09 Wednesday Aug 2017
We are puppy sitting this week while C and R are away at his sister’s wedding. So what better time to get young Mocha used to chickens?!
If I can desensitize her now, it might save us some heart ache later. So we go hang out in the barnyard in the evenings. Mocha isn’t too interested in the birds but she does whine and shake when the barn cat stalks by.
Chance spends his time stealing watermelon from the chickens.
They try to steal it back, with no luck. Chance does love his watermelon.
08 Tuesday Aug 2017
My white Silkie breeding group produced lots of quality chicks over the 2017 season, and I hatched a couple more colours this year to add some diversity to the flock.
I am growing out three partridge and three blue/black, one of them a frizzle. They are not sexed yet, but the plan is to keep one male and most of the females.
boy, girl, girl???
With their distinctive curly feathers, Frizzles look frazzled. They are excellent foragers and broodies, but a bit fussy to keep, because their feathers don’t protect them from the elements. Next year, if all goes well, we will produce sizzle (Silkie x frizzle) chicks.
Gentle little souls, Silkies seem to do best with silkies or other calm breeds. Mine don’t like to free range, and if they can be persuaded out of their homey pen, never stray more than a few feet away. They make good lap chickens too. Some people put diapers on them and keep them indoors. House chickens aren’t for me, they produce a lot of dust and dander and I don’t want that all through the house. Maybe I will keep a house chicken when I am an old, eccentric, crazy chicken lady.
04 Friday Aug 2017
Posted in Chickens
A dozen bantam Rhode Island Red eggs arrived from Quebec last spring, and I grew out three pullets from my seven hatchlings. Gentle little birds, they are starting to lay now and if they are anything like their standard sized cousins, they will be high volume egg machines.
I love their shiny dark burgundy feathering. K says that one day she will have a whole coop full of bantam poultry, tiny chickens in a tiny coop on a tiny farm, with tiny sheep, and tiny cows, and tiny ponies and donkeys. Sounds like a tiny home owner all right.
28 Friday Jul 2017
Our local predators know where all the chickens in the neighbourhood live, and drop by the barnyard often, to scout our defenses.
The eagles, turkey vultures, ravens and hawks attack from above, picking off one bird at a time. Our trees and roofed pens slow them down some, but they usually grab a few chicken dinners each year.
If they can get in, raccoons and mink will wipe out a whole coop in minutes. Chickens aren’t equipped for hand to hand combat. Mink, the little monsters, will stack the bodies in a neat pile. Mink are just plain weird, and wow they have crazy eyes. I know…I played chicken-tug-of-war with one last summer. The chicken didn’t make it, but I sure got a good look at the mink.
In retrospect, I am happy that I ended up with a few smaller coops instead of one big one, because this way I will never lose my whole flock to a single ground troop assault. A predator would never be methodical enough to break into one coop after another.
Every afternoon around one o’clock, I let the flocks out to free range until dusk and when the sun sets, they put themselves to bed. Free ranging helps to keep them safer too. One or two might get nabbed, but good luck to any predator trying to chase forty chickens heading off at top speed in forty different directions. Strange as it sounds, I think my chickens might be safest when they are roaming free.
The dogs and I are often out puttering in the barnyard when an eagle or raven flies over. And that is when something really cool happens. Our barnyard community, the birds, the dogs and me, all connect, and communicate, and react as a unit to the enemy at the gate.
It’s usually a rooster who first raises the alarm, growling loud and long. We all know exactly what he means. Others begin to echo him, and as the low rumbling chicken growl swells and rolls across the barnyard, everyone freezes. A pause ensues while we each pinpoint the threat and then we all snap into action.
The birds under cover stand stock still. The birds out in the open swerve for cover, while Chance and Liza run out from under the trees and give chase, craning their necks to keep the bad guy in sight, and barking hysterically at the threat high above them. I get into the act too, raising my arm and in my best growly voice ordering the predator to be gone. This has no effect on anything, but it makes me feel useful, and a part of the high drama playing out around me.
The dogs are usually enough to send the enemy on his way, and then we all settle back down, satisfied at having vanquished the threat once again.
20 Thursday Jul 2017
David Cassidy is in his element these days, with all his spring chickens getting close to point of lay and ready for some loving.
Its easy to tell who is “doing it” and who isn’t, laying eggs that is. Just before she lays her first egg, a pullet’s comb gets bigger and redder. Check out the comb difference in the two Swedish Flower pullets above. One is three weeks older than the other, and laying.
Ahhhh those young, flirty, carefree days. You don’t know it gals, but you’re in the springtime of your lives…better enjoy it!
11 Tuesday Jul 2017
Posted in Chickens, Farm Produce
My January Black Copper Marans pullets have started laying, and I am really pleased with their egg colour. I hatched only the darkest eggs, and my rooster is from good dark egg lines. Looks like the selective breeding is paying off.
