other 2 Crevecoeurs as well as the last RIR that wasn't reserved out of the February 10th bunch. Then they reserved 2 Leghorns that would be coming in February 24th. Here I am trying to be responsible and not give in to my love of chickens too much and here they are feeding my addictions!

New Chicks Arrived! Needless to say, I was very excited to see my new chicks! I already had some name ideas ready. The Rhode Island Red I named Marceline. The Crevecoeurs I needed to be able to tell apart first. So I put into use my nicknaming!

Milk Mustache - The white on her beak blended in to the white around her beak.
Big Mustache - Two little white lines above beak like a mustache, the bigger of the two.
Little Mustache - Two little white lines above beak like a mustache, the smaller of the two.
Big Grey - Lots of grey in the crest.
Little Grey - A little grey stripe in the crest.
Blackie - No color in crest; all black. Also the smallest chick.

Unlike my EEs, these girls took to the brooder plate properly so that was also a relief!

View attachment 3424176
View attachment 3424178

Day 1: Pasty Butt & The Chick Who Wouldn't Eat But Also Struggled to Poop
Seems I was in for a bit of trouble with these chicks. I had dealt with pasty butt once before with my EEs. Pretty sure it was Moose who I found had pasty butt when I got my EEs home. But it was also a very hot day and our AC in the truck didn't work well. A quick cleanup and I never saw pasty butt again.

Well, I got my chicks into their brooder. Showed them all their food and water. Everyone except Blackie ate and drank. I let it be for a while. I checked everyone for pasty butt not long after. I had to cleanup Blackie and another chick that I don't remember. Blackie's pasty butt wasn't too bad. The other chick, however, had quite a plug. Not the worst but it took a bit more time to get off her and boy did she have a pretty big BM after that.

Later that day I got worried about Blackie. I saw her squat and tremble. It didn't really click what she was trying to do until I saw her do it again; she stood up really really tall and trembled as she squatted down. She was trying to poop? But she also wasn't eating. I offered her the feed wetted down but she wouldn't eat that either. My family and I decided to give her scrambled egg and it did the trick! She gobbled so much down and finally started pooping without struggling! She still didn't want the dry feed so I tried to the wet feed again and she finally ate it! Such a relief!

Week 1: Names! And the end of Pasty Butt!
As I got to know my new girls, I started handing out names!

Milk Mustache - Mim
Big Mustache - Yzma
Little Mustache - Helga
Big Grey - Leslie
Little Grey - Gaz
Blackie - Alice

Alice soon began eating her dry feed. Sadly that first day was not the end of pasty butt. Alice got pasty butt about twice more which isn't a lot but I had to keep my eye on her for a few days as a sanity check; I checked her morning and night. My setup was fairly similar to my first girls' setup; home varies from 65-75 degrees so they had both their cool and warm spot. I didn't understand what was wrong. But thankfully it cleared up in those first few days.

Alice Starts Coughing - Aspiration? Also poop ball toes...
February 21st I had an unforeseen issue again. It was the first day I introduced dirt to everyone and they had a blast, dust bathing and eating the dirt. I also switched them to partial straw bedding since they had started getting poop balls on their toes and that was a thing I had to clean off every day multiple times a day.
View attachment 3427877
Later that evening I offered some wet feed for a treat. It had been a couple days since I fed them some. They all started gobbling it down greedily. Yzma and Alice both had to pause and take a bit more effort to swallow their mouthful because I think they nearly choked themselves on it. Yzma recovered just fine and went back to eating (although I took the food away a moment later). Alice, however, sneezed a couple times. After that, she coughed again and again. For hours straight, she had a chronic cough. I at first wondered if it was the dirt, did something make them sick and it's just showing now? Did her airways get irritated and the food made it worse? Or was it the straw dust? I removed the straw. I was panicking. I've never seen them choke before, so why would they now? Especially when they had plenty of dry food still. No one was particularly hungry. Then I realized that she might've aspirated some of the wet food. Sadly the next day, the cough wasn't gone. Nor the next...

