baby chicks!

I got a box full of one-day-old baby chicks in the mail today. 17 of them! They are very tiny and very cute. They are now under a red heat lamp in a dog crate converted into a chick incubator.

lost chicken

I was very sad to loose one of my laying hens yesterday. I suspect it was a hawk the got her. We have a giant pair of red-tails often nearby. The chicken was my best layer, Roxy, a barred rock - the black and white one up front in the picture above. Her carcass was at the edge of the woods, half eaten. I buried it. Now I have three hens. The others are very somber. I imagine it was terrifying for them to see.



Roxy laid big brown eggs. The one up front. I'm thinking about getting another hen or two later in the spring. We were getting 3 eggs a day, 20 a week. I think we'll only have 2 a day now - about 2 dozen a week. Normally enough for a family of three, but my son is a serious baker. Seven eggs go into his pound cake recipe that's a regular treat for us, his friends and co-workers.

Poor Roxy.

staying warm

To stay warm, my chickens huddle together in their run. Charley hangs out in the house in his favorite spot on the steps.



(I'd like to get more pictures of Suzie. She was sitting next to Charley on the steps and they both looked so cute together. But she runs off if she sees a camera. Occasionally I catch a shot, but not this time.)

chickens foraging in the yard

They're laying great now. I'm getting just over 3 eggs a day from the four hens. I think they like the nice spring weather. I have to do a spring coop cleaning soon. They've built up a nice layer of poop for my compost bins at the bottom of their coop.

chickens staying warm

Big Bertha, my heavily feathered white Brahma, doesn't lay as many eggs as the rest, but she's really nice to snuggle up with on a cold night. All my chickens are fine after the frigid night. -12.9F!

bee hives wrapped up for a cold night

I wasn't planning to wrap my bee hives. At my bee club people usually just add insulation to the top, which I did back in November. But this is way colder than we're used to! Predictions for tonight are 5 to 15 below 0 F (-20 to -26 C) with a gusty wind to 35 mph. So I wrapped both hives in a tarp. At least this will cut down any drafts getting in the openings.



I also secured the chicken coop better than usual. At less than 20 F (-7C), I turn on a ceramic bulb heater in the coop. That's been on most of this week. This afternoon I lowered tarps that protect the run from wind. I'll go out after they start roosting and close the coop door - which I never do.

Brrr! Stay warm!

chickens out for a walk

My chickens went out for a mid-winter walk today. No snow left here - they had lots of scratching to do.



In the middle of their walk, Ginger the brown Auracana all of a sudden jumped up, left the group, ran for the laying box and left me that blue egg. I'm getting 2 or 3 eggs a day now. Only Bertha, the big white Brahma isn't laying yet.

chickens are molting

My chickens have started molting. The coop is covered with feathers. I guess they are shedding their dirty summer feather and will grow in fluffy new down coats for winter. I'm told it takes a lot of protein to molt and they don't lay eggs during this time. I'm down to one egg a day. Only because the youngest (Roxy: my barred Rock) hasn't started her molt yet.

Today, I'll try to remember to get their winter light set up. I put a standard 40 watt bulb in the coop on a timer so they get about 12 hours of light a day, with the extra time in the morning. It gets dark about 6 pm now, so it should come on at 6 am. (6 am to 9 am)

chicken cam soon?

I'm researching a web cam for my chicken coop. That will be fun! I will post it here. Then we will ALL be able to see what they are doing instead of laying eggs!

Yes, still no eggs from any of the four hens. Its been since September, 2 months now without any eggs. Ii does look like my 1 year old hens molted, but that's done now. And the new pullets are definitely old enough to lay by now. I have a light that comes on at 4 am in the coop so they get 14 hours of light a day. And they are all getting along well now. I don't know about those hens. But I'm looking forward to watching them by chicken cam.

adjusting my chicken's lighting

My chickens still aren't laying any eggs. I came across this article: Why Aren't My Chickens Laying, from McMurray Hatcheries. I will follow their advice and set my light timer to come on early in the morning, before dawn, to give the chickens 14 hours of sunlight.

