Ruby Update

Hello, world!  I'm happy to say that our Ruby bird has taken a turn for the better!  She's back to her chipper little self, though she seems to not be really excited about yogurt (a once favorite treat) and does not really seem to be eating the chicken crumble (kibble).  So, fearing that she might be hungry, I went out today with a garden trowel to dig up some bugs for her to eat.  She fell back into our old routine:  I shovel out a trowel-full of dirt, she inspects the dirt and the hole in the ground for bugs (scratch, inspect, and eat - if bugs are found), she looks up when she's done, and we repeat this process.  

Greedy bird comes into this garden routine too, but she's more skittish with me.  She is a little bit nervous about getting too close to me, but, if she's on a mission to find some bugs, she may lose her bearing a little bit and inch toward me.  And Prissy - well, she's too much of a lady to engage herself in looking for and eating bugs.  So this leaves Ruby bird and me some quiet time to look for worms and other delectables.  

The moral of the story is, as much as people say chickens aren't too smart, they're not that dumb either.  To the extent that they can take care of their own selves and needs, they will, and they do.  So, I'm not going to worry about Ruby not eating kibble - I'm sure she'll figure it out on her own!  

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

Amy

Pray for Ruby!!

Apparently - since getting chickens, I have become really religious.  (see previous posting about praying for Prissy)

But unlike the futile prayers for Prissy to lay an egg, this one is serious!  I think something is wrong with my Ruby bird!  She's just so lethargic, and unlike her usual sparkly self.  Usually, she's very curious and social, and when you come out to see her, she's sure to greet you (even though she may be looking for a hand out).  These past couple of days, her reaction has been very slow, she's less social, and she appears to not be extending her head.  And, I'm not a doctor, but I think her pupils look dilated.  

Poor little bird.  She's been getting the same food, and has had plenty of water.  And her little sisters are fine.  And it's SO sad to see an otherwise charming little bird reduced to this unresponsive creature!  

Please send your good vibes and maybe ideas on how to help little Ruby?!  Just a note - I have had a conversation with Sandy D. about mixing up hen and chick food to help out the little chicks - we didn't do that.  the chicks appear to be thriving, so I just let them be.  Maybe I should?  

Help!

The Great Egg Derby!

Inevitably, when you have hens, you wonder about their egg laying habits, and what might cause your little hen to lay an egg or not.  

With one of our little birds, little Prissy, well, I've given up the thought of Little Prissy Bird laying an egg.  She just doesn't seem the sort!  For example, if you go out in the chicken run area with a shovel, my Ruby bird will come right up to you and keep her little eyes on the dirt for movement, which, in her food-driven mind means bugs, which means, delicious treat!  Greedy also enjoys a wormy treat too!  But, against everything we know about chickens, little Prissy bird doesn't!  You might think, "Amy, Prissy bird is just shy!  She's scared of people who are like 1,000-times taller than her, especially if they are wielding a shovel."  And I thought the same thing!  So we have actually excavated a clod of dirt with a juicy worm in it, and tossed it in the direction of little Prissy bird!  She pecks at it coquettishly, then does not go in for the kill!  Little Prissy bird does like grassy and lettuce treats...could it be she's a vegetarian?  Anyway - her not eating worms probably has nothing to do with whether or not she lays an egg, but it just all seems to work together, I think.  One time we did find an egg the size of a large gumball (a sad little egg) - and I half suspected that it was the handiwork of my Prissy bird, but since then, no additional gumballs have been laid.  

Now there is Ruby bird.  When we first got her (it was a cold spring) - she produced about an egg a day.  Wow!  And from the get go, I pegged her as our champion producer.  Not so fast, though!  Recently, as the weather has gotten warmer, she's laid less eggs.  And this makes me think - why?  Once, I speculated, if it was because little Ruby bird ate TOO many worms!  On Wormy Sunday (see previous post), Ruby may have eaten close to 200 worms!  Yes, really!  Mark just kept digging, and she just kept eating!  And after that, she didn't lay an egg for about a week.  I thought, maybe my Ruby bird is constipated...which may be freaking out her laying cycles.  I brought this up to a friend, and he asked, "Wait, don't chickens eat worms naturally?"  And his comment made me think, how could a chicken eat too many worms - that's what they eat!  OK - scratch that.  I then realized that about that same time, we switched up their food from one brand to another.  Aha!  I quickly re-supplied their old food, and voila!  Little Ruby bird laid an egg the next day!  I thought I was pretty smart - but since the re-switching of their food, Ruby isn't laying an egg a day like she did...more like an egg every three days.  Hmmm...

