Billings Backyard Poultry

Black australorps- 3 months old

2011-04-01T00:05:00.000-05:00

Black australorps

2010-12-24T11:51:00.000-06:00

Our latest hatch of black australorps hatched mostly yesterday. Dianne says they look like little penquins, pretty cute and chubby. We ended up with 23. They should be laying this spring!!

Homemade waterer heater

2010-12-10T12:57:00.002-06:00

A few people have asked me how I made my heater. The first item is a utility pan 3.99 at tractor supply, then I used a scrap piece of metal or a board will do. Make sure it is a little larger than the pan. Then I used a 2 bulb lamp fixture, The one I used you can move the bulbs up and down to vary the heat so you can use it with a plastic or metal waterer, mount the fixture in the center on the bottom piece and then I used weather stripping under the edge of the pan, there is enough lip so you can use small screws to mount the top (pan) to the bottom. Chickens will peck at silicone that's why I didn't use it. The weather stripping will keep water from getting in if it is splashed or the waterer tips over.Total cost about 10.00.

Recouping!!!

2010-12-09T13:37:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. With my wife Dianne having breast cancer and everything else going on it's been tuff!! I plan on posting more pics and stuff later. I've been recouping my coop and cages, lost a lot of birds over the summer to all kinds of predators. I'm doubling the wire and installing an electric fence and have a camera for the night time. I,m up all hours of the night anyway!! Down to 2 birds so fixing stuff is pretty easy. Got 34 black australorp eggs in the incubator now, I'll post pics when they hatch, they will hatch a little before CHRISTmas. In the process of getting other birds so I'll be up and doing good this spring for everyone who wants birds or hatching eggs!!!
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kittens

2010-05-19T07:27:00.000-05:00

Stray cat had kittens in our shed, they are hid pretty well. I saw one out and got a pic before it went back and hid!!

Golden laced cochins

2010-05-18T22:41:00.000-05:00

I'm very proud how our cochins are doing, about a year old now.

Cinnamon Queens

2010-05-18T22:36:00.001-05:00

We got some cinnamon queens this year to try. We've never had any so we figured we would see how they do!! Pictured are almost 2 months old..One easter egger in the back.

Bob white quail

2010-05-18T22:27:00.000-05:00

Our quail are now almost 4 months old now. Recently seperated them into breeder cages.

Ice storm quail

2010-01-31T19:30:00.000-06:00

Can,t believe our quail are hatching, even with the power going off for 3 hours yesterday!! We got 10 so far.

Checking the ice out!!

2010-01-30T15:11:00.000-06:00

Ice

2010-01-30T15:07:00.000-06:00

Don't like ice, chickens don't either!!!!

Baby Ducks

2010-01-10T13:17:00.000-06:00

We finally got some duck eggs to hatch. They hatched the week of CHRISTmas and hatched some chicks thanksgiving. They are all doing fine despite the cold. We have bobwhite quail in the incubator now, they should hatch at the end of the month.

Easter Eggs

2010-01-09T18:45:00.000-06:00

Got our first eggs from our easter egg pullet, we had two but lost one and a buff orpington to the ducks before I figured out what happening. Plan on getting more in a month or two, hope it's warmer than it is now! Hard to tell in the picture, but their light green.

Brrr!!!! COLD!!!

2010-01-09T18:36:00.000-06:00

Had to put the ducks back in with the chickens because of the cold, which is not safe for the hens. The ducks don't use the nest,they lay their eggs right in front of the door.Quess it's cold enough to freeze an egg!!! Instead of being hot enough to fry one?

Nest box

2009-11-23T15:57:00.000-06:00

Built a new nest box this weekend out of a scrap peice of plywood.Put old carpet pad in the bottom for a liner,going to put wood chips in also. Not having any luck with my duck eggs hatching, so far they haven't been fertile. I made their pond a little deeper maybe that will help. Any advice anybody has will be appreciated. Our blue swede duck started laying too, her eggs are not as big as our pekin's. Maybe some of hers will be fertile. Our easter egg pullets should start laying any day now, can't wait to see what color they are!! Kitty our handicapped brown leghorn should too, don't know if it will take a little longer because of her deformities or not. If she's real hungry she'll fly up on your shoulder. I still have to feed her seperate from the others, she can only eat mash and it's got to be deep.

