[The Shire] Our growing flock!

[newchickychick]

Just keep one eye aimed at the rafters, just in case they decide to use you for ... ummm ... target practice!

Oh yes. The whole time I was there I was warning them naughty chickens get in trouble. I’m SO glad we don’t have the nesting boxes in just yet because maybe it will be shiny new exciting and they will like them enough to NOT try to lay eggs up there. It’s always something with chickens!

 

[newchickychick]

We had a Silkie pop up with wry neck a few days ago. Thankfully this time, it was an IMMEDIATE fix. They're doing SO good now and had already improved less than a full day after the vitamin regimen started. I'm so relieved! Still giving the vitamins a little while to be sure it's all settled, but man, I was so worried after we lost Weebles to it (or maybe FTT?). Also made sure we got a 24% feed specifically formulated for Silkies to mix in with the normal crumbles so everyone's got plenty. Neither are medicated of course.

Coccidiosis is also ALL cleared up outside (thankfully we never saw more than the two poops with it). Still doing the preventative dose but phewh! I was so scared and so frustrated with myself that we got it here.

I'm (im)patiently awaiting our eggs from Cackle and the Houdan x Turken cross eggs I got to go with them. They should be here Saturday! (Thank goodness we've got two incubators) Our first hatch is still looking like 8/21 which, I know is not really great, but I'm still plenty content as it's our first time hatching and the eggs were shipped. We're really hopeful one or two will make it to the end! More would be WONDERFUL. Fingers crossed!

Hubby and I have been talking and yeah, bachelor pad is definitely happening. For a little while we were like "maybe we won't need it" then realized we love too many of our potential cockerels. So long as they are not human aggressive (and get along with one another), they'd at least have a happy big ol' bros-only home. Even better if they're good with the ladies and we can rotate them in/out for breeding just to see what we get and hopefully each would have different favorite ladies to give everyone a break time to time.

We were supposed to have some Ayam Cemani eggs ship out at the same time as the others, but no luck. Hubby LOVES the "goth chickens." Though, he has a hard time remembering what they're called, so they're "yummy salamis." At least we have the name 'Salami' on standby if we ever end up with one.

Salsa (Buff Orpington pullet) is as much of a peach as ever. She hops up onto my lap every time I'm in the run, and often scurries onto my shoulders. I know better than to look at her while she's up there. Once they're old enough to add treats into their diet, I'm going to encourage her to be a lap chicken instead of a parrot wannabe to avoid any potential eye issues. My eyesight's bad enough, I don't need to be a pirate myself!

 

[newchickychick]

Yummy Salami egg acquired in our Cackle eggs! 15 were shipped out of our ordered 12, 4 were cracked and one has a hairline (the CL). I only have wax melts and they’re scented so I’m not sure if I can use that to help cover it.
But the value if even a couple hatch would be great!

 

[MROO]

Yummy Salami egg acquired in our Cackle eggs! 15 were shipped out of our ordered 12, 4 were cracked and one has a hairline (the CL). I only have wax melts and they’re scented so I’m not sure if I can use that to help cover it.
But the value if even a couple hatch would be great!
View attachment 4171578
View attachment 4171580

Use melted a crayon - any labeled "non-toxic" should work

 

[newchickychick]

More eggs coming tomorrow. What have I done? Hubby is team build an additional standard coop after we wrap up the Bantam build, so I’m all here for him supporting my chicken math.

 

[MROO]

More eggs coming tomorrow. What have I done? Hubby is team build an additional standard coop after we wrap up the Bantam build, so I’m all here for him supporting my chicken math.

Chicken Math is real! Chickeneering is NOT a hobby. It's a disease ... and I don't want a cure!

 

[newchickychick]

Chicken Math is real! Chickeneering is NOT a hobby. It's a disease ... and I don't want a cure!

Right! I’m so thankful hubby is supportive. He’s happy to build coops as needed and is letting me turn part of the gaming room into an “incubation station”. We’re up to 4 Maticoopx 30s (well, 3 here, one just ordered! ) I’m so excited! I’m working on getting another good table to set up these other two on, and a whiteboard I can use to track hatching dates. I’ll mark each batch in colored pencil so I can tell in case they get put together before hatching time when it’s time to separate for lockdown really easy.

