Sunday, June 22, 2008
Great Article
If you are a reader of this blog because you are involved with the Chick Chain or because you have chickens in your life, then I have a must read article for you. I found this article over at Backyardpoultrymag.com, which is a great site, and it was written by Gail Damerow who is a well-known poultry expert and the author of many books. The article is called Digest This What Happens After Your Chickens Eat and is full of useful information. Just click on the article title and it will take you there, definitely a must read.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
12 Weeks
The girls are 12 weeks old. It is really interesting to see some mature faster than others. Some have red faces and some still have pale faces, some have already gotten the long feathers and others are still molting. The pecking order is strong but I think it is time that I reassert myself at the top of that order.
Dumpling has always been more aggressive than the others but now she is becoming a definite problem child. She is trying to be Alpha female over me and that is just not going to fly. While she pecks the other chickens that get near her, she grabs hold of me and won't let go. In order to keep her in line, mainly so she does not hurt someone, especially my kids, I am reminding her that I am the top chicken in the coop. When she tries to pinch me, I peck her back with my finger, not enough to hurt her but definitely enough to annoy her. When they are roosting at night and she starts trying to peck another girl off the roost next to her, I move her to a lower rung. She will soon understand that I rule the roost or she will need to move on. While I understand there is a natural order to things and I see the others taking a position in that order, none are as a hateful and mean as she is, so she must be taken down a notch or two or she will be living up to her name.
Besides Dumpling, the other girls are all wonderful. They are so nosey, ahem, I mean inquisitive about everything. When they hear us they come running, when one runs, they all run. They have gotten quite spoiled to the treat of clover and now expect some everytime they see us. Zelda is still sweet tempered and easy going, but funny enough is not at the bottom of the pecking order. We are up to 15 that roost on their own without being told. The rest wait for us to come in and turn on the light, then they start making the journey to the roost. It takes a few minutes for everyone to find the right spot, I am actually learning who likes to be where.
This week is much cooler but we have been having some really warm weather. The girls in all of the black feathers are really feeling the heat. We are freezing water in 2 liter bottles to place in and around the coop and run for them to sit next to in order to cool down. Keeping cool water replaced throughout the day really helps as well. A chickens body temperature averages about 102-103 degrees Farenheit. They can not sweat to cool down so they pant, like dogs. They take in cooler air and pass back warm moisture. This means that when they all go in the coop in the heat of the day they are raising the temperature and humidity inside the coop just by exhaling when they pant. Our girls have a large open window for ventilation but we have found that we have needed to add a small fan for better circulation of the air during those hot, humid days.
Daniel does not play with them as much as he did when they were smaller, however, Sarah definitely does. He still feeds, waters and pulls clover for them which is good. There is one chicken that talks to us more than the others and we have started calling her Ninja chicken, because she sounds like a ninja warrior. Daniel loves that name because he himself is Ninjabetic Jr. Ninja chicken argues with me, I swear she is a teenager. She will want more clover and I say no, she sounds to be saying but I want more, I reply no. We do this back and forth a few times and then she walks away talking up a storm like she is mad and calling me names. Yep, sounds like a teenager. =)
Dumpling has always been more aggressive than the others but now she is becoming a definite problem child. She is trying to be Alpha female over me and that is just not going to fly. While she pecks the other chickens that get near her, she grabs hold of me and won't let go. In order to keep her in line, mainly so she does not hurt someone, especially my kids, I am reminding her that I am the top chicken in the coop. When she tries to pinch me, I peck her back with my finger, not enough to hurt her but definitely enough to annoy her. When they are roosting at night and she starts trying to peck another girl off the roost next to her, I move her to a lower rung. She will soon understand that I rule the roost or she will need to move on. While I understand there is a natural order to things and I see the others taking a position in that order, none are as a hateful and mean as she is, so she must be taken down a notch or two or she will be living up to her name.