Winter coop

2009-11-08T18:21:00.000-06:00

Fixed up part of our shed for a coop this winter, our other one was getting too small and didn't keep them warm very well. Since we have ducks this winter we had to change to a different waterer. Ducks will empty a regular chick water in a matter of minutes. Sure not going to have to walk through the mud to feed and water any more.

Beadwork

2009-11-08T18:12:00.000-06:00

We were do some cleaning this weekend and I found some items I'd been saving. When I was a teen I was in scouts and use to dress up as indians and dance at different events and parades etc. I ran across some beadwork that I had done. Brought back memories. And no, Dianne never saw me dance!!!

Quail

2009-11-06T12:09:00.000-06:00

14 out of 16 quail eggs hatched halloween night,not bad. Sold them yesterday. Done for the season. Our broody hens had 3 hatch this weekend also. Ducks should start hatching next week. They will be hatching off and on till CHRISTmas. We'll wait and see how many we get.

Deer

2009-10-26T19:38:00.003-05:00

A friend of ours killed his first deer of the season on the top of the ridge behind our house, a nice 4 point. He's seen some more but they were too small. It's bow hunting only where he killed this one.

Fall thinning

2009-10-21T18:52:00.000-05:00

Sold all my quail this weekend, plus have our eggs in the incubator sold when they hatch. We gave our dominique rooster to a friend who lost her's recently. We are missing a black cochin pullet, don't know where she went. Still have 3 roosters left, 2 we will never get rid of. Planning on raising bobwhite quail this spring instead japenese quail. Have a few people wanting them.We still have 28 chinckens all pullets except 3. We have 2 broody hens on eggs, plus I think a golden laced cochin's going broody so I'll let her set on a few eggs and maybe a duck egg or 2. I would like some more ducks. We'll wait and see how it goes!!

Cat wants to play

2009-10-01T20:17:00.000-05:00

Our cat tries it's best to play with our chickens but they won't have anything to do with him. So he just pounces on them all the the time. When they get tired of him they chase him off.

Battle of the eggs!!

2009-09-23T16:23:00.000-05:00

Guess our duck and one of our pullets are having a largest egg battle! I thought our duck egg was pretty big, then we got a huge brown egg. It's not as round as the duck egg, but it's every bit as long!! Both of them when I look at them make me hurt!!!

Ex large duck egg

2009-09-14T19:26:00.001-05:00

Our largest duck egg yet!!! The last large duck egg we gave to sil kaye. It was a double yoker. The brown egg is pretty large, it's about 2 and a half inches, and the duck egg is every bit 3 inches. We'll just wait and see how many yolks this one has. Our oldest white duck lays an egg a day, unless she lays one like this, then she'll skip a day. I don't blame her a bit!!

Maran chick???

2009-09-14T18:39:00.000-05:00

This is our latest chick we hatched,it's twenty days old. Suppose to be a cuckoo maran, but I don't think so. We'll wait and see what it is when it gets it's feathers.

Brown leghorn

2009-09-14T18:30:00.000-05:00

Here is a pic of our brown leghorn pullet that has a crooked beak and only has one eye. She is doing great right now. I have her with supposedly a maran chick. I give her vitamins in her water quite a bit, maybe that will help. Gonna let her out with the rest of our chickens when she gets some size on her.

NEW RABBIT

2009-09-14T18:22:00.000-05:00

We had to get another rabbit because of our over active male rabbit. I don't think it did much good though!!

First quail egg

2009-09-04T11:40:00.000-05:00

We got our first quail egg today, comparing it to a duck egg. I don't know what we'll do with one egg though!! I had to seperate 5 males because they were fighting, poking each others eyes out and other stuff. We have 50 + eggs in the incubator that should hatch next week. My marans didn't hatch very well, 2 hatched and one died right after hatching. The one is doing fine and I have it in the pen with our one eyed brown leghorn pullet.

YA THINK????

2009-08-22T21:18:00.002-05:00

Dianne was feeding our pets some leftover strawberry cake.We thought they were enjoying it!!!! But were they just waiting for her to get out of their CHAIR. YA THINK????

Buff orpingtons

2009-08-16T19:46:00.002-05:00

We now have 5 buff orpington hens, our oldest is chickzilla and is Philip's favorite!! She lays an egg a day and we hope the other 4 which should be laying pretty soon, lay as good as she does. They are very friendly and easy to raise and we get alot of enjoyment watching them. The pic is of one that's not laying yet.