And in the meantime, my little Greedy bird (or "Lebron", as Mark likes to call her because she's so athletic) has been laying close to an egg a day!  (BTW - you can tell because Greedy eggs are green, and Ruby eggs are light brown.)  Wow!  Why is little Greedy bird becoming so prolific?  Could it be that some birds prefer warm weather, and some birds prefer colder weather?  Could it be because one bird is getting older while the other bird is reaching egg laying prime?  Bottomline is, none of this is known to the author.  These little birds seem to have a mind of their own, and whatever they want to do, they do.  

Oh - it should be noted that while little Prissy bird doesn't "lay" eggs, she does like to sit on them.  Isn't that funny?  We keep a golf ball in their laying area as to encourage our little birds to create their own eggs.  I have spied little Prissy bird sitting in the corner over the golf ball!  It's true!  And if, when she squishes around to be more comfy, the golf ball squirts out from underneath her, she gently pushes the little golf ball back into place with her wing!  Isn't that cute?  I think in the chicken world, they call this behavior "broody", as in, likely to brood over her flock (to be).  As for me, it makes her Prissy name all the more fitting!  If you recall, the Prissy of my bird's namesake is from Looney Tunes.  And the cartoon Prissy does the exact same thing!  Prissy's always taking the other snootier hen's eggs for her own because she can't lay her own egg, and as a result, she feels like she's always on the chopping block!!  

Until next time, pray for Prissy to lay her own egg.  I know that when she does, she'll be very pleased with her pretty self.  And her mommy will throw her a big chicken-y party, full of vegetarian delights!  

PS - Camera still not fixed...so no new precious spring photos.  I'm working on it!

The Chicks Are Growing Up

Our little chicks are growing up.  They've "feathered out" - lost their downy soft baby fluff and grown in full grown chicken feathers.  To celebrate their new feathers, we've moved them from their little plastic crate that was inside, to a newly sectioned off part of the chicken coop.   And little by little, they're wandering around in the chicken run.  

Now the reality is, the little girls are terrified of the big girls.  They spend their time outside scurrying along the perimeter of the run, scared.  Thank goodness they have one another.  They are inseparable when terrified.  So when the big girls get too close to the little ones, you hear a series of frantic cheeps, which is coupled with a lot of running around.  

And now that they're bigger, there's less opportunity to pick them up out of their crates and taking them to the chicken coop for their exercise.  It'll just be a matter of time before there is no reason to pick up the chicks anymore, just like there's no reason to pick up my big girls anymore.  Sad.  The little chicks are growing up so fast.  

No new photos yet - my digital camera has been on the fritz since sand got in the lens from the GA coast!  But here is a wistful photo of my little girls, in their infancy.  

Wormy Sunday!

Good morning Sunday!  It's a bright and cheery day here in the chicken house!   This morning, Mark and I spent some time digging around the chicken run and looking for worms!  Since it's been so rainy this spring, the worms are in abundance!  Mark would dig up a shovelful of dirt, and little Ruby bird would bring her little self over and oversee the operations.  And if she sees a worm, watch out - in she goes!  We think she may have eaten like 50 worms this morning!  

The other two precious girls are too shy around people to jump into the front lines of worm excavations.  So they hung back.  To make sure Ruby bird didn't eat all the worms, we would throw some clods to Ms. Greedy and Ms. Prissy.  Ms. Greedy is pretty thankful for the offering, while Ms. Prissy, well, she may be too much of a lady to eat a worm.  She pecked at one, and didn't make the kill.  More for Ruby bird!  Hope you are having a nice weekend!  Our birds sure are!

Chicken Treats!

