Saddness...bye bye chicks

With heavy hearts, we said goodbye to our beloved chickens. We had a move, and try as we might, we just could not bring them with us. NO! we did not eat them. We found them a happy home with more yard space and lots and lots more bugs. About three weeks after we got the birds settled into their new home, my beauty girl and I went over to visit the chicks. Those dang birds did not even remember us at all. It made my beauty girl so sad. We cried together about the loss, but we were also grateful for the safe home for the birds. We felt like that visit would bring closure to her about the birds adoption by another family. That was at the first of November 09. Today(December 30, 2009), in the car, there were big tears rolling down my beauty's face. She was silent otherwise, not a whimper of sniff, and if I had not looked back, I would not have known. I asked what was wrong. She said that she knew that the chickens had a good home, but she really missed them. I tried to comfort her the best that I could, and still watch the road. Sweet girl. She raised the chicks from day old bird to about one year (almost exactly). Those silly chicks were so good for her. She needed the responsibility and carefree nature of the chickens. But most importantly, those silly chicks brought a sense of purpose for my beauty girl. She needed to have someone depend on her. Some day! I really mean it, I will have more chickens. They are MOST definitely not as high maintenance as a dog, (which we did get to bring with us to our new place.) They are as relaxing to watch as fish in a bowl. Plus, they give back with little white and yellow ovals of protein. Chickens are easy maintenance and quite fun. Good bye big chicks. We will miss you.

Rose - chick to Chicken

Rose as a day old chick. She looks like the standard yellow chick with a hint of red. She was so fluffy.








Rose as a teenager. She was kind of mangy and scraggly looking. She was also more aggressive than the other birds. We were afraid that she was not a Rose, but that she was a Randy (Rooster). Thank goodness, she started laying a few weeks after the Older chicks.



Rose as a full grown chick. She has a beautiful red color with white lacy collar of feathers. Her comb is huge and brilliant red. She is not the biggest bird, but she ended up being pretty.





Rose lays a nice medium sized brown egg. And she is consistent. Thank you Rose.

Ginger's growing up

Ginger - baby chick, beautiful, stripes, the prettiest one of all of the baby chicks








Ginger - young bird, good coloring









Ginger - full grown chicken.
She is now bearded and has a squashy comb - ugly bird

But, she lays a light green-blue egg which is pretty.

Sometimes the most beautiful things turn out to be something other than you imagined.

Eggs - Backyard or store

I have a comparison . There are two eggs from different sources. the brown shell is from our big black chick, Sparkle. The white shell is from the store. See how the egg whites from the brown egg keeps its shape, while the one from the store spreads out. The brown egg also tastes richer.
















Here we see two eggs. The one on the left is from our big yellow chick, Dandaleen. The one on the right is from our big black chick, Sparkle.

Hatcing chicks?

Dandaleen, our big yellow chick has been displaying some really strange behavior lately. She lays an egg and stay on it in the egg box all day. Every time we go to get the egg, she puffs her self up until she is twice the size of her normal chicken self. We think she is brooding--trying to hatch some eggs. Sorry sweetie, you don't get to be a mommy. We need a rooster for that. The behavior lasted about a week, and then she stopped the antics.



(you can see her normal size compared to her puffy size.)

EASTER EGG! SUPRISE

WE GOT ONE! Our first egg from our five chicks. Sparkle, the big black chick gave us a lovely medium sized brown egg at around 2pm today!!!

(Aren't you shocked! I am documenting it almost as it happened) I am so excited. I thought it would be so cool to have eggs from our chickens for Easter, and wouldn't you know it, We got an Easter egg -- technically a day late, but I am going to count it anyway!

PopCorn Popping Peeping Toms- I mean chicks

Sing it with me now.....the tune is Popcorn Popping.




I Looked out the window and what did I see.
Three little chicken heads looking at me.
Spring has brought me such a big surprise, Chickens who look in at me all day and night.
Ginger on the bicycle, Twinkle on the ground.
Rose with her staring eyes, making peeping sounds.
It actually was so, and it seemed to me.
Chickens at the window just a peeking at me.


OK...Singing time is over.

Seriously, the chicks come over to the window and watch what is going on at the dinner table. Once in a while it is startling, but we get a good giggle out of it.


(The mesh you see is the screens on our windows...keeping the birds out)

Eating out of my hand!

I was in the back yard pulling weeds out of the grass. After a few minutes, I realized that
Sparkle, our big black chick was nibbling on the pile of clover that I had just pulled. Pretty soon, Sparkle was not content with the weeds I had just tossed, she wanted the weeds that were in my hand. So I pulled a weed and held it out to her. She pecked at a leaf or two and a piece of dirt, but that was not good enough. I realized as my hand grazed her feathery head that she wanted the weeds AS they were coming out to the ground! She literally had her head and beak right where my fingers were. She began EATING the leaves and roots AS I pulled it up! I was really shocked and amused at the same time. These birds are so silly.
( In the photo you see me with my fingers around the base of the clover and Sparkle has her beak against my fingers ready to pounce on the roots and dirt.)

Cranberries and Greedy chicks

Our little flock of chicks just go gah gah over dried cranberries. This is their favorite treat. In fact, when we go out side to divvy up treats, we often have a sneaky chick or two who steal one. Here is my own beauty with Dandaleen (yellow), Twinkle (small black chick), and Ginger (speckled hen). Ginger gets right up in your face for treats. Literally. I was passing them out yesterday. I crouched down and had some in the palm of my hand, which was outstretched. The chicks made quick work of the berries, but Ginger was not done. She came up to me and looked at my nose from about two inches away! It startled me a little. But the next day, she did the same thing to my beauty girl.