Defective brown leghorn

2009-08-14T20:53:00.002-05:00

Our friend at the feed store had a chick he needed to get rid of because he couldn't sell it, so I told him we would take her. She has a twisted beak and only has one eye. We have her in a pen by herself, she's eating and drinking just fine. I felt sorry for her when I first saw her and thought she might as well have a chance to live. I've looked at her beak real close up and trimming is not a option. We're going to let her get alot bigger before we let her out with the rest of the chickens if she makes it. I may put a picture up later of her best side only.

Look alike

2009-08-14T20:19:00.003-05:00

Half breeds latest chick is now 8 weeks old and looks just like it's mother. Pretty sure it's a pullet, we hope she will sit on eggs just as well as halfbreed does. You can move halfbreed to our brooding pen and she'll get right back on the eggs everytime. Top picture is halfbreed on the nest fixing to lay an egg.

Roosters

2009-08-14T20:11:00.002-05:00

We took our 2 new white silkie roosters to our friend at the feed store. Now hopefully we just have 2 left,puff puff and a barred rock we named roo roo. Roo roo is our youngest and our biggest and it's pretty funny to hear him trying to crow!!!

Quail

2009-08-14T10:55:00.003-05:00

Our quail are five weeks old and should start laying in about a week!! I am hoping to get a few eggs before their season for laying is up!! We have 12 cuckoo maran eggs in the incubator and they should hatch next weekend hopefully! I will keep you updated. I also have a better picture of our white quail.

Pair of blue swede ducks

2009-08-14T10:48:00.002-05:00

This is our pair of blue swede ducks, I can't tell which is male or female but Philip can. We're hoping to be able to incubate some eggs next spring. Maybe it will work out. Have a pair of white pekin ducks also.

Air nozzle

2009-08-02T12:27:00.003-05:00

I saw my brother Tim at the co-op buying an air nozzle and it seemed pretty useful so I went in and got me one. When I wash my waterers and feeders I soak them in water and bleach and then put the hose of the air nozzle in the mix and blow the stuck on dirt off. Works real well especially where the jar and the base screw together, pretty hard to clean without the nozzle!!

Thinning out

2009-08-02T12:13:00.002-05:00

We took obamma and 4 other chickens to our friend Bo at the feedstore. Mostly roosters, we had too many. We were surpised because he gave us a bag of feed for them!! We were just going to give them to him. He especially liked the white silkie rooster and a rooster cross.

Excitement

2009-07-22T20:05:00.003-05:00

We had our excitement today, I was in the pen catching the small chicks and ducks that haven't learned to go night night on their own when they ran in the corner and there was a 2ft copperhead striking at the ducks, don't know if any got bit or not. I hollered, (cause I live in the south) at philip to grab a gun and he and andrew came running. First one we've seen up here on the ridge since we've lived here. Caught another coon 3 days ago too. Everything be wanting some chicken!!!!

Finally

2009-07-14T11:07:00.002-05:00

Finally got some quail eggs to hatch. Got 12 cortinux(japanese quail) and their doing fine so far. I also have gotten 5 black cochin chicks and 3 more ducks, a peking male to go with the female we already have and a pair of blue swede ducklings to replace the one we lost. Also got 2 easter egg chick pullets. We have been pretty busy keeping the varmits out of our pens, so for we're up to 4 coons and 3 possumsin our traps we set. we also made a small pen to let our birds eat the grass, they are having a great time. Going to give obamma and a couple of roosters to our friend at the feed store, obamma stays broody all the time but gives up before the chicks hatch. We use halbreed for setting eggs and she's a great mother too!!! Halbreed hatched another chick that looks just like her.

Duck pond

2009-05-31T11:49:00.003-05:00

Our small duck pond ,Andrew Philip and me dug and made.

Think they're chickens

2009-05-31T09:57:00.003-05:00

Both our duck who we've named aflac, and our rabbit,Philip named george think they are chickens. They both eat with the chickens, and when the chickens go in for the night aflac goes with them and george goes in his rabbit hutch. We don't have to catch either one of them!! Told Dianne I'm a rabbit and duck trainer now!! HA!! HA!!

