The New World Order

Or… the New Coop Order…

Yes, the fight for dominance is over. My little ‘Leapy Man’ aka Philip has won the bid for Main Rooster. (Don’t ask why I call him Leapy, I just do. Actually, it’s Philip, but sometimes we called him Filipe and from Filipe, we evolved into Leapy.)

Philip, aka Leapy, a two-year-old Barnyard Mix with a unique heritage and a strong personality.

Philip is the bio-son of Pavelle and his egg was fertilized by Pip, who is, of course, Dots’ and Abby’s boy.

The new Second in Command, or 2IC, is Sylvester, the Buff Brahma that my Tweety Girl raised last year. He is a year-and-a-half old and although he is BIG, he is gentle.

Sylvester, a sweet Buff Brahma rooster, who spent most of his life being called ‘Little Rooster’ even though he isn’t.

They have been Dots’ 2nd and 3rd for a while now, so it makes sense that with him deposed, they would each move up a rank. The position of 3rd is not yet filled. It won’t really matter because once winter is over, and we cull the Summer Boys, most likely they will all go.

Would you like to meet them? My Summer Boys?

Manly, son of Dots, is part EE

LRJ, son of Sylvester (It means Little Rooster Jr). He is sweet and gentle, like his papa.

Rory (in the back), a flighty EE – cross with a LOT of rough edges

Branson the Bantam,. He’s a shithead. No one likes him. Not even his mother.

Of them, the only one I really like is LRJ. He is sweet and nice and quite handsome to look at.

Manly is shy and hard to pick up, not unlike Pip was at that age. And for being part EE, he is not a spaz like Luke and Padme were. He’s just… Skittish.

Rory is like Luke incarnate. Big, rough with the ladies, but he’s also incredibly skittish. More than Manly. He’s just a wild brute.

Branson is full of ‘small dog syndrome’ or … Little Rooster Syndrome. He’s small enough that I can hold him in one hand, but he acts like he is bigger than Sylvester. He’s the youngest and wants to mate all the girls. They don’t like him. Even his mother, Pavelle, does not like him now that he’s hit puberty.

This ^^^ would be why my coop has so much chaos. Because of these Summer Boys. I suspect LRJ might make a good 3rd of I decide to keep him. It’s a tough call.

So how’s Dots, you ask?

He’s doing well.   His eye has healed and it seems as though the new head roosters have decided that he isn’t a threat to their positions.   He hangs out mostly in the coop, for now, which is probably good for him because he doesn’t like the winter cold anyway.

He doesn’t crow in the mornings anymore.  He used to lead the chorus of ‘good morning! good morning!’ and now, I never hear his crow in the morning.  My Girl did say that he was in the coop crowing for the ladies with him this afternoon when she went down,  I’m encouraged to know that he is. at least, no longer afraid of the hens.   He’s also not afraid of the younger Summer Boys.

Our beloved Double Dots

No longer the main rooster

but still a ladies’ man. ❤

Now, if you’d like, I’ll show up pics of some of the other new, summer additions to the flock. I didn’t update all summer and we have quite a few new faces.

These are ducks… Hewey, Dewey and Lewey. dewey and Lewey are females, and Hewey is the handsome boy out front.

Jolie, a friendly EE we adopted from a neighbor.

Isn’t she precious?

Jolie’s friend, Chloe, an Australorp.

Rosie, a sexlink hen who came with Jolie and Chloe.

Georgina, a cochin. She’s little but pretty.

Our little Princess of Fluff

Sylvia, a Buff Brahma cross. Her papa is Sylvester. No clue who her momma is.

Samantha. got her from Tractor Supply. She was in a bin labelled ‘salmon favorelle’ but she is NOT a favorelle. I suspect white Rock, but don’t know.

Leia, one of our EE crosses. She looks like a female version of Rory, so I suspect they are genetically Luke’s

She is pretty.but skittish.

Pinto, a little Barnyard mix who is most likely Dots’ offspring. I suspect my Columbian Wynadotte, Winnie, is her momma.

This is a bad picture, but this is Merida. I’ll look for a better later. Merida is the daughter of Bella, the ‘Mad Scientist’ chick I got from My Pet Chicken when Little Dude did his hatching project.

