Two Flocks of Chickens

Aidan and Athena, 14 1/2 months old:



Aidan and Back-up, 4 1/2 months old (I would give her a better name, but she was the one with the neurological problem when she was a baby that made her back up and roll over and the name stuck. Btw, she completely healed after a week of Vit. B, Vit. E, neck rubs, and isolation in the house for a week. This was when she was 4 weeks old and we think it was something called wry neck because that was her other symptom; she tucked her neck under to the point that it was twisted nearly all the way around. You'd never know by looking at her now.):


It's not easy integrating two flocks. We are keeping a barrier between the two until the younger hens are eating the same feed blend as the layers. The older one's are aggressive enough that the younger ones will just stay in their coop and not come out during outdoor time if the barrier is down. I know they need to have their pecking order and get that established, so we take the barrier down for awhile every day, but I want them outside also, so we'll put it back up after Athena (the warrior name, go figure, lol) chases them all back inside. If we walk away, she'll even go in and eat up their food, so that's reason #2 to keep them seperate for now. It's interesting to me that Snowball, who is the most skittish around people, is completely accepting of the younger chickens, even sharing scratch with them, which none of the other hens will do.

In a month or so, we'll be building yet another coop (good golly, the FIFTH time) closer to the house and they will all be eating the same feed rations, so they'll just have to get used to each other.

New coop

We worked really hard on the new coop and are now starting the expansion to accomodate the chicks when they move in. The expansion will remain separate for a week or so with just chicken wire separating the two flocks before we remove it and they get to interact after having lived next to each other, seeing and hearing each other for a little while first. Hopefully it will make the transition easier, but who knows? I'm just hoping it goes fairly smoothly and nobody gets terribly victimized. I love chickens and am constantly impressed with their antics and cleverness, but they can sure be cruel to each other and could care less as long as they get what they want at times.
They've never picked on each other badly enough to cause any real concern though, and are a pretty darn contented flock most of the time.
Peck still sings everyone to sleep and their instincts are in excellent working order. An example: we've had a hawk fly over a couple of times and I was struck by how quickly they ran for cover before I even noticed it up above. The second time it happened, Peck was still scratching and the others were huddled under a tree hollering at her to get to safety. She looked up like, "what's all the fuss about", then realized what they were bawking about and ran over to join the group. Then they all just waited quietly together for a couple minutes, then back out to peck around some more.
It was actually quite neat to watch, I just hope they stay safe. I know hawks don't need much space to swoop down and grab some dinner.
Here's the coop, done enough to move everyone in:

And here it is a few days later, looking a little more finished:

New Brooder

The chicks were getting a little big for their plastic tote brooder, and I knew they wouldn't be getting into their outdoor space for at least 4 more weeks, so I decided to turn our old utility trailer into a huge brooder.
This was a few weeks ago when they were 6 1/2 weeks old. They are now almost 10 weeks and still have plenty of space; I just want to get them outdoors soon!
Here they are inside:

And here it is from the outside:

.

New Chicks!

We have been busy building a chicken coop at Bramblewood, the first structure to grace the new farm. It's coming along nicely, but taking longer than it should because of all the rain. I read that this area averages 17 days of rain in March, and we've had at least 19 so far. The area of excavation and building (all by hand) around the coop is a sticky muddy mess, so I headed out to the feed store for a couple of bales of straw. I got the straw, but I also came home with chicks. :-)
We have been planning on getting 5 new chickens; 3 Barred Plymoth Rocks and 2 Rhode Island Reds, but I figured we'd get them in a few weeks. Well, the feed store had just those two varieties, with other breeds coming in over the next couple of months, but no more of these particular two. It seemed rather fortunate, and since Aidan was begging and making promises of all the work he will be doing if we could just get the chicks today, I figured now was as good a time as any.
It was pretty nice just having to buy food and grit, knowing that we have everything at home from last year. We brought the chicks home, scrubbed and sanitized everything, and they are chirping away merrily. I think they are about six days old.

Here they all are:

And here is a close-up of the tiniest of the flock:

Silver Lakenvelder

The Lakenvelder has laid nary an egg for the last several weeks, while the Black Stars and Light Brahma continue to lay one every day or every other day at least. Her eggs are very pretty though, they are a white egg called "tinted"; we like to call it "pearl". My picture just doesn't do them justice.

Snowball loves to fly up and hang out on the pole fence, nibbling at pine needles. Of course, that's her favorite spot to escape the yard also.