February 23rd - Ella's Green Poop
As if I needed yet another thing to stress over, I was doing my morning rounds when I saw that Ella had pooped green all night long. She also wasn't interested in her food despite not eating all night long. It dawned on me that I haven't seen any eggs from her for about 3-4 days too. She just started laying 3 weeks ago and suddenly stops? I checked her and she didn't feel egg bound. I felt her crop but it just felt empty.

Thanks to the wonderful folks here, I was told her poop wasn't particularly concerning. Likely from something she ate. But she had only been eating Purina Flock Raiser pellets for the past 40ish hours (she didn't go out foraging the prior day). The idea was that she might've eating some red clay. I had no idea that could cause such a reaction!
View attachment 3427885

I decided to quarantine her for a few days just to be on the safe side but nothing changed. She had a weak appetite and consistently pooped green. I finally let her out into an enclosed area of the yard separate from everyone and she spent the day mostly eating dirt.
View attachment 3427914

A few hours later she started pooping brown (all that dirt she ate) and after a few days her appetite finally came back. She would poop green during the night and normal during the day. It took a few more days but she finally stopped pooping green. Glad she got that out of her system but it sure gave me a scare at a very inopportune time! But it's all about the learning process! And I'd rather be worried than not. Always good to err on the side of caution and be vigilant.

Leghorn Chicks!
Of course, the day after Ella started pooping green, it was time to pick up my Leghorn chicks. I felt sad that I wasn't mentally or emotionally ready for them. Alice was still coughing, Ella was pooping green... I was pretty stressed and questioning whether I should even get the Leghorn chicks. I also didn't like that they were 2 weeks apart in age from the other new girls so I couldn't put them all together and I only had the one brooder plate.

Still, I went to get them anyway! Both very sweet, timid chicks and thankfully no pasty butt! I named the lightest one Tirdy (right) and the darker one Gretchen (left). I realized right away the difference in temperament. They were far more skittish than the EEs, Crevecoeurs, and RIR.
View attachment 3427924

I went ahead and got the space heater going in a room for the older girls so they could stay a tad warmer without the brooder plate. They were already rarely using it anyway so I figured they'd be okay.
View attachment 3427925
View attachment 3427926

February 27th - Sour Crop???
I'm still not quite sure if it was sour crop, but the symptoms all point to it. The 27th started out fairly normal. I keep a sleeping box in the bathroom for the older 7 chicks with the space heater on low. They go in there at night. During the day, I bring them to a play area I have setup in the living room next to my couch.

Everyone was running around and having fun. Marceline was normal to start off with. She ran around playing too. But late morning she suddenly started just standing around doing nothing. After about 30 minutes I realized she was acting lethargic. I picked her up and she just cuddled into my hand. She's very calm about being handled but is always far more active; looking around and such. But she just fell asleep in my hand as I was walking around the room. I had to run to the store and when I got back, she was still lethargic. I finally thought to check her crop. It felt full but it was just squishy like it was full of air. I began gently massaging her crop and wondering how the heck this could happen. She seemed to really enjoy the massage. I ran back out to the store after that and got some Miconazole cream and plain Greek yogurt for her.

I couldn't get Marcy to eat, though. Not their feed, not the yogurt, not scrambled egg, not the medicine... I managed to get a tiny bit in her beak and then massaged her about once an hour. After a few hours, she pooped and suddenly perked right up. She began to eat and behave normal again. Thank goodness.
View attachment 3427936

End of February, End of Troubles?
Despite all the various happenings, I'm glad things seemed to be going well and grateful nothing tragic happened! Marcy was getting her medicine once in the morning and once at night. She had one more little bout of her crop getting gassy? again. I massaged her again and I felt a couple bubbles move or pop or something? Regardless, that was the last time she had a soft squishy crop. So Marcy was on her way to recovery. Ella was starting to poop normal again so she was on her way to recovery. The only real concern was Alice's coughing that still hadn't gone away.

Marceline
View attachment 3427940

Alice
View attachment 3427941
Despite everything, everyone was seemingly doing great! The older chicks were also already flying around a lot more than my EEs did at that age.