Near Boston, we're getting 10.5 hours of sunlight now (and decreasing fast!). Sunrise today was 7:15 MA, so I should the light to come on at 3:45 AM!! That's early!

I had my light coming on at 6:15 AM and after dusk until 6:45 PM. That was only giving them 12.5 hours, and most of the extra in the evening. McMurray suggests its better to have the extra light in the morning. So 3:45 AM it is. I just went out and adjusted the timer.

I sure would like at least one of the four hens to lay me some eggs.

chicken update

Its been a long haul getting my two new pullets accepted by my two one-year-old hens. I got the pullets mid-August, mail order from McMurray Hatchery. I think this weekend, two months later, they are finally "getting along".

When the pullets first arrived, I kept them in a large metal dog crate next to the chicken run. Occasionally, I let all the chickens out in the yard to forage. At first the big hens chased the pullets and wouldn't come within 20 feet of them.

Over the next couple weeks they foraged closer together. After a month, they stayed together in the yard unless there was food around. If I put feed out, the big hens would protect it from the pullets, pecking at them and chasing them off.

Every week or so, I put the four hens together to spend the night in the coop. At first, the big hens would keep the pullets crowded into the back corner of the coop on a small perch. They kept them there day and night till I separated them and let them out. Gradually, they let the pullets move around the coop more but protected the food.

Frustrated by slow progress, I worried winter would come or the pullets would outgrow the dog crate before they could all live in the coop. So my husband and I enlarged the run. We added space to make the run about 3 times larger than it was before. At first, I left the old run walls up so I had two separate spaces. I alternated keeping the chickens apart and together and in one run or the other for a week. Then I cut open the old coop walls and let them all hang out together. With the extra space, there is so much room for the little girls to run. I left a small wall and some posts in the center, so there are places to hide. Its all good now. I suppose they knew my old coop was rated for 3 hens and just needed more space.

So the four chickens are getting along, BUT NO EGGS! When I added the new pullets the big hens were laying, but they gradually stopped. And the pullets haven't started laying yet. SO I have NO EGGS! I tell the girls they aren't earning their keep at this rate. I am guessing the problem is either the disruption of adding the pullets or its the fading sunlight. I put a light bulb in the coop. Its on from 6 - 8 am and 4 - 7 pm. I also fixed up the nesting boxes real nice with fancy hay. I put a fake egg (a golf ball) in one box. And now I am waiting.... waiting...

chicken work

Today I hung out with the hens a while.
- Replace multiple tarps with one large tarp on top of the run.
- Remove chicken wire between the old and new run sections.
- Move hay storage boxes to the front of the run.
- Watch chickens to see if they are getting along.
- Add more hay to the laying boxes and put golf ball (decoy egg) in one.
- Talk with chickens about laying more eggs.

pullets join hens

I have big news about my little pullets. They have joined the big hens in the coop! Yeah pullets!

Every day at about 4 or 5 pm, I've been letting the new pullets out of their dog crate to roam free. They forage in the woods and generally stay under cover. I used to let the big hens out regularly too, some times all day, but, after seeding the lawn, we found they were eating so much grass seed that I kept them in their coop.

Well, now the seed has sprouted and today at 5 pm I let all four hens out to forage. At night fall, all go back to their roosts. In the past, the pullets have always gone to their private dog crate and the big hens to the coop.

Tonight I found them all in the coop!!!! Maybe I can put the dog crate away and have one happy chicken family now.

hen pecked pullets

My two new pullets still aren't getting on so well with the big hens. I've had the pullets two weeks now. They've been staying in a dog crate next to my coop. I let all four hens out to forage for several hours on most days. The big hens will tolerate the small ones at about 5 feet away. They also tend to keep them away from food bowls and the coop area once they're out. The pullets like to forage in the woods and they can escape the big hens there and scratch in peace.