Punked by a duck

2009-05-31T09:41:00.002-05:00

We finished our duck pen and put it in the chicken pen so we could lock the duck up at night since we lost our other one. We have been catching her and putting her in with the chickens every night and locking them up together. The very first night we went to put her up in her new pen, she had already gone in with the chickens and that's where she has slept ever since. WE GOT PUNKED!!!!

Stephanie's a mom

2009-05-25T16:47:00.002-05:00

The egg stephanie has been sitting on hatched today, pretty cool, nice healthy chick too!!

Cleaning

2009-05-24T11:34:00.003-05:00

A couple of days ago I cleaned the old wood shavings and droppings from underneath the hen house and put them in the garden. I put new wood chips and mixed in sevin dust to keep the flies and the mites out. Yesterday Philip and I soaked all the waterer's in clorox bleach and cold water for a while, does a good job and they look almost new again! We put apple cider vinegar in them at least once a week to prevent worms and keep the knats and mosquitos out of them. I don't like using wormers on chickens, it's very hard on them. I think it's better to try and prevent them!! There are real good articles in the backyard poultry magazines on both subjects, and that's where I get most of my tips!! We also have been building a duck house to keep the duck safe at night,we are almost finished with it, tired of losing pets!!! I plan on putting a list of our pets and names of the ones we've named so far, any help with names will be aprreciated since we have about 20 or so to name.

Pets

2009-05-22T16:00:00.002-05:00

It's hard trying to keep pets lately!! All our kittens disappeared in a couple of nights, don't know what happened to them. A raccoon got one of our 2 ducks and 3 of our guinea keets, still got 1 keet left,so I went to the feed store to get a couple more so it wouldn't be lonely. But he was out so I got a couple of dominique chicks to keep the keet from being by itself. They seem to be getting along fine. We caught the coon in a trap the next night trying to get the keet and chicks again. We keep reinforcing the pen and making it tighter maybe we'll get it right someday. Nobody in our area sells ducks so we put him in the pen with the chickens till we figure something else out. Still having fun!! Got some new picts to add in the next couple of days so keep looking!!

Shout out

2009-05-01T21:21:00.002-05:00

A shout out to asheville city chickens who got an ordinance passed so anyone can raise chickens in asheville nc, a very very large city. They put out alot of work,effort, and time. GOOD JOB!!

Grown up

2009-05-01T09:15:00.002-05:00

Finally got the chicks out of the brooder and in the hen house with the rest of the chickens. They seem to like it, of course the big chickens are having a problem with it. Got the brooder taken apart and moved, it comes apart into 4 pcs so we can move it easily. While we have it apart we're going to clean it up and put another bottom in it to prevent our coon buddies from having a midnight snack. Also we're going to paint it and get it ready for more broody hens and chicks. Philip loves to paint!!

Rabbit doing fine

2009-05-01T09:02:00.002-05:00

Our rabbits doing great,we let him out in the pen with the chickens and he acts like he loves it. He will run around the pen wide open several times and likes it when he can chase a chicken or a chicken chases him, pretty fun to watch!! Philip and Andrew are taking very good care of him(yep Andrew helps too!!!). Still have not came up with a name yet

Jacked up!!!

2009-04-16T20:16:00.002-05:00

Went to the surgeon yesterday and not very good news, he said my back is in his own words was (jacked up!!). Then this morning I made Dianne's and sis in law Kaye's day cause I jacked up and locked myself in the chicken pen! Ha!! Ha!! Ha!! Dianne always tells me if I go outside to always carry my cell phone. THANKS!!! I had to call Andrew on his phone to let me out. No he wasn't laughing but he was grinning from ear to ear!!

Philip and chickzilla

2009-04-16T20:08:00.002-05:00

Chickzilla is Philips chicken and is 9 months old and lays some nice large brown eggs. She lays an egg a day and hardly ever misses a day. We're very proud of her!!

