5 Chicks and 2 Web-Footed Friends

Cracker our first Sultan chicken died last summer.

I order 5 chicks, 4 Sultans and 1 Easter Egger (a green egg layer) from mypetchicken.com.

 I told my sisters and neighbor that I was thinking about going by Tractor Supply and adding a couple of ducklings to my new flock.  

I was considering not telling my dear husband about the ducks.  But Monday night, I dreamed that plan actually exploded in my face.  In the dream I received 3 ducklings in the mail along with 4 very strange looking eggs.  First the ducklings were about the size of a dime or more like giant flees.  They immediately met their demise.  As I picked up each bulging color-changing egg, it exploded in my face.  So Tuesday when I woke up, I decided it would be best to run the idea of getting a couple of ducklings pass Don.  I told him I thought about just getting a couple of ducks and seeing what he said, but I had an awful dream and decided to ask him about getting the ducks.  He didn't respond. So I went outside and started gardening.  When I came in a couple of hours later; he asked me what I would name the ducks.  So therefore, we are getting a couple of ducks!  First I said Daffy and Donald. But Daffy is too negative, so I changed to Daisy and Donald; but of course those names may have to be adjusted when their gender becomes apparent.  Then we had to discuss what kind of duck.  I wanted a Pekin (okay I actually like the Aflac duck) and of course Don wanted a Mallard.  So we settled on one of each.


Well, my husband's name is Donald.  We were newly married when we went to his 20th Class Reunion and all the guys kept coming up, slapping him on the back and asking, "How are you doing, Duck?"  I could not understand this and I could tell by his face that he hated it.  After half a dozen guys had greeted him like that, I had to ask him why.  Of course, it was because of Donald Duck.  I was never really a fan of that cartoon, so it had not occurred to me that that was why.

The chicks in the box they were mailed in.

Today, I picked up the chicks from the Post Office and the 2 ducklings from Tractor Supply. 




 I will wait until the grandsons return from the beach to discuss all the names with them.  
That usually doesn't go the way I would choose, because grandsons have a way of getting their choice.

The Easter Egg chick is the brown striped one.

Tentatively being called Donald and Daisy.  Awaiting Grandsons' approval.

Placed an Order for Chicks

I currently have 6 hens and 1 rooster.  Two of the hens were hatched here, and are half Copper Maran and half Plymouth Barred Rock.  They turned out to be a beautiful black with a green sheen.  But I am still unhappy with the loss of my little Sultan hen, Cracker.  So when My Pet Chicken http://www.mypetchicken.com/  sent out the e-mail that spring orders would begin on Dec. 1; I placed an order for 4 Sultan hens and 1 Easter Egger hen. My Pet Chicken is perfect for my mini urban farm, because I can order as few as 3, day old chicks and they arrive at my house by mail.   I've even bought 2 coops from them.

I only have one hen that lays a green egg, so since the shipping is so high and it is the same if I ordered 3 or 5 chicks, I went ahead and ordered 5.  It was kind of sad to have just one Sultan.  I always thought Cracker must be lonely.  She was much smaller than the others and could not see very well.  When she was out of the coop, she always sat under something like the back of the coop or a bush.  Sometimes the chickens who were not raised with her would peck her in the head.  So when the new chicks arrive the end of March, I will keep them in a coop by themselves.

The little Sultan was always the friendliest chicken.  The boys loved holding her and even road her around in a wagon.

In Memory of Cracker

Cracker helping Little Ace hatch the eggs

Having a mini farm brings new understandings and observations, but too often sadness.   Sunday morning when I went to the chicken coops, I did not see my Sultan hen, Cracker.  I opened the nesting box to see if she was busy laying one of her small white eggs and found her in the nesting box dead.  She also had a lot of fire ants on her.  So of course my question is, "Did she die before the fire ants got on her or after?"  As always I googled to find the answer, but not really satisfied with anything I read.  Seems like most believe that the chickens will eat the ants and there were not thousands of them.  There is not a mound in their coop.  But I spent a lot of time Sunday digging out about 5 inches off the top in their run until I did not see any ants.  I did find the most ants under their water container.  In this drought the ants are looking for water.  Then I put down some organic insect killer and let all the little chicks out so they would not eat it.  After several hours I added back 2 bags of sand to the chicken run.