After one week, I tried putting the pullets in with the big hens overnight. It turned out to be a one night experiment. The big girls chased the pullets and kept them confined to a corner. They were pretty shaken by morning. I am going to wait a bit more before trying another overnight.

new chickens

I just picked up my two new chickens at the post office. They (McMurray Hatcheries)shipped them much nicer this time, in a box twice a big as last time (for 3 chickens last time) and this box had a divider between the birds. I got two pullets (hens 15-22 weeks old). A Barred Rock (black and white) and another Black Australorp.

I was warned by Linda not to put them with the full grown birds right away, but to use a dog crate at first. SO I am using one of Skippy's crates for them. I expect to keep them in there a few days, then put them in the coop with the big birds.

So far, they are getting along great. They are cooing to each other and the big birds are staying near the crated young hens. My big hens have been pretty skittish and stay in the woods under cover when they go out of their coop now. I am not letting them out as much as before as I'm skittish too.

ordering pullets

I'm ordering a couple pullets tonight. Another Australorp and a Cuckoo Maran. From McMurray Hatchery. For arrival next week.

lost chicken

My black chicken disappeared today.

The three chickens were out in the side yard, foraging, and I was in the front yard setting up some agility equipment for my dogs. I heard chickens Ginger and Bertha squawking so loud that I came over to see. It was just the two of them so I went to look for Penny, the black Australorp, my favorite. Usually if there's squawking, it's one chicken who got separated from the other two. I've watched before as one chicken squawks, the other two will mosey on over to her.

But that wasn't what happened this time. Down the hill I found a pile of feathers. Further along, another pile. One last feather by the woods near my vegetable garden. I looked in the woods but never found her. I worked in my garden a couple hours after that, hoping Penny would show up but she didn't.

I think it must have been a large animal to carry off a full grown, 5-7 lb chicken. I've seen a small coyote in our yard and a fox. My husband saw a big coyote. I'm told the big coyote has been seen by neighbors walking down the road. I suppose it was him who got my chicken. It was midday, broad daylight, about 2 pm.

chickens out for a walk

The chickens are very happy with our summer weather and being able to go out and forage in the yard everyday, sometimes all day long. I let them out when I'm working in the yard. They've been really healthy and are laying well now - just over a dozen eggs a week from the three of them.

Earlier, they had a problem with soft shells, especially Bertha, my big white Brahma chicken. She would sometimes lay paper thin eggs, sometimes leathery shells that fell apart in the coop. So I added crushed oyster shells to their food and stopped giving them kitchen handouts. They all have nice solid shells now.

chickens and eggs

We are doing some renovations upstairs of our new house where there's a good view of my chicken coop. The construction crew tells me they've seem a big red tailed hawk fly down and perch on my chicken coop a couple of times.

Of all places! Can't he perch on some bird feeder or a random small tree?!! He might as well put in his order for a chicken lunch!

The red tails out here are BIG! I've been impressed. They must be better fed than the ones in more urban Belmont. Stronger and better fed.... and able to carry off large chickens for lunch....

Usually, I let me hens run free an hour or so in the afternoon sun. After this conversation with the construction guys, I only let them out briefly today when I could watch them carefully. The problem was, it was such a nice day and the girls really wanted to run for a while. After 20 min, I started trying to get them back into their coop and it took me a good 20 min. They did NOT want to go.

So, the eggs in the picture above are what the hens lay in about 5 days now. Since all 3 hens are laying, finally, I usually get 6 brown eggs per week from Penny (Black Australorp), 5 blue/green eggs per week from Ginger (Auracana), and 3 giant pink eggs a week from Bertha (Light Brahma). Bertha has just started to lay. So that's 14 egg a week. Plenty for us, and we're giving some away to anyone who leaves a car with open windows on the driveway ;-) Tomorrow I'm planning to make mushroom quiche, and then, Friday for guests, I'll make some deviled eggs of all different sizes.

another egg

My second egg! This one is medium brown with a few dark speckles. Penny, my Black Australorp, is the one who lays that color egg. Yeah Penny! Penny's first egg is a quite a bit bigger than Ginger's first egg yesterday. Both eggs are probably a size that would be called "peewee".