March 27, 2011: The Dangers of the Tractor Supply Store in Spring

First off and principally, the danger is....temptation!!!!  Oh, sweet temptation thou hast come calling!!!  This past Thursday, weakness gave way when they had ten little bantams left.  The chicks have been selling out in record numbers this year, usually all are gone by 10am which attests to the growing popularity of chicken keeping.  Nice to see us getting back to our roots.  Anyway, I had managed to just "look" on previous trips, but there must be some weakness in my soul for little teensy bantams.  They were the first birds I wanted to get and they were the ones I raised by hand and thus are my tamest.  Anyway, cut to the chase, I purchased six of the ten left since you can only buy in quantities of six or above.  There were two that were very interestingly colored, heads half red and half black, with brown and beige and white on the rest of their bodies.  Two of those left so I got them both, then two black and white ones, looked like mini-penguins, one with white around his beak in a crooked smile that reminded me of the joker, the last two, mostly black on top with a white dot on their head. 

I immediately regretted it when I got home, when the logistics of what I had done sunk in.  I needed SIX MORE BIRDS LIKE A HOLE IN THE HEAD!  However, there was some small sort of rational thought process that went into it, it went something like this:  Well, I had six bantams but four turned out to be roo's and I had to find them homes, then replaced those with three standards, then tried to bring in three more standards, except two of those turned out to be roo's as well, so I ended up introducing one bird all alone and she was pecked on, so now, she pecks on the bantams (but not her standard counterparts since she is still low in their pecking order), sooooooooooooooooooooo, if I introduce some more bantams and beef up the bantam possie, then perhaps they won't be picked on as much and will keep warmer in the Winter too since the two remaining bantams sleep away from the standards on the other side of the coop.  I really only wanted about two more banties, so we will see how many of the six turn out to be roo's.  Be nice to try to keep a roo to keep the flock in order and under control from the infighting.

Still, the fascination of peeps has taken over.  You can't help but love them, so tiny and so entertaining and so amazing is God's creation of instincts, that so much can happen in such a little package.  The heat wasn't quite up to par so they bundled together the first day and I turned the heat up inside the house to bolster the heat lamp.  Just like last time, there were a few squawkers who I needed to hold and bring their core body temps back up, they were fine as soon as I did that.  By the second day, they had figured out how to sit down instead of sleep standing and pin feathers were already growing in on their wings and they were grooming themselves, albeit falling over in the process.  One of them had pasty butt which I have now had to alleviate several times and had to put Blu-Kote on his bottom to hide his skin so the others wouldn't pick at it.  By the third day, I swear within hours, I could see changes in their wing feathers, they are growing that fast.  Also, by the third day, we introduced a treat of meal worms.  At first they didn't know what to do, but one brave soul stepped forward and then all hell broke loose, chasing, squawking, playing tug of war with the worms.  How fast they learn too....some of the worms tried to burrow under the wood shavings and the sebrights were the first to figure out how to scratch to get them.  Then, as Brian gave them a second helping of worms later that night, the most amazing thing happened......one of the Australorps sat down and began dust bathing!!!!!  It was hysterical.  At three days old, he (she?) was dust bathing!!!!  My first batch of bantams never did that until six weeks of age when they first got into their full time run.  Both Brian and I were stunned at the sheer instinct and determination of these little creatures and we laughed and laughed at how silly it looked dustbathing at that age. 

Oh, also, the banties came unidentified....something the Tractor Supply Store should really work on, especially since this year they are working with the ALBC to sell more endangered breeds!!!!  However, after hours and hours looking at chicks on Feathersite.com and looking at the charts in the Tractor Supply Store of "possible" breeds, I've narrowed it down to:  2 golden sebrights, 2 australorps and 2 dominiques or plymouth rocks.  The research said that dominques and rocks can be sexed, however, mine happen to have mixed traits of both sexes, for example, the clean white dot of the female, but the yellow legs of a male on the same bird, the fuzzy dot of a male but the dark legs of a female on the other.  I'm guessing the one that has pasty butt will turn out to be a male because he is larger, more of a sooty, greyish black and has the tiniest beginnings of a comb, whereas the others don't yet.  However, he doesn't yet "act" like a roo, so we'll see.

Of course, now I have about six weeks to figure out a safe introduction plan for these little ones to go in with the others, or maybe even longer than six weeks.  I'll have to tread slowly there. 

Any tips are appreciated on ways to protect them during the introduction phase.

At any rate, I guess the good news is that they are adorable and healthy so far and all breeds that will be interesting.

March 15, 2011 Blu-Kote, Blu-Kote, Blu-Kote....arrgghhh! and Mealworm Frenzy!!!

Note to self:  Blu-Kote stains....it stains everything it comes into contact with, especially your skin!  :-)

  I went out today to give Chanel another treatment with the Blu-Kote in hopes of eliminating the others from picking her neck feathers.  All went well with catching her and getting her up onto the perch, then I went to spray her and at that very instant, she decided to move.  The end result?  The entire palm of my right hand was sprayed with Blu-Kote, a brilliant, indigo blue was now staining my hand.  What is life if one cannot laugh at one's self????  I instantly thought, "Oh no, I have a career fair to go to tomorrow.  How can I shake people's hands when mine is dyed brilliant blue????!!!!"  I had to laugh....the adventures of chicken keeping are never ending. 
I am now happy to share the REMEDY for a Blu-Kote stained hand.....a toothbrush and copious amounts of baking soda mixed with hydrogen peroxide. 

Note to self:  Hydrogen Peroxide stains....or rather bleaches everything white.  A white hand is better than I blue hand I suppose. ...    :-)


Oh, in case I didn't write it before.....chickens love (LOVE!) Mealworm Frenzy by Happy Hen Treats....  I could have done an advertisement for them today and taken a picture; my bantams fly up to my hand and stick their entire bodies into the bag of freeze-dried mealworms and gorge themselves before I can even get my hand in there to throw some to the standard hens. 

March 14, 2011: A Six Egg Day!

Today I was woken up by the constant "announcing" of the girls.  When I went out to collect the eggs, I was rewarded with my first "Six Egg Day".  I only have six chickens, so it was a big deal!!!  :-)  I also noticed that Chanel is still being feather-picked, a problem I thought I had fixed.  MORE protein????  It's an irritating dilemma because her feathers have never grown back in the last spot where they picked on her and she is a pretty little (actually BIG) girl!  I had researched various remedies online, including feeding tuna to up the protein intake.  The chickens loved that remedy and it worked for awhile, but perhaps they are not getting enough protein still?  I tried the second remedy.  Had to catch her first, then gently put her onto the perch facing me and calmed her down.  Once calm, I gingerly sprayed Dr. Naylor's Blu-Kote onto her bare spots, which she took amazingly well.  It is supposed to taste bad to the other chickens and prevent them from picking.  I guess we'll see if this remedy works.....I'll keep you posted.....