Chickens flapping

OK so.  Who knows what happens when you yank a chickens tail when it is on the roosting bar???
This

Flap!

Want to know what happens when you yank the tail a lot?

Flap flap flap flap flap flap flap flap flap!!

My sister took two red armies (red pullets)  And started pulling.  Here is what happened.

Flap flap flap flap flap flap flap flap flap!!

Except it was chicken 1, chicken 2, chicken 1, chicken 2.
It is funny.  My sister discovered it when we were playing in the coop when the chickens were in bed.
While we were out there I put my hand in front of a mystery chicken and it bit/pecked me.  I think it was Willie.  He is one of my roosters.  I still don't know who it was.  My dad thought the chickens flapping when you yank their tail was funny.  It is funny.  We also held some chickens.  It was fun.  When you hold a chicken and move it around a little its head stays in the same spot.  When you take Spark and flip her bottom up her tail feathers expand.  Spark is my sister's chicken.

Lots of flapping.
Parker

FRIZZ

Remember Frizz?

Frizz.

This is Frizz

and this is Frizz

this is Frizz

and this is Frizz again.

Frizz has been sitting on eggs for 2 months. 

She never hatched an egg. 

So, we ordered her some fertilized eggs.  They came here by mail. 

We stuck them under Frizz.  And then this happened.....

PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP

CHEEP

PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP

CHEEP

PEEEEEEEEEP!!

CHEEEEEEEEP!

Tennis ball.

Frizz is finally a mother. 

She has 9 babies and one egg.  Hopefully the last egg will hatch.

Parker



New coop

We got a new chicken coop.  Actually it is 8 by 8 shed so I call it the chicken shed.  When we got it we spent some of the day in just playing in it until the cat barfed in it.  That pretty much ended our camp out.  Especially since he barfed up worms.  Parasites that is.  So we canned some of the worms and took him to the vet.  She gave our cats a pill to kill the worms.  So that's better.  Anyways,  We built the inside of the coop to make it suitable for chickens or monkeys.  The monkey exhibit was an accident.  So now the chickens are in their new coop.  Here are pictures of the chickens and the coop.

This is me with my chickens.

For some reason Cole always buttons his shirts all the way to the top.

For some reason Andie always has red eye.

This is Shelby when she conquered Spot - the evil pecking, broody chicken.  Shelby got an award at school for "gentleness" in May.  Dad told her she should give it back. 

This is all the broody hens crammed into one nesting box.  There are 12 nesting boxes.

Parker

Baby chickens

You know how we have those broody hens?  Well three of the eggs finally hatched.  The broody hens are Buff chicken, Krazi, Spot and Frizz.  None of Frizzes eggs have hatched but the others have.  We ordered Frizz some fertilized eggs.  Here are pics.

Here's Shelby's eye balls.

Mommy "Krazi" and one of her babies.

This is the chipmunk baby.  The other 2 are yellow.  He is gold, brown and tan. 

This is "Frizz." We tell my mom if she was a chicken she would look like Frizz.  Not because my mom is cranky.  Because my mom has big hair. 

See the resemblance?

This is what Frizz is thinking right now, "PECK, GRAB, PECK, DESTROY, EVIL, EVIL, EVIL"  If you get near her she pecks you, grabs your skin, and makes grown men jump and run. 

Everyone is afraid of Frizz. 

Cute baby chicks.

New babies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday I was trying to sleep in.  I was having a nice dream then cheep cheep cheep I thought it was birds in the house then I was like "We don't have birds."  Then  cheep cheep cheep, birds?  Cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep!!!  I opened my eyes and saw my mom with...a box an cheeping box with holes in it.  Then it hits me.  My baby chickens are here.  It took half the morning to get them situated.  We had tho build a new area for the meat chickens to stay then me and Andie had to carry them there.  The area is a fenced in bed in the garden.  Then we cleaned out the cage and dog kennel.  Well the heat lamp was broken so we used a 75 watt bulb.  Never use a 75 watt bulb.  I went out there this morning an one of the Silver Laced Wyandottes was dead.  The total number of chickens we got in the mail was 16.  6 Silver Laced Wyandottes. 5 Buff Orpingtons and 5 Black Jersy Giants.  We only ordered15 chickens.  They sent us an extra incase one died.  We got a new heat lamp bulb.  No one else has died.  Here are pictures of the new baby chickens.

This is a random jumble of them.

This is a Jersy Black Giant.

She is a Buff Orpington.

Hey!

I could start a baseball tornament!

And this is a mouthfull,

a Silver Laced Wyandotte.

I think all the baby chickens are adorable.

Do you?

Parker

Chicken slaughter 3

We killed my meat chickens.  And this time I watched.  I even helped.  My job was to go get the chicken that my dad was going to kill next.  Which was whatever one I brought back from the pen.  One of the chickens, when my dad cut it's head off started bobbing it's neck up and down while my dad was sitting on it to keep it from flapping everywhere.  It started bobbing really fast and sent blood flying in my dad's direction.  Some of the blood got in my dad's face and in his mouth.  It was really funny.  Here are pictures of the chicken slaughter. 

I didn't take many pictures.

This is my dad sitting on a chicken.

That is how he holds them so he can cut off their head.

This is a picture I took of my mom and Cole.

I am glad the meat chickens are dead.  They were a pain in the gluteus maximus. 

Parker

Broody hen

Buff chicken/Goldie is broody. Broody is when a hen starts to incubate some eggs.  The funny thing is, that she isn't big enough to cover them all.  So we aren't collecting her eggs.  I won't be making money on my egg business for a while.  Little miss broody is all stretched out on everyones' eggs.  She only comes out in the morning to get some water and a snack.  I am hoping that the eggs are fertilized.  Without the roosters the eggs might not be fertilized.  I can't sell the eggs anyways so it's worth a shot.  I hope the eggs are fertilized.  We are going to let the mom raise them.  Here are some pictures of chickens.

