Starting Over

That's the way keeping a backyard flock goes, doesn't it? After 11 years of enjoying chickens, you learn to enjoy the good times, and get over the bad times. My last post were our 2016 chicks that we ordered through Tractor Supply + the few hatched from our hens at the time. A few days after the chicks had grown up and were added to the larger coop to join the rest of the flock, a predator wiped out almost everyone. I cried, as I had worked hard on hand-raising those chicks so they would be more friendly. Out of the 28 chicks, we had 3 easter eggers and 3 cuckoo marans left to share the coop with the other survivors - our bantam rooster, a crested backyard bantam chick, and a blue orpington, who we called The Hound because she had been injured from the attack and was pretty ugly for a while.

The backyard bantam chick

The silkie mix and our bantam roo, 5/15/2016. The silkie mix didn't survive the attack, and we gave away the little roo when we got the polish roo. Both roos were very loud, so 1 had to go.

 
 

Later that year, we added more from a Havana swap meet - a couple of white hens, a couple of bantams, and a white-crested blue polish pair, including a very loud roo.

One of the white egg layers 7/16/16

cuckoo maran, easter egger, and crazy roo

2017 

In 2017, we added 5 more rarities that we got on Craigslist as chicks. -

 

ayam cemani 7/20/2019

An ayam cemani, who turned out to be a beautiful rooster. We gave away the loud polish roo in favor of this much quieter guy. He's great and still with us. 2 of the chicks also turned out to be roos, so we gave them away. One was a frisian gull and I can't even remember what the other breed was.

A pumpkin pavlovskaya. I love her and call her Big Bird, although she's relatively small.

"Big Bird"

A Swedish orust.

 

2018

2018 was a relatively trouble-free year. No predator attacks, and the flock loved being out and about. Some backyard chicks hatched and a couple survived.

2019

 In late spring, my husband saw a hawk attacking one of the black backyard hens. It took off with its carcass, probably to feed its chicks nearby. Around the same time, a black hen and a white hen went missing. The black one was secretly brooding on a nest and came back with a chick. The white one never returned.

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The missing cemani hen has returned with a chick! #ayamcemani #backyardchickens

A post shared by Michelle Marie (@kandilareyna) on May 21, 2019 at 8:25am PDT

In the Instagram above, the chick was stuck in between some wire and we had to take some of the coop apart to free it.

It was an egg hunt most days in the yard.

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Found this week's hidden eggs in the purple heart! Happy Easter! #easteregghunt #secretnest

A post shared by Michelle Marie (@kandilareyna) on Apr 21, 2019 at 5:52am PDT

Summer 2019

The summer of predators! It was a warm winter, with barely a frost. Maybe that's why it seems we had a bunch of unwanted guests. In June we noticed a raccoon eating the cat food in our carport. Lee set out a trap and got a possum instead.

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Cat food stealers. Tried to trap the raccoon and got a possum instead. #backyardcritters #possum #raccoon

A post shared by Michelle Marie (@kandilareyna) on Jun 21, 2019 at 8:30am PDT

Some days later he trapped a baby raccoon. We saw through our windows an entire raccon family trying to break it out.

 And then, in what seemed like retaliation, a raccoon (we were sure) wiped out half our flock, leaving us with the ayam cemani rooster, the pavlovskaya, the cemani chick, one easter egger, and one cuckoo maran. Devastating! Looks like it broke through the area where we had to take apart some of the coop to free the chick the month earlier.

Another few days later he trapped another two juveniles -


Yesterday, 2 trapped possums.

And today, one of the big ones. It looked pretty well-fed.

 

The same day our chicks arrived from Meyer Hatchery.
 

We are ready to start over yet again.

Chick Days Again

Hatch Date: 5/9/2016, Privett Hatchery, NM
13 standard EEs, 12 Cuckoo Marans

The #babychicks arrived early! #easteregger #cuckoomaran #greeneggs #chocolatebrowneggs

A photo posted by Michelle Marie (@kandilareyna) on May 12, 2016 at 9:00am PDT

Since Francis, our first abandoned chick that hatched on April 20, 3 other bantams hatched on May 3-4. None of the hens seemed to care for them either, so we thought it was safer to bring them inside with Francis.

All are feather-legged like Francis. One is black with a small white bib, one is a pretty self-blue, and the smallest is buff-colored with just a few dark specks near its neck.

