Chickens, week 6

The chickens are free!  Actually, they’re outside now.  We moved them out on Sunday afternoon. 

The weather lately has been abnormally warm for April in Wisconsin.  It gets cool at night - sometimes even with a hard frost, so the chicken tractor has heat lamps to make sure the chicks stay nice and warm.

The tractor is completely covered in OSB and chicken wire – including the bottom so no predators can get in (hopefully).  I didn’t think it looked very big – but it’s big enough to fit one large adult man :) 

Dave also built a “run” for them where they could be outside but protected during the day. The sides have chicken wire; the top has a tarp for shade and flying predator protection.

The chickens seem VERY happy to be outside.  There’s more room to run around, fresh air, and the occasionally flying insect or worm to munch on.

Here’s our tally so far on the breeds:

3 Cornish Cross – The only one we named in this group was “Dizzy” (Gillespie) – because he got so big so fast that his cheeks would puff out when he breathed.  They were separated from the rest of the chickens for a week so we could monitor their feed, but that’s not practical now that they are outside.  I’m hoping they’ll get more exercise! (like we all could use!)

Crip (‘cripple’) – our runt Cornish Cross.  He is the only one that is still indoors.  He’s grown in the last week, but he’s still about 3 weeks behind in development from the rest.  He has a few feathers but enough fluff left that I don’t think he could tolerate the cold temps (40-60ºF).  We’re going to keep him in the basement for a while yet and see if it helps him to thrive if he’s alone – with plenty of food and water and no one stepping on him, or pecking at him, or bumping him constantly. (update 4/17- Crip is now gone. He wasn’t thriving so Dave “dispatched” him)

 

3 unknowns.  They all have black and brown feathers – and white breasts.  I guess I missed getting a good picture of them – it’s tough to remember when they keep moving around!!

 

 

 

3 Dark Cornish?  They have black feathers with brown stripes – and tan faces.  One of these was Freckles, but I can’t tell which he is anymore.

 

 

 

6 Buff Orpingtons.  The friendliest of the breeds.  At least three are pullets (hens).  There’s Henrietta /Etta and Henry (in picture?)  Hey, I didn’t name them!… they’re the two that always greeted us.  They’re more skittish now that we’re no longer at eye level with them.  You can really tell the difference between the sexes in this breed – females are much softer and have lighter colored feet and smaller combs.

 

3 White Rocks.  Dave tamed one that ended up as Snowball.  Another is Snowflake (because a flake is smaller than a ball).

I’m not sure who this is.  We decided we need three colors of leg bands to help us keep it straight.

 

 

6 Barred Rock. (3 pullets)  Apparently the cockerels are lighter colored like this guy and the pullets/hens are darker colored (see the one on the right?)

I love this picture!  He is not shy. This guy got into a stare-down with Charlie the other day… and won!  That is after he pecked at Charlie’s nose!

 

 

3 Silver Laced Wyandotte (all pullets).  It’s uncanny how much these look like the Brahmas – but they are a bit darker and don’t have furry feet.  This was the breed of hen that Dave really wanted.

 

 

3 Brahmas.  The feathery feet guys.  If you recall, these are Skipper, Kowalski and Rico (Penguins of Madagascar).  Each has a coloring unique enough that we should be able to tell them apart.

 

 

Red Star? (3?) In some ways these are a plain looking bird – as they are solid brown with cream-colored faces.  It wasn’t until we got them outside that we noticed the reddish tint in their feathers.  Very pretty.

 

Ludwig (was Fauntleroy) – our White-crested Black Polish.  He went through a rather ugly adolescent stage, but he’s looking good again with that big white puff on his head.  We’re still contemplating having him as our rooster… because he’s just small enough he might not make much of a meal.  Plus he’s just so darn cute! :)

Charlie is a tortured soul.  He keeps trying to chase, attack or otherwise fluster the birds … and then he gets yelled at by his parents.  “But Mom! I’m just doing my job!”  (in the picture he’s listening for them inside the tractor)

Procrastination

In trying to manage my to-do lists, I have “stop procrastinating” at the top of the list.  But I always put it off until the next day…

Chickens, week 5

It’s hard to believe we’ve had the chickens for over a month now!  We were gone for 5 days this last week for Dave’s father’s funeral and our wonderful friends Mike & Lucy looked after the babies.  Except when we came back – there weren’t any chicks!  They’re all CHICKENS now!  They’re HUGE!

