:) :) :)Ann, that looks like a great site and yep, uh huh, I am going to have that as another learning tool to have some fun with. Thanks, you are a woman full of great information :) I will go on the forum there and figure out what we can do about the poor little chicks. The remainder of these dudes should have hatched out last night. But we have another batch that will be hatching out in a little over a week from now. By that time I will be ready with information on hand to help them out (or not).
Brian, I am unsure of the chicken breed. My Sister has told me, but I forget, I know that they are brown though (hee, hee) and lay brown eggs. It is kind of a weird name. I can bet it is genetics, but to find out the chicken that is laying the bad eggs would be a rather difficult task to do I would think.
I can't remember if I told you guys that my Sister went to the auction two weeks ago and bought a whole swack of chickens for .25 cents each. What a horrible time of year to sell birds, they were practically giving them away. She bought about 50 or so.
We have been feeding them up, giving them colloidal silver water mixed in with their water to drink for the first few days, and they are looking much better. So many of them had all the feathers pulled out of their backends, they looked like little aliens. But the pin feathers are all growing back, it looks really funny all these black nubs sticking out all over the place. They are finally looking really good.
There are so many species of chickens that we got. I will get some good pictures when we allow them outside, they are still inside, but this week's weather is looking pretty good tomorrow, so maybe they will get released. I know for sure we have some brown ones like we have, some Barred Rock, one that looks like an owl, and is enormous (I think he is actually crossed with an owl :roll: ;), at that), there are some that are small and white that kind of remind me of the Silkies that we had, but not as fluffy and several other weird looking ones.
I am pretty excited cause they all look so good, and having such close contact with them, they are getting really friendly like all our other chickens.
I get such a kick out of our relatives or people that come to visit us and I tell them how well trained our chickens are. We go out to the chickenyard and of course, you know the eagle eyes of chickens. They see us coming, they know that probably we have something good for them to snack on, so they watch us very closely.
I always have little scraps of bread that I bring with me out to visit them. If I bring the bread bag out from within my pocket they all come running. BUT......the funniest thing is when we are walking there, I begin to call them "chick, chick, chick, chick" making that chicky sound I do, they come running as fast as their little legs can carry them. (you all that keep chickens, you know exactly what I am talking about, how fast they really can run!!!!!!!). Some will even fly a few feet to get there faster than the others. The bread pieces are thrown and they run like the dickens to get the bread, they hang out, wait, hang out, run, I love the chickens. Even typing this little story about them gets me all excited to go and see them and bring them their well loved treats. I can't express how much I love raising chickens and ducks. This has brought such a happiness to my life (along with my bees), and man, when I get those double yoker eggs, I love my chickens even more. Man can I ramble. It seems when I get to a'typing, I just can't stop, so many thoughts come into my mind. Now where was I? I can hardly remember what the original topic of this post was :-\ :)
The banties are the smart ones. They will grab a hunk of bread and run far away with it and then eat it, man can they run like the wind!!!! I love how our big white rooster, Roakfort, makes his girbly sounds to show his girls the food particles, he usually doesn't eat much, he is focussing on taking care of his heirom, and really loves to feed them well. Cute.
I think the most beautiful part of raising chickens is when I gather the eggs (I am the gatherer) and bring them into the house to ensure they are clean. As I am cleaning these eggs, I marvel at the fact that tomorrow morning, should we have some eggs to eat, I know that these are fresh, I know what these chickens are eating and I know that there is nothing on this ol' earth that tastes like a fresh homegrown egg. I thank my lucky stars that I am so fortunate to have these soooooeeeet treasures from the chickenyard. I am a lucky woman.
Ooops, Ann. You just wait until you get chickens. It will delight your soul. You will spend hours watching those birds, there is never a dull moment in the chickenyard, and the beautiful sounds they make will enhance your love of life. Yeah!!! Good for you. Come next summer, you will have another part in your life that will bring you joy, as do your bees. Yeah!!!!
Have a wonderful and beautiful day, in this great ol' earth. Cindi
I did get a picture when we got the new chickens of the one that I think is crossed with an owl, not a great shot, but this is what it looks like