DUCKS

2009-04-16T20:04:00.002-05:00

We went to the feed store to day and got 2 ducklings, something else to have fun raising since I'm off for a while, so far their doing great!!

puff puff

2009-04-16T19:55:00.003-05:00

Puff puff is 9 months old now and our only rooster. Notice his comb and wattles!! Dianne says he's ugly. This is Andrew's chicken but Andrew won't let us take his picture.

out of room

2009-04-14T15:29:00.002-05:00

Room getting pretty scarce for our chickens. We have 17 month old chicks in one pen, obamma and halbreed are in another pen with 3 three week old chicks, and we had to build a partition out of pvc pipe and 2 inch wire to separate stepanie who just went broody so chickzilla won't lay eggs on top of her, yep she will. They like to lay eggs in the same nest whether a chicken is in it or not. Chickzilla is our biggest hen we have right now and is also the calmist and will jump up on your lap to be petted if your sitting down!! She will also follow you around the yard!!

caught in the act

2009-04-14T15:11:00.002-05:00

Finally caught the coon that's been killing our chicks and removing their toes. We've been trying to upgrade our pens so nothing can get in, we recently added 2ft to the top to make it 7ft tall so obamma and stephanie can't fly out. We also have a motion sensor light that's how we got the coon. Andrew saw the light on and saw the coon run up the tree, I held the light while Andrew shot him. A few days ago two of our chicks got killed (a white silkie, and a buff orpington) and halbreed lost a toe. The night we got the coon it got one of our barred rockchick's toes. We now have the pen where cats can't get in so we now have traps under the brooder just in case!! Don't know what else to do, we just keep trying.

Who's is who's???

2009-03-29T09:52:00.000-05:00

We figured out the 2 newest brown chicks are halfbreeds, because they have feathered legs like their mom!! The black chick does not have feathers on it's legs and we know it is obamma's. Stephanie does not have feathers on her legs either. Apparently they didn't get any of puff puff's traits, because he is solid white,( he's the dad) I thought at least they would be speckled with white spots. Guess I was wrong!!! Also thought they would all have feathered leggs too.

chicks 19 days old

2009-03-29T09:40:00.000-05:00

momma

2009-03-22T18:58:00.000-05:00

We don't know whose chicks the 2 brown ones are till they get older, their either halfbreeds or stephanie's, we know the black one is obamma,s!!!

puff puffs a daddy!!

2009-03-22T18:47:00.000-05:00

Halfbreed and obamma have been sitting on 7 eggs, this morning I went and checked on them and saw a cracked egg shell so I moved them and found 3 baby chicks,1 black and 2 brown ones.The kids and me were excited!!

1st chick loss

2009-03-22T18:45:00.000-05:00

we lost our first chick on the second day we had them, a red wasp got in the brooder and stung one of the white silkies on the leg!!

new chick video

2009-03-14T17:03:00.000-05:00

NEW ARRIVALS!!!

2009-03-12T15:26:00.000-05:00

Shipment from ideal poultry came today!! GOOD JOB IDEAL!! Chicks arrived in great shape and are doing great, very lively. I got a mix of ones we wanted!! We got 2 rhode island reds,3 barred rocks,5 buff orpingtons,2 buff cochins,3 golden laced cochins, and 5 white silkie bantams.20 total.

New chick order

2009-02-18T14:55:00.000-06:00

Placed an order for new chicks, should be getting on march 12, I will have new picts and a lot of updates. I ordered them from ideal poultry, same place where we got the last ones!!

Cold weather

2009-01-31T08:51:00.000-06:00

Oh I so don't like cold and icy weather!!!! I had to take stephanie and put her and her eggs back in the regular coop because I don't have any way to keep her water from freezing and no way to keep her warm especially if the electricity goes out and it did.I've read several places that say you can't leave a broody hen in the pen with the other hens or there will be problems and now I know first hand why!! When stephanie got off her eggs to eat and drink, chickzilla jumped on her nest and layed an egg, so stephanie couldn't get back on her eggs but there were 2 other eggs in a nearby nest that had just been laid very recently so she sits on the 2 eggs and leave the 6 she was sitting on so they stayed uncoverd in below freezing weather for several hours!! I took the 6 eggs out and discarded them and gathered the rest of the eggs, I guess that ticked stephanie off so bad that she's not broody anymore!!! women!!( saying this very softly). If she goes broody again when its warmer, we'll try it again!!

Couldn't take the pressure

2009-01-23T10:59:00.000-06:00

I gave in and am letting stephanie sit on about 5 eggs since she wants to set so bad!! We'll see if she lasts out the 20 days or so and maybe we'll have baby chicks for her to care for!! Waiting to see!!

