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Soft Shelled Egg
We had our first "accident" today. I found this egg in the coop instead of the nest box. I'm not sure if it was laid there or if it was kicked out of the box by someone. It looks odd in the photo because it has a soft shell. It is squishy because the yolk and white are covered only by a membrane.
Oh well, these things happen. Noone will own up to who had the accident. These kinds of eggs are normal and only an issue if you are getting them all the time. My girls have plenty of shell grit, all sorts of food (spoilt!) and have been free ranging a lot lately.
Three Stooges :D
Karen recently asked a question, and my reply was turning into an essay so I thought I would make a post about it.
Karen asks:
I stumbled upon your blog this morning, sadly im looking for some chickens as mine dissapeared last night leaving behind just a few feathers, it looks like a fox may have been the culprit. I noticed that your chickens seem to be quite friendly, do they let you pick them up? if so what breed are they? (im deciding what type of chooks to get, looking for a friendly/docile breed that would be fun for kids)
Thanks for the question Karen! Sorry about the fox. My mum unfortunately had a fox incident herself recently and lost hers too. Heartbreaking! :(
My girls are Isa Brown hens. They are very laid back, though a couple of our girls are much more friendly than others. You need to spend a lot of time handling them - hand feeding, patting and picking them up - to get them used to the treatment, but it is worth it.
We try to remember to give everyone a cuddle every day even if it is only a quick one. All their little personalities are so unique so a couple of the more outgoing ladies ended up with more attention than the others and love a longer cuddle, sometimes sitting on a lap for up to 30 minutes! If you listen to their body language you can guage when they want the attention to stop so they don't get too stressed and gradually increase the time they're held. If you can start the handling when they're chicks or pullets you'll have more success too, and take them little nice treats like sunflower seeds to handfeed them.
I think my girls would be great with kids, with supervision of course, as chickens do love to peck at spots or shiney things and still give my earrings and freckles a go if they notice them. I always loved my parents chickens when I was a kid.
Just today I had a lovely cuddle with one girl purring in my lap and another came over and snuggled beside us. We have one girl in particular that will gently peck our pants or shoes to be picked up for a cuddle if she wants it. But of course, they'll all try to avoid a pat if they're too hungry or busy to be bothered too. It's quite amusing having a flock of hens following you around the backyard hoping for a treat.
I'd say that most chicken breeds can be tamed with patience. When I was a kid I loved chickens and would spend a lot of time with my parents hens and the favourites of the bunch would end up being tame enough to pick up and carry around.
Chicken cuddles are the best kind of cuddles!!
Standing on the cupboard wasn't good enough for our Purple to watch their dinner get mixed... She decided to check out the little rooster on the window too.
We're still experimenting slowly with what it is the girls need. We've switched back to a part pellet diet incase the mixed grains are not enough now that there are no greens at all for them to eat. I'm making my own pellet and grain mix because of previous experience with the pre-mix from the fodder store.
The girls are loving their sand pit and spend most of their time in it. Harriet is still the one with the most issues, spending most of her time sitting in front of the food bowl, but surprisingly usually also the one with the least in her crop at the end of the day. We've been thinking about them when it comes to our own meal planning - ie. If we make a stir-fry we can give them some carrot and cabbage scraps!
We've got no other ideas what to do at the moment. Most places seem to suggest a calcium deficiency, however adding calcium suppliment didn't seem to pick them up. The liquid multi-vitamins had the most positive effect, but I am hoping the pellets have some of that stuff in them too. I'm looking forward to winter when we have more greens to give them!
Chooks up to scratch as pets? Yep, I think so and so does the local paper! To read the whole article click here.
I'll be doing a bigger update soon. We've been trying out a whole lot of things to help out our girls through the summer. You can see their new sand pit in the background behind Gladys.
Here is the latest obsession for the girls. Everything that is up to a certain height has been eaten. They have been jumping up to reach the lower grapes with no thought for whether they will land on two feet or end up caught in the fence instead. This is possibly how the girls are hurting their feet, but how I can stop them when they're growing up their enclosure is beyond me.
The grapes are delicious though. I have been spending the evening eating them straight off the vine, spitting out the seeds and the few sour ones for the girls to eat. They'll be getting all the small ones as we reach the end of grape season as well, so it is a good thing they like them so much.
Egg Accident
August 9th, 2010
Soft Shelled EggWe had our first "accident" today. I found this egg in the coop instead of the nest box. I'm not sure if it was laid there or if it was kicked out of the box by someone. It looks odd in the photo because it has a soft shell. It is squishy because the yolk and white are covered only by a membrane.