Here’s a few more from around the barnyard…

And lastly, DH adopted three beef calves… please meet, Sampson, Delilah and Sheila.

From left to right, Delilah, Sampson (in the back) and Sheila.  

Eggy

Eggy, or the Egger Baby, is the last of Pavelle’s chicks.

He/she is the egg-child of Padme the Easter Egger and … well, I thought Pip, but now I’m not too sure about that.

So… what is it about Eggy that makes me suspect Pip might not be the father?

In short… color and personality.

Eggy here is a bright buff yellow, with only small EE cheeks.

 

Padme, the egg-momma

Papa #1 – Felix, part Buff Orpington, part gold sexlink

Papa #2 – Pip – part Rhode Island Red, part gold sexlink

So… mostly yellow chick with a yellow and black/brown momma.  Two potential fathers.

One rooster had an all yellow momma and a white papa?

The other rooster had a red momma and a white papa?

Going off looks alone, I’d have to guess Felix is Eggy’s baby daddy.

And then, there is personality.  Eggy is high strung, flighty, hard to catch, does not really relax in my hands like the other two do.

This describes Padme, yes, and could be an Easter Egger trait.  But it always describes Felix.  A lot.

Pip, not so much.  He didn’t like me pick up but when I did, he settled in because he trusted me.

Feather Butt trusts me.  Mini-Pav mostly trusts me.   Eggy is a frantic spaz.

So, based off personality, is this Pip’s chick? I don’t think so, but anything is possible.

Here is a recent shot of Momma and babies (and a fake egg that was in the nest with them).  They are 5 weeks old now and practically as big as she is!

They are also almost fully feathered out.

I believe that Pavelle will be pulling away from them soon.  Going back to doing Hen Things and not Momma things.  Today she seemed to be giving them space.  Still hanging with them – or allowing them to hang with her – but not really showing them things like she has in the past.  Letting them do their own thing.

Pavelle’s wee babies are growing up now.

Mini-Pav

I had a lovely up the chicks planned out a couple weeks ago and it got drastically changed. I need to write a longer one and that takes time.

But since I haven’t posted in a while, here’s a picture of Mini-Pav, who no longer looks much like his/her Momma.

Mini-Pav is a curious mix of Pavelle’s black and Pip’s redder coloring.  With a little black Mohawk and the start of wattles.

At five weeks, he/she is shyer than his sibling, Feather Butt but calmer than Eggy.

With these chicks, I have no clue what to expect for features.  Pavelle has hardly any wattles and a V comb buried in her wild crest.  Mini-Pav’s and Feather Butt have funky little Mohawks and already tiny wattles.

Rainy Tuesday Update

So, it’s raining today, with little patches of sunshine here and there.  The weekend was pretty much the same, but the week was pretty exciting around the barnyard and pasture.

First off… we’ve had visitors of the nasty variety.   Two fat brown woodchucks who think they own the place.   Dad shot one sneaking around the garden and caught the other in a trap he placed by their hole.

A couple of days later, we caught this opossum in the same trap.  Which means they are sharing the holes under the barn.

Dad wasn’t targeting the possum, because he read somewhere that they eat ticks. I don’t know if that’s true, but the DO eat eggs and young chicks, and can also kill adult chickens. I’m glad we are one possum less this week.

The neighbor’s white turkeys also paid a visit (which I didn’t get a picture of), but the chickens are getting used to them being around.

Ashley decided to go broody, and spent most of the weekend in Broody Jail.

Now, I know I have said in the past that I wasn’t going to use the Broody Breaker method anymore and just give my hens eggs.  But this hen is a special case.  This is Ashley – she who lost her babies 2 times in the fist week of their lives, kept leaving nest and getting too confused to go back to it, and then raised them to be neurotic weird freaks.  (example, Felix… and Perdie who STILL doesn’t trust me.)   So… no eggs for Ashley.

Besides which, Pavelle’s babies are two weeks old today and Rapunzel’s hatch/incubator babies are due to be hatching today.  Remember?  The 4-H project?   So yeah… I don’t need more babies just yet.  Especially not from a hen I don’t trust.

And while Ashley cooled out in Broody Jail, DH and Little Dude made another attempt to dry out the swampy areas in the middle of the chicken pasture.  Last year, DH made a pond.  This year, he’s spent days (and days and days) digging trenches trying to find where the underground springs run.