Isolation pen

2009-01-22T10:15:00.000-06:00

Well put stephanie in a seperate pen, she is so not liking it!! I had already taken the eggs out earlier, like I suspected she was just sitting on the nest and aggravating the rest of the hens and there was not even an egg under her!! I'll leave her in there for a couple of days, maybe she will straighten up!!

Broody

2009-01-21T15:59:00.000-06:00

Well stephanie has gone broody, you try to move her and she makes an awful racket and will peck you pretty quick!! I'm trying to decide whether to break her or let her sit on 5 or 6 eggs. The only problem with letting her set is you get pullets (female chick) and cockerels(roosters). Don't need any more roosters and kind of hard to give them away too!! Hard choice!!!

halfbreeds legs

2009-01-19T13:07:00.000-06:00

Halfbreeds legs are doing a whole lot better. She also has started laying, legs must have been bothering her more than we thought. Philip my youngest son says she started laying cause we turned her upside down.(if you turn a chicken upside down and grab them by their feet they become very calm and you can get them use to whatever they're scared of or do anything you need to do like put vaseline on her feet) We put vaseline on her feet again this weekend and will probably do it again next weekend just to make sure!! Oh by the way she's getting a little easier to catch too!!

Puff puff's eye

2009-01-19T13:03:00.000-06:00

The medicine we gave puff puff worked very well,his eve still has a spot in it, but he is keeping it open and can see out of it. He's strutting for the ladies pretty regular too!! (pretty funny to watch)

homemade feeder

2009-01-19T13:00:00.000-06:00

I made this feeder out of a 5 gallon bucket and an old garbage can lid, works very well too!!

Home made water heater

2009-01-19T12:56:00.000-06:00

I like doing stuff myself and save a little money at the same time. I built this water heater from a metal pan and a 2 socket light holder. Did a very good job at 12 degrees lately.

Hen cam

2009-01-19T12:46:00.000-06:00

A pretty cool website and blog to check out!!! She has a camera in her chicken pen and in her chicken coop!! Also has a rabbit. Have to catch it during the day,it cuts off at night. She also has books she (Terry Golson) has written. Quite impressive so have a look. Her link is the first one in my favorite links.

Ohwell!!

2009-01-09T15:27:00.000-06:00

The quail eggs didn't hatch, we have a lot more projects we're going to be doing the next few weeks so we'll keep you informed! The eggs were probably damaged during shipping, not hard to do. We'll get some more from another source and try them . It's probably going to be chicken eggs this time.

OOOOOHH!!! Impressed!!

2009-01-07T16:49:00.000-06:00

Went out this morning and checked the nest, found 1 egg. Went out before dark to put them up and checked again. there were 3 more!! GOOD JOB!!!

New updates

2009-01-04T13:57:00.000-06:00

Two things happened today. Obamma laid her first egg today, about the same color and size of stephanies. Puff puff crowed for the first time also, his right eye is still closed and he had a cold. I've been giving him antibiotics and he seems to have more pep in his step,( saw him strut yesterday) so maybe he's getting better!!! We now have 3 hens laying, 1 rooster crowing, 1 chicken (halfbreed) is neither laying or crowing(don,t know why) and 4 quail eggs in the incubator!!! (We'll see!!!) Halfbreed looks like she has a case of leg mites so I'm going to have philip catch her and we'll put vaseline on her legs and it should clear it up!

Quail eggs

2009-01-03T18:51:00.000-06:00

Still waiting to see if our quail eggs or going to hatch,they should hatch tues or weds if they're going to.

Dog scare

2009-01-03T18:40:00.000-06:00

We had a couple of large dogs show up this morning, nothing bad happened. Obamma flew the coop as usual,don't know where she was hiding she just showed back up later on. Stephanie and chickzilla was doubled up in one nest together, took a while for them to start moving around again. Puff puff was just hid on the ground not very easy to do if your a bright white color. Halfbreed was in the middle of the coop where they all sleep, she didn,t come out for several hours!!! Pretty sure they'll come back, just hope I've got their pen secure enough to keep them out!!!

nest

2009-01-03T18:37:00.000-06:00

the nest are in the very back of the coop and completely lined with wood chips. This does a real good job!! We haven't had to wash an egg yet!!

Chickzilla

2009-01-03T18:26:00.000-06:00

Chickzilla laid her first egg recently,(no mistake this time) pretty good sized egg. both chickens are laying their eggs under the nest instead of in them. We put a egg in one of the nest and chickzilla laid one in the nest today.