Yzma always visits me:
View attachment 3427945
Helga (left) Yzma (right) The Two Mustache Girls
View attachment 3427943

I even let the Leghorns play with the older chicks; supervised only. Tirdy is the bravest one. She squeezed in there in between two of the big girls! Gretchen is more timid.
View attachment 3427944

View attachment 3427942

Here's to a more peaceful, healthier March! ♥ And the chicks' first trips outside!

Adorable! Thanks for sharing!

 

[aynesidea]

Adorable! Thanks for sharing!

Your pup is a herding dog, my Sheltie was a guard dog too.

 

[Cinnaminute]

March 2023 - Bonding with the Babies

Zelda & Tilly Return to Laying
Seems Zelda and Tilly finally finished their mini molts! They both have returned to laying eggs and all the EE girls are producing so wonderfully! Tilly's return to lay also calmed down the fighting; seems they've let her back into their clique. I guess they realized there's nothing wrong with Tilly. Silly birds! It's good seeing all 6 get along again.

Zelda (who for some reason was not happy about me taking her photo)

Zelda (left) Tilly (right) Fiasco (photo-bombing on the far right)


Ella... Molting?
Alright so, I think Ella might be going through a mini molt? Ella! It's spring, girl! But yeah, her poop is normal again and her appetite is a tad on the low side but it's still decent; she shows interest in her food in the morning and treats even though she doesn't eat quite as much. I've noticed though... feathers! So many feathers! Most are black but some are even white ones from her head. So this would explain the lack of eggs and just general weirdness. Chickens really are weird. But I love them! Haha!



Gretchen's Slow Feathering Out - Uh oh... could it be?
So, as Tirdy and Gretchen (my white Leghorn chicks) have been getting older, I noticed right away that Gretchen was different. Tirdy grew her tail and wing feathers so quick just as every other chick I've had has done. But Gretchen... 2 weeks came quick and Gretchen still had no tail feathers! I've never seen anything like it. Not to mention, Gretchen barely has any wing feathers. I'm used to 2 week old chicks beginning to perch and balance but Gretchen just can't very well. It's not that s(he) is small, either. Gretchen quickly got bigger than Tirdy, but just looks like a giant chick!
And yet, I also grew suspicious... is Gretchen... a cockerel? I'm new to chickens and I've never been around a rooster, except for the ones I passed by at the feed store last month.

Tirdy (March 4th)


Gretchen being a boss baby (March 4th)


Tirdy & Gretchen (March 4th)
]

First Trip Outdoors - Meeting Ella & The Others!
March 6th I decided to take the older chicks on a trip outside to meet Ella and the EEs! Everyone has been healthy and happy and the weather was nice so I figured it would be a great day for it! Ella seemed fascinated by them and just hung around them the entire time. She started scratching around foraging and even spent some time sunbathing next to their cage. They were pretty nervous at first, but Ella's presence calmed them down. They got so used to her that they would fuss if her or I weren't there near them. For some reason, however, my EE girls were spooked by the babies. They stayed on the opposite side of the yard the whole time the babies were outside! And when they saw me bringing them out, they took off running! Clearly they were worried someone would accuse them of being the mother.



The Case of the Frightening Sunflower Shirt!
Okay so this was pretty weird. Let me begin by saying I have worn all sorts of different clothes around my EEs. They have seen me in everything. So they've seen a lot of different colors, patterns, and cartoon characters. Usually if it's new, they just peck at the patterns for a bit before moving on. Like my new galoshes I got last month. Chicken pecked and approved!


I wanted a long sleeve dark shirt for working outside and decided to get one plain and one with sunflowers on it. Well, I went outside as normal to let the girls out to free range. They seemed excited to see me but as soon as I reached for the door, sheer panic! They all started flapping and charging in different directions before most of them darted back into the coop box. What? When I moved out of the way, they cautiously ran out into the yard. Okay... They then proceeded to avoid me the entire time I was out there. That's when I knew something was up. Only Ella wasn't scared because she can't see above her (she needs her crest trimmed more.) I had to go inside and change my shirt before they let me near them again. I wonder if they thought the sunflowers looked like eyeballs? Anyone else have this happen?


