Celine is on the left. She is more golden. Adele is on the right. She’s more of a blonde. For my purposes, Celine is the one with a red leg band on her right leg. Both have red over yellow bands on their left legs. In case they ever get out of the “back forty” I will be able tell whoever finds them that they are my wife’s birds. Okay, that’s enough about how to identify the two birds.
I moved the Buffs out of the kitchen and into the large cage inside the coop. This was to let the other hens get used to them and to start them on egg layer feed. Monday, I banded them and clipped their left wings. I also set the door of the cage so the larger birds couldn’t get in but the Buffs could get out and back in. The Buffs seem content to live in the cage, venturing out only when I physically take them out to hold them. I put them down on the coop floor and they appear to enjoy being out. They’re just afraid of the other birds. As soon as one comes near they head back to the safety of their cage. I think it will take another week, maybe two, before they feel secure enough to hold their own with the older birds.
A lot has happened in the past month and a half with regard
to my chickens. First, I found Goldie lying on the bottom of the henhouse, her
neck twisted into a question mark. This is what’s known as Wry neck, a neurological
condition that has multiple causes, but it’s normally due to a viral condition
for which there is no known cure. I learned all about the various viral
conditions in chickens in a $300 one-unit class taught by an avian vet. I
thought about just ringing her neck (the chicken’s not the vet’s) but
instead we opted to let nature take its course. On St. Patrick’s Day we lost
Goldie.
As if one dead chicken weren’t enough, a few days later, I
noticed Henna walking tail down. This is a sign of — for the lack of a better
term for it — “water belly.” This is usually caused by a blocked cloaca. The
cloaca is the end of the birth canal just behind the vent. We did the normal
treatment of putting her in a warm bath and massaging her abdomen. We also kept
her separated from the other hens on the off chance it was viral and
potentially contagious. The bath and massages worked once and Hannah was able
to give us the egg, but a week later she got it again. This time she stayed
blocked. The warm baths and massaging did nothing. I honestly didn’t think she
would last very long after this because her belly was getting big. But she
surprised me. She’s still with us! She’s eating and drinking normally and
getting around very well, albeit waddling like a duck most of the time. She may
walk funny but she’s often the first one to follow me into the coop at night
for their nightly mealworms. Other than the waddling gait, she’s
acting like a normal chicken and seems happy. I don’t quite know what to make
of it but I’m just letting her go along. It’s either that or ring her neck,
which Luanne is loath to consider.
Given that I’m down to four laying hens ,and with the weather
unseasonably cool, my egg production has severely decreased. What’s a guy to do
when he’s not getting that many eggs from his chickens? Answer: Go get more
chickens! On March 27, I went down and bought myself six Rhode Island Red chicks.
RI Reds are one of the best egg laying breeds around. The chicks are now a
month old and quite happy but they’re getting tired of being in the garage in
the 24”x36” pen. If we could get a few more days of warm weather, I’d like to
create a small enclosure in the back so they can spend some time digging
around in the grass learning to be chickens. But the weather isn’t cooperating. It's cold and drizzly most mornings. It does rain sometimes but we don't get a lot of water. When I say "rain", I mean we get just enough rain/heavy dew to make things cold
and wet every day. With the low temperatures and the incessant cloud cover,
it’s just too cold and damp for month-old pullets.
The new chicks are now pullets but they'll eat the special chick meal for at least another month. I ran out of that mixture so yesterday I headed
over to Mike’s Feed in San Leandro where I buy my chicks and my goat rations. While I was there, I
noticed they had two Buff Orpington chicks that had been born Wednesday.
Earlier, Luanne and I were looking at some videos on Facebook and one of them
was on the Buff Orpington. Apparently, this English breed is a very friendly
chicken while being a good layer (200-280 eggs per year). Supposedly, they make
great house pets. [Insert Cheshire Cat grin here.]
One of the things I learned in the $300 one-unit class on
chicken illnesses is that there’s a difference between pets and livestock. You
name pets; you don’t name livestock. This time I’m not naming my Rhode Island
Reds. Luanne wants to name them, but I don’t want to. They are livestock. Fun
livestock, but livestock nonetheless. I want egg layers. Luanne wants feathered
pets. To try and instill this livestock versus pets in Luanne I came home from Mike’s with those two Buff Orpington
chicks — little yellow fuzz balls — and have set them up in the kitchen in a
plastic box. As they get bigger, we’ll move them into a larger crate, but for
now the box is working just fine. I told Luanne they were her chickens. She
could name them whatever she wanted, and she could have them up in the front
yard if she wanted. They are her chickens. So far, she’s leaning toward Adele
and Celine because she likes their singing when she holds them. I’m fine with
that, they’re her chickens. [Again, insert Cheshire Cat grin here.]