Cracker was such a perfect pet chicken.  She looked like a tiny white Big Bird from Sesame Street.  The boys loved carrying her around.  They even took her for rides in the wagon.

Sultans are fancy ornamental chickens and one of the more unique breeds of poultry. They originated from southeast Europe and became known in Turkey as Seral-Taook ("fowl of the sultan"). Sultans were, most likely because of their appearance, the preferred breed of Turkish rulers. Sultans were imported to England from Istanbul in 1854.


The research says they are not hardy and the heat is getting to everyone around here, so did she succumb to the 107 degree temperatures? Also, is it just a coincidence that Saturday night after all the chickens were asleep, that I moved Sunny II from the other coop into the one with Cracker and the 4 adolescent chicks.  Did Sunny II have anything to do with Cracker's demise?  I will likely never know why Cracker died.  I ordered Cracker, Little Ace and Big Foot from My Pet Chicken wesite.  I have not seen Sultan chicks for sell since then; which was well over a year. Hopefully I will be able to get another in the future.
Of all the chickens, Cracker will be missed the most. 

Chicken Review 6-26-2011

Mostly good news for the chicken

3 of the baby chicks

Cracker, the Sultan

coop.  About 2 weeks ago, I could not take the smell of the 4 little chicks in the house anymore. The crate would stink right after I cleaned it.  So I decided they would move into the coop where they were born with Little Ace, their surrogate mother and Cracker, the nanny hen.  That is what caused the bad news for this update.  Actually, chickens are not nice animals.

I've really never been partial to birds, but chickens are interesting and provide eggs, so I have pet chickens.  I put the 4 chicks in the hutch part of the coop and Little Ace and Cracker where down in the run.  I went into the house to remove the crate and when I returned the smallest chick had jumped down into the run with the grown hens.  But Little Ace did not recognize her baby chick.  In fact, she had beaten it up pretty badly.  The top and bottom parts of its beak no longer aligned and one eye was closed or gone.  I put it back up in the hutch and closed the door so they could not get down in the run with the hens and the hens could not get to them.  I really expected to find the youngest badly hurt chick dead the next morning.  But it has been 2 weeks and it is still the most energetic chick of them all.  After a couple of days of keeping the chicks and hens separated, I just moved Little Ace into the coop with the other grown chickens.  Cracker and the 4 chicks seem to get along quite well.  Three of the chicks have tripled their size.  The smallest one still has a misaligned beak and only one eye, but she is doing great.

One eye and crooked beak.

The 4 hens in the other coop definitely have their pecking order worked out.











Of course, Big Foot, the rooster is top chicken. Trinity and his family came over a couple of nights ago and we twisted off Big Foot's spurs that had turned into small knives.  It was rather interesting, but I forgot to video it.  Trinity grabbed Big Foot by his legs while he was asleep, held him upside down and simply twisted off the spurs with a pair of pliers.  The rooster was paralyzed upside down so he was no problem.

Omelet

Omelet, a Plymouth Barred Rock, is the #1 hen.  That means she decides where she is going to scratch and peck at the dirt and no other hen had better challenge her for that spot. She is the only hen I have left from the original 4 that I got from my sister, Lenora, in March of 2009.

Little Ace

Little Ace, a Copper Maran, is hen #2 in the pecking order.  I got Little Ace with the order of chicks that included Big Foot and Cracker in June 2010.  So only Omelet can challenge her for a pecking spot.