March 13th - Wattles!
I noticed Marcy's wattles coming in! She's got a tad bit of pink on her comb too. She's awfully young for that. I've had her for 31 days and she was probably a few days old when I got her, so she's not quite 5 weeks old. Please please please be a pullet!

Marcy (March 13th)


Not just Marcy, though! Gretchen, too, seems to be showing some wattles! But Gretchen is even younger than Marcy! Two weeks younger, in fact! With the slow feathering and signs of wattles so young... I feel pretty certain Gretchen is a cockerel. I kept wondering if I'd end up with a roo this time and Gretchen may very well be a Foghorn Leghorn, I say!

Gretchen (or) Filburt (March 14th)



Just look at that grumpy face! ♥


First Trip Outdoors - Tirdy & Gretchen(Filburt) Edition (March 19th)
Since they're a little over 3 weeks old now, I figured my two little Leghorn babies need to start having trips outside. Been trying to find a day of good weather since we've had a cold snap and I don't want the babies getting too cold. The big babies are used to going outside daily for about an hour, so they're always eager. Tirdy & Gretchen(Filburt) were only a tad nervous at first, but seeing the big babies that they're familiar with and seeing Ella (who always hangs near the chicks when they're outdoors) seemed to calm them. They had a great time!



They were so sleepy after all the fun. And they've been getting really cuddly as of late. ♥

Gretchen/Filburt (left) Tirdy (right)

Tirdy lookin' back with such sass:

Gretchen(Filburt)


March 28th - Ella Return to Laying!
Ella seems to be over her weirdness! No more feather loss, eating normal, and she finally laid an egg again! I guess I'll just have to remember that Ella gets a little odd sometimes.

The white egg is Ella's. From left to right we have: Moose, Kiki, Ella, Zelda, Cleo, & Tilly.


March 29th - Stitch's Eye Injury
So today was a pretty normal day. I had all the chickens out in the yard (babies in the kennel run and big girls free ranging). I decided to spend some time gardening on my front porch; filling up my porch boxes with dirt at the moment. I'm hoping to fill all of this up with herbs and flowers! My mom had these built over a year ago as a gift to me so I'm pretty excited to finally be using them.


Well, on one of my trips to the backyard, I saw Stitch laying between the kennel and the gate around the hvac. I couldn't tell if anything was wrong. She was just laying there near the babies. She stood up and approached me when I called her. After I walked on, she just laid back down over there. My next visit to the yard, I couldn't find her. The other 5 ran up hoping for treats but she was nowhere to be seen. Finally found her in their little run but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Now, I want to note that I'm near-sighted and have no contacts - I'm spooked by the concept. My glasses are pretty beaten up and old so I can't wear them when doing any activity other than sitting.
My third visit to the yard, I saw Stitch standing out in the open with her right eye closed (that much detail I can see from a distance). Something was wrong so I got up close and saw that her eye was really red. She had a slight cut on her face, ear, and eyelid. I'm worried she scraped her eye. I put her in a box. She just laid there resting with her eye closed, the poor dear. I could tell she was hurting. I went to the store up the street and couldn't find anything worth using on her. I had to homemake a saline solution to flush her eye with (I have no idea why no stores around me carry it). I did get an off-brand Neosporin cream (no neomycin, just the other two active ingredients in petrolatum). When I got back, however, she was much more active. Feisty enough to escape me and run me around the living room. I opted not to use the cream for now. Her eye doesn't look too bad, just red instead of the normal color, and she wasn't resting it anymore. I still flushed it and gave her a whole hard boiled egg to enjoy afterwards for being such a good girl. Here's hoping it heals nicely. I also treated the small cuts on her although they had already scabbed up by this point.

Very blurry, but you can tell she hurts.