"Get off me!"

She isn't big enough to cover all the eggs.

See what I mean?

These are our other little chickens.

They love to hang out in the barn.

Parker

Fatto boids

We have these big fat meat chickens in the barn.  They are a pain in the butt.  I am constantly having to feed and water them.  Morning and night I give them food and water.  They eat like they have never eaten before. There is always a food rush.  Instead of survival of the fittest it is survival of whoever-can-cram-the-most-food-in-their-mouth-in-the-shortest-period-of-time.  They are so fat they barely even move around.  You are not supposed to let meat chickens free range.  You're supposed to keep them caged in by the feeder so the meat will not be tough (and purple).  My dad says they don't know how to walk.  We had to take them all out of the coop so we could clean the cage.  Boy did it stink.  Next time I need to wear a gas mask. 

Cole was put in charge of guarding the door to the barn so none of the meat chickens could escape.  We didn't know that they couldn't walk.  No one needed to guard the door because they didn't even attempt to move.  When one was trying to stand up in almost fell on it's face it was so fat.  We stuck two of them in a dog cage because the small coop was getting too small.  Wait, maybe the chickens were getting too big.   They probably need more food now.  Ugh.   We call the two in the dog cage the condo-balls and the others the basketballs.  Here are some pictures.

These are the basketballs.

And these are the condoballs.

Parker

Bath time!

Do you know how chickens take baths?    The reason chickens take dust baths is to keep their feathers clean of bugs and their skin healthy. They have made baths in my moms flower pots, by the house and next to the fire pit.  First they make the bath.  Then they roll in it like a dog.  And last they stand up and shake out all the dirt.  Their feathers and skin are now clean.  It is fun to watch chickens take dust bathes.  Here are 4 steps to making a good dust bath.  And if you don't make one your chickens will.  So either way your chickens get a dust bath.
1.  Clear out grass in an area of your choice.

2.  Cover in manure.

3.  Put chickens in bath.

4.  Watch and laugh.
Or
4. Watch them run away.

Here are some pictures of our chickens bathing.

This is Blacky, Spark and Polly.

Taking a bath in my moms' flower pot.

That was as close as I could get.

This is all of them bathing in manure!

Still more chickens in manure.

Gross.

Parker

Red is dead

Sunday my dad shot Red.  I have some pictures of him here

He also shot Gerome.

It is sad.

I have some of their feathers.

But it was all for good.

Him and Gerome were bad boys.

They always kept the other chickens in the woods about 20 acres away from us.  I missed my chickens when they were living in the woods. I liked it better when they hung around us.   I liked it better when they ran to me if I had food.

So, since the roosters are gone the other chickens are hanging around more.

That is good.

My mom is feeding them treats when they come around the yard so they will hang around.

;(

Parker

Newer babies

We once again got new baby chickens.  Except these are meat chickens.  They don't get names just numbers.  They weigh about as much as our other new chickens (that are 2 months older than them).  The meat chickens are FAT.  Here are some pictures of the babies.

This is 1.

He is solid yellow.

These are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 they are yellow.

They have a very small wing span.

They like to hang out around the feeder.

After 10 weeks we have to kill them.

:(

I'll try not to get attached to them.

They are just now getting wing feathers.

Parker

Lost chickens

Last night my dad went to do the chickens.  There was only a few minutes of daylight left.  When he got there the babies were all under the coop except for one, she was in the garden.  The baby chickens are at the stage when they can squeeze through the fence into the garden.  So he caught the little chickens and stuck them in the coop.  He did not see any big chickens anywhere.  He started calling and calling them because he thought they were in the woods.  The reason he thought this is because he heard a lot of noise in the woods.  It didn't sound chickens he said.  So he called my mom and told her the story.  We were on our way home from our grandparents house.  Dad said he would keep looking for the big chickens.  It was about 8:30 and almost dark.  I was not happy and praying in the back of mom's van.  About ten minutes later Dad called my mom back and said that the big chickens were all on the roosting bars in the top of the coop the whole time.  When we asked him how he didn't see them up there.  He said that when he put the nine baby chickens in the coop they never said a word.  So he didn't think they were in there.  The noise from the woods was probably coyotes is what he said. 

I was very glad that all my chickens were safe.
Parker

Babies

We have some new additions to our family.  Can you guess who.  If you can't guess here are their pictures.  Enjoy!

"Eat eat, we must eat."

"Jump into the screen is what I must do."

"Hello chicken daddy!"

So can you guess what they are?

They are chickens.

Cute and adorable baby chickens.

Everybody loves them at my house.

I haven't trained them with the chick, chick, chick method yet.

I need to do that.

They seem to like their new home.

Here are the names,

Spark Jr.

Cheeper,

and Peep.

We should name the rest when you can tell them apart.

They are cute but they won't be quiet.

It is constant peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep.

One of them has a devious little mind.

He keeps on pacing around the cage trying to get out.

One of them has found the roosting bar and is constantly up there.

They love being hand fed.

I do that and they will stand on my hand.

My mom says they want to scratch and peck.

Baby chickens don't like banana or marshmallows.

When they peck my hand it tickles and hurts at the same time.

Parker

Chickens

This is about my chickens.  It is kind of like I am the pied piper.  The chickens just follow me around.
Here are some pictures of chickens who have come and gone.

These are the original chickens.

This is a chipmunk chicken.

(Bani.)

"Hello."

This is when we had 22 chickens.

Warning,

chicken funny when wet.

These are really gone.

Isn't that cute?

The one that got away.

Parker