Again, I’m thinking we might have to hire someone to “process” the chickens this fall.  Dave has such a soft heart when it comes to animals.  He also has the magic touch!  Last night we were downstairs “playing” with the chickens – he grabbed one that is usually skittish, held it, petted it … to the point where the bird closed his eyes and laid down!  He calmed a White Rock earlier that night – and then after given freedom again, he/she kept coming back for more attention.

Yesterday he built the chicken run.  It still needs tarp over the top, especially since we apparently have a nest of eagles close by.  He brought out four chicks for a short while to see what they would do.  At first they were frozen in place – I guess it was a bit overwhelming.  Eventually they started moving around.  Then they really got moving as Charlie circled the enclosure barking at them.  This is sheer torture for our part-bird dog!

Unfortunately, I never got around to taking pictures this week.  It’s getting harder to separate them for pictures as they’re getting bigger and faster…

Pineapples

In the crochet world, there seems to be a love/hate relationship with “pineapples”.  Some people love them, others detest them to the Nth degree.  Up until now I hadn’t tried making anything with pineapples so I was ambivalent. I like the look of some pineapples (never on clothing!!), but sometimes how patterns look and whether or not I like working on them are two different stories.

I started a couple of doilies back before Christmas, thinking maybe I could have enough doilies made to give them to my girlfriends… it didn’t take long before I had a good laugh at my over-ambition.  These were completed shortly after the New Year, but it took me a long time to block them.

Both of these came from a single pattern called Pretty Pineapples.  It was a free pattern from Annie’s Attic, so it might be available at Free-Crochet.com.  This doily is the “Yellow” pattern.  After seeing this picture it appears I have some more blocking to do – the pineapple points are a little wonky-looking.  It was difficult to block to begin with - the doily was curled up onto itself almost in a bowl shape, so I had to stretch it flat as I was pinning.  Now that it’s flat it might be easier to block a second time into a better shape.

 

The second pattern is the “Aqua” doily.  This one turned out much better.  There is a third pattern, “Lavender” that I have not tried yet, but hope to eventually.

 

 

 

So how do I feel about pineapples now that I’ve made some?  I’m still not sure.  This set of patterns was nice because they make “small” doilies – no bigger than 10-12”, so they work up relatively quickly.  However, I felt that once you got on the pattern of the pineapples – decreasing to make the pineapple / increasing for the surrounding pattern, it can get a little boring.  Sometimes that’s a good thing.  It means I don’t have to concentrate as much … or rip out my mistakes later.

I’ll definitely try more pineapple patterns later.  I have entered the “Aqua” doily into a contest at the ThreadAddicts Yahoo group.  They decided to have a Spring Fling contest.  Each person submitted a photo of their entry.  In the next couple of weeks, the doilies will be voted on by the group members.  Everyone will then mail their doilies to the winner.  I don’t expect to win.  But sometimes it’s fun to match your work against others in a competition – even if it is just for fun.

Chickens, week 4 ?

I’m not even sure what week this is anymore.  Life has been too much in upheaval to have any sort of normalcy.  These pictures are almost a week old already… but I felt it was worth it to show them because the chicks change so rapidly!

 

They are growing quickly and most of their baby fuzz is gone.  I am amazed that they seem to hit growth spurts just about every day!  They are also getting closer to where we can identify the breeds better.  This one is a Barred Rock (that was my choice for the hens).

 

 

The Brahmas still have the most fluff and are still at that slightly ugly stage – but the feathers on their feet keep growing!

 

 

 

Some breeds we’re still unsure of – like this one.  Dave thinks it might be a Dark Cornish, but we’re still unsure. 

We are getting better at separating which are pullets (hens) and cockerels.  The hens have much softer feathers – probably because they don’t go for that rough-and-tumble fighting.  In some cases, the feet are different colors between the sexes.

 

We’ve opened up the second level on the brooder/coop – and actually they seem to prefer it up there.  Maybe because they’re taller that way?

With Dave gone most of this past week, his city-girl wife ended up cleaning their coop!  Actually it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I’m still ready for them to be moved outside…

 

This picture is actually from the previous week, but I wanted you see to Henrietta (or Etta for short).  The Buff Orpingtons all seem to be friendly, but she is by far the friendliest of them all.  Every time Dave opens the doors, she is right there to greet him and be petted. It doesn’t take long and she’s jumping up on his arm, walking up his shoulder, pecking at his mustache, etc.  She is very sweet!

 

And for those keeping track and wondering – Crip *is* still alive.  I don’t have a picture of him because he tends to hide under roosts and behind other birds.  He is slowly getting larger and finally starting to develop wing feathers, but he is about half the size of the other birds and way behind in development.  But - as long as he keeps thriving, we’ll let him be.