One Spoilt Chick

what did you say son?

About a month ago I set some eggs under a very determined broody hen, one I just couldn't seem to break from her broodiness. I also set some shipped Welsummer eggs in my incubator. Shipped eggs have a notoriously low hatch rate. Seriously, if you get 30% or more hatch rate then you are doing good.

Well the post office was not kind to these eggs, one smashed and another cracked; most of them seem to have been scrambled. Out of 14 eggs shipped I got exactly ONE little chick.

Meanwhile broody girl was sitting tight on her eggs but for whatever reason, none of hers hatched. Finally at dusk I took the eggs out from under her and slipped her the poor lonesome little Wellie chick. Pretty sure he's a he and he's one week old today.

See? Look! right there! it's a bug!

Broody mamma is doing an excellent job taking care of this baby, keeping him warm at night and showing him how to scratch and hunt bugs.

Standing tall!

I have some more eggs in the incubator that are due in a couple of weeks. I might see if broody mamma will take on a few more chicks when they hatch.

The Girls Moved In!

Today's Eggs

I'm sure you are probably tired of looking at egg pics, but I love collecting all the different colors, sizes and shapes! So much fun!

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In the second photo I picked out some special eggs, the five in the top semi circle, from left to right are, Black Copper Marans, Welsummer, Buff Orpington, Ameraucauna, Easter egger. The lower three eggs are all from the new Easter Egger pullets.

The girls have moved in

I did finally move some girls into the first part of the new chicken house. Here you can see a piece of plastic rain gutter screwed to the wall for a feed trough and a coffee container has been recycled into an oyster shell dispenser.

Here you can see some of the girls I kept for my flock. The big black girl in the middle is one of my Black Copper Marans; she's not the one that laid the egg in the pictures above. I put her in with the pullets so I can see what color her eggs are but she hasn't laid one yet. (Unless she laid that light speckled brown one next to the olive one at the bottom. If that is the case I am going to be really disappointed as she is one of the bigger hens I have.)

A New Chicken Pen

Chain link dog kennels chicken pens

 I have chickens every where right now. Nothing has gone according to plan, so the new coop and runs are not ready yet. So when these dog kennels were advertised locally I jumped on them. A little beat up, a couple holes, I've been working on rewiring them where needed to make them more secure.

 Hard to see, but there are two of those kennels with gates in them, one at each end. Then there are some plain panels to help make a larger area. The original owner cut holes in the sides of the kennels so the center area was accessible to his dogs. Here I've put a leftover chain link panel on top of the far left kennel and wired up some tin.

 New Pens in progress

The idea is to close in this end on the side and back and make this the roosting and nesting area. Covering this end should also help give some shade in the afternoon.

Today when I got home I remembered a large panel of siding nailed to a light weight frame. It was part of the roof of a pop up tent trailer. It covered most of this side, but I didn't get a pic yet.

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In other news, I'm over run with eggs! The light tan ones at 3:00 are from my Buff Orpingtons and Buff crosses. the blue and greens are of course from the easter eggers. In the top are some Welsummer and Wellie crosses and the two dark eggs in the center compartment are from my Black Copper Marans pullets that have recently started laying.

I am not sure who belongs to this gigantor egg. At first I thought it was from one of the Black Copper girls, but when I looked at it again, I'm thinking that it might just be from a young Welsummer pullet in the same pen, as she has suddenly got a red comb. I suppose time will tell. 

Population Explosion

3 older hens and a couple of pullets in

 Well there has been a population explosion around here! Back in March I picked up 4 pullets coming into lay, 3 barred rock banties and a full size Buff Orpington, along with a young BO rooster. Then in April I picked up 4 Buff Orpington pullet chicks. That brought the total up to 9 chickens\

crossbred ducks

Then in June I was gifted  with some baby ducks.

Welsummer poult

And 4 young Welsummers. (For those who are not 'into' chickens, Welsummers are a breed from the Netherlands and lay dark brown eggs). They _could_ be crossed with Dorking, but we probably won't know for sure until they grow their adult feathers. Also it will be a bit before we know the sex) This brings us up to 13 chickens and 5 ducks.

Some of the Muscovies, with a sneaky Welsummer poult 

helping itself to the feed

Then in July I found a source for Muscovy Ducks, a breed I have been looking for. I bought 11 young ducklings, 6-7 weeks old. I got a nice variety of colors and patterns. I will probably end up with too many drakes, but we shall see. Muscovy meat is less fatty than regular ducks and they do not quack. These guys make a soft whirring sound that is really different. And that brings us up to 16 ducks and 13 chickens.

chicks hatched 7-20-12

Then one of my barred rock banties went broody and I set 9 eggs under her. Some of them had been in the fridge, so I took a chance on them. On Thurs/Fri 5 eggs hatched, tho one chick didn't make it.

