Thistlewick Smallholding - Chickens (for now)

[thistlewick]

Chocolate looks aggressively like a possible boy, but that poor lovely dear has laid an egg every day since early October 2024.

She. Has. Never. Missed. A. Day.

I am just blown away. She lays our green egg. Only one we have.

 

[BlackHenCoop]

Lovely set up. I'm surprised that you were able to get chicks, everyone has been posting that they are selling out!

Real, everytime I go to my tractor supply they are always completely out.

 

[thistlewick]

Had to run to Tractor Supply today; there were chicks there. Sapphire Olive Eggers and Starlight Green Eggers, Buff Orpington -- all pullets. (Also RIR, Barred Rocks, Cornish X for meat and a Black Sex Link and Black Australorps, EE Straight runs and a new variety, something like Root Beer or something LOL I cannot recall)

I cannot BELIEVE I didn't come home with any.

I am fixing to hatch my own though; got a wine cooler fridge today to store eggs in \o/

I've got Splash Roos; seems to me a flock of Splash Easter Eggers would be mighty pretty!

When Oscar gets grown, he can make a bunch of Olive Eggers as well

Tomorrow, and this is probably something a lot of people would never bother to do, we are taking Little Wing into the vet to do something about her wing;

I don't know what happened to it, but it's been like this since her first week home after TSC. It get's blood, bc it's growing, but she doesn't have use of it. But that doesn't stop her! She's full of energy and verve. I'd like to help her if we can, so on to the vet tomorrow morning.

The teens enjoying the morning mild weather;

They are SO dang small, I cannot believe my big girls were ever this small. In the mornings when I open the hen house, these guys run a little bit farther every day to where the big girls go -- my big ladies run out and past the pasture fence. So far, no one has been brave enough to go out past the fence.

But they roam around the hen house and run every day now, and go back to the safety of the hen house every so often throughout the day, oftentimes just basking in the sun that blasts in the front door for half the day.

Will be interesting to see if they ever fully follow the big girls. NONE of the big girls chase or bother the teens anymore, even Pepper. They just act like they're part of the flock!

 

[TwoCrows]

Had to run to Tractor Supply today; there were chicks there. Sapphire Olive Eggers and Starlight Green Eggers, Buff Orpington -- all pullets. (Also RIR, Barred Rocks, Cornish X for meat and a Black Sex Link and Black Australorps, EE Straight runs and a new variety, something like Root Beer or something LOL I cannot recall)

I cannot BELIEVE I didn't come home with any.

I am fixing to hatch my own though; got a wine cooler fridge today to store eggs in \o/

I've got Splash Roos; seems to me a flock of Splash Easter Eggers would be mighty pretty!

When Oscar gets grown, he can make a bunch of Olive Eggers as well

Tomorrow, and this is probably something a lot of people would never bother to do, we are taking Little Wing into the vet to do something about her wing;

View attachment 4105611

I don't know what happened to it, but it's been like this since her first week home after TSC. It get's blood, bc it's growing, but she doesn't have use of it. But that doesn't stop her! She's full of energy and verve. I'd like to help her if we can, so on to the vet tomorrow morning.

The teens enjoying the morning mild weather;

View attachment 4105614

They are SO dang small, I cannot believe my big girls were ever this small. In the mornings when I open the hen house, these guys run a little bit farther every day to where the big girls go -- my big ladies run out and past the pasture fence. So far, no one has been brave enough to go out past the fence.

But they roam around the hen house and run every day now, and go back to the safety of the hen house every so often throughout the day, oftentimes just basking in the sun that blasts in the front door for half the day.

Will be interesting to see if they ever fully follow the big girls. NONE of the big girls chase or bother the teens anymore, even Pepper. They just act like they're part of the flock!

Best wishes with Little Wing, I hope she is okay!

 

[thistlewick]

Best wishes with Little Wing, I hope she is okay!

Thank you!! We took her this morning -- they suggested a wrap, but we tried it and she HATED it and just flopped down and wouldn't walk. We tried it on her several ways, finally got one on her just right enough for her to walk around and she has learned to balance herself with her wing drooping, so with it held up she is mightily unbalanced.

So, we took it off. We will just hope for the best. It's all we can do. The vet said it was a toss up if it would work anyway.

Her wrist is completely fubar'd - it moves in ALL directions -- she DOES have shoulder mobility, so that was good to see.