Imagine if you were a chicken - you ran around a chicken run all day with intermittent breaks to check out your house.  What do you think your favorite thing would be to do?  Yes - EAT!  

Chickens LOVE snacks!  For a comprehensive chart of what are acceptable treats for chickens (posted along with GREAT photos) - go to the website at the end of this post.  Here's a summary of what our chickens like:

Scratch (a mixed of cracked corn, milo, and other grains) - FAVORITE treat!  If our chickens are hanging out inside their house and hear these grains fall to the ground, they will SHOOT out of the house like a bullet and peck away happily!  If they are already pecking away happily, then hear that a larger lode of scratch has hit the ground nearby, they'll abandon their lot and run to the new lode!  (For what it's worth, the chicks, who are more like young ladies of hens rather than children, have not yet acquired a taste for scratch.  Watch out!)

Yogurt and Cucumber (usually served separately) - a Good treat for hens and chicks alike (I think we have Greek hens)

Lettuce, grass, and weeds - a Good treat!  It's funny to watch the big girls attack the big pieces of vegetation: they don't mind that half of it is hanging out their beaks!

Cabbage - Not so popular with the big girls, though, if you leave it out, they'll eat it. 

Carrot tops - pretty big hit!  

Strawberries - not so hot - our birds apparently don't have much of a sweet tooth.

Warm oatmeal - pretty good treat!  True story - one cold morning, Mark woke up extra early to make a warm bowl of oatmeal for the big girls!  He served it to them in their chicken house: breakfast in bed for our hens!  

Meal worms, crickets, meaty bones (think pork rib bones) - YESSSSS!  

Here are our little Greek birds, contemplating a dish of yogurt!  Bwak bwak for now!

http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-Treats_Chart

Chicken Run!

The other day - we had a real life chicken run!  I lifted the roof of the hen house to do some cleaning, and two curious little birds jumped right out of the house!  

And at first - it was a pretty good time!  Little Ruby and Prissy had a really nice time exploring their new environment!  Here they are scratching under their nice house!  You can see how the roof props open for easy cleaning and egg collecting!  These little birds love to explore!

And it really is funny to watch them waddle around, scratching at the dirt, sometimes concrete.  And I don't know if stubborn is the right word, or simple minded, but once little Ruby bird decides there is an area that she is going to explore, this little bird is going to get her way, despite my half hearted  attempts to shush her out of the way!   I was trying to keep her out of the trees and into the alley that you can't see, but she was having too much fun to listen to me!  

It probably doesn't say really great things about my assertiveness that I get over run by a couple of hens!!  

At some point, I think they even thought about escaping right over the fence!  

Now it's time for the little hens to go back inside while I went and met my family for lunch.  Little Ruby is pretty easy to lure - if you just throw down some of her favorite grainy scratch, she'll come right over to you!  And at this point, you just grab her and put her back in the chicken coop.  

But Little Prissy Bird...she's not as "motivated" by food as her sister Ruby.  And while she *might* be tempted by some scratch, she's not going to come near you to get it!  

You can tell that she was frustrated and didn't want to be the only little bird exploring: poor little Prissy just kept running along the perimeter of her chicken run, looking longingly at her sisters who were clucking in the security of their environment.  She wasn't really aware of the open gate, and she could just jump her little self inside.  She just roamed along the perimeter, squawking unhappily!

And in case you wondered, I did try to negotiate with Little Prissy Bird - but she really wasn't listening to my reasoning.  And in a surprising act of agility, she even flew herself up to the top of chicken coop!  I didn't know that she could fly so high!  (She is handsome on the top of her house, isn't she?!)

And finally - after corning her twice (because the first time she flapped, I got scared and let her go!) - I finally got my little Bird back in her house and run.  

Mark's suggested for their future outings, we put them on a leash!  Stay tuned! 

Chicken Lexicon

It wasn't until I got these chickens and thought about their behavior that I realized how our lexicon is entrenched in chicken culture!  I'll give you a couple of examples:

(1) Pecking order

So chickens really DO establish a pecking order!  Recently, I noticed little Ruby giving poor Greedy a really hard time!  Yes, my sweet little Ruby!  My little Greedy bird will be scratching away at her little piece of real estate, trying to find some uneaten bit of grain, minding her own. 

