TBN Ranch Chicken Keeping Resources
amy elizabeth
Peaches, an older Silkie and daughter Willow are spending quality time having a dust bath together. Peaches hatched this young hatch-a-long pullet in April of this year and they are still inseparable. Her other chicks cut the apron strings months ago and show no interest in continuing a bond. As a matter of fact, Peaches has been demoted to the bottom of the pecking order by her own adopted babies! Happy she has a friend.
Willow is half Ameraucana, half mystery. Her eggs are olive. Cool!
Meet Willow, she was hatched back in April. She certainly has grown! She’s one of two fertile eggs put under a first time broody Silkie. A trial run so to speak, hoping the hen would follow through with her duties as a Mom to be. Obviously it was a success and I’ll use her again when it’s not so hot.
July in Phoenix the temperatures are 110-116, definitely not suitable for hatching eggs! I tried it once, a total fail.
Willow is a barnyard mix, all I know for sure is the hen was an Ameraucana, the green egg made that I.D. pretty simple. Look at those yellow legs, she almost glows in the dark. ha ha!
Can you believe both chicks turned out to be girls? That hardly ever happens. Lucky me!
Dead, missing, and terrified chickens. A scenario more disturbing than any horror flick could ever portray. Some of my birds were just killed, others eaten with nothing left of their existence but a pile of feathers. Coyotes, no doubt. They don’t just take what they need to satisfy hunger, they kill just to kill, and often in large numbers.
So how did this happen? I’ve written time and time again how to protect a flock from predators. Unfortunately, I failed the simplest and most important step of all… to close the coop door at night. I was tired, fell asleep and just plain forgot. My fault, and I’m fessing up because I want everybody to remember that it only takes one time of neglect for something like this to happen.
All my young Silkie pullets, one hen, and Wilson, my rooster are gone. So sad, this will never, never, never happen again.
Here’s one of the near 3 month old pullets. She’s barely out of the grow pen, so this is a rare opportunity to catch her beyond the safe zone. Not real impressed with her feathered feet, a bit sparse, but I like her head! Still giving her time, Cochins are slow to mature, but at this point, she kinda already is what she is.
Flashy gal! Piper is just under 3 months old and just beginning to venture out of the grow pen to test her acceptance with the existing flock. Day 7 of learning the serious business of social ranking. Every day brings her one step closer to finding her place, and someday she’ll learn the power of choice.
