Pani's Mini-Coop

I was really getting tired of Pani's little dog crate house, so I decided to turn the old table saw table that we had into a little mini-coop for her! I used the old metal table frame, some scrap plywood, some roofing paper, old tin sheeting and a piece of semi transparent fiberglass... I think it came out pretty nicely! Eventually I'm planning on using this for a "Silkie Love-Shack!" so I thought the love bird artwork was fitting. (As is the tin roof... if anyone remembers the lyrics to "Love Shack"!!)

The other chicks love to nap underneath the mini-coop. They spend a lot of time under there in the afternoon when the sun is shining from that direction.

We Have An Egg!!!

Panyah laid her first egg today! I was working on her new mini-coop and glanced over into her run... There is was... sitting in the dirt in the middle of the run! I was so excited!!!! I don't think she knew what was happening.. this is her first egg.

The shell is VERY thin but normally a hens first egg is small and odd in some way. She is a bantam chicken so her eggs will be smaller than other "normal" chickens anyway. I think she stepped on it which is why it's dented. When I picked it up it was very soft and felt like it wanted to collapse. I've given her some oyster shells in her food and am going to the feed store ASAP to get her some "big girl" food (AKA: layer pellets). They have more calcium than normal chicken scratch or grower feed.

HOORAY!!!!!

First Day Outside!

The chickies had their first day outside today and LOVED it!!!!!! Once they were brave enough to go out the door that is... :) Here are some pictures... Enjoy!!

"Is it safe?"

"What did you find?"

NOT Impressed!!!!

Tessa wanted to "get" them SO BAD!!

Check out the mohawk!

Mmmm.... grass!!

Got My Hatchery Replacement Chicks!

I got my new babies! ALL OF THEM WERE ALIVE!! They even stuck 4 extras in the box! (Must have felt guilty because of the last shipment!). We got some new breeds... I'm not really sure what they all are though... other than CUTE! The males are even marked with "stylish" blue paint. Makes life a little easier for me!

They have all been sucking down the sugar water and the feed... They even seem friskier than the last bunch. They must have had a kinder truck driver this time.

Here are some pictures! Enjoy!

The older girls checking out the newbies

What a BIG difference 3 weeks makes!!

Lakenvelder Cockerels

Danish Brown Leghorn Cockerels


"Easter Egger" Cockerels

Mystery Pullet #1

Mystery Pullet #2
Mystery Pullet #3Gratuitous Silkie Shot!

4 New Chicks, Others Getting Big-Girl Feathers!

Because three of my silkies that I got from a local breeder died so young she replaced them for me. I picked them up yesterday. I asked her for some "started" chicks this time so that they had a better chance of being healthy. Because she only had two "colored" silky babies she gave me two cochin babies as a bonus! So now instead of three new babies I have four! They are all about 5 days old. Here are some pictures of them from their first few hours home.

Black Cochin & Splash/Partridge Silkie

Black Cochin Getting a Drink

Black Silkie

HUNGRY!

The older babies look so BIG next to the new ones! I didn't realize how much they had grown!

Older White Cochin

Check out the red chest feathers!
This one looks like she'll be silver

Big Feet & LONG Legs!

HEY! WAKE UP!The replacement chicks from the hatchery shipped out yesterday! They'll be here any day now!can't wait to see those babies next to their older relatives! It's AMAZING how fast they grow!!

Sad Silkie News... But Nice Pics to Make Me Feel Better

Well, the last small silkie died the other day... I was so sad. The breeder has offered to replace the three babies that died. The remaining silkie (who is a week or two old) and the cochin are thriving and mixing well with the other babies.

On to happier things! Since the new babies from the hatchery will be shipped out on June 2nd and I had the plexiglass panel in place on the brooder for a while I thought it was time to integrate the hen with the babies.

WELL... she wasn't that bad. She pecked at them a little bit but didn't chase them. The problem was that the chicks were so afraid of her that they wouldn't go near the feeders and stayed in the corner. Whenever they came out of the corner she would herd them back and sit there watching them. When she lived at the farm she was in a chain link dog kennel with a dog house to roost in at night... So she is now out in the run with a dog kennel to sleep in, at least until the babies get a little bigger.

(The dog crate is now up on stilts and covered with a tarp... she likes that better!)

Meanwhile the babies are LOVING all the room! They are pecking everywhere, "sparring" (figuring out the pecking order) and digging through the chips. They are having a blast.

I added plastic strips around the chicken and people doors to keep the drafts out and have hung a solar night light in the coop. Chickens are attracted to the light and will make them more likely to come home to roost once they are allowed outside.

They have even figured out the "big kids" feeder and waterer! They are so smart!

Naptime :)

I have been working hard putting in a veggie garden... it's definitely got to be bigger next year! We've even put in 2 grape vines! One concord and one seedless green. We also have a small windmill that was made by my BFs father... Don't FARMS have windmills?

Right now we have a dwarf macintosh and a plum tree. We are planning on getting another apple and maybe a peach or a pear (probably both :)

The flowers are still blooming like crazy around here!! I was talking to my MIL and have her 3/4 of the way convinced that we should get some Guinea Fowl to keep the ticks, Japanese beetles and other insect populations down... *evil grin*

That's all for now. The new chickies are being shipped on Monday! I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope I have a loud box when I get to the post office this time... Cross your fingers for me!!

The chicks are growing FAST!

Look what I got for my birthday!! Eggcellent!! (sorry, couldn't help it!)

Well anyway, I haven't posted in a few days... I've been super busy around here... and had some sad things happen... 2 of the tiny silkie babies died over the last week. The little black one and one of the white ones. The bigger white silkie and the tiny splash silkie are doing fine. So is the cochin. I think because they are/were so much younger than the other chicks they needed it warmer. When I saw the older chicks sitting far away from the heat lamp I adjusted it to make it cooler... forgetting that I had those tinies in there. *sigh* I have the last tiny silkie chick in a sort of hospital brooder to keep him quiet (aka not getting stepped on by the bigger chicks!) and warmer. He has Dum-Dum (the Australorp runt) for company...

The chicks are really growing! They are exactly 2 weeks old today! Can you believe the wing and tail feathers?? The first picture is of the same chick I am holding in the first chick pictures post... That was less than 2 weeks ago!! They grow SO FAST!

We call the one with the white eyebrows "Penguin"... she walks VERY upright!

I made a few changes to the brooder this week too... Since I have this hen in the coop and plan on mixing her with the babies in about 2 weeks (when the new babies come) I decided to add a plexiglass window to the brooder. Panya PECKED AND PECKED at those babies when she first saw them... I was alarmed! What if she does that when they're in the same "room"? But, after the first day the novelty must have worm off... Now she is more likely to be sitting next to the window just watching "Chick TV". Hopefully in 2 weeks she'll be completely bored with them. This window also helps them from being as scared of me as they have been. Now they can see my legs approaching and I'm less like a giant hawk swooping down on them.


The babies had been perching on their waterer and trying to get onto the heat lamps so I decided they would like a mini-roost in there... I was right! They LOVE it!


It was really warm out today so I made Panya go outside. (I am still trying to figure out her name!). She ran around, ate grass... and stalked bugs! She had a lot of fun catching those ants!

Watching a tractor drive by

One last note! I finally finished burying the fence! The run is officially done and ready for the little ones to try it out in a few weeks! I also hung a bunch of old CDs from the overhead netting... Other than adding a wonderful disco atmosphere - it's practical! It confuses the hawks... sort of like a modern scarecrow! Oh and of course I had to plant more flowers!