The new flock

The last time I wrote about my chickens was... when I first got them. Several things have happens since then. But first of all I want to tell you about my old flock.

 The Rooster: Black Dynamite is a Jersey Giant (we think) and is a total sweetheart. When we first got him we named him after the character in the movie Black Dynamite (which I highly recommend). He is the sweetest, and clumsiest rooster I have ever met.

TA DA!

The Girls: Originally there were 5 hens that came with him (all free). Two of these took off when we let them out of the coop never to come back. The other three we named Gloria (after the main squeeze in the movie) Bump (she had a tuft of feathers on the side of her neck), and Snowshoes (she had a few scrawny feathers on her feet). Then for Valentines day my husband got me 5 Barred Rock chicks that happened to be all girls! I couldn't tell them apart, but they were very cute. The flock was integrating well, and they had a new pen.

From L to R that is Snowshoes (white), Gloria (red), and Bump (black). Black Dynamite was standing guard. 

This really was the best Valentines Day gift a girl could ask for!

Mr. Black Dynamite guarding the new ladies

If you notice that I am using the past tense that is for a reason.

A few months back (the very beginning of June) two of one of our neighbors pit bulls got out and attacked our flock. Our rooster was severely injured but was the only survivor. It was heartbreaking. That is really the only word to describe the experience of cleaning up after that massacre.

What happened next I think is all you need to know about me as a person. We took our rooster to a vet. Yes, I took a chicken to an emergency vet. There she cleaned him up, taught us how to reapply an antibiotic cream and bandages, and gave us an oral antibiotic to also give him. We then took him home, set up a small pen in the living room, and changed his bandages and gave him his medication twice a day. He lived in our living room for a month. Yes, he woke me up every morning at 4-5am for a month (and I HATE mornings).

Here he is! He had to wear a t-shirt so he wouldn't peck at his bandages and wound. 

Growing up we had a cockatiel, and one of the tricks I learned was to cover him with a piece of fabric when he was being loud. I think the rational for that, is that the bird thinks it is dark and therefore night, and is quiet. We decided to try something similar with our rooster for the mornings. This did not work as well. We would pick him up and put him in a large (broken) container we had on the farm and cover him with a towel. Soon it was also a yoga mat. It never stopped him from at 4:30am getting up and starting to crow.

Getting ready for bed.

After a month of quality time with our rooster, he earned another name: Mr. Burk. He would comment on everything, and if we thought he had a personality before, now we know. We are now very attached to our goof of a rooster. Around the end of the month we started talking about when he would go back outside, sleep in his coop, and graduate from house chicken. This of course meant we needed to talk about replacing the hens we had lost. Obviously a rooster needs a flock.

Luckily for us there are chickens EVERYWHERE on the farm. We set a trap and after about 2 weeks of trying, we caught 3 juvenile hens. It was hard to listen to mom trying to get them back, and we did try to catch her for the next 2 weeks so they could all be together, but she was too smart for us.

The New Girls

 The new girls and Mr. Burk spent some time in the coop getting to know each other. After 2 more weeks, Mr. Burk was cleared to go outside, and everyone went out. It has been a few weeks now, and everyone is still going back to the coop at night, and hanging out together. We have a new flock!

The girls got names today. They are still skittish being feral chickens, but much less likely to flip out when we are around. They seem to be doing just fine. I will try and get another (better) photo of them, but I caught them through the screen before they ran back up the hill this morning.

Rosie, Rose Bud, and Rose Hip (the Roses)

Apparently the Jersey Giant is supposed to have a "distinctive crow", what do you think? 

(He looks all scruffy due to so many feathers coming in) 

I am totally converted to chickens. They are an awesome pet and it sure is nice to get fresh eggs! 

Is it alive?

I am very bad about remembering to blog. It's not like I have a shortage of things to write about; I live on a coffee farm, I have chickens, I work in a research lab, I travel to far flung places, and I like to randomly try to make things. All of these would be excellent blog topics on their own, however I never manage to write anything. In order to change that I decided to try NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), while my husband at least tries to do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). So, I guess its time to stretch my fingers and start getting some practice. I think part of my problem is that I hate the way I write. So I apologize in advance. Also I am finding typing with nails to be more challenging then I remember. So here goes everything and nothing I guess. Time to start warming up for a month solid of blog posts (with a trip in the middle too).