My Poultry Management & Goals for 2014

 I am pleased with the Sebastopol geese I bought last spring. Ella & Fella are beautiful, easy to keep, and I am hoping they follow the plan and lay fertile eggs THEY will incubate & raise. These geese just make me happy. They know my voice and squawk & honk every time I speak to them. They also follow me around like puppies.

 Our laying flock is comprised of Americaunas, Cuckoo Marans, and white Orpingtons. The Cuckoo Marans have been a disappointment because after the first few months of laying, their chocolate brown eggs became the typical brown color of most every other brown egg layer. Aside from my disappointment over their egg color though, the Marans have been hardy chickens laying all year round and my Maran rooster is a handsome and very nice fellow.

 Last weekend I cleaned the laying pen out. 12 wheelbarrows of yuck were toted out and spread in the garden and a shallow area needing more fill. I dusted the flock with lice powder and also the nest boxes & perches. I am putting apple cider vinegar in their water and have begun giving them Hen Grit . They seem to appreciate the grit . For the last 2 months I've been getting only 1 or 2 eggs a day but since Monday of this week the girls are giving me 3 to 5 eggs a day ! I think the total cleaning, dusting, and minerals have helped but have to admit the increasing daylight hours probably are the reason for the better egg count. That and the girls are finally all done moulting.

 I love my Bantam White Cochins, especially the frizzled ones. I am definitely going to keep raising them , maybe add some new breeding stock . The rooster is my original rooster so he must be a few years old and from what I've read, the fertility of roosters decreases significantly as they age.

 This is Mr. Fancy Pants. He is a Silkie / Bantam White Cochin cross hatched and raised here by his momma. I was afraid he was a goner 2 weeks ago. My Bantam Barred Cochin rooster decided after a year of getting along with Mr. Fancy Pants and the flock that he wanted to kill Mr. Fancy Pants. I found Mr. FP cowered in the corner of the bantam pen, bloodied and battered. I captured the barred bantam and caged him up to be sold at the auction. I had planned on keeping the barred cochin for breeding, but I simply don't have the desire to accommodate aggressive roosters anymore and Mr. Fancy Pants is easy going, tends & protects the hens and their chicks from predators and is fun to watch. I was concerned he had lost his right eye in the fight and until today it was a swollen shut blob. But look he has healed quite well !

 The two youngest doves are sitting near the lamp keeping warm and out of the way of the adult doves.

 I have a pair of doves sitting on eggs again. My doves are prolific and the dove population is always growing around here. I have 3 pens of doves. this is the backyard pen where they thrive. I captured 6 of the 20 living here and took them to the auction last weekend. It seems they are intent on replacing their numbers.

 These are the chickens I am really excited about ! Paint Silkies. No, they are not dirty. ( Well, their head tufts are because they keep pushing their heads into the chicken wire surrounding their pen to get whatever looks good on the other side. ) They have black spots !

 I bought them at the poultry show I attended with my grandson Bugs. There are 2 roosters and a hen. I will be breeding the roosters to the white Silkies I already have and begin looking for some more Paints. I have been scouring the internet for as much info as I can find on this new variety. Just think, spotted sheep, spotted ducks, spotted chickens.....

Best of all fresh from the chicken eggs !

 

2014 Goals for my poultry :

• Buy more white Orpingtons & Americaunas for laying flock
• train geese & ducks to live and graze near the pond which will be a better home and environment for them ( in other words, they aren't to live in the backyard anymore )
• Prepare the new Silkie Shack for my Silkies and breeding program.
• Begin culling doves for the whitest , hoping to breed out the ghost of a ring around their necks I find in a few doves.
• Nurture assorted bantam hens , make new nest boxes for them to incubate & brood chicks.
• Buy new Bantam White Cochin chicks, some frizzled.
• Learn more about the Porcelains I have ( thanks Bugs ) and begin preparing them for show.
• Look into local poultry shows and begin preparations.
• Enjoy my chickens fully !!!!!!!!

It's That Broody Time Of The Year ~Spring !

 It's that broody time of the year again, Spring! All my poultry, including the ducks have laid many eggs and now are determined to sit on their eggs until they hatch. The Midget White turkey Tom tries to protect his setting hens from me as I enter their pen for feeding & watering. I have to keep a big bucket between us so I don't get hurt. Tom turkeys can be pretty dangerous when they feel they need to protect their hens.

 Here are the 5 Midget White hens. 2 of them are setting now...

 ...and here are the eggs. Well, some of them.

 This White Orpington hen went broody on me and was trying to hatch out wooden eggs because I kept gathering all the freshly laid eggs she settled on. Since she seemed determined to hatch out eggs I put turkey eggs under her. Turkey eggs take 28 days to hatch versus the 21 days for chicken eggs.  She finally did hatch a turkey egg, I'll show you her babies in another post.

 This is Mr. Fancy Pants. He is a Bantam White Cochin and Silkie cross. He is one frilly rooster, but don't let the frills fool you, he is ALL rooster and he too takes his job of protecting the broody hens very seriously.

 This Silkie hen, her sister, and another bantam hen are softly clucking, snuggling, warming, and dreaming over 3 large clutches of bantam eggs. I can't wait to see what they bring out of the chicken shed in a few days.

 My white ring-necked doves are all in a dither when I enter their pen. They too have babies and eggs they want to protect, but being doves, they just go all a-flutter.

 Here are 2 baby doves just beginning to fly around. They still need their parents to feed them. Did you know baby doves are fed "milk" by both their mothers & fathers?

 Another wee little dove peeking through the straw at me, hoping I don't see him.

 But I do see him. Really, I cannot tell for sure what sex the doves are until I observe their behavior. Neither can the experts. Fortunately the doves can tell the girls and boys apart!

 This baby dove is getting his tail feathers.

This is such a wondrous time of the year. Not only do I have poultry hatching out and new lambs to watch, but the wild birds have nests all around our property and in some of our bird-houses. There are big gloppy plops of frog eggs stuck on branches in our pond, the honey bees are very busy in all the flowers , the hummingbirds are buzzing like kamikaze pilots around the sugar water feeders. Spring, don't you just love this time of year ?

Eggs ! My New Flock Is Laying~

The first eggs from my new laying flock!

The chicks I received in the mail from Murray McMurray in April are now grown up, and within the next few weeks I should be getting eggs from all 19 hens.

 I have Silver Laced Wyandottes, Americaunas, Delawares,Cuckoo Marans,and White Orpingtons. I ordered all pullets, but one turned out to be a rooster. Thankfully he is a Cuckoo Maran rooster, and pretty mellow.

One of my 5 Americaunas.

 A Maran rooster & hen.

 Delaware hen.

 White Orpington. 

 A white Americauna. I suspect she laid the 3 minty green eggs.