I'm ready to blog about my chickens again. It's been a rough go. I had 4 original beloved chickens. Named Dot, Flora, Sabine, and Siobhan. I raised these chicks from the time they were a day old. Then we added 5 more chickens (about 5 weeks old when we got them)...I didn't name these chickens because I thought we might have to give one of them up if it was a rooster. Some of you may know how difficult it is to raise chicks. They're pretty fragile until they feather out. I loved taking care of my chicks!
One day my MIL was feeding our dogs and before she could even bat an eyelash, each of our dogs charged the coop, forced their head in and grabbed a chicken. 2 chickens gone just like that. Of course, it would have been the ones I'd already named. Goodbye Siobhan and Dot. I cried for hours. I found some similar breeds to replace them that were around the same age on ksl.
Then, our neighbors, who were moving soon, asked if they could use our coop for one larger chicken so they could have fresh eggs until they moved. Sure, didn't see any problems with that. I had already combined my 2 flocks and it had gone pretty well. I didn't realize that it's a VERY bad idea to combine younger and older chickens. They were ok at first, but after a few days I found my lovely little Flora pecked nearly to death by the older chicken. We retrieved her and the first week was pretty iffy. I cried hard for hours and then decided I couldn't shed another tear for these chickens....they were too fragile. Both eyes and most of her head and back were a giant scab for weeks. In the end, she made a near full recovery. She was left with only one eye. During her recovery, she stayed in the house with my MIL. They became great friends. Flora loved to roam the back yard.
While we were back east, my MIL forgot that she had left Flora out to play and let the dogs out to feed them. Goodbye Flora, you were everyone's favorite. I was sooo sad, but I already vowed no more tears.
We now have 11 chickens and we're pretty positive that none are roosters. They are between 4 and 5 months old. They should start laying in the next 1 to 2 months. I can't wait!
I just barely got up the nerve to name the rest of them.
Pratt (White Aracauna, named after the neighbors who left her with us, light green eggs)
Dot Returns (Silver Laced Wyandotte replacement, white eggs)
Trellis (Welsummer replacement, terra cotta eggs)
Sunset...Sunny for short(backup Welsummer, terra cotta eggs)
Sabine (Cuckoo Maran, only one of my original 4 babies left, chocolate brown eggs)
Plume (backup Cuckoo Maran, chocolate brown eggs)
Monson (Black Aracauna, blue/green eggs, has a boy name because we thought she might be a rooster)
Norah (Brown Aracauna, blue/green eggs)
Maude (Brown Aracauna, blue/green eggs)
Mavis (Brown Aracauna, blue/green eggs)
Pippy (Rhode Island Red, brown eggs)
PS the only one who loves the chickens more than me is "W"
|