Eggbator

2008-12-20T17:14:00.000-06:00

Bought the kids a very small incubator to see some eggs hatch, got 4 cortunix quail eggs. Going to take 17 to 18 days to hatch. We'll see what happens!!

Puff puff

2008-12-20T17:03:00.000-06:00

Well puff puff has gotten an eye infection,in his right eye. I started giving them antibiotics today,started all of them on it in case it's catching. Her right eye is closed,can't see anything wrong. Will keep posting updates.

Big Mistake!!!

2008-12-20T16:57:00.000-06:00

OOOOhh!!!! I made a big mistake. It's not halfbreed laying the eggs,it's stephanie!! Yes, i looked ( not going to explain that!!) Guess i should have looked a whole lot sooner!!! Ya think!!

loss

2008-12-08T10:35:00.000-06:00

we lost one of our chickens last week, I think she was older than we thought she was! Say farewell to bamma mamma, she was our barred rock. Look for some more chicks like her this spring!!

Eggs

2008-11-30T10:45:00.000-06:00

Well looks like halfbreed is an egg laying machine, she's up to an egg a day (very good in the winter). Have a picture posted of three of her eggs and on the right is a store bought egg.We'll watch and see how long she'll keep it going!!

First egg

2008-11-26T10:31:00.000-06:00

Halfbreed laid our first ever egg today. It was light tan colored and small cause she's a banny. Philip our youngest son was very excited. Now we'll have to see who's next??

chickzilla

2008-11-25T17:32:00.000-06:00

Chickzilla is a buff orpington hen and is the same age as puff puff. She is very calm and friendly and is a pretty large chicken due to her large amount of feathers. She is philip's hen, my youngest son. we plan on getting some more this spring. She will lay large brown eggs,and is not quite old enough to lay yet.

americanas

2008-11-24T10:52:00.000-06:00

Now have a picture of stephanie,i named her after stephanie mcmahon off of wrestling. She is pretty calm and likes her neck scratched.Obama was named by my wife and is a little younger than stephanie,you can tell by her wattles.Obama is very skittish and will fly the coop if you get too close, but will come back later! They both have brown feet and will lay colored eggs.Obama is black with a blue or green sheen according to which way the light is hitting her and light brown around the neck.Stephanie is about ready to start laying but may hold off till the days get longer in the spring. You can maintain proper lighting to make hens lay but we're in no hurry,letting them get some more size on them.

silkies

2008-11-23T16:34:00.000-06:00

Now you can see what puff puff looks like. You can see his turqoise ear lobe. Halfbreed is also a silkie but her earlobes are not as bright as puff puff's. They are bantams which are a little smaller than a regular chicken and are a rare breed. They have black skin and are not feathered like other chickens, more like a cats fur. Puff puff is about 4 months old, don't know how old halfbreed is but she is supposed to have brooded chicks before.We are going to get some more bantams this spring!!It's not easy caring for baby chicks in the winter,cold weather and rain make it hard especially when you are trying to keep a steady 90 degree temp for the first couple of weeks.Oh my wife named these 2 chicks,just wait, it gets better!!!

New chicks

2008-11-22T12:53:00.000-06:00

This is our first chicks before they were attacked in the middle of the night. We lost 11 that night, probably to coons. We had just moved them from the brooder to the hen house. They were buff orpingtons, white silkies, white sultans, and two Americanas. White sultans are show birds only. They lay white eggs. Buff orpingtons lay brown eggs and the Americanas lay "easter eggs", not to be confused with an aracuna, which is a rumpless chicken. After the raid, we ended up with two sultans, which were roosters. We traded them for hens. The one Americana rooster, Macho Man, was very mean so we traded him, too. We have one buff orpington and one white silkie left. The white silkie has turqoise earlobes. Look for the picture of Puff-Puff--yes, my wife named it. Now, we have added a barred rock hen, one unidentified, and one half silkie chicken to our collection. A motley crew! So now we have a mix of six hens.

Hello Everybody

2008-11-22T12:29:00.000-06:00

Everybody has been asking about our chickens, how they are doing, what they look like, how to raise them. I will be keeping ya'll informed with pictures, tips, and stories of how things are going here in our neck of the woods. Hope you enjoy the blog!