Chicken_overlord
Chirping
- Feb 2, 2025
- 33
- 113
- 74
I had begun tracking my hatching journey on the hatching and incubating (don't quote me on the exact name) forum and it was kindly suggested that I could share my flock here instead. So I believe I'll save my initial thread for questions and use this thread as a sort of flock journal, at least until I forget about it at some point in the near or distant future.
Firstly, I have had chickens since I was about twelve years old. Actually, technically, my parents had chickens starting when I was twelve, but gosh dangit, I loved those chickens and they all had silly names that I gave them which were usually very exchangeable between them because some of the chickens looked EXACTLY alike (*cough* white leghorns *cough*)
Fast forward many years, I got married and we built a little house and now it's my husband who gets to deal with my chicken shenanigans.
I was bound a determined to have chickens again and my sweet husband allowed me to begin my quest. So last year I started looking at coops and do you know how much those stinkin' things cost!? So, offended by the cost of prebuilt coops, I vowed to build my own that was just as nice at half the price. Did I know what I was doing? Absolutely not, but that didn't stop me...well, actually, it did for awhile until I built up the courage to finally jump in and cut my first board.
I got it chicken worthy and begun painting, but I had to take a break over the winter so it's still not completely painted and won't be until spring warms up a bit:
I then decided I needed some motivation to finish the coop a little faster so I got us a few chicks...like only 9, completely appropriate for two people (I lost the pics that have all of them...oh well):
I wanted chicken breeds that were known for being docile and I wanted some to be dual purpose so we could eat the extra roosters when raising chicks. I also needed at least one broody breed so that we could have the hens raise the chicks for us if we wanted. Originally I wanted to work with breeding friendly buff orpingtons. Plans did change, but we'll get to that.
So here was the selection verdict: 2 EE, 3 buff orpingtons, 1 speckled sussex, 1 deathlayer (my husband's pick), 1 welsummer, and 1 buff orpington rooster chick.
My black EE and the orpingtons were very friendly.
In fact, Wilna, our black EE, decided that I was to be her personal perch:
She has pooped on me many a time...
Our sussex decided being a hen wasn't all that and switched to the rooster side and so he got replaced with another speckled sussex pullet and a schijndelaar pullet (because 2 is better that 1, right?). The guy who bought him also took one of our EE pullets. She had severe cross beak. We're pretty sure she was turned to soup, but we gave her a really good life and with her beak her quality of life would have continued to decline. I also ended up selling off one of the orpington hens because she was really skittish and I didn't want to breed that on in my orpington project. So we started with 9 and ended up with 8.
So now for introductions:
This is Paton, our orginal rooster. He was all boy from the start, but was pretty friendly up until he hit 7 months old. He then decided that frontal attacks and ninja sneak attacks was how you treated the hand that fed you. I got tired of keeping one eye on him when I was with our hens so he got sold to a guy who was really excited to get him for his orpingtons and didn't care about the human aggression.
I really didn't know what a good rooster was until I decided to take one of my mother-in-law's extra roosters. I was hesitant at first because they do 0 biosecurity so their chickens are in direct contact with wild birds frequently, but I'm really happy I decided to take him:
This is Jerald. He's a splash copper marans rooster and always looks likes he's running on only 2 hours of sleep because his hens won't let him get any shut eye. He also always walks like he's drunk (probably because of the sleep deprivation) and half the time falls flat on his face when trying to mate the hens, but he makes sure his girls stay within his eyesight and he's constantly on guard for danger. Peck, look at sky, peck, look at horizon, peck, back at sky, etc. Frankly, despite his quirks, he's a definite upgrade from Paton.
This is Wilna, an EE and my favorite hen. She still likes to remind me once in awhile that I'm still her personal perch when it suits her. Occasionally, she does that by making a leap for my face...I mean shoulder. Scares the snot out of me every time. I've learned to just offer her my arm when I'm around her and she comes up and sits for a minute or two. She was Paton's favorite hen so he tore her feathers up pretty good. She's not Jerald's favorite hen, but he's a rough breeder because he has a hard time balancing so now she gets to be a fancy girl and have an apron. She looks ready to go to the ball.
This is Luna, our deathlayer. She was very friendly as a chick, but she outgrew human companionship. Humans are gross, afterall. She was my husband's favorite hen, but he's moved on, too.
This is Olna. She's our speckled sussex. She's not much for human contact, but she does like to come and say hi and is very friendly. She was in rough shape when we first bought her, but now she's a pretty girl. She's Jerald's favorite hen.
This is Flora, one of our buff orpingtons. She no longer uses me as a perch, but still likes to come and say hi and demand dog treats because those beef liver treats are waaaay better than her chicken treats.
This is Merryweather, our second buff orpington, in all of her fluffy glory. She likes her treats and then please begone. She'll get sold when the Silverudd's blue and black copper marans chicks grow out since I'm no longer going to be working with orpingtons.
This is Mindblown. She is not a polish, but a schijndelaar. In her rebellion, she decided to have far more head floof than is permitted and not lay blue/green eggs, because that would be lame. Instead she gives a really pretty cream egg. She's also a ditz, but we love her for it.
And last, but not least, my husband's new favorite hen, Berna. She's our Welsummer and is too fidgety to stand for solo pictures. She demands treats. You may look, but do not touch, and free range time must promptly start after breakfast.
We are also raising 15 chicks, some for my mother-in-law and some for us. I've decided to start a Silverudd's blue breeding pen so I've purchased chicks from two different breeders and hatching eggs from a third breeder. I've also decided to give Jerald some marans girls.