I have no idea which hens are the mothers but they are all the barred rock crossed with the Buff Orpington rooster. (pure BO chicks would be solid yellow) Three are mostly dark and will probably mostly look like the their mommas. But as you can see one has a light silvery color.

little brown faced chick

And then there is this one with a red/brown face. I'm hoping it's not a roo because I think it's going to be really pretty.

So that brings the chicken count to 17 + the 16 ducks = 33 birds! Whew! I really hadn't intended to grow the flock quite so fast! Of course if any of the new chicks or the Welsummer poults are male, they will be going to the freezer. If there are really way too many Muscovy drakes then some of them will also become dinner, although I"m reading up on the breeds color and pattern standards and I might keep some extras if they look like they might approach the show standard, to help keep my gene pool reasonably diverse.

Now it's just a waiting game for all the youngsters to start paying their way! The Buff Orpington pullets should begin laying sometimes in September or so. The Welsummer poults, provided some are female, may not begin to lay until spring. Probably the same for all the ducks.

Poultry, Melons, Squash & More

Ducklings, about 1 week old

Well, I've moved the ducklings to a rabbit cage with a wire floor and a pan under it, so taking care of them will be easier and less messy. They also have more room to run around. As soon as they are feathered they will go outside in the chicken pen.

Welsummers

The young Welsummers went out yesterday. They are so wild and I don't have the time right now to tame them down, I just went ahead and put them out with the big chickens. They are half the size of my Buff Orpington pullets but they have made themselves right at home with the adults, even checking out the adults house. The Buffs are still scaredy cats when it comes to mingling with the adults.

Broody Hen

I also have a hen gone broody, she was quite persistent to sit on the egg nest so I made her a nest in a dog crate with about 10 eggs. When I first moved her over she was pretty upset, but it was almost dark and soon she settled right in. I'm not sure how hatchable the eggs will be, some of them had been in the refrigerator, but I'll try and candle them in a week or two and see how many look good.

Mr Roo and a couple of the girls

Mr. Roo has grown up into a very handsome rooster. However he is also getting to be mean. I have bruises on my knee and thigh where he is hitting me for no reason at all. I move slowly and quietly in the pen, careful not to upset the hens, and then BAM! here he comes. So unfortunately he is going to become chicken stew very soon. I am wondering if part of it is because I did not raise him from a chick, so he doesn't see me as the boss or the food source?

New Bed, Lima's on trellis

I did get that carrot/potato bed dug and will be planting some small artichoke plants out this evening, with black eyed peas in between. This bed is next to a large trellis out front and has some King of the Garden (aka Leviathan) lima beans starting up it.

artichoke plants

Baby Blue Hubbard Squash

The Baby Blue Hubbards are going like gang busters, I think there are 5  or 6 on this plant with more coming on.

Bee Balm

The Bee Balm, Monarda citriodorata is blooming. Click on the pic to see it larger, you can see the bees and hover flies that are draw to the flowers. This is also supposed to be a good tea plant but I haven't tried it yet. Self seeding annual.

eggplant

More eggplant are coming on, both white and purple ones.

Melons on the greenhouse trellis

There are at least 4 more large cantaloupes coming on the greenhouse trellis.

Society Garlic

The Society Garlic is blooming again. The flowers are great in a salad or as a garnish, tasting like a very  mild garlic. It is totally rootbound in it's pot but I haven't decided where to plant it out yet.

tomato wilt

On a sad note I have lost about 5 large tomato plants due to some wilt disease. Here is one of them, about 2 or 3 days ago it just looked like it needed a drink of water. (and the soil was a bit dry so I gave the bed a good long soak) and this morning the leaves are shriveling and drying up. I'm hoping no more succumb, as I didn't plant that many large canning tomatoes.

New Additions

Ducklings

Well by happy circumstance my poultry flock has nearly doubled in size over night. A new friend had too many ducklings and so gave me these four, hatched this past weekend. They are cute, but oh so messy with their water! See all the specks on the sides of the box? That's food and water they have slung around!

poults

Karen also gave me these four poults. They are either Welsummer or Welsummer X Dorking. We'll know for sure when they get their adult feathers. These guys are about 5-6 weeks old and were hatched by their mamma, so they are pretty wild. They are in a cage in the living room for the time being, while I get them a little tamer. Besides which they are only half the size of my Buff Orpington pullets so I will have to make a separate place for them. Maybe I can get that done this weekend.