 Then Ruby will come chasing after my little Greedy bird!  And if Greedy doesn't run away in self defense, Ruby will peck at Gre

edy!  Yes, it's true!  You want to tell Greedy, "Listen, you're bigger than Ruby!  Defend yourself!"  But we all have siblings who were littler than us beating us up, or have seen little dogs take control of a household!   (I don't mind sharing with you - one of my most memorable childhood memories is my little sister punching me in the car, and leaving finger nail scars on my arm because she didn't want to share some cheetos with me!  And she's much littler than me - still is!  So apparently, Katie the chicken wouldn't let Amy the chicken peck in peace either!) 

Ruby and Greedy's behavior is known as establishing a pecking order!  Feel free to impress upon yourself that this is REAL phenomenon by looking for "pecking order" in wikepedia!  

(2) Coming home to roost

This little birds have a really strong instinct to come home and roost!  Once the sun goes down, then hens flap into their house and apparently, just naturally fall into sleepy mode!  Even hearing their favorite scratch (Chicken Crack!) get thrown onto the ground doesn't arouse them out of their sleepy stupor!  This is probably the only time you can pet these little birds without them running away!  

The little chicks, as they are still under the constant attention of the heat lamp, have not had this chance to fall into a sleepy stupor yet.  So, in celebration of their constant lit environment, here are some really cute pictures of them!  (You might notice that there are jail bars in one picture - this is because they're kept under an oven rack to prevent them from flying themselves ou

t of their crate!  So now they're in, haha, chicken jail!)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  

To keep my black and silver feathers pretty, I have to have plenty of delicious treats!  Why, a pretty little bird like me deserves the finest, don't you think?  Here I am with my sister Ruby!  We're having a good time this Easter.  

I wonder if the Easter Bunny is going to leave us a nice basket of treats.  My favorite part is the grass in the basket, oh, and Peeps!  I'm just not sure about all of those chocolates shaped like rabbits.  I think all Easter treats should feature pretty little hens like me!  From my sisters, Ruby and Greedy, hope you and yours are enjoying a fun Easter! 

Thought I would share a photo from inside my house.  From all of us, feathered and friend alike, Happy Easter!

Prissy the Hen

Hello, my name is Prissy the Hen.   My mom thinks I'm a "Wyandot" chicken.  I'm very pretty and my feathers look like I am wearing black and silver lace!  I sure am a pretty bird.  

I named her Prissy from a Looney Tunes character with the same name.  Prissy was always in the same episodes with Foghorn Leghorn.*  Prissy could not lay an egg because she was old and stringy looking, and as a result, poor Prissy was always near the chopping block.  Poor Prissy.  

So much like her namesake, little Prissy has not laid an egg.  But don't worry, little girl, no one's going to chop your head off.  For one thing, it would be too gross and too much work!

Bwak bwak for now!

Greedy the Hen

Hello, I am a hen called Greedy, which is a bit of a misnomer because, unlike my sister Ruby, I'm actually not that greedy!  Don't get me wrong, I like snacks and scratch, but I don't beg for food like my sister Ruby.  

We named her Greedy because she's such a large bird!  We thought may she's a rooster!  But in fact, Greedy is not a rooster - she does lay eggs!  Greedy's breed is "Easter Egger", which means the eggs that she lays are light green in color.  Really!  The inside of the egg is the same, but the shell really is light green!  Don't ask me why this is.  

Greedy's egg laying is not as prolific as Ruby's.  Little Ruby lays about an egg a day, and in thsi week, Greedy has laid two eggs.  

Ruby the Hen

Hello, my name is Ruby.  I'm a curious little bird, and I LOVE treats!  Here I am performing an archeological dig for remains of ancient chickens.  So far, no clues.  