Oh well, these things happen. Noone will own up to who had the accident. These kinds of eggs are normal and only an issue if you are getting them all the time. My girls have plenty of shell grit, all sorts of food (spoilt!) and have been free ranging a lot lately.
Question Answered for Karen
August 6th, 2010Three Stooges :D
Karen recently asked a question, and my reply was turning into an essay so I thought I would make a post about it.
Karen asks:
I stumbled upon your blog this morning, sadly im looking for some chickens as mine dissapeared last night leaving behind just a few feathers, it looks like a fox may have been the culprit. I noticed that your chickens seem to be quite friendly, do they let you pick them up? if so what breed are they? (im deciding what type of chooks to get, looking for a friendly/docile breed that would be fun for kids)
Thanks for the question Karen! Sorry about the fox. My mum unfortunately had a fox incident herself recently and lost hers too. Heartbreaking! :(
My girls are Isa Brown hens. They are very laid back, though a couple of our girls are much more friendly than others. You need to spend a lot of time handling them - hand feeding, patting and picking them up - to get them used to the treatment, but it is worth it.
We try to remember to give everyone a cuddle every day even if it is only a quick one. All their little personalities are so unique so a couple of the more outgoing ladies ended up with more attention than the others and love a longer cuddle, sometimes sitting on a lap for up to 30 minutes! If you listen to their body language you can guage when they want the attention to stop so they don't get too stressed and gradually increase the time they're held. If you can start the handling when they're chicks or pullets you'll have more success too, and take them little nice treats like sunflower seeds to handfeed them.
I think my girls would be great with kids, with supervision of course, as chickens do love to peck at spots or shiney things and still give my earrings and freckles a go if they notice them. I always loved my parents chickens when I was a kid.
Just today I had a lovely cuddle with one girl purring in my lap and another came over and snuggled beside us. We have one girl in particular that will gently peck our pants or shoes to be picked up for a cuddle if she wants it. But of course, they'll all try to avoid a pat if they're too hungry or busy to be bothered too. It's quite amusing having a flock of hens following you around the backyard hoping for a treat.
I'd say that most chicken breeds can be tamed with patience. When I was a kid I loved chickens and would spend a lot of time with my parents hens and the favourites of the bunch would end up being tame enough to pick up and carry around.
Chicken cuddles are the best kind of cuddles!!
How Much is the Chicken in the Window?
March 21st, 2010Nice Perch...
Standing on the cupboard wasn't good enough for our Purple to watch their dinner get mixed... She decided to check out the little rooster on the window too.
We're still experimenting slowly with what it is the girls need. We've switched back to a part pellet diet incase the mixed grains are not enough now that there are no greens at all for them to eat. I'm making my own pellet and grain mix because of previous experience with the pre-mix from the fodder store.
The girls are loving their sand pit and spend most of their time in it. Harriet is still the one with the most issues, spending most of her time sitting in front of the food bowl, but surprisingly usually also the one with the least in her crop at the end of the day. We've been thinking about them when it comes to our own meal planning - ie. If we make a stir-fry we can give them some carrot and cabbage scraps!
We've got no other ideas what to do at the moment. Most places seem to suggest a calcium deficiency, however adding calcium suppliment didn't seem to pick them up. The liquid multi-vitamins had the most positive effect, but I am hoping the pellets have some of that stuff in them too. I'm looking forward to winter when we have more greens to give them!
Chooks up to scratch as pets?
March 4th, 2010Chooks up to scratch as pets? Yep, I think so and so does the local paper! To read the whole article click here.
I'll be doing a bigger update soon. We've been trying out a whole lot of things to help out our girls through the summer. You can see their new sand pit in the background behind Gladys.
Grape Season
January 25th, 2010Delicious Grapes
Here is the latest obsession for the girls. Everything that is up to a certain height has been eaten. They have been jumping up to reach the lower grapes with no thought for whether they will land on two feet or end up caught in the fence instead. This is possibly how the girls are hurting their feet, but how I can stop them when they're growing up their enclosure is beyond me.
The grapes are delicious though. I have been spending the evening eating them straight off the vine, spitting out the seeds and the few sour ones for the girls to eat. They'll be getting all the small ones as we reach the end of grape season as well, so it is a good thing they like them so much.
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- Egg Accident
- Question Answered for Karen
- How Much is the Chicken in the Window?
- Chooks up to scratch as pets?
- Grape Season
- Harriet Rejoins the Coop
- Inside Chook
- Happy New Year!
- Merry Christmas
- Time For My Close-Up
Recent Comments
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