Wednesday, 5/11 was the day I had planned to prepare the outdoor chick brooder for the 4 bantam chicks that had hatched from our hens. I just needed to put up draft walls and the heat lamp. When I got home, I noticed that Lee had already set up the brooder for me. How nice! When I looked closer, I saw a lot more chicks! I wasn't expecting them until July/August instead of my original May time frame, since TSC had told me that they had screwed up my special order and had to resend it to the hatchery.

All the chicks look great. There's one runty-sized maran that doesn't appear to be as downy as the others, but it seems to be thriving as well as the more robust-looking chicks. I love the bearded faces of the EEs. It makes their eyes look Asian.

Abandoned Chick

#abandoned #chick 🐣

A photo posted by Michelle Marie (@kandilareyna) on Apr 20, 2016 at 5:02pm PDT

Hens appear to have no time for their early firstborn.

So now he's in solitary confinement in hopefully a catproof nursery.

#loud #chirping #chick wants to be held

A video posted by Michelle Marie (@kandilareyna) on Apr 20, 2016 at 5:07pm PDT

at 2 weeks 5/4/16

http://bad-postcards.tumblr.com/post/140632818848/delmar-the-dancing-bantam-delmardancing-bantam

Ponyboy

I love our tiny rooster Ponyboy. He's grown up to be a handsome Golden Neck d'Uccle. He's a good flock leader and still pretty tame.

Chicks!

2 chickies hatched 3 weeks ago, mothered by the lavender ameraucana. Goldish white like our roo, with feather feet. One has vulture hocks. Both are doing great. Glad they are big enough to not pop through the chicken wire anymore.

Tiny Dancer is Molting

Tiny Dancer, our only standard-size chicken and our oldest, is molting, and she just looks awful. And I hate that the coop is full of her feathers everywhere. It looks like a predator got lucky. But when she's back to herself again she'll be a an even more beautifully-feathered Columbian Wyandotte.

Mystery Chick Appears!

Just happened to check the coop a few minutes ago and heard a wailing chick! Didn't even know we had an egg ready. We must have overlooked it buried in the nest fluff. Lee had marked some to hatch just two weeks ago. It's black with a black beak and grayish black feet. I was glad I was there because it squeezed through the chicken wire and popped out of the coop. I put it back and the two easter egger hens, the lavender and the black ones, promptly guided it to the run area and sat on it, both together! It's so cute...the black hen was peeking out the lavender one's wing.

We successfully rehomed our two Sultan cockerals in July, leaving us with our single rooster Ponyboy, the golden neck d'Uccle. Hoping this new chick is a female and the actual offspring of one of the two momma hens, which would give us another green egg layer.

Poor Penguin

Lee found our birchen cochin chick Penguin keeled-over dead in the coop the morning after July 4th. I had just checked on them right before sunset on the 4th and gave them some scratch. I thought it was odd that this chick, who was always the first to scramble for treats, for the first time did not partake. She just sat there, roosting on the ledge of the sand bin. She was growing so nice and fat, like a cochin should. And her birchen feathers were really pretty. I'll miss her. Everyone else is just fine.

Chicks Update

2 months have gone by without an update. I've taken lots of progression photos, but have been lax in posting them here. I'll get them linked at some point. In the meantime the chicks have moved into the coop with the older hens. It was a pretty easy transition, and nobody really got picked on. For a while they separated themselves into two cliques, but the hens seem to like the new company, and they all hang out together now. The chicks loved all the new space and immediately enjoyed pecking, dust bathing, and the spacious roosts.

On June 19, when the chicks were about 13 weeks old, we heard the first crow from one of the sultans. We have since heard Ponyboy (previously Goldie), the golden neck d'Uccle, crow as well. So far their bantam shrieks are not very loud and don't happen constantly, although I've heard some long strings of cock-a-doodle-doo's. 4 houses down is another coop with standard-size chickens and we can clearly hear their rooster, but I'm pretty sure our crows don't carry that far.

Still not sure if the other sultan is a roo, too...I have not seen it crow and is always sitting quietly when I visit. Penguin, the black cochin I thought for sure was a roo, looks now like a very pretty birchen cochin hen...she just took a longer while to feather than the others. Her comb is also bigger than the other pullets but not as big as it would be if she were a roo. She and my favorite chick Squirrel, the silver-laced cochin, are just the friendliest of the bunch. I consider us pretty lucky that only 2-3 of the 8 chicks are roos.

It's raining

Momma Hen Postcard

Last month I got a Postcrossing postcard from the Netherlands of a Momma hen and her chicks. Adorable!