Ruby is a gentle little bird.  She loves to investigate new areas.  When we first got the hens, she was the first one we picked up and put inside the chicken coop.  The floor of the coop is lined with hardware cloth (this is like the wire cooling racks you use to make cookies).  Ruby was pretty unsure about this open floor.  If any of you readers have a dog, Ruby's reaction was similar to your dog not wanting to walk over a grate (or you yourself not wanting to walk over the storm drain).  But we threw down some straw for her, and she seemed more comfortable.  That is, until she scratched away the straw and saw the open floor again.  (She froze and, as much as a chicken could show emotion, looked scared.)

After spending a couple of days observing her behavior, this is what little Ruby likes to do:

Sun up - wake up and baaaawk to be let out of the coop, maybe eat a snack of chicken kibble, or scratch for grain.

Around 9 am - she makes a LOT of noise (BAAAWK...Bbbbbbwaaack!) and heads on inside the coop.  She'll sit on the coop for about an hour or so making such noises.  This is the time that she is laying an egg!  It seems to me like a major biological disadvantage to make a LOT of noise right before you lay an egg, a delicious treat for any predator.  Then again, it's not really clear how a lot of domestic chickens would survive in the game of evolution.

About 10 am - she'd done laying her egg, and comes back out of the house for some more scratching, eating, and hanging out.  

About 6 pm - I come home from work and give her some treats for being such a nice girl.  

Sun down - Ruby and the other hens will faithfully scoot themselves into the coop for a night's sleep.  

Here's little Ruby inside her chicken run.  

Bwak bwak for now! 

Chicken Photos at Last!

Here are the girls:

(1 and 2) Our chicks - Daisy and Dottie (I think it's easy enough to figure out who is who)

Dottie and Daisy are four weeks old.  Right now, they reside under the safe haven of a heat lamp.  They stay inside the house in a plastic crate and will remain under a heat lamp for a few more weeks.  The point is to keep them warm, and out of the pecking reaches of the big girls.  

Little Daisy and Dottie will be egg bearing age in about twelve more weeks.  For now, they like to cheep and chirp.  Though they are precious and cute, but not terribly interactive: they're terrified of people.  If you were to stick your hand inside the sanctum of their plastic crate, they will freak out, chirp, then  try to jam themselves into the corner of the crate.  This is, unless, you bring them their favorite treat...yogurt!

Here they are, eating yogurt out of the spoon.  They go bonkers for yogurt!  Daisy LOVES treats!  Dottie, on the other hand, is the not the food whore that Daisy is.  If you bring some yogurt, Dottie "may" come near you, and if you put down the spoon in the food dish, she'll be more likely to come near you.  But she's likely to be done after a few gentle pecks.  

Yesterday - I changed the litter of the chicks' coop, and since the chicks HATE when you stick your hand into their world, I thought, maybe they would like a special treat, I went to the pet store and got them some (*gasp*) meal worms.  Meal worms, in case you didn't know, are beetle babies.  If you keep them long enough, the meal worm turns into a hard shelled beetle.  (EW!)  Anyway, when offered these disgusting treats, Daisy dipped her beak into the dish of meal worms.  She picked out a worm then put it into her living space.  She didn't eat it, like she just enjoyed the act of putting a worm in her mouth and moving it into another container.  She reached for another meal worm, did the same.  Eventually, I'm sure they're learn the joys of eating insects, but at four weeks, this may be too advanced.  

Anyway - to end this chicky post, here's a precious photo of chicks eating yogurt!  

(One cute tidbit about them eating yogurt - they dip their entire beak in to take a bite, and a few bites later, they'll rub their little yogurt-y beaks on the pine shavings on the floor, to rub the yogurt off their little beaks.  Precious!)

Chirp chirp for now!

You wouldn't know it - but they're really cute!

We got ourselves three hens and two chicks.  You wouldn't know it, but hens are really cute!  

We did it!  We got chickens!  

It all started after reading "Chickens in You Backyard" which goes through the basics of owning chickens, and the last chapter asks, "Why Raise Chickens".  The answer..."For Fun!  Chickens for Fun!"  I was hooked.  

So a few weeks ago, under Mark's brother Shannon's foreman instruction, we built ourselves a beautiful chicken coop!!  Here are some building photos.  Chickens to come, after coop is built!