Head Shots

The chickens are HOTT!  I feel like I need to spend time with them outside in the 106 degree weather because they have to stay out there all day long.  Poor baby chickens.  So today, they all got head shots.


No offense, but Dottie really looks like a black chick

Ginger, the poser

Scramble, the lover

LittleFoot, the fighter

MissBunny, the hater

Ba-CAAAAAAUUULK!!!

Cows and Dogs and Humans OH MY!!  The cows are back and the chickens are scared.  It is hard for me to describe the sound without a video, but they usually make softer "baulk, baulk, baulk" noises. The cows came to eat behind the coop and I heard "BAULK, BAULK, BA-CAAAAAAUULK!!"   The girls have never seen a cow, much less an animal that large.  The neighbor's dog came over the other day and scared the chicken poop out of them, but that is about as exciting as it gets around here.   

 

Ginger yelling

Cow trying to break the fence

Baby Moo

Linsey feeding the bull

The fam...

I don't have much for you this week.  There's nothing new at the Williams Chicken Farm, except maybe a little more chicken poop and it is starting to stink.  It was fine when the weather was a little cooler outside, but when it's above 85 degrees... SHEW!  It's okay, we still love our baby chickens.

\

Teenagers

I swear, you give them shelter, food, love and care and what do they do?  Ignore you, won't let you love on them or answer when you call their name.  Typical, ungrateful teenagers... THAT'S what these chickens have become.  Before their teenage years, they would jump up on my arms and just hang out, but now I have to chase them around and squeeze their wings down tight so they won't fly away when I try and hold them.  I feel rejected.  All they want from me is food.  Well I want some EGGS!! 

The girls, ungrateful they may be, are still very pretty chickens and are starting to put on the lbs.  They are 14 weeks old so we are officially on the count down for eggs. 

 

According to backyardchickens.com, the world's most reliable source for chicken raising information, these babies could start laying eggs anywhere from 18 weeks to 23 weeks.  I hope they all actually lay eggs.  Based on what I've read, they should, but these ungrateful teenagers may end up showing me who is boss.  I am pretty sure our little barred rock, (black and white chicken) will start laying first.  She seems to be the most mature.  Her little wattle is really coming in, she poses a lot and seems to realize her beauty.  Surely such a vain bird would want to show off her egg laying skills.  What I don't know is how I am supposed to figure out who laid what.  Some people say you have to catch them in the act.  Well, that's embarrassing isn't it?  It's like walking in on someone pooping!  Well see how it goes, I'm sure there will be some sort of egg laying conspiracy going on around here.

Babysitting

Like I said before, chickens are great babysitters.  I let Cora "take care" of the chickens while I sit back and relax.  (Actually I didn't sit back and relax, I made a chicken poop sieve to clean the coop.)  She chases them around the coop and squeals while they run, fly and balk at her.  Molly is perfectly content sitting in the middle of all the chicken poop feeding the "CHICK-ens." 







Waking the chickens up from their nap



Chicken poop sieve, made by Linsey

Free Range Chickens

We've hit the big time.  The girls are full blown, free ranging chickens.  Travis basically gave me two options.  Leave the chickens in the coop and let them get sprayed with toxic cedar wood stain or let them out.  My head was on a swivel the whole time the girls were out.

They do not just stay in one spot and peck at the ground as these photos would indicate.  Oh no, they catch a bug or a worm, or find petrified poop and FLY across the yard about 20 feet to ensure no one will steal their find.  I was sure one of them was going over the barb wire fence and I was going to have to chase them like a crazy woman. 

Bottoms up, Bottoms up!

Once the girls are out, they do not want to go back to the coop.  You should have heard me squeal once they went outside the "safe zone" which is behind the garden and around the coop.  Outside the safe zone lies rabid dogs, hawks, snakes and other varmints! Me: "LADIES!! Get BACK in the safe zone or go back to your coop!!!  Travis help me!  Please!"  Travis:  "Babe, they are ok. I promise."  No I was not overreacting.  See that house with the fence in the background?  That is where Gracie, the chocolate lab chicken killer, lives.  She always has one eye on my chickens looking for the perfect opportunity to catch a quick snack.  You think she can't jump that fence?  HA! 

Hmmm...food? Escape route? Outside the safe zone.

I wish I could have taken a picture of the round up.  I chase them around and around and around the coop until they finally follow one another inside.  They were worn out after a few hours of free ranging and being chased by their crazy mother hen. 

Nap time

Yogurt Day!!

The girls got yogurt today for the first time.  I didn't like this brand so I decided they could have it.  They loved it!  They shook their tiny heads in attempt to sling the yogurt off their beaks.  It was a mess.  I read that if your chickens have runny poo,  you should give them yogurt.  (One of these chickens has issues again, Ginger is the likely culprit, but I can't be sure.  I can't catch them pooing because they don't go every 5 seconds like they did when they were little.)  I don't know if the information I got from backyardchickens.com about yogurt was accurate or not, but it works on human digestive systems so why not chickens?  We'll see!  Although I do not recommend Yoplait pomegranate Greek yogurt for yourself, your chickens will love it.