 

[Iluveggers]

Give yourself time to expand and enjoy….i started strong but then slowed down a bit. It’s easy to want everything at once! Now if i do a new batch of chicks or a hatch, its just a couple at a time, selective on what to add, and lots of bonding. We usually add one small group of chicks a year. This year we will be at max. So no more additions unless we lose a few of the older ladies over the winter. Hatching is a hobby, I get fertile eggs and hatch and sell, usually once or twice a year. I wish we had more space and could keep a rooster!

 

[newchickychick]

Give yourself time to expand and enjoy….i started strong but then slowed down a bit. It’s easy to want everything at once! Now if i do a new batch of chicks or a hatch, its just a couple at a time, selective on what to add, and lots of bonding. We usually add one small group of chicks a year. This year we will be at max. So no more additions unless we lose a few of the older ladies over the winter. Hatching is a hobby, I get fertile eggs and hatch and sell, usually once or twice a year. I wish we had more space and could keep a rooster!

Most definitely I will! I did go overboard as finances aren't an obstacle in our journey, and it has been the push I've needed to help get me over a really long period of a bad health scare. I was bedridden for nearly 2 years from it, and it was one of the most difficult, heartbreaking things for me as I went from super active and working at a hospital to unable to move much. (I'm 33 now, and was 28-30 when this happened). I'd been dealing with said health stuff since 22, and it just turned on a dime and got so bad. So I definitely went overboard now that I got to a point where I'm considerably better, and able to not just function but DO things. Having my own homestead/farm was a childhood dream so I went a little crazy since we're actually able to do so. (I did speak with my husband before we got chickens - he is willing to do anything and everything for them if my health tanked again, but thankfully it has not happened and fingers crossed it never will. We are huge believers in not getting animals unless you are able to not just take care of them, but give them extremely enriched lives and quality care)

This year is definitely our 'excitement - chickens!' year, but I want to absolutely take it slower from here on out. I deeply love animals and would indeed REALLY love to make sure I'm building up good relationships with the chickens we keep. It's been super manageable so far with our flock of... 100? Including Bantams/standards, but naturally I don't want to EVER exceed a total of 150, even though we'll have enough space for 200-250 once we're finished with all our building plans. My eventual goal is to get NPIP certified and be able to donate eggs to a local food pantry that accepts them, as well as a local wildlife rescue (I volunteered there growing up - they've got EVERYTHING. Oxygen, xrays, they can do surgery, you name it!) as we most definitely can't eat this many eggs ourselves, and maybe sell a handful at farmer's markets too once in a while. I've also got some friends whose families go through... too many eggs a week. So we'd love to be able to provide them with eggs.

But after this year, once we really know where we want to lay our focus on as far as breeds go, we 200% are going to slow down massively. And we don't intend to bring in any new chicks/eggs/etc. when the weather starts to cool down as last year our winter was HARSH. We don't want any younger birds to be subjected to a potentially tough winter, even though we'll have heated waterers/power in the coops/etc. It most definitely is easy to! I assure you I am working on the slowing down part, especially after these batches of eggs. It was easy to get gung-ho after having such a rough run of feeling incapable of doing anything for so long, and I'm trying to keep in mind I have many years ahead to enjoy them, one ball of feathers and fluff at a time. And I appreciate your willingness to give your perspective. Sometimes I need a reminder!

 

[newchickychick]

Panicked, thought one chick was blind in one eye… it was just really sleepy so I guess having its eye half closed and the reflection of the light made its eye look milky. It’s just fine. All that panic for nothing. His eye is PERFECTLY normal. This baby has been so hands on - very weak compared to the others but that’s how our Sultans have seemed to be. But still happy to run around and eat, just so prone to “needs a helping hand” periods. A really sweet baby though! Gonna give him a little nutridrench and get him settled in for a nap (we will see how long that lasts).