I got chickens!!!

[mandelyn82]

I'm SSSOOO happy! First my dad said no (since I'm staying at his house awhile waiting on hubby to medically retire from the Army) but then the girl my dad likes talked to me about chickens, how how much she likes them... which made him see if from another light. So then I reminded him about how long we're going to be staying here... and so I bought a pair of Bantams this morning at a chicken swap.

They're so cute! Working on finding 2-3 more girls. Wasn't thinking about it while I was at the swap when I saw that little rooster. He's really quite stunning, photos tomorrow! I put them to bed already.

The other thing that helped dad along with the idea was this 4x6 food sturdy, insulated, dog house we have just taking up space in the backyard. Can't be used as storage... it's a dog house. Only 4 ft tall. But it has a wire gate on the front, from this idiot dog we used to own when I was a kid... that makes it PERFECT for chickens.

First I put them in a wire dog crate on grass. Got bored with that. So I googled how to clip their wings, so I could watch them free range the back yard (which has a 6ft fence I didn't want them flying over in case they spooked when I needed to catch them)

So I trim the wings, and they did very well, boosting my confidence about their pet ability. See... this rooster was so pretty, I asked what age they were, but not if they were handled/tame. So I had no idea if they'd go wild as soon as I set them on the ground.

Nope, they're like, pets already.. even though they started the day less than friendly. After lot's of fussing over them, giving them food repeated... they settled right down to being my buddies. The Rooster, "Jibbers", let's me pick him up now without a protest, and he'll set on my lap. The hen enjoys being held, but not caught, but she'll sit right by me on her own.

They never left my side in the yard, hung within 10 feet. Good start to a small flock!

The rooster I can't pin the breed, so he must by a cross of Olde English Game. But... I'm confused on his coloring... black neck, with copper streaks. Goes into a cream speckled chest, that same coloring in a ring around his lower neck. Then his back goes orange/copper speckled, down his wings, wouches of green. Solid green tail. Looks like a cream chested brassy back, Brassy Back being an actual color term for the breed... but the cream thing... not finding it anywhere, chicken forum or google or breed guide. He's got excellent feather though, regardless of funky colors. Makes him very pretty! best looking rooster at the whole swap.

[Karen Cole]

They sound pretty....ummmm photos????????? You have 24 hours before the pink bats come out.

Karen

[farmergal]

Gone are the fish...HELLO chickens! Our feathered friends are addicting aren't they. I to got a new rooster and hen. Found him on craigslist for free and of course he had to have a mate so I got him a lady hen. They are heavy breed.

[mandelyn82]

Your new hen is pretty! Is she an Orpington? And what's the roo? The rose comb is throwing me off.

Yes they're addicting, I already have two more! Done till Spring though. Or until I have the run finished. I want to add 3 heavy layer hens, looking at breeds/colors now to find one that matches the color scheme I have going on now.

The two new ones, a D'anver hen and her young pullet, who's half OE. The rooster I found out is a Spangled Old English, so is his girl.

The new D'Anver hen, I named her chipmunk, she hates me. The first day she escaped out of the box before I clipped her wings, so I chased her around, caught her when she hid under a bush. (she's a dumb, flighty, nervous hen) I clipped her wings, to prevent her from going over the 6ft fence of the yard, since I don't have a run yet and they get monitored free range.

So then she slips through a dog hole in the fence boards! Chased her around the neighbors yard, through a gate opening, back into our front yard, into the back yard, where she hid again and I caught her. So I've been holding her like 5 times a day, and keeping her caged (open bottom so she can scratch and pretend she's free range).

But now we've come to an agreement, she knows this is her home now, and so she'll go to the chicken house if I tell her too with very little prompting, as long as I don't touch her. She'll stay near me with the other chickens, and not go too far, but I can't touch her.

Her chick is different, she'll be as spoiled as the other two here soon.

Yesterday though, was hilarious. The chicken house is a giant old dog house, I can fit through the door on hands and knees, sit up inside to clean it out and such, it could prolly sleep 3 adults long ways, or 5 dogs like it used to. Now, 4 Bantams, and they've got a lot of room.

