Eva’s Friends

[Evadig]

@Mantisquailman
@CloneFly
@N F C
@Callender Girl
@BantyChooks
And anyone else who's interested...come see what I got!
Three Mottled Javas and a Buff Brahma!

 

[Evadig]

Happy Easter!

Today was warm(er) - it got up to sixty degrees. The chicks had their first outing today. They are 2.5 weeks old so I am hoping I can put them out in the coop by next week. This morning when I came home from church I found Hope had flown out of the brooder. She had made quite the mess on my bathroom floor.

There isn't much of an update to give but I took lots of pictures. I hope you enjoy them!

Jenny (left) and Prudence sharing a nest box​

Yogurt with chicken granola (mealworms!)​

The beauty of a mixed flock (enjoying the yogurt)​

Winnie's beautiful feathers​

Rose​

George preparing to attack​

Winston Churchill​

Brianna​

Front to back: Frank, George, Matt, Rita​

Annie Beth (she's almost sixteen weeks!)​

Annie Beth and Eva​

Eva got a haircut for Easter​

Lyd is brave enough to try stealing food from under Eva's nose​

Matilda​

Left to right: Charity, Patience, Faith, Hope​

Eva loves her friends.​

 

[Evadig]

I guess it’s time for another update. The chicks are 3.5 weeks old already. It’s incredible how fast and slow that seems at the same time.

They had to move into another brooder - a pop-up rabbit pen. They’d outgrown the plastic bin in two weeks. If I did this over again, I’d put them directly into the rabbit pen.

While they were still in the plastic bin I took away the heat lamp around two weeks, but since they’ve moved out into my bedroom I gave it back to them since they seemed cold. They sleep under it and enjoy running around the rest of their brooder.

They seem to be a lot smarter than my big hens, who were raised in a hotel - they can already roost, though they don’t do it all night, and they don’t cry when I shut the lights off. Good chickies!

(All the chick pictures were taken at night ‘cause I couldn’t sleep).

The new brooder (pop-out rabbit pen)

Checking out the new roost

Hope was the first to try it out…

The pond after the rainstorm. I wish I had a picture of the ducks enjoying it but they just wouldn’t stay still.

Eva has Lyme disease and anaplasmosis (another disease from ticks).

Random picture of the week: New Hampshire State Capitol

 

[Evadig]

The chicks are five weeks old today. They are growing so fast, it seems like lightyears ago that they were just little balls of fluff. I wish I had been able to get more good pictures of that time. The upside is, they are more curious and willing to perch on my hand now. They have also recently begun associating me with treats, so I guess now is a good time to start teaching them to come.

I think Matilda has gone broody, or is going to. I don't know. For the last week she'd spent most of every day on some eggs, but at night I took her off the nest and she'd go to roost. I thought it was because she either forgot to get off the nest or didn't know how to back up (you'll see in the picture that it's in this narrow space). But every morning she would run back to the nest and sit there all day until bedtime. For the last two nights I decided to let her be, and she has stayed on her nest. She doesn't puff up or anything, and I haven't seen any feathers pulled out. So I don't know what to make of her.

I was gone to D.C. overnight, and left a full four gallon waterer in Frank and Rita's pen. Somehow they managed to spill that whole thing. They must have got scared during the night?

A personal addendum...we were in D.C. on business, but in the evening we watched the planes come in at Reagan Airport. Then at night drove down to the Capitol. It was beautiful - the white marble dome against the dark sky. Unfortunately, the drive back was not fun as there is construction on the freeway. It was a good trip, though!

Here are the pictures, both of Eva's friends and D.C. I hope there are not too many of them!

Patience

Rose looking at the chickies

A chick - I think it is Hope

A somewhat unusual shot of Amelia hopping into the sandbox; the black one is Alice

Can you spot the chickens? There are four. Bonus points if you can name them!

Here's Matilda on her nest (which is in the duck pen!). Her feathers are up because she was preening them.