The chickens LOVE it because trenches mean mud, dirt, worms, bugs… stuff for them to do and see and EAT.  So they really love helping DH with his trench project.

DH digging the Trench

Two sexlink hens helping.

Abby loves to supervise the help efforts.

Tweety, also coming to help, because she heard there were worms!

You can by the mud on her face that she helped a LOT. Right?

And lastly what post would be complete without something about Pavelle and her babies?

This past week, Pavelle decided that she didn’t like the cat carrier as a nest, so she moved her babies out of it and up into one of the laying boxes.  They only sleep there at night, because the other thing they REALLY discovered this week was the great outdoors.  She takes them into the tunnels, the run and even into the barnyard.  They have not yet ventured into the greater chicken pasture, but still, the spend a good portion of the day outside, getting whatever yummies nature has to offer.   Whatever it is, they always have full crops when I see them, so it must be good.  🙂

This is Feather Butt, aka The One With The Feathered Feet. If you look closely…

… I *think* Feather Butt might also have a mini-crest. It’s not as pronounced as Pavelle’s was, but it sure looks like one to me, there on the top of his/her head.

 

Pavelle

Feather Butt (left) and Eggy (right)

Mini-Pavs

Happy 2nd Week-aVersary, little Pavelle-Babies!

Pavel(le)’s First Egg

My sweet, funny little Pavel/Pavelle has finally laid her first egg!!!

It’s about the size of a ping pong ball.

And it’s got blood on it. So I think it HURT.

Here it is compared to our usual eggs. Small and white. Very cute!

And now, here… some gratuitous pictures of my big (little) girl:

Pavel 🙂

Pavel has been ignoring me since we sent her brother’s to freezer camp

Hello!

Pavel ❤

At the waterer

Shy EE (back, left) and the Pavlov

Sweet!

My little girl is all grown up! Awww!

Ashley’s Babies Have Names

I’d like to formally introduce you to…

Felicia…

who is really a rooster, so he should be Felix.

It’s true.  Felicia is growing more and more to look and act like a little roo-ling.  I just can’t bring myself to call him Felix, so Felicia he remains.

Miracle Maxie

My little Miracle Max… or Maxie. Who looks scarily like a female version of Dots.

This is Dalmie#1

whose new name is

Pongo

The Dalmies… so named because of their Dalmatian-esque color scheme… have been given Dalmatian worth names…  this one is Pongo, named after the father dog in 101 Dalmatians.   Pongo is mostly white,with the black spots on the back, tail and neck,but is growing up to have a slightly smokey grey color in the head and neck.

I am uncertain if Pongo is just in need of a bath or if this is a really cool color variant.  Since none of the others look dirty, I have to hope it’s the latter. 😉

Perdie

aka Dalmie #2

Dalmie #2 is named after the female Dalmation… Perdita, or Perdie.   Like Pongo, she has black splotches on her back, neck and tail.  But rather than the smokey grey, Perdie has gold/red in her neck and chest feathers.   It’s really kind of neat!

The gold/red is the same color as my sexlinks… Abby and the Mystery Bin girls.  If we’re right in thinking that Pongo and Perdie are Pip’s babies, then this is his sexlink heritage coming out in Perdie.

Aren’t barnyard mixes interesting? You really never know what you’re going to get!

 

Coop Changes

DH and I spent some time working in the coop today, working on a project that I hope will make our coop more economical and less time consuming.  

When DH first built the coop, almost two years ago, it had thirty-six laying boxes and no roosts.

We added the roosts last year.  

Today, we removed some of the laying boxes, as most have been unused due to strange chicken logic that says they must lay in the same three boxes no matter how many are empty.  If you have chickens, you understand that logic.  It’s just how they are.  

So, we tore out over half the boxes, going from 36 to 16.  We put up new roosts in place of the removed boxes, with a droppings board beneath.  

The testing committee (as you can see) consists of Pip, Pavel, Felicia, Maxie and the Dalmies. 

They seem to approve of the finished product, although there were many complaints lodged during the in-going process.  

It is my hope that this change will result in less time spent cleaning, because all Ill really need to do is clean off the roosts and dropping boards.  And also it should save us money because I won’t have as many beds to fill, so the wood shavings should go a little further.  

