Spring, at last

Cicada

Cicada struggled through the winter and my learning curve mostly intact.  His feet have some cold damage, but he never got outright frostbite, and he kept all his toes.  I finally put him in the broody suite by himself in mid-February and he recovered.  He walks a little awkwardly, but is now crowing and stalking Finn’s hens.  He was slow to mature; while the first group of Araucana boys were all crowing by 15 weeks or so, Cicada never did until he was 6 months old.  I still have him penned with Finn and the older hens and he’s still at a loss for company.  I am hoping that I get some tufted pullets from Kiwi’s pen this summer to put him with.

The ash devastation

Spring was slow in coming this year, but just like last year, as soon as it warmed up Clucky went broody.  She was soon followed by Hawk and Flicka.  My hands have been tied in terms of moving the chicken enclosures around due to the “We’ll try to have it done by Christmas” ash tree removal.  Maybe they meant THIS Christmas because it has yet to be completed.  All the areas I had pegged for chickens require access for the tree crew.  In March, I had to move Oriole’s flock to the broody suite where they remained until a couple of weeks ago.  So my broodies have been biding their time.

This year's first brood

I finally took pity on Clucky and set her up in the dog crate inside the main coop.  I put her on 12 eggs from both Oriole’s and Kiwi’s pens, from all the Araucana hens except Hawk (who remains broody).  About halfway through, Clucky moved most of the eggs under her to the center of the crate, leaving 5 cooling in the corner.  I’ve heard that hens can tell if eggs are bad and will pitch them out of the nest, but I suspect she chose to move with some eggs and then got “stuck” between the eggs she had and the ones she left behind.  They were cold by the time I found them, so I removed them, leaving her with 7.  Six of these hatched, all from Oriole’s pen.  There are 4 little black/birchen chicks, one, Nightshade, with double tufts and 2 blonde stripy chicks.  Although I don’t know which chick came from which mother, I now at least know that Oriole carries a wild type gene hiding under his “birchen-esque” coloration.

You plan to do what?!

I had set Hawk on 4 eggs from Kiwi x Magpie, but after Kiwi’s eggs failed to hatch under Clucky I added some from Oriole’s pen.  The original eggs are due to hatch next week.  If they fail, I will do some feather trimming on Kiwi’s group!

Wren's new saddle

In moving Oriole’s group from the broody suite, I saw my chance to gather some eggs that I knew for sure were from Wren.  Her back is in pretty bad shape from Oriole’s attentions so I figured she could use a little break.  I left her alone in the broody suite for a week (which she resented) and got 3 eggs from her in that time.  I returned her with a hen saddle to her group and set Flicka on her eggs last week.  So now we wait!

Oriole

They're waiting....

I had envisioned moving the fencing around Finn’s group often enough this summer so the woods/yard wouldn’t get decimated.  But then I saw that the area in the woods where they were penned last year was coming back in a garlic mustard monoculture.  In the interest of saving at least some of my woods from invasives and also being able to keep from having to move the labor-intensive fencing every two weeks, I went to Plan B.  I found a company online that sells a pasture mix specifically for chickens so I’m in the process of setting up cells fenced with chicken wire (which will remain in place) within the big run and planting them.  The company suggests letting the plants grow to 2-5 inches and then letting the chickens graze them down halfway, at which point I can close up the cell again.  I think this will work well if I make enough “exclosures” and can keep up with the chickens.

Pasture greens

February 9, 2013

Cicada

The winter was slow in coming this year, but now that it has there’s been plenty of snow and wind and much colder temperatures than last year.  I’ve had some management issues lately and some of the older chickens look a little rough.  Finn’s got some frostbite on his comb, and by the time I noticed it, it seemed too sore to put Vaseline on it.  Good ventilation is supposed to prevent this, and I have been keeping at least one window open in the coop at night, depending on wind direction, but perhaps that’s not enough.  He was a little subdued for awhile, but he’s bounced back well this past week.  

Another issue with Finn was his long spurs.  I was noticing raw spots on the backs of the hens from him before they molted so one evening Steve and I removed his spurs.  This was nearly a disaster.  I had read and talked to my chicken mentor, and the consensus was that the easiest way to do it was just to twist off the outer layer with pliers, and there would be little pain and bleeding.  The spur coverings came off pretty easily--he flinched a bit, but not badly.  But then we could NOT get the bleeding to stop.  I had cornstarch on hand, but it wasn’t enough.  Finally Steve duct taped cornstarch-filled paper towels to his legs.  That finally worked, but I’m glad I didn’t take this on alone--we definitely needed two pairs of hands!

About a month ago, I started noticing a bad smell from the back coop.  I’ve been keeping up with adding litter, especially with all the birds hanging out inside during snowy days, so there’s usually not much odor.  I finally found that molting, ragged-looking Silver was having diarrhea.  She’s been active, out with the others, and up for treats so I hesitated.  But finally I bit the bullet, brought her in, and kept her in a crate on the porch last weekend.  I plied her with medicated chick starter, probiotics in her water, plain yogurt, and some dry cat food.  She took to her confinement pretty well--I hardly heard a peep out of her all weekend.  She ate well too, and I never saw much evidence of diarrhea or anything abnormal, so back to the coop she went.  I have since seen her chasing Cicada around.

Cicada, at nearly six months old is having a rough winter.  He hangs by himself or with Lark all day outside in the snow.  I put a little lean-to outside for wind shelter, but he avoids it.  I should have put the pair of them in the broody coop, but once separated, I don’t think I can ever put them back with the rest.  We’re going to have a milder stretch in the next 10 days, so I think I’ll leave well enough alone at this point.  He’s certainly old enough, but I haven’t heard him crow, and he isn’t strutting around.  I even had a day recently when I was wondering if he wasn’t a pullet after all (he’s not).  For a while I thought when he got a little more mature (like in a week, or the next,,,,), he’d put the older hens in their place (Oriole is adept at this, although they certainly resent him), but it’s not happening.  I’m definitely needing more coops, and I think it will be better if I just get all the Araucanas out of the main area with the older chickens.  Finn’s breeding all the pullets (which they encourage--they love him and hate Oriole), and the size difference could be a problem, not to mention I have no intention of propagating mixed breed chickens with the Araucanas.  Sparrow and Oriole seem to have integrated well, but Wren, Lark, and certainly Cicada have not.

Oriole

Despite the relatively rough winter, most of the Araucana pullets are laying like crazy.  I usually get at least 3 eggs a day from the five pullets.  In the front coop, there is a greener egg (Hawk’s I think) and a bluer one with white speckles that I see more rarely.  In back there’s a much greener kind of stone-colored one and two blue-green ones.  I have hopes of being able to tell which egg comes from which hen when it comes time to set them.  I’ve been advertising table eggs locally to no avail.  My plan is to find a food pantry that will take fresh eggs.

Lark with the Sussex girls