Some Questions Never Get Answered

Well, I will never know if my little chick with the attitude was a rooster or a hen. "Why?" you might ask. The answer is because he or she is gone!

I came home from work Tuesday morning to find that the chicks had gotten out of the chicken pen again. It was different this time though. They weren't all together like they usually are. As I tried to gather the little darlings up I found one in the hen house on a roost calling out to the others. I thought that was odd. Then I found a couple running around the horse corral and a couple more in their usual hiding place in the wood pile. OOPS! There should be one more!

I looked all over. Not a sign of the last little chick. No feathers, not a trace. This meant only one thing. A very efficient hunter snatched him or her and carried him or her off! I suspect it was a fox or a coyote. We have both of those critters roaming around here from time to time. If it had been one of the cats I would have known it right away because they always bring me their trophies. If it had been one of the marauding dogs there would have been some trace of feathers because the dogs are more interested in torturing their victims than in eating them.

Sooo... things as they are, the rooster question will never be answered :(

Here's Your Pics :)

For Cerra, and anyone else who is interested, here is a picture of three of my hens.
From left to right there is my Golden Laced hen (Orphington/Wyandotte cross), one of my little Buff hens (don't know her breed), and my Silver Laced Wyandotte hen.

Several of my chickens are crossed breeds. I have mentioned that my golden laced hen is a cross between an Orphington and a Wyandotte. My Orphington rooster was Buff (color not masculinity... although he was kind of buff in that way too). My Wyandotte hen is Silver Laced. I don't even dare to guess the breed of most of my hens.

The new girls, the Golden Laced Wayndotte chicks, have rose combs. That is one of the characteristics of the Wayndotte. You can see the difference between the flat comb on my Golden Laced cross and the rose comb on my Silver Laced Wyandotte.








Sooo... there you have it. I don't have any roosters right now. The Buff Orphington got a little too aggressive for my liking. You may remember him chasing Carol's boy, Christopher, around the yard, eh? I kept my Barred Cochin rooster for quite a while but he died last fall. The hens are quite happy without a rooster so I haven't gotten another. HOWEVER, one of the new little darlings is acting like a rooster!Cerra knows just what I mean.

The chick in question is a little pushy with the other chicks, tries to be the boss of the group and stands up more to the older hens than the other chicks do. (can you see the ATTITUDE in his or her little eyes?)

When I bought my new chicks I bought pullets. When you buy pullets you have a 99% chance of getting all hens (or future hens). Well, time will tell if I got the 1% rooster chick or not.
I'll keep you posted :)

Color vs Breed

There are two things to consider when talking about chickens. Color and breed.

A commonly known chicken is the Barred Rock. Everyone thinks that Barred Rock is the breed. Actually, barred refers to the color. The breed in this example is Plymouth Rock. There are actually many different colored Plymouth Rock chickens... Barred, White, Buff, Silver Penciled, Partridge, Columbian, and Blue. This is true with most chicken breeds... that there are many different colors found in various breeds which include even more colors than I have mentioned.

Just an FYI :)

They grow so quickly!

Remember my cute little chicks? A few days ago I let them out of their little wire cage. I had kept their cage in the chicken coop so the big chickens would get used to them. I sort of worked. However, I have one black hen that goes after them unmercifully. I really was concerned that she might try to kill them, and I really think that might be her motive. The chicks learned quickly to get out of her way though and are all still alive. They have figured out that they are free to move about and have settled right in. They sunbathe in the day and roost together in a huddle across from the big girls at night. The chicks really stick together.At first they were inseparable, kind of traveling around in a little chicken heard (I guess flock would be the appropriate term but the way they ran about it reminded me more of a herd). Now they are spreading out a bit... venturing off in pairs... but they are never very far from each other. At the slightest sign of a threat they regroup and huddle together. I imagine a lot of what they do is instinct but one must wonder just how much they try to copy the big girls :)
The chicks didn't seem to have any trouble finding the hanging food dish and quickly abandoned their ground dish for the big girls food, (even though they practically have to stand on their toes to reach it---chuckle).

Neither did they have any trouble finding and learning to use the door out, (funny looking little buggers, aren't they?).

As you can see, I have two red chicks. They are probably Rhode Island Reds (that was Cerra's guess and she is probably right). I am not sure though. They don't look quite as dark red as Rhode Island Red chickens usually look. Maybe they are New Hampshire Red chickens, who knows? Maybe they will get darker as they mature and prove to be Rhode Island Reds, eh? I guess time will tell.

Then there are the four black chicks that have gold speckles. I am pretty sure that they are Golden Laced Wyandottes because they have the rose comb that is characteristic of the breed and the pictures I found of Wyandotte chicks look just like my chicks when they were little. I found a page with every color of Wyandotte you can imagine. I had to scroll way down the page before I found pictures of Golden Laced and Silver Laced Wyandotte chickens so if you are interested in seeing what they will look like when they grow up keep on scrollin' :) I happen to already have a Silver Laced Wyandotte and her daughter who turned out to be Golden Laced but with a single comb instead of a rose comb because the rooster in question was a Buff Orphington. They are both excellent layers so I expect the chicks will grow up to be good layers as well, (its in the breed).

I could go on and on because I LOVE CHICKENS! But, this is probably enough for one post.

TTFN :)

Weird, Sad News

You remember that Carolyn's paint mare had her baby while she was at my place. After the colt was born Carolyn sold the mare with the colt at her side.

I recently learned that while one day the colt was jumping and playing around his mother, cuddling with her and thriving,
the next day he was found standing over her dead body!
She literally just dropped dead over night!
Sooo... SAD.

The colt can't be weaned until he is, at the very least, 3 months old. The people who bought the mare and her colt couldn't (or wouldn't) spend the time to bottle feed him. Luckily a fellow I know adopted him. Bruce Winegar has given him a good home and as far as I know he is doing really well.

THANKS BRUCE :)