Besides Dumpling, the other girls are all wonderful. They are so nosey, ahem, I mean inquisitive about everything. When they hear us they come running, when one runs, they all run. They have gotten quite spoiled to the treat of clover and now expect some everytime they see us. Zelda is still sweet tempered and easy going, but funny enough is not at the bottom of the pecking order. We are up to 15 that roost on their own without being told. The rest wait for us to come in and turn on the light, then they start making the journey to the roost. It takes a few minutes for everyone to find the right spot, I am actually learning who likes to be where.
This week is much cooler but we have been having some really warm weather. The girls in all of the black feathers are really feeling the heat. We are freezing water in 2 liter bottles to place in and around the coop and run for them to sit next to in order to cool down. Keeping cool water replaced throughout the day really helps as well. A chickens body temperature averages about 102-103 degrees Farenheit. They can not sweat to cool down so they pant, like dogs. They take in cooler air and pass back warm moisture. This means that when they all go in the coop in the heat of the day they are raising the temperature and humidity inside the coop just by exhaling when they pant. Our girls have a large open window for ventilation but we have found that we have needed to add a small fan for better circulation of the air during those hot, humid days.
Daniel does not play with them as much as he did when they were smaller, however, Sarah definitely does. He still feeds, waters and pulls clover for them which is good. There is one chicken that talks to us more than the others and we have started calling her Ninja chicken, because she sounds like a ninja warrior. Daniel loves that name because he himself is Ninjabetic Jr. Ninja chicken argues with me, I swear she is a teenager. She will want more clover and I say no, she sounds to be saying but I want more, I reply no. We do this back and forth a few times and then she walks away talking up a storm like she is mad and calling me names. Yep, sounds like a teenager. =)
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
New lessons
The chicks are now 10 weeks old. Daniel and Sarah have been learning the importance of keeping fresh cool water available for the chicks due to the warm weather. We have now started them on the grower/finisher and they all seem to be doing well. We must have done a good job of bonding with them because everytime we go out there they all run to the fence to see us. Sometimes when I go in with them there are always a couple of them that want to jump up to sit on my arm or shoulder. It is funny to watch them when we first let them out in the mornings. They run and jump and fly, doing the morning stretching exercises. Over all they seem very happy.
Paul built them a new roost but we left the others in there as well. I love the new one because it is hinged and can be lifted and hooked when I need to clean. He is now working on the nesting boxes. The thing is, while they love to roost during the day, they did not so much at night. They would all cuddle in the corner of the house to sleep. There were a couple of things wrong with that. Besides the fact that it is not the natural way of doing things, they would scratch all the litter out of the corner and lay directly on the wood. The corner would get pretty dirty and that is not healthy. The other problem is that the way they would get in such a tight bundle, someone was bound to get suffocated or hurt. So we took on the task of teaching them to roost at night.At first we put a couple of them on the roost and when we put the light out they cried to each other until the two found their way back to the pile. Then we started trying to show them all to the roosts but would only end up with about four that would stay. Now when we put them all on the roost they stay. When we first go in to the house there is gradually a greater number of them already on the roost. It takes a bit of time but eventually they will all learn to just go to the roost at bedtime. It is hilarious to watch them choose their places. It is like first grade, they have to sit next to their best friends. If you put them in the wrong place they will get down and go find where they want to be. If someone is already in their spot they will fly up and sit on top of her until she falls. Chickens are nuts!
When I shut the chick door so I can clean inside the house, they get a bit upset with me. They know it is their house and they should be able to come in. In the end they seem to appreciate the clean, fresh new litter and get over being mad pretty quickly.
While the girls like to chase a butterfly or really anything that flies, this guy they did not go near. I think they were a bit disturbed by him because he was HUGE. He is a Royal Moth and he is about four inches long. He sat there on the side of the pen for a couple of hours and the whole time the girls stayed away from that part of the coop. He wouldn't hurt them but I guess they were not going to risk it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