For the past three months, I haven’t gotten very many eggs from my
hens. This is due in part to the time of year (shorter days equal less
eggs). In addition, my chickens are going through their
molt. Molting is basically when a chicken loses a percentage of their
feathers and regrows replacements. They don’t get naked, they just start
looking all scraggly and spend their time eating with abandon. They
eat more because regrowing feathers takes a lot of energy and nutrients.
Egg production has to take a backseat.
The first to go through it with the
Ameraucanas. The coop was festooned with white and grey feathers and my
blue egg girls looked like they needed a spa day. Now, their feathers have
all grown in and they are back to being the belles of the “back forty”.
My Rhode Island Reds, too, slowed way down in their egg production
but I was still getting one or two brown eggs each day. I didn't see many red and brown feathers, though. That’s starting to change. A few
brown feathers are showing up in the henhouse and over in the goat
enclosure where the Reds enjoy scratching for bugs. And I’m getting
fewer and fewer brown eggs. Now, I,m getting two blue eggs for every brown. Two weeks ago if I got any eggs at all they
were always brown.
This means my pretty girls are coming back online.These photos show just how pretty their plumage has grown back.
As you all know, we lost our sweet Clyde at the end of May
and acquired a new billy, Nugget, to keep Bonnie company. Nugget was very
frightened of humans. Terrified is the word I used. Given the
scars on his flanks, we assumed he had been abused somehow. Every time anyone
entered the back forty, he would go to the furthest corner possible. Any
attempt to approach him resulted in his circling around so as to maintain the
greatest distance possible. It took a month just to get him to come and get
carrots out of my hand, and for that I had to be sitting down and unable to
reach him beyond the length of the food.
Yesterday something changed. I went into their enclosure in
the morning to give Bonnie her “treat” – a peanut butter and Triscuit sandwich
containing her Meloxicam pills. Nugget usually watches me pass by him, watching
me out of one eye. If I reach out to him, he backs away. Not far; not to the
other side of the enclosure, just far enough to avoid my hand.
This time he did something different. Bonnie was in the
bottom bunk. I bent down to give her the treat. Nugget started up the ramp to
the top bunk but stopped half way up. I started talking to him and he didn’t go
into anything approaching a flight stance. He was almost at my eye level and
just looked at me. I reached out my hand and he didn’t back down or jump off
the ramp. Instead, he stuck out his nose as if to sniff my hand for food. I
touched his muzzle, and he licked my fingers. Normally this is where he would
turn away – nothing good to eat, no reason to risk staying near the human. But
instead, Nugget extended his nose further, enough to allow me to scratch his
cheek. He didn’t turn away. Feeling brave, I reached behind his ear and gave
his neck a little scratch. Nugget watched me but didn’t move. Okay, let’s see
what he will allow. I continued to talk to him softly, rubbing on his flank. He
actually turned toward me as if to say Okay, that feels good; keep going. I
kept scratching his flank and his back. He just kept still. Periodically I
would go back to rubbing his face, mainly to keep him from thinking I was
trying to reach around him and grab him. When I rubbed his cheek, he would turn
into my hand. Damn, he likes cheekies! Not wanting to press things, I stepped
back after a few minutes and let him continue up to the top bunk.
All this happened without being recorded for posterity
because I hadn’t taken my phone with me. Today, I was ready. Nugget walked up
to me as soon as I came into their enclosure. No fear stance. I fed Bonnie and
then turned to Nugget. He didn't move. Like yesterday, he sniffed my hand and
licked my fingers. Like yesterday, he let me rub and scratch his face, flanks
and back. Unlike yesterday, I was standing over him and he let me walk behind
him. This shows a level of trust I didn't expect. I absolutely loved it, but I
hadn't expected it so soon, even after yesterday's surprise. Nugget may just become a
therapy goat after all.
This is the second egg I found with an incomplete shell this year. Based on the color of the shell, I know they came from the same Rhode Island Red hen. I suspect the culprit might be Marge. Her eggs are often very pale brown. Both malformed ones were this color.
We get enough eggs that I don’t need to be dealing with the possibility of bacterial infection so I just toss them.