Here you can see all five or our Chicks enjoying some wheat snacks. Ginger is inside the Easter Egg house. The three eating out of the bowl are Rose (our little red hen), Twinkle and Sparkle (the two black chicks) and Dandaleen (yellow)who is a little more shy. She holds back sometimes, being content with the wheat berries that have fallen to the ground from the other greedy chicks. Unless she sees cranberries. Then she is one of the quickest to attach the offering.

Sparkle, the sunbathing chick

Sparkle the sunbathing beauty. She is the black chick pictured here. She will just plop down on her side, anywhere in the yard and fan out her wing that is up. She then raises the feathers on the back of her neck so they are standing straight out. All of the birds do this, but Sparkle does it most. I always have to do a double take when I see it to make sure the chicks have not fallen down dead!

Garden View

This was my garden on Feb 15, 2009. Some tiny green sprouts were present.
This is my garden March 16, 2009. I'm getting quite a few plants growing. My tomato plant has some fruit growing. And my peas have some blossoms. I had to fence in the garden and put some chicken wire around it so my chicks could not help themselves. Which I caught them doing! I also put some sparkly things and a pinwheel to keep out the other birds...I hope.

Comming Attraction - Easter Egg House

When friends come over, they always want to see our attraction.... the Easter egg house, complete with chicks. This is cousin Mallorie holding Rose. Ginger (pecking the ground) and Twinkle are on our little red brick path.

Three little Chicks...holding three little chicks

Mallorie, Jessica and SidneyJade were having a good time holding three of the little Chicks. Mallorie has Rose, Jessica has Ginger, and SidneyJade has Twinkle.

Who ever heard of Hayseeds...

I was out with my chicks cleaning out their chicken coop. I have a bail of hay at the end of the coop that I use to make a layer at the bottom of the hen house. That makes for easy clean up too because all you do is sweep out the hay and presto... the poop goes with it! I realized what a huge mess the chicks were making out of the hay. They had spread it all over the rocks I have around the coop. As I was raking it into a pile, I took a good look at the bail of hay. There were green spouts sticking up out of the top of the bail! Who ever heard of hayseeds. Well! They are real and they sprout!

Chicks - Who gets to be on the top perch?

I had peeked into the Easter egg house to see who had gotten onto a perch and was settled in for the night. We have an upper and lower perch. Sparkle (big black chick) was on the top one with Twinkle (little black chick) and Rose Red (little red chick). I was a little surprised at this line up. Dandaleen (big yellow chick) and Sparkle are inseparable sisters and usually the ones on the top. One of the smaller girls usually have to hurry to get a top spot.
Well, it was about sunset and I heard lots of squawking. Then I heard two thumps. So I looked back into the coop! Sparkle had shoved Twinkle and Rose Red off the top perch and onto the floor! Now, sitting beside her was her beloved Dandaleen and a very cautious Ginger (looks like a hawk) giving a look of "Just try to knock me off, Sister and I will show you a pecking order!" Twinkle and Rose Red had to settle for the bottom row.

New chicks - in December 2008

I have been trying to get a new chick ever since we lost Dot. I wanted a total of three hens. I had been calling the feed stores for about four weeks to see if new chicks had arrived! The feed stores kept saying that they do not know when their chicks will come in. I wanted to introduce the new chick before the first set got too big, but too late! The other chicks are too big. Today, we got three new baby chicks. The yellow one is going to be a Red hen, the black one is a Black Australorp, and the striped one is an Amaracana. I originally went to a feed store in Phoenix (about 15 miles away) because they had a shipment of chicks come in. But they only had the black one and yellow one. So I got one of each. I could not have just one new baby chick, it would get lonely and be sad. So I got two. Already I had one more chick than I meant to. But I could not have a lonely baby chick. When I got home, I realized I needed something else for the chicks. So I went to the feed store that was only about 3 miles away. What do you suppose they had come in that very day? CHICKS.... I had my daughter with me and she wanted to “just see” the babies. I thought, “What will it hurt?” oops….Then I saw the striped chick. It was the kind I had been looking for, an Amaricana. OOPS! I put down my two dollars at the check stand and walked out of the feed store with another animal. I did not even get what I went to the store to get! How was I going to tell my husband that I got another chick. We were NOT supposed to have more than three. The chicken coop was built for three. Then I come home with two more.......plus one…That is a total of 5 chickens. Oops.... But I got the one I really wanted!

Two sisters - always together

Sparkle and Dandaleen about a week old.

Good bye Dot

November 9, 2008

Dot did not make it. She passed away last night. We have heavy hearts and wouldn't you know it, it is cloudy today in the land of never ending sunshine. Peace be with you little chick.

Oh, Baby Dot Nov 8-2008

Dot - our little black speckeld chick is sick. I looked it up on line. We think she is suffering from stress.....

Day Old Baby Chicks--Welcome Nov 08

These are our one day old chicks. My Daughter is holding all three. We have named them Sparkle because when she grows up her black feathers will have a green iridescent shine in the sun. She was named by my son. The other black one, kind of gray with a white dot right on the top of her head is a Plymouth Barred Rock (black speckled hen). Her name is Dot. She was also named by my son. The yellow chick looks like a dandelion fluff and my daughter wanted to call her Evangaleen. So she mixed the two and tadah...Dandaleen is her name. Our three baby chicks, Dandaleen, Sparkle and Dot!