We have a rare bird

While we were moving our chicken coop from our house out to Sharon's farm, the chicken's had a good time in their temporary home; under the trampoline. It took us two evenings and since it wasn't all that secure under the trampoline, we made a little area in the back of the garage and carried them in there to sleep at night. It was quite an ordeal transporting all five chickens back and forth that night and morning, but all was well. We spread straw all over the floor and provided cardboard boxes and pet carriers in case anyone wanted to get cozy, and they just slept until I got them out in the morning. Gratefully Snowball was in one of the pet carriers, so I was able to just pick up the whole thing and move her to the trampoline area. She is the most flighty and easily startled bird, while the rest are quite mellow and tame. Interesting, because she was hand-fed and raised with lots of holding and petting. Well, come to find out, there's a biological reason she's so wild acting; turns out that she is a "Silver Lakenvelder", a chicken breed that hails originally from Germany and they are known to be less sociable with humans. She gets along great with the other birds though, lays beautiful tinted white eggs, and is a handsome bird that loves to be outdoors with the other chickens. Her breed is rare, but not critically endangered. She has inspired me to check into other rare breeds and potentially raise mostly endangered chicken breeds. Peck is a "Light Brahma" and is a sweet and friendly bird who has kind of taken over as the leader of the flock. She lets everyone know when it's bedtime; when the Black Stars were smaller, she would gather them up and literally sing them to sleep. I had no idea that chickens did that, but Peck sits in there cooing in the sweetest little voice that sounds just like a type of singing until everyone settles down.

Here is Snowball:


Peck:


Their temporary under the trampoline digs:


Snowball and Peck with two of the Black Stars getting their daily outdoor time. The Black Stars are named Matilda, Venus, and Athena:

First Eggs!

How did we end up with chickens? I have been wanting chickens for several years, but hadn't found or had the opportunity. Last April, there was a chicken show at the fairgrounds over the weekend, and when we came into work Monday morning, found that a chick had been left behind. She was running around the barn frantically and one of the ladies caught her and put her in a box. She called OHSU and they asked her to find someone willing to take it home, as they weren't driving all the way back out from Portland for one little chick. Nobody could or would take her and I figured, why not? Yes, I can think of a few reasons now why not, but it seemed like a fine idea at the time and even though it has been an ordeal, I don't regret the decision.
We brought her home, made a little pen out of a rubbermaid tote, drove to the farm store in Carson for some food, bedding, dishes, and a heat light, and set "Snowball" up in the garage. Sharon took pity and offered her a buddy, as chickens are flock animals and really do need other chickens to be with, and she had 15 chicks. We gratefully took in "Peck" to keep Snowball company. Peck was just a few days old and Snowball was about 3-4 weeks, the 3rd week of April. They got along immediately and hunkered down together at night from day one. I started reading about chickens and learned that while 2 chickens do okay, 3-5 is really the best minimum for a decent flock. On May 5th, Dickey Farms had another round of chicks come in, so we went out and picked up 3 Black Stars, or Black Sex Links, 2 days old. I don't know why I didn't take more pictures, they were just little balls of black fluff, so cute.
We set up a 2nd brooder and raised them separate from the 2 bigger chicks, since they needed a little more heat and I wasn't sure how they would all get along.
By the middle of May, we were taking the big chicks outside everyday for some fresh air and exercise, they had a bigger pen in the garage, and it was time to build a coop. We scavenged materials around here and bought a few things like chicken wire, screws, poultry tacks, and plywood.
To make a long story short, everything went great for a couple of months, the chickens all got along after we introduced them, and we were all enjoying the new additions, when we got a visit from a city planner who told us we couldn't have the chickens and they would have to be removed. It is the most ridiculous thing, but quite common to have ordinances against chickens, many people in towns and cities are working to change the laws, but not here yet. We were given until August 20th to move the chickens, so we moved the entire coop out to Sharon's place. I am hoping to get the law changed here, but the city told me that it will take at least 6 months and by then we will be moved out to the property where chickens are allowed. I will still help folks here, but in the meantime, the chickens live in Carson, and we have to drive daily to care for them and collect eggs. We let them out into the barn yard while we are there and they have a great time running around, scratching, pecking, and eating bugs and weeds.
The first eggs were a real thrill for everyone, they came the 2nd week of September and we have been getting eggs daily since then. We have gotten five eggs in one day twice, and a double yolker 3 times.

Here is the coop:

And here are the boys with the first eggs:


I will make another post later with better pictures of the chickens and describe their types and temperaments.