Chicks Update

8 chicks, and I am only fairly certain that 3 of them are girls. The rest are just way too friendly and bold to not be roos. Two have telltale combs. I love them all and each different personality. I am sad that we can only keep one rooster. The chosen one would be our first rooster at the new house.  I don't know who I'd keep at this point. I've held each one of them every day since arrival, and while there are some that still don't like to be picked up an held, they are all pretty tame and not afraid of hands in the brooder. They will be 6 weeks old on Monday 4/29/13.

I think this larger of the two Sultans is a roo. Its pinkish comb is slightly bigger than the other's, and it will bump chests with the other suspected roos when challenged. Very friendly. Loves to eat out of my hand.

Maxi has no apparent comb, and it doesn't look like one is hidden, either. Kind of a loner, likes to roost while the others sit or eat together. Doesn't really like to be held. I wish I had more Polish.

I really like this one. It's the brooder greeter and has never flapped its wings in an attempt to escape my hand. Still runs around in circles as it did when it was days old. I really hope its hen appearance holds true.

Golden Neck Ponyboy is the sweetest definite cockeral. I would love to keep this one for its awesome personality and the chick colors it can produce.

I just love d'Uccles! I no longer think it's a buff columbian....more like a poorly spangled millefleur. Sweet pullet.

This slow feathering, most-likely-to-be-a-cockeral chick just doesn't like to be held. It struggles the most to escape my hand. The few feathers it does have on its back and head are looking very roo. Still, a good little boy that I'd rather keep than give away.

Molly is a sweet chick, most likely a pullet. A little skittish, but doesn't mind being held. I love the partridge feathering.

Some days, this sultan's comb looks pink, sometimes it's just pale. So I'm not sure what it is. This smaller sultan is the most laid back out of all the chicks, hanging back to roost or eat later.

Golden Neck d'Uccle Chickens

Golden Neck d'Uccle 'Ponyboy' - 6 weeks on 4/30/2013

Golden Neck d'Uccle

So I've been researching about the Golden Neck d'Uccle. Ideal Poultry where I got mine from indicates it is a rare variety. I found out how the color is bred from an article on the Belgian Bantam Club of Australia's website. Apparently, the golden neck color is the white offspring of two blue millefleur - all the base black of the normal millefleur is replaced with white, a homozygous blue millefleur. They say "Golden Neck" is an American name. The Dutch Chicken Color Calculator calls it "Splash Patterned Yellow/Golden Millefleur", or just Splash Millefleur -- I love this online color calculator. The genetics of chicken color combinations is so fascinating to me!

The girls had named it Goldie - I'm calling it Ponyboy -- Stay Gold!!
Shady Oak Bantams has some beautiful golden necks. This rooster they have is gorgeous.

This is our other d'Uccle -- a pullet, I think, which I thought at first was buff columbian, but right now just looks like a poorly spangled millefleur. I don't remember how long it took my previous d'Uccles to develop their spangles, and the millefleur ones were a richer gold/red. Maybe her color will improve as she gets older.

I can kinda see it -- in the splash millefleur (Golden Neck), the black is replaced with white

Guinea Flashback

Reminiscing back to when we had guineas at the old house. We had 7 keets in different colors and they grew up to be very pretty and very LOUD!



I think we had them for about a year until one day they all decided to dance atop our neighbor's metal roof at daybreak...they were pissed and soon after we had to give them back to the Quincy farm where we got most of them.

 

Childhood Chicken Memories

As I said in my profile, my husband wanted our girls to have childhood chicken memories like he did. I'm glad he convinced me (mainly because he said he would do most of the work!).

My younger daughter's 7th birthday is this week. I asked her recently if she remembers our first chickens, and she doesn't for the most part, until I show her the photos from our original 2008 flock.


Feeding the chickens

Loving our first hatched chicks

These were baby d'Uccle x Sultans


Our daughters love the new little chicks we have today. I love my chicken memories of their childhood.

Chick Progression - The Sultans

(Clicking on any of the photos should enlarge it within a slideshow)

3/22/13 Just Arrived

3/27/13

3/27/13

3/29/13

3/31/13

4/5/13

4/13/13

4/14/13

4/14/13

4/15/131

4/15/13

4/22/2013

4/22/2013

They were the largest chicks upon arrival, and now tower over the others. Very quick to feather, but the crests still developing. While they are both laid back, I suspect they are both roos from their size and big feet. I hope not, because I really like them. I like all my suspected roos!

I just read a forum post on BYC that Ideal's bantam sultans are larger than normal bantam and smaller than the standard size...must be why they look so big!