So yeah, it cost $155 for check and Xray, so overall not ridiculous - which we were very happy with. But an alarming amount to pay for a $4 chicken lol

But ya know, I'm glad we did it.

We got to know Little Wing better by taking her in, and she's sweet, and docile, and easily handleable and very very sweet. She was quiet the entire time, didn't complain, didn't cry. She was lovely.

Which made us want to help her even more but the wrap just made her SUPER wobbly - and she's not wobbly without it. So off it came and we will just help her live her best life to the best of our ability.

 

[TwoCrows]

Thank you!! We took her this morning -- they suggested a wrap, but we tried it and she HATED it and just flopped down and wouldn't walk. We tried it on her several ways, finally got one on her just right enough for her to walk around and she has learned to balance herself with her wing drooping, so with it held up she is mightily unbalanced.

So, we took it off. We will just hope for the best. It's all we can do. The vet said it was a toss up if it would work anyway.

Her wrist is completely fubar'd - it moves in ALL directions -- she DOES have shoulder mobility, so that was good to see.

So yeah, it cost $155 for check and Xray, so overall not ridiculous - which we were very happy with. But an alarming amount to pay for a $4 chicken lol

But ya know, I'm glad we did it.

We got to know Little Wing better by taking her in, and she's sweet, and docile, and easily handleable and very very sweet. She was quiet the entire time, didn't complain, didn't cry. She was lovely.

Which made us want to help her even more but the wrap just made her SUPER wobbly - and she's not wobbly without it. So off it came and we will just help her live her best life to the best of our ability.

I think you are doing fabulous with her and I'm sure she knows this is all out of love! $155 is not bad at all and it at least gives you some peace of mind knowing you did all you could. Chickens are pretty resilient and as long as they are still living a happy quality life, they can over come all kinds of disabilities. Even if you have to assist her in doing certain things, or make special arrangements for her, I think she will live a wonderful life with you. They do tend to get more docile the more treatment and handling they get, I've had them go from incredibly wild to begging to sit on my lap because they needed to be handled so much. Thanks for the update on her, give her a hug for me!

 

[thistlewick]

Just wanted to say that last night I observed a couple of the big teens who are 8 weeks old fly up to the roosts last night. Not a single iota of complaint from the big girls.

Also, yesterday afternoon I was sitting out with the teens and some of the bigs were back at the hen house (they always make pit stops throughout the day for escorting jobs. Our Rooster is very mindful and demure... lol) and Chuck did a warning call and it seemed to be just for the teens, as ALL 18 of them from everywhere they were roaming out of the hen house, ran back into the hen house on his command.

None of the big girls even listened to him -- and they typically do. So this just must have been a call for the teens?? Do Roosters do that?! It was wild to observe, loved seeing them mind him though!

 

[WingItRanch]

Just wanted to say that last night I observed a couple of the big teens who are 8 weeks old fly up to the roosts last night. Not a single iota of complaint from the big girls.

Also, yesterday afternoon I was sitting out with the teens and some of the bigs were back at the hen house (they always make pit stops throughout the day for escorting jobs. Our Rooster is very mindful and demure... lol) and Chuck did a warning call and it seemed to be just for the teens, as ALL 18 of them from everywhere they were roaming out of the hen house, ran back into the hen house on his command.

None of the big girls even listened to him -- and they typically do. So this just must have been a call for the teens?? Do Roosters do that?! It was wild to observe, loved seeing them mind him though!

Cool! Chuck sounds like a very good boy.

Glad the littles are learning the roosts. I was shocked when day 1 of intigration my littles roosted with the hens. I remember my first flock didn't use the roosts until they were much older but they didn't have older chickens to show them the way.

 

[thistlewick]

Right? It took forever to teach my initial flock to go up to their coop -- they had a different tractor then, before we converted the shed.

Just a couple snaps I have on hand, Chuck being majestic; and Dulce - who is another Easter Egger but started out as a DARK brown chick... so her golden color is wild to me. EEs be EEing.

 

[thistlewick]

Got a fairy egg today -- sitting next to Chocolate's typical giant egg she lays lol

Chocolate had her FIRST DAY OFF EVER yesterday \o/ we celebrated her with some mealworms. She's been laying since Oct 3 2024 without a single break.

I think the fairy egg is Sophia's her regular egg came out bizarro today.

Though tbh I have no idea who laid that fairy egg and it isn't the new teens, the oldest are only 8 weeks old lol