Turducken Without the Duck

Our neighbor has turkeys.  White ones.  Or rather, our neighborhood has turkeys.  White ones.

You see?  They free range everywhere, and don’t care whose farm they are on.  Not only that, but these are second generation turkeys.  The neighbor’s tom and most the first flock died, and the hen mated with wild turkeys… to produce this:

Pretty, aren’t they?

They like our farm, and since the end of summer, they’ve been coming and visiting.  Checking out the garden.  Eating out of the bird feeders. I’ve even caught them checking out the chickens from the other side of the fence.

Dots and Pip usually meet them on our side, all bluster and bucks and warnings about whose pasture it is.

Today, the wandering white turkeys decided to check out the inside of the chicken pasture.

I was surprised, because they didn’t hurt my chickens. Just walked around doing their own thing. Pavel and several of the hens ran over to check it out. One of them puffed up his feathers at Pavel but did not attack or anything.  Given they’ve been running wild for months and months, I was a little worried when she ran right up to them!

 

How are your Chickens Handling the Snow?

I only ask because half (or more than half) the people on the eastern coast of the U.S. are getting a ton of snow this weekend.

How are your chickens handling it?  Do they like snow?  Cold weather?

Or if you’re like me and NOT getting a bunch of snow, how do your chickens like it when you do?

Do you do anything to help them get outdoors on the cold days?  Or do your chickens mostly stay inside?

Everyone does ‘chickening keeping’ differently, so I’m curious.

Mine are, as frequent readers know, semi-free range.  They have a coop, a run, and a fenced in pasture that keeps them away from the road and out of the top of the barn, but doesn’t not prevent predators.  They have room to wander and eat grass/bugs/whatever, but not room to hurt themselves trying to cross the actual road.

I chose supposedly ‘winter hardy’ chickens when I was buying breeds, but I’ll be honest, that term does NOT mean that they LOVE winter.  Or even like it.  In fact, my older birds are downright chicken when it comes to winter.  The big babies huddle inside  where the Cold White isn’t and make a fuss if I try to get them outside.

My younger group from last spring’s chicks?  Actually pretty adventurous.  Or maybe they are too afraid of spending all day in the coop with the cranky older girls to be afraid of a little snow?

Pip doesn’t like it.  He’d rather be inside with the older ones, but since Dots does, too, one of them has to go outside with girls who want to stay out.  So he’s getting used to it, too.  In the name of ‘being the Man’ and protecting the flock.

Also, I try to help where I can.  I know the snow freezes their toes, so on the mornings when there is snow on the ground but it’s not still snowing, I will spread straw on the ramp and in the run, giving them a place to walk that isn’t cold and wet.  I might also entice with warm oatmeal or Black Oil Sunflower Seeds.

Straw on the ramp. They knock most of it down running for the morning feed dish.

See what I mean?

Even Hershey doesn’t mind when she has straw to walk on!

Pip standing guard over some of the adventurous ones.

This isn’t so bad!

Walkin’ in a Winter Wonder land…

One the days when it’s still snowing, I don’t bother. They don’t go outside. Just look at the open door like I’m crazy.

So that’s how I help my chickens ‘enjoy’ winter. How about you?

The Fab Four

Aka Ashley’s Babies… or whatever you want to call them… will be eleven weeks old this Sunday.

They don’t really like much, and Ashley raised them with the instinct to hide from everything bigger than them, so getting pics for a decent comparison is hard to do at this point.

But I’m going to share some of the recent pics I do have.  If you fee like making guesses as to gender, have at it!

Max (left) and one of the Dalmies

Max and Felicia

Max, Felicia and a Dalmie

Max and Felicia

A Dalmie

Felicia

Felicia, Max and Ashley

I will make a better attempt to get good body shots of them. Currently, Felicia looks the most like a little rooster-in-training. So maybe Felicia is really Felix?

Max was the other I thought looked rooster-like when they were little, but his wattles and comb seem to have stalled in the growing, where Felicia’s have gotten bigger and rather red. Close up pics would be good, but since these chicks are skittish (thank you, Ashley, and your ‘let’s hide til the big people go away!’ method of motherhood), by the time I chase them around and pick them up for the close up, they’re too scared to hold still. *sigh*