Matt and George in their house

Jenny

Frank

Annie and Eva in the sunset

Sunset over the foothills of the Appalachian (App-a-latch-an) Mountains

Airliner landing at Reagan National Airport

The United States Capitol

 

[BockityBockBock]

Nice thread and great pictures of all your cute critters! You've got a beautiful bunch of babies (they're all babies to me no matter their age)!

 

[CCsGarden]

It's been a long week since I last posted. Now I can't remember everything I wanted to say.

Chickies went into Apartment No. 1 of the Muddy Run last Monday. After a few days of putting them up to bed in the nest box at night, they are perching! They are the smartest birds I've had!

Of course, putting them in there required moving the Biddies out. They now reside in No. 2, and the Big Hens with Winston live in No. 3. The turkeys get to perch in the hallway on a nice flat board.

We saw a fox this morning about a quarter mile away. Unsupervised free ranging is no longer authorized...

Spring semester is out next week, so I haven't had time to take many pictures. I have to write two news articles, create a youtube video, and come up with a report on a topic that I don't have firsthand experience with - all of which is due this Friday!

Hope and Charity getting big! They're seven weeks this Wednesday.
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Hens in the converted turkey run - Apt. No. 3
View attachment 3815839

Turkeys' new roost in the hallway above the goose pen
View attachment 3815840

Closeup of the nesting box in No. 3
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Wow! I didn't realize you had that many animals!!

 

[Evadig]

Wow! I didn't realize you had that many animals!!

I think we have 37 total...

 

[CCsGarden]

I think we have 37 total...

nice! I had 23 but 4 died

 

[Evadig]

Good evening y'all...
I'm trying to return to my biweekly schedule, hence the back to back posts .

I forgot to say that in my previous post that a fifty lb. bag of food lasts ten days when you're feeding twelve chickens, three ducks, four geese, and two turkeys.

There isn't a lot to report in two days. I have upgraded the security to the Sentinel Coop. It had me worried because the hardware fabric was just stapled to the wood with cheap staples. So I used washers and screws to affix the fabric better.

I also have put down sand in the coop, because I was tired of wasting pine shavings when they're just pooping on them, so we'll see how that goes.

I remember a thread where someone wanted to put an addition to the Sentinel coop, so here's how I did mine. Maybe I should make a coop article instead of posting it here, but for now...

The area of the run inside the S coop is roughly 18 sq. ft. (6 x 3). I knew I wanted to have three birds in the coop (a rooster and two hens) so I built a 6 x 4 run on the back for a total of 42 sq. ft.

I started by laying down four 2 x 4's to form a frame.

Then added two corner posts...

...followed by two slanted posts. These hold up the top part of the frame.


After that I stapled the hardware fabric onto the sides with Helen's supervision.

A OSB board laying around was screwed on for the roof.

The hardware fabric was ziptied with the strongest ties I could find to the metal frame.

Folding it over the door was the hardest part, as I was trying to hold it down and ziptie it at the same time (I was alone).

The last step was to fill in the gaps between the frame and the hardware fabric. This is another area that could use some extra security, but I'm not sure how to go about it (actually, writing this just gave me an idea ). I do not have a picture of this.

So that's how I built a run on the Sentinel coop. Looking back, I'm not sure how I managed to fit four big hens in that original space before we built the Muddy Run. They literally spent all winter in there (sometimes upstairs all day!) but amazingly, there was no feather pecking and we still collected an occasional egg.

If you've made it this far, here are a few extra pictures :

Dolores

Lily apparently followed me into the basement when I wasn't looking and got left in there. She was mad!

Dishwashing Day!

Eva on mouse patrol

Eva and her little friend, Sophie, a rescued box turtle

 

[Callender Girl]

Poor Matt! I'm sure it's a relief that he stopped honking -- I love my geese, but I wouldn't want to listen to them indoors for too long.

Congrats on finishing up your semester!

As always, great photos -- and I like Brianna's window perch.