Prissy, the first hen, is asking to be held. I kept shoving her off me, trying to crawl inside the house to grab Chipmunk, the mean one, to put her in her cage. Prissy flies up onto my shoulder, which Jibbers, the rooster, thinks is a great idea. He announces this with a crow, right in my ear. I swat him off, but Prissy is trying to get up under my hair and hang out to take a nap or something. I set her down, and tell her to go be a real chicken for a minute.

I go in after Chipmunk, she goes panicy as usual, and manages to slip out of the door (that I thought my butt was blocking, but apparently it's not that big!) but she doesn't try to escape again, she immediately goes to scratching and foraging, so I let her be.

I sit down to watch, Prissy comes back over, hops into my lap, and takes her nap.

Prissy is really something else. She's goofy... if I walk off to do something, she takes flight (more like a flapping skip since I've clipped the wings on them to a bit) to come after me, which makes the rooster come chasing us too, and the chick gets confused, about to stay with caged momma or follow the flock. BUT, they won't go onto the patio, which is about 30 feet from the coop. They won't pass it. They'll sit on the side of it. Which is very good, no chicken poo on the concrete. If I go inside or out front, they go back home and wait inside for me.

Prissy is prolly the coolest hen I've ever had. It's been almost a week that I've had them, and she acts like I hatched and raised her. And her ready to start laying any day now! I didn't even get her as a chick, and she came from a big operation that raises a lot of chickens... I doubt she had a whole lot of human contact.

[farmergal]

Your guess is correct the hen is a Buff Orpington. I've heard they are a friendly breed. I guess she failed to read the manual. I can't get within 3 yards of her and she runs like a scared rabbit. When I cooped her up with the rooster so they could bond she would fly around the room like a trapped sparrow. She was free range and not fed grain at her old home so she is truly wild. I had quite a time getting her to eat grain and now she comes when I cackle and throw grain on the ground but won't eat until I leave. I figure with time my tame birds will teach her I'm not to be feared.

I got her because rooster was so depressed and wouldn't eat or move about. He just sat on his perch. He became a different bird when I put her in the coop with him. All of a sudden he had a reason to live. He started flapping his wings and crowing. I kept them cooped together for a couple of weeks. When I noticed them roosting next to each other at night I decided to let them free range.

Rooster is a Rhode Island Red and I think Wyandottes mix. The woman I got him from is new to birds and couldn't remember what the man told her. Both birds are young. I figure the hen is laying eggs but I don't know where if she is. He had the cutest immature crow when I got him a month ago. It will be interesting to see what they produce.

You have a way of painting a picture! Sounds like a bigger dog door is in order. Glad to hear you are enjoying your new birds. Bantams are much more fun than their larger cousins. Maybe someday I'll get me some pure breed ones. But then my mixed lot produces some nice variety.

Where's the pics?

[mandelyn82]

Pictures are coming when the husband gets here with the camera... Friday I think is when he's due.

I almost have the run finished, it definately needs a roof because the Rooster proved to trust the dogs too much and flew to the side while we were out there. THAT got the dogs attention! So I grabbed him and held him and fussed at him so that the dogs see he's a part of this household.

Chipmunk is taming down a lot better. Once she realized she lived here now, and the other chickens show no fear of me, she's decided she'll follow them to within 4 feet of me. Yesterday I put the grain in a box lid (temporary feeder, works great till they dump it) and kept moving it closer and keeping my hands busy in it. The tame pair ate, the baby ate... Chipmunk thought really hard about it, finally came over and grabbed a couple bits.

They're fun, that's for sure. The baby is nicknamed "Crazy Little One"... she blasts out of the house, flaps around in circles, freaks all the other ones out, which then freaks herself out. She doesn't have a real name yet.

No eggs yet, I don't think the older hen is getting enough light, I don't have a window on the eat side of the building, to keep the rooster quiet till about 8am. His hen is too young still. Once my rooster "becomes a man" I'll put a light on them so that I'll have some eggs to go in the incubator that my husband will bring up. Yay!