Saturday, October 23, 2010

I just need to talk....well type....

Okay here is how my chicken keeping went:

I ordered 16 birds got 22. What I ordered:
5 EE pullets
2 RIR pullets
3 CM pullets
2 WL pullets
2 BR pullets
2 BA pullets

Here is what I ended up getting:
4 EE pullets
1 EE roosters
2 RIR pullets
5 CM pullets
2 WL pullets
2 BR pullets
4 BR roosters
2 BA pullets
The babies at 8wks
They lived inside about 4wks then they moved into their coop, they where cute and fairly friendly. Me and my sister end up naming some of them Chipmunk (EE) a yellow chick with chipmunk strips (my now head rooster), Kentucky Derby (EE) most of the time now as KD she was a pure white chick who later got caramel coloring. Who got her name for running laps around the brooder and leaping over anyone in her way. Spectacle (EE) who got her name for her fancy eye markings as a chick, Big Mama (EE) who was named that because of when I opened the box she was sitting in the corner with here wings around two other chicks. Easter who was named for being a EE. Fred and George (RIR) because they were red haired (well feathered) twins.

And the ones named latter Juliet and Dolly (BR), Betty and Vanna (WL), Freddy my so sweet BR rooster, Romeo (BR) rooster named to match Juliet. Oh and Dinner and I want to kill you, which I'll explain latter.

At about 6-8wks they learned to free-range with me or my sister to watch them to prevent them from going into the woods. They learned that I was the source of treats, to follow me around as I learned to let the free-range alone and explore. I also learned that Chipmunk was not the girl as I ordered, but a pretty little rooster. I figured out who the roosters where. I learned that one little BR rooster was willing to sit on my lap and let me pet and hold him. 

But at about 15-16wks Easter just disappeared, I never found any remains or figured out what happened to her. At about 17wks when I was on vacation the first 3 eggs where layed, 2 brown and 1 white. Then slowly more eggs came, including the 1st green one. I was a bit sad about no blue eggs, but happy about green.

Fall came I separated the 3 extra BR roosters because their was too many roosters per hens. I left only Chipmunk and Freddy in with the girls. And then something happened to Freddy's leg, I never figured out what happened if he had jump off something too high or just got injured in a spat with Chipmunk. But he could not walk right, he stopped crowing. I moved him inside, I moved him to safety. He got better in some ways worse in others he was stronger, but laying on his belly so much caused a sore. But he had become my sweetheart he loved to he held and petted. He learned to roost on my arm so I could carry him on my arm. But the time came when I thought he was ready to move outside to be a chicken again. I was wrong, he ended up dieing several weeks later due to a infection in the sore that I didn't see in time. One of the worse things about his death was not only didn't I save him, I couldn't even bury him the ground was frozen.

So another BR rooster joined the girls he was named Romeo
but the first winter went pretty well, but frozen water is a pain.

 So spring came around the two extra roosters became mean and pains in the butt. They ended up being named Dinner and I want to kill you. Dinner was the tamer, less aggressive of the two. But I want to kill you wanted to kill me and any other human.

 So we took them to my grandmother's and butchered them, I cried, this had been my babies no matter how mean they turned out.

I think this is a long enough post I'll continue in another post. 

2 comments:

  1. It was fun to read about your chickens. Also weird that you didn't get what you ordered. Where did you order your chicks?
    You could get a heated water dish for the winter so that you don't have to worry about the water freezing. That's what we did, but the water dish broke after a while, so check it every day to make sure that it's still working if you do get one. :)

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  2. Thanks, I got what I ordered plus extra for warmth. The only real mistake was Chipmunk but they do only have 90% sexing guarantee. I ordered from Ideal Poultry.

    Only problem with a heated water dish is the coop is fairly far from the house so trying to get electricity out there is hard.

    Also I'll be continuing my chickens story when I finish writing it.

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