March 30th - Stitch is okay!
I don't know if what I did was of any help, really, but in the morning she was loudly protesting her confinement in the box. She wasn't resting her eye anymore and it didn't look half as red as it did the day before. I rinsed with my homemade saline solution one more time before returning her to the coop with everyone. However, I noticed Kiki started bullying her for no apparent reason. I removed Kiki for a few hours and returned her when I let them out to forage. I really don't get why this random in-fighting happens. I had wondered at first if she was injured on some sharp edges on a piece of chicken wire in the yard. That's still very likely, but I'm now wondering if this happened due to a spat with Kiki. I'll be keeping a close watch on things.

Stitch - You can see the bit of red on her eye where it got injured and the cut on her face.


End of March - They Grow Up So Fast!

I can't believe it's the 31st already. Plants and flowers are sprouting, my allergies have been through the roof, and my babies are growing up! The older baby chicks are now 7wks old and the Leghorns are 5wks. To celebrate, I took nice pictures of everyone!

5wk - Gretchen(Filburt) is finally getting feathers! Look at that little tail! I'm still convinced they're a cockerel but only time will truly tell. They do get to stomping sometimes! Little foot tapping here and there. Such a cutie!


5wk - Tirdy is as feisty as ever! I love her energy! She plays a bit hard-to-get with Filburt. She has a very independent spirit.


7wk - Marceline is such an odd one. Maybe because she's raised with 6 Crevecoeurs! Don't let her fierce looks fool you, she's very sweet and calm. A little concerned still about all that red on the comb and wattles! But I'm still betting on Marcy being a she.


7wk - Alice is such a beauty and a sweetheart. She already comes to her name. Thankfully her crooked beak isn't too bad; she's still eating and drinking easily enough. It seems her top beak is shorter than the bottom. I don't think there's much I can do for her currently, but I'm still keeping a close eye on it.


7wk - Gaz is a cutie! She's got a lot of spunk. And I just love the beard+cheek puffs! Sometimes at first glance she reminds me of Alice; they both have a smaller, rounder head.


7wk - Helga is a bit more distant than the others, but she's super sweet. She seems to be very trusting of me. I tend to get her and Leslie mixed up due to their longer heads. If it wasn't for Leslie's strange crest, I would not be able to tell them apart. Helga, like Leslie, also has a bit of the wattles showing!


7wk - Leslie is probably the most distant of the bunch. She's also a bit anxious; she cheeps a lot and very loudly when she gets separated from the others. The others don't fuss because they're used to being separated for short spans, like when I'm carrying them to and from their play area. But Leslie will always fuss no matter now normal it is. She also was the only baby with the flattest head and tiniest crest. Nowadays her crest is growing in a bit lopsided so between that and the fussing, it's easy to know it's Leslie!


7wk - Mim is very calm and laid back. Somehow she's always the last one I grab up because she's so still. It's really odd that her beak has always been whitish. Again, I'm loving the beard and cheek puffs!


7wk - Yzma is a darling and she's the biggest of the bunch! She's a little feisty and funky but very tame at the same time. She reminds me of Ella the most. Her crest is also so large that it's blocking her right eye. She already needs a trim!


10mo Easter Eggers - Meanwhile, my first babies! Only a couple months to go before they're officially hens! And my very first chickens ever! They hold a very special place in my heart. I just wish they didn't hate getting their pictures taken as much as I do.

Zelda (right) with Tilly (left) - Zelda realized I was taking photos and decided to let me get one good one.


Kiki, the only one willing to actually pose for me several times.


Stitch - clearly this is what she thought of my photo taking. Talk to the fuzz butt!


Moose (right) kept as much space between her and I as possible when she saw the camera. This was all I could get of her, sadly. Caught her coming out of hiding from behind Stitch.


Tilly didn't really care so thankfully hers was decent. She still wasn't amused.


Cleo was as elusive as Moose. I'll take what I can get.


Last but not least, Ella! She's supposed to be around 1yr 1mo now. So she's my only official hen! I adore this goofy bird. She's always willing to give me a pose! Such a sweetheart.


Coming next month: The New Coops & Runs I've been working on!