So in summary, we have 1 rooster, 7 hens, 15 chicks, and 19 eggs in the incubator. Chicken math is real.
Firstly, I have had chickens since I was about twelve years old. Actually, technically, my parents had chickens starting when I was twelve, but gosh dangit, I loved those chickens and they all had silly names that I gave them which were usually very exchangeable between them because some of the chickens looked EXACTLY alike (*cough* white leghorns *cough*)
Fast forward many years, I got married and we built a little house and now it's my husband who gets to deal with my chicken shenanigans.
I was bound a determined to have chickens again and my sweet husband allowed me to begin my quest. So last year I started looking at coops and do you know how much those stinkin' things cost!? So, offended by the cost of prebuilt coops, I vowed to build my own that was just as nice at half the price. Did I know what I was doing? Absolutely not, but that didn't stop me...well, actually, it did for awhile until I built up the courage to finally jump in and cut my first board.
I got it chicken worthy and begun painting, but I had to take a break over the winter so it's still not completely painted and won't be until spring warms up a bit:
I then decided I needed some motivation to finish the coop a little faster so I got us a few chicks...like only 9, completely appropriate for two people (I lost the pics that have all of them...oh well):
I wanted chicken breeds that were known for being docile and I wanted some to be dual purpose so we could eat the extra roosters when raising chicks. I also needed at least one broody breed so that we could have the hens raise the chicks for us if we wanted. Originally I wanted to work with breeding friendly buff orpingtons. Plans did change, but we'll get to that.
So here was the selection verdict: 2 EE, 3 buff orpingtons, 1 speckled sussex, 1 deathlayer (my husband's pick), 1 welsummer, and 1 buff orpington rooster chick.
My black EE and the orpingtons were very friendly.
In fact, Wilna, our black EE, decided that I was to be her personal perch:
She has pooped on me many a time...
Our sussex decided being a hen wasn't all that and switched to the rooster side and so he got replaced with another speckled sussex pullet and a schijndelaar pullet (because 2 is better that 1, right?). The guy who bought him also took one of our EE pullets. She had severe cross beak. We're pretty sure she was turned to soup, but we gave her a really good life and with her beak her quality of life would have continued to decline. I also ended up selling off one of the orpington hens because she was really skittish and I didn't want to breed that on in my orpington project. So we started with 9 and ended up with 8.
So now for introductions:
This is Paton, our orginal rooster. He was all boy from the start, but was pretty friendly up until he hit 7 months old. He then decided that frontal attacks and ninja sneak attacks was how you treated the hand that fed you. I got tired of keeping one eye on him when I was with our hens so he got sold to a guy who was really excited to get him for his orpingtons and didn't care about the human aggression.
I really didn't know what a good rooster was until I decided to take one of my mother-in-law's extra roosters. I was hesitant at first because they do 0 biosecurity so their chickens are in direct contact with wild birds frequently, but I'm really happy I decided to take him:
This is Jerald. He's a splash copper marans rooster and always looks likes he's running on only 2 hours of sleep because his hens won't let him get any shut eye. He also always walks like he's drunk (probably because of the sleep deprivation) and half the time falls flat on his face when trying to mate the hens, but he makes sure his girls stay within his eyesight and he's constantly on guard for danger. Peck, look at sky, peck, look at horizon, peck, back at sky, etc. Frankly, despite his quirks, he's a definite upgrade from Paton.
This is Wilna, an EE and my favorite hen. She still likes to remind me once in awhile that I'm still her personal perch when it suits her. Occasionally, she does that by making a leap for my face...I mean shoulder. Scares the snot out of me every time. I've learned to just offer her my arm when I'm around her and she comes up and sits for a minute or two. She was Paton's favorite hen so he tore her feathers up pretty good. She's not Jerald's favorite hen, but he's a rough breeder because he has a hard time balancing so now she gets to be a fancy girl and have an apron. She looks ready to go to the ball.
This is Luna, our deathlayer. She was very friendly as a chick, but she outgrew human companionship. Humans are gross, afterall. She was my husband's favorite hen, but he's moved on, too.
This is Olna. She's our speckled sussex. She's not much for human contact, but she does like to come and say hi and is very friendly. She was in rough shape when we first bought her, but now she's a pretty girl. She's Jerald's favorite hen.
This is Flora, one of our buff orpingtons. She no longer uses me as a perch, but still likes to come and say hi and demand dog treats because those beef liver treats are waaaay better than her chicken treats.
This is Merryweather, our second buff orpington, in all of her fluffy glory. She likes her treats and then please begone. She'll get sold when the Silverudd's blue and black copper marans chicks grow out since I'm no longer going to be working with orpingtons.
This is Mindblown. She is not a polish, but a schijndelaar. In her rebellion, she decided to have far more head floof than is permitted and not lay blue/green eggs, because that would be lame. Instead she gives a really pretty cream egg. She's also a ditz, but we love her for it.
And last, but not least, my husband's new favorite hen, Berna. She's our Welsummer and is too fidgety to stand for solo pictures. She demands treats. You may look, but do not touch, and free range time must promptly start after breakfast.
We are also raising 15 chicks, some for my mother-in-law and some for us. I've decided to start a Silverudd's blue breeding pen so I've purchased chicks from two different breeders and hatching eggs from a third breeder. I've also decided to give Jerald some marans girls.
So in summary, we have 1 rooster, 7 hens, 15 chicks, and 19 eggs in the incubator. Chicken math is real.
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