Fun Baby Chicks 5-18-13

Lunch time. Boy were they hungry after their morning adventure. 

Made lunch for Parke and me, and we sat outside to eat. We have the nursery so we can be entertained by them when we are on the patio.

I was planting flowers and Parke was mowing. They lined up to watch.

Four Baby Chickens in the Nursery 5-18-13

All together for the first time in the nursery

Exploring their nursery

Four Baby Chickens with Flower Names 5-18-13

Here are all four babies.  It's difficult to get them all to sit still and look the same direction.

Lily, Pansy, Sweat Pea and Daisy.

Pansy, Sweat Pea, Daisy (in the back), Lily (in my hand)

Daisy, Our Dominique 5-18-13

This is Daisy, the Dominique that we got a month or so ago. 

Pansy, Our Silver Laced Wyandotte 5-18-13

 Wyandotte Chickens are an older breed of American chicken that developed around 1870. The original variety of the heavy, soft feathered Wyandotte is the Silver Laced variety. The Wyandotte breed is one of the more popular and dependable dual purpose backyard chicken breeds and has many desirable traits for any small farm owner. 

Wyandottes are excellent layers of large brown and tinted brown eggs. They will usually produce up to 200 eggs per year during their first few years of laying. This robust and cold hardy breed is relatively easy to care for; a great decision for first time chicken buyers and those wanting a dependable winter egg layer. Wyandottes will thrive in free range situations and will also adapt well to confined environments.

This is Pansy, a Silver Laced Wyandotte.  These are beautiful birds. Look up what the adults look like. Stunning!

Lily, Our Australorp 5-18-13

Black Australorp. Australorp is a chicken breed of Australian origin. It is a large, soft-feathered bird, with white toenails, black legs and beak, and a moderately large and upright single comb, with five distinct points. The Australorp is hardy, docile, and a good egg-layer, as well as a meat bird. She will be all black as an adult and never used for meat.

Sweet Pea, our Ameraucana 5-18-13

This is an Ameraucana. They lay green or blue eggs, so they are nicknamed Easter Eggers. From that box of birds at the breeder's, I decided on this color because it's unlike all our other girls and the opposite of Harriet, the Ameraucana that died in March.

My Aunt Ollie  loves this little girl and named her Sweet Pea.

New Chicks 5-18-13

Here are our choices!

We were only going to get 2, but got 3. Just cant resist them.

Roosters Back to Breeder 5-18-13

We got these Dominique chickens about a month ago. As you can see, two are roosters and one is a hen.  I can't risk having roosters and have a neighbor report me to the township.  So, today the roosters are going back to the breeder.  We will exchange for hens, hopefully.  Daisy is the hen we will be keeping.

Molly and Morgan in the Sun 5-16-13

Molly and Morgan love the sun coming in the front door in the afternoons.  They are such good friends.

Terry, Our New Adventurous Chicken 5-14-13

Terry is like a tight-rope walker along that board.

Terry, one of the new chickens this spring, thinks she doesn't have to stay in the fenced area. We find her out in the yard often. She is an escape artist. Here she is on top of a chicken tractor. She's quite adventurous.

Dominiques in Garden 5-11-13

Dominique chicks in the garden. Can you tell between the roosters and hen?

Dominiques in garden while other girls are in the yard.

They take dust baths against the house in the dirt.

Parke's Garden Helpers 5-10-13

Parke has 9 helpers to work in the garden. He removed the boards we walk on in the garden so he could till. Lots of bugs underneath, which the girls love. These are our 9 big girls. Olivia, Frizzie, Rusty, Gabby, Cindy, Terry, Lacey, Sophia, and Ellie.

Visiting Chicken 5-10-13

The farmhouse across the street got rid of their steers about 3 years ago. The truck that came to get them accidentally had a chicken from the farm. No catching that hen. She has lived across the street ever since. She is now starting to come over to visit our girls. The visiting chicken is on the right. She is really pretty. Don't know what breed she is. I have to research it.

Chicken Program at Country Meadows West Shore 4-30-13

We went to Country Meadows West Shore for the first time today.  As always, we talked about general chicken information and I carried each hen around for each resident to see them up close and feel their feathers and learn about that particular breed.  As we were leaving, a worker said that one of the residents said, "I don't know how they got them to come here, but it's the best thing we have ever had here."

Two of the New Chickens 4-19-13

This is Terry. She is a Welsummer, from Welsum, Holland.

Today we left the two new girls, Terry and Cindy, in with the established flock.  They  all did pretty well. There wasn't a lot of  commotion establishing a new pecking order.

Here are Cindy and Terry.

Cindy is a black sexlink.  She is a cross between a Rhode Island Red and a  Rock.
Her feathering is gorgeous.

Visiting Our House 4-13-13

We did a program for the second graders at Hershey Christian School.  This is their teacher.  She wanted to come see our chicken arrangement, since she has a couple chickens.  For anyone visiting our house, you have to spend time with our girls. Here is Cindy with our three baby Dominques.

Chicken Program at Twin Oaks 4-11-13

We did a chicken program at Twin Oaks Nursing Center. Here are some of the people who were outside.
Other residents were inside along the wall of  glass.

I'd carry each chicken inside for the residents who were inside along the glass wall.
Here is one resident holding Olivia, our bantam Columbian Plymouth Rock.

I walk each chicken around to each resident to see and pet.
This is Gabby, our Polish chicken.

We had just gotten 3-4 week old babies. I'm carrying all three.

This is Frizzie, our bantam black frizzle Cochin.
She has the frizzle mutation, which means her feathers don't lay flat,
but curl back toward her head.

Five New Chicks 4-2-13

Here is a variety of birds, including pheasants, quail, peafowl, and chickens. This was an hour drive to get our new girls in Lancaster County.

In a box on my lap for the ride home. We got 3 Dominiques. Breeder thinks one is a hen. Not sure about the others cause they are only 3-4 weeks old. We will see. I can take back any roosters. Dominique Chicken is the oldest American chicken, developed in New England sometime during colonization of North America. It is a calm and gentle bird that can be easy to show. It's docile temperament makes for great layers and good family or backyard birds.

Welsummer Chicken originated in Holland in the early 20th century, and is part of the elite class of Dark Brown Egg Laying Chickens. This a very rare breed. She is 6 weeks old.

Such beautiful feathers.

Black Sex Link Chickens are a cross breed utilizing the Barred Plymouth Rock Female and the Rhode Island Red Male. The result is a hardy and robust dual purpose breed with superior egg laying capabilities. She is 9 weeks old.

Triplet Dominiques.

The triplets are in the shower. Finn, the cat, absolutely loves chickens. He is always around when any are in the house. He liked watching them eat. The little ones have to stay in the house for another couple weeks. Finn will like that.

The two bigger birds are in a towel-lined bath tub for the night. I got home at 9 and checked on them. Only the black hen was in the tub. Of the dozens of birds who have stayed in this bathroom, none has ever done this. Way too cute.