chicken blog!

This blog serves as a type of journal for Danny @craigslost's chicken-keeping adventures! Danny first got chickens in the early spring months of 2014. Since then, everything has kind of snowballed! Now the flock numbers around 30 birds. Warning: this blog will contain talk of touchy topics, such as animal injury and death. Unfortunately it comes with chicken territory, but will hopefully be kept to a minimum!

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local boys berate denim

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REALLY good shape

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We’ve had a LOT of new arrivals recently... the chicks I purchased this spring are big and bustling now, and two weeks ago my mom hatched out THIRTEEN bantam mixes... and in the last couple days 5 little silkies have joined us!  This evening I helped a struggling little #6 out of its shell just to discover that it is deformed... silkies get their signature crest from having bumps and holes in their skull, and something went very wrong during development for that little fellow.  He’s clinging to life and I don’t have the heart to put him down myself.  I’ll be very surprised if he lasts the night ):

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I love when they drag food around

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Cranch

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I filled up the pond for the ducks and they got so excited they immediately went into lesbian orgy mode.  they also have been in a new pen for One (1) morning and they built a huge nest and all three of them laid.  mommas desperate to be mommas.  happy spring!

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Toto and Samson were both supposed to be golden sebrights but uh.  Toto has a single comb?  So?  We’ll see what she turns out as

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Uhhhh oops!!! Meet Samson and Toto (the dark ones) and Eloise and Flora (the porcelains)! And there’re two eggs due to hatch in the incubator!! 🐣

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MY CROSSING PROJECT WILL WORK IF I USE SEBRIGHTS AS A GENETIC BASIS.......... HALLELUJAH

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lots of change in the flock recently...

Some good news and bad news. 

Unfortunately, I heard that Puffin, the hurt EE hen that I rehomed, has passed away.  She was eating well, but she just couldn’t overcome her injury in the end.

I also parted with six - SIX!!! - members of my flock this week!  Gladiola and Peony, my older Marans hens, the trio of Guineas, and Yuri, the little roo Matilda raised last year.  They went to a lovely home with TONS of land and a little boy to admire them.  The lady is newer to chickens, but really dedicated to good care and treating them as pets!  I’m super pleased and also have more room in my coop for my remaining birds.  It’s always bittersweet to part with birds, but I couldn’t be more satisfied with the situation.

ALSO - the same day I parted with those six, my mom convinced me to boot up the incubator and test run it.  There are two silkie (one possibly Priscilla) eggs in there right now.  I bought a humidity and temp gauge typically used in reptile tanks, lol.  Both eggs are developing, and hopefully in a few weeks we’ll have a couple of bouncing baby 5/8ths silkies!  I love mutts.

ALSO ALSO - found out that the lavender satin silkie project I want to get into is super easy to breed.  I’m so amped for this summer.

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Hey there chickenblr! I was at the feed store today and they had their assorted bantams on display. These little black and white stripe babies totally stumped me - anybody have any idea what they are??

EDIT:  they’re Definitely silver sebrights haha, thanks!

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WONDERFUL news. Someone who leaves nearby is willing to take Puffin on. After a lot of thought and deliberation and tears last night, I think she has enough fighting spirit left in her that she has a chance at a good quality of life, so long as someone pours a lot of love into her. Unfortunately, as I live in a dorm, it can’t be me. This morning I built her this sling, watched her eat and drink by herself after being near-lifeless just days ago... and now I’m going to have to send her off to a stranger in good faith. Doing what’s right is really hard sometimes!! Cheers for Puffin!

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I think I’m going to have to put Puffin down. She hasn’t been eating on her own, so now she’s about skin and bones. Last night I had to syringe feed her some watered down egg yolk and layer crumble to get her to perk up... she pecks halfheartedly at food, but she doesn’t get anything in. She’s so weak and she still doesn’t try to use her hurt leg at all- if i move it to try to get her to she tenses just about every other muscle in her body to try to get away. She’s got a little left in her but I don’t think it’s going to be enough. There’s a lady who was interested in trying to take her on and bring her back around, but I just... I can’t see her having any quality of life. I think I’ll message her about it before I make a final decision, but... I’m really not hopeful. I mean, this morning I had to put scrambled eggs in her mouth for her to swallow. Scrambled eggs, a chicken’s top favorite food.

I just wish I didn’t have to make the decision between prolonguing her suffering with faint hope that she might one day at least be able to enjoy the sunshine one day, and bringing her peace now.

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It was VERY warm today- most of the snow melted off, so when I failed to close the coop door all the way when filling waters, the girls made a break for it. But then they got cold feed and hung out poofed up by the porch for a few hours. 😜 Puffin is hurt. Friday night she was on the floor of the coop, unwilling to stand. I thought maybe she just fell from her perch and landed wrong so I let her be, but she was still sitting around all poofed up yesterday, so I separated her. No open wounds, but she has a bunch of raised skin and scabbing around her hock, and the tip of her beak is broken off? I have no idea what could have happened to her. Here’s hoping that she’ll make a quick recovery. (The powder in the water is crushed baby aspirin so she won’t stop trying to move around entirely due to the pain.)

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You’re very pretty

Thank you! 😘

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Matilda had a nasty butt, so she came in for a little but of a clean. This is her second full winter with us! So so happy to have her 💖

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S l o r m p