My same age Olive Eggers are just at point of lay too, I can’t wait to see what shades of olive eggs they lay.
09 Sunday Jul 2017
I am happy to be at the tail end of this weekend, and absolutely knackered too, because this year, I deep cleaned all three coops in a single go. Vacuumed, scraped, scrubbed, power washed, swept, tore out, repaired, refreshed, redesigned and redid; it all got done this weekend.
I like to do my annual deep clean in July, after we have had a bit of heat, because that’s what brings on the mites, and I want to hit those little suckers when it counts. The summer after my first full year keeping chickens, I was unpleasantly surprised by a bad red mite infestation. It was a relief to not find a single mite this year, as I disassembled roosts and pulled nestbox assemblies, to take them outside to scrub. The year round wood ash/peat moss/sand dust baths are helping my birds keep themselves pest-free. The layer of diatomaceous earth under each nest, where my girls can’t breathe it in, is helping too. There was lots of dust and dander, cobwebs and feathers, and of course chicken poo galore, but no pest problems.
I am pretty happy with the new roost layout in the cedar coop, increased from 18 to 24 linear feet all on the same level. (Gasp! room for more chickens?) I replaced V3 broody box with version 4 – this one folds up out of the way against the wall when not in use, and the middle roost is easily removable with its drop in design. It will be easier to clean in there this year.
Of course it was Becky the B (the white, green legged girl, who spends her days outwitting K’s garden defences) and her sister buff Turken who checked out the new digs first. Chickens are curious, and the smarter they are, the curiouser. 🐓
06 Thursday Jul 2017
Alsty took her latest brood out for their first wander this evening. Peeping excitedly amongst themselves, the kids darted here and there, never going too far from mama. Alsty kept up a running commentary too, pointing out choice morsels, issuing warnings, and clucking reassuredly to chivvy the timid ones along.
After all that excitement, I’m sure they will sleep well tonight.
29 Thursday Jun 2017
Posted in Chickens, Farm Produce, Gardening
This week, I am freezing raspberries, chicken, garlic scrapes, plus K froze kale. We are picking strawberries and peas too. Yay June!
29 Thursday Jun 2017
I always wanted to try Wyandottes, but after my sister got two Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks who grew up scrawny and mean and laid small eggs, I wasn’t so sure.
After my research turned up a real mix of opinions on the breed, I realized that there were both good and bad lines out there. Some people breed for temperament and some don’t care. I just had to find some good ones.
Then last summer, I hatched a single spectacular Blue Laced Red Wyandotte pullet, who grew up all curves, ample and round and gloriously beautiful; docile, quiet and a good layer. Now I really wanted MORE.
So this spring I ordered three batches of eggs from breeders in BC, Alberta and Quebec, and hatched out 21 chicks in all, silver, gold and blue laced red.
My Wyandotte chicks now range in age from ten to 15 weeks, it’s easy to tell the girls from the boys, and their feathering patterns are clear (and diverse!) It’s time to select a cockerel or two, and five or six pullets, and sell off the rest. I must choose well, only the best birds should be kept for breeding.
The more I study, the clearer I can see which birds I should keep. What am I studying? The American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection, of course. 1920 version, online thanks to the Cornell University Library. Updated every five years since 1874, the SOP is the authoritative source for “a complete description of all recognized varieties of fowls.” And it doesn’t go out of date, it just gets bigger and more detailed. The SOP for Wyandottes hasn’t significantly altered in more than a hundred years!
How’s the shape? Is she set low, short-backed and short tailed or all elbows and knees with a hollow comb and squirrel tail? Short, arched neck and wide crown? Deep, round, broad breast? How’s the temperament? Is he gentle and kind or pushy and mean? What about vigour? Does she move smoothly, jump easily, keep up with the rest? Is he heavy for his size, solid and athletic? And the plumage. Is it abundant and glossy? Are his hackle and saddle feathers silvery with black lines through each feather? And his breast, are the feathers well laced and even? Tail feathers short, curved, fluffy and black with green iridescence? Two rows of lacing on his wings? Orange eyes? Yellow legs? Slate undercarriage? And what about the underlying genetics? Why are all my silvers male? Sex linked colour genes of course! Now how does that all work? Do I keep a silver and a gold cockerel? Or a GL blue? Do my gold cockerels from breeder 1 have the most recessive genotype, so next year I can hatch all the colours? Decisions, decisions.
Some folks hatch hundreds to choose a few specimens to breed. Some folks study chicken confirmation for years and years. I don’t have the room for hundreds, and I am at the five year mark for chicken expertise; my little chicken hobby is humble in comparison. But it absorbs me, it keeps me thinking and active, and it chases away stress. I am having a ton of fun with my Wyandotte project, and for me that’s the whole point.
Muddy Valley Farm 