Our babies are growing up...

Golden Wyandotte, Dominique, Black Jersey Giant

Hard to believe that this is the same group, 6 weeks later!  It's easy to tell which is which now.

They've graduated from the cardboard box to Sunny's crate and now to the small outside coop.  The introduction to the existing flock has been pretty painless, so I think we'll try them overnight in the big coop tonight.  We still keep a close eye on them when they're out of the coop - fast as they are, a hawk would certainly be able to catch and kill them with little trouble.

If these were commercial chickens they'd be ready to start laying.  As it is, it will be another 4-5 months before we see our first egg.  No problem; the others are still going strong.

The whole flock

Newest members of the egg production team

If there's anything I like better than getting a new batch of chicks, I surely don't know what it is.  These little babies are about a week old.  We have a Black Jersey Giant, a Golden-Laced Wyandotte, and a Dominique (I think they're in that order in the picture).  No names yet; those will come in time.

They'll stay inside their cardboard box in the studio for the next couple of weeks or so until they're big enough, and it's warm enough, for them to go outside, at least during the day.  They can go outside permanently at around 5 or 6 weeks.

I'm very happy to have another Dominique and Black Jersey Giant - they are such sweet, gentle chickens.  I don't know the Golden-Laced Wyandotte although our Houdini is a Silver-Laced Wyandotte.  She's a bit skittish so we'll see if this one has a similar personality.

World's Cutest Little Egg

At this point in our chicken-raising careers we have seen a lot of eggs.  But we have never seen one this small!!

We think it came from our German Spitzhauben, whom we call Kaiser Wilhelmina, only because she's the smallest of the 3 younger chickens and seems more immature.  Goofy, even.  We can't really tell because all 3 of them lay white eggs with a pinkish/tan cast.

We were just amazed by this tiny egg and haven't brought ourselves to cook it yet.  It won't even make a mouthful!  Of course, it might be just right for me since I don't like eggs all that well.

For now, we're keeping it in the basket with our rotating collection of tan, white, and green eggs - our kitchen still life.

New egg!

Two batches of homemade eggnog this holiday season plus the homecoming of our 5 children really depleted our egg reserves!  Fortunately, one of our newest chicks - we believe it's the lavender orpington - surprised us with her first egg this morning.  What a cute little egg it is, so small compared to the brown one from Bucky and the blue one from Goose, and pink!

We were surprised to have an egg from one of them now because we didn't expect them to start laying until at least January and possibly not until February.  It seems that orpingtons are a relatively fast-maturing breed (good to know).

We've learned that 3 laying hens is about right to keep us in eggs for ourselves and our guests with a nice reserve for cakes and other goodies.  When the other 2 start laying - and I guess they will soon enough - we'll be overflowing, but that's a good problem to have.  Sadly, chicken attrition can happen without warning.

Rebuilding the flock

Following the demise of Mimique and the tragic deaths of 2 of our buckeyes, we have added a new chicken and started raising 3 new chicks.

We have our chicken from Wild Goose Garden, in Oberlin, courtesy of Kim Annable.  She is an Americauna and lays blue/green eggs, just like Chipmunk.  We named her Goose - partly in honor of her provenance, partly because she's gray, and partly because we think it's a funny name for a chicken.

Goose - but the picture doesn't do her justice

Crazy story about Goose:  Within 15 minutes of having her at home, she escaped into the woods behind our house.  Dominique and I beat the bushes for a long time but didn't find her and eventually had some place we needed to be.  When we returned home later that night, we went out with flashlights to see if she had roosted in the tree branches.  No sign of her.  The next morning, I put out "Missing Chicken" signs and once again combed the woods.  Nothing.

Later that morning, as I stood in the kitchen talking to my daughter, Jessie, she happened to look out the door.  A strange look came over her face as she said, "Well, look who's here."  And who should it be but our crazy Goose, scratching and pecking as if nothing were amiss at all.  Needless to say we hustled her into the pen and slammed the door!

Maybe an hour or so later I noticed that I had a voice message on my phone.  Someone had actually spotted Goose in the neighbor's yard across the street from us and called to tell us!  Of course it was after the fact by then, but how great that someone would take the time!

Goose is having a hard time adjusting to life at the Buckeye and the Frog thanks to our remaining buckeye, Bucky (clever name, eh?).  That pecking order stuff is real and a bit vicious.  She hasn't been hurt but she sure gets chased a lot.  Detente is coming slowly but surely, however; they all roost together now and Bucky's chasing has diminished.  Hopefully Goose will relax enough to start laying some eggs soon!

Cagney, Purpur, and Angela

Angela, Cagney, and Purpur

As for the babies, we picked them up from Meyer Hatchery on August 20 when they were 2 days old.  Although I asked for another dominique and a Jersey giant, my email was never linked to my order so what we have is a silver-laced wyandott, a German spitzhauben, and a blue or lavendar orpington.  They are named Cagney, Angela, and Purpur.  All seem healthy and are very happy to spend the day outside.  It will be several weeks yet before we introduce them to the older chickens - the pecking order business is especially hard on little chicks but soon they'll easily be able to outrun their elders!

R.I.P., Mimique

Mimique 8-9-2010

9-14-2010

Sadly, when we returned to the B&F after our amazing vacation in Africa, we learned that Mimique had a paralyzed leg and was basically unable to move.  Three days later, she was dead.  We don't know what caused her death although she was found on the ground under the roost, next to a broken egg.  Going on 3 years old, Mimique was laying larger and larger eggs and a google search revealed that sometimes a very large egg can cause paralysis.  Maybe that was it.

We are very sad for our little amputee dominique.  She was a pretty, gentle hen and the head chicken of the flock.  We planted a memorial "Rosy Glow" barberry bush in our backyard and held a small burial ceremony for her.  RIP

There are two silver linings to this otherwise unhappy story.  First, Mimique was the first of our chickens to die of natural causes.  Yay for us.  Second, I now feel justified in buying some new chicks.  Chipmunk is the same age as Mimique and although she could live for another year or two (or more), we will want to make sure that we have enough laying hens to keep us in eggs for our guests.  So we have three day-old chicks arriving on Aug. 19 -  rare breeds, and hopefully including a Jersey giant and another dominique.

Head of the flock

Laying an egg

Future egglayers of the B&F

Picked up 3 new baby Buckeyes on Tuesday from Meyer Hatchery.  All survived the first night (not the case the last time) so I think we're home free for awhile, knock wood.  As always, they're just as cute as they can be.

In other chicken news, our 2 older hens, Chipmunk and Mimique, are molting and so all egg-laying is off for now.  They look awful.  Our other Buckeye, who is about 5-1/2 months now, has yet to lay her first egg but it should be soon.  In the meantime, fortunately, we're able to buy free-range organic eggs from our friend Kim at Wild Goose Gardens just outside of town.

Our Yellow Truck

Are we crazy or what?  We went to CarMax yesterday and picked up a bright - and I do mean bright - yellow Ford Ranger pick up.  2003, 59K miles, great shape.  Manual transmission (I insisted on this)!  It's going to be our version of a moving van over the next several months as we gradually migrate to Oberlin.  We have a solution for moving the chickens now!  Then it'll be useful in all kinds of ways, especially once we have our farm.  And won't the grandkids love to ride in the back (yes, we will let them do that).