Dottie

Dottie, a  Silver Laced Wyandotte, is third in the pecking order.  She mostly stays away from Omelet and now Little Ace.  I was surprised that Little Ace was able to be second since she had not lived with the others for so long.  But maybe they understand seniority on the property.

Sunny

 




And Sunny, the green egg laying Ameraucana, has to keep her distance from all the other hens.  When I let them out of the coop to free range, she runs in the opposite direction of the others.  Usually, she goes to the Ligustrum hedge along the back fence.






Big Foot sometimes has to step in to maintain the peace between the hens.  When I let them all out, Big Foot will do a "Broken Wing Dance" around the hen that he is particularly interested in.  It is very strange looking, but he does it every time.

Chickens may not be nice to each other, but they offer an interesting study of basic animal interactions.     

What's Happening With the Hens and Eggs

Well Little Ace has been sitting on eggs now for 25 days.  Since she can not count, she will sit there until the last one hatches or I give up and throw it away.  She started on April 15 with 9 eggs.  Someone pecked holes in 2 of them.  One chick hatched on day 21 as it should, but the little chick got out of the coop and into the run and died.  I have checked in the coop for peeping chicks at least 3 times a day.  Today, just before dark I checked on them and found that Cracker and Little Ace are both sitting on the eggs.  I bet this is very rare.  Brooding hens are very protective and usually won't let any one-human or fowl near her nest.  But Cracker has been sitting on the eggs when Little Ace goes for a little walk.  I had to run and get my camera when I saw Cracker in the nest with Little Ace.  Surely tomorrow we will have a couple of chicks.

Saturday at My Mini Urban Farm

Cloud chills out.

Because I spent last weekend planting azaleas and etc, until I nearly passed out, this weekend all the animals need clean housing.  I started with my cat, Cloud's litter box.  If nothing else gets clean this will.  It is in my house.

Next the rabbits, Oreo's and Butterscotch's cage.  It is a large aquarium that my grandson's turtle once lived in before he set her free in a near by pond.  It is much more difficult to clean since it is not a standard cage or hutch.  But I thought the bunnies would be more comfortable in the house.  I have to use a step stool to reach in and a shovel from a sand bucket.  I put the bunnies in the bathtub while I did this.  So then I have to clean the bathtub.  Oreo actually escaped and ran down the hall.  But I captured him before Cloud decided he might offer some amusement.  Cloud really wouldn't hurt him, as anyone can see in his picture. But I'm not 100% sure of that. He is a huge cat.

Home of Big Foot, Omelet, Little Ace

Easy to clean tray

Big Foot supervising.

2 girls contribute

Next the two chicken condos.  I read on some website that chicken houses should be cleaned at least once a year.  No way!  Two weeks was too long for these.  I do not want to know that I have backyard chickens by the smell.  Besides these are so easy.  Each one has a tray that slides out from the bottom where all the future garden fertilizer accumulates. These little houses are so cleverly designed.  I ordered them from the website www.mypetchicken.com.  That's where I also bought 3 of the chicks when they were one day old.  They box as few as 3 chicks and put them in the mail.  The post office called when they arrived in Shreveport and I picked them up.  I don't believe the people in the mail room had ever had a box of peeping chicks there before.  They were very amused. I washed out the trays and added fresh wood chips.  Then I cleaned out the egg boxes.  The older house has a removable box for the hens to lay their eggs.  I scoop out the old chips and hay and put in new chips and hay.

Inspectors arriving

Gypsy says, "Okay."

Just as I finished the chicken houses, Inspectors showed up.  No these inspectors are not FDA certified. But they were very thorough. They even chatted with the senior resident, Cracker. Finally, Inspector Gypsy gave me a hoof-up.

Dottie Belle Chats with Cracker

Now our house!!!

Now we, the inspectors and I, are ready to clean out the goatgloo.  Yes, it is a dog igloo, but I don't tell that to the goats.  I do have plans for Don to build Gypsy and Dottie Belle a real goat house.  I just hope he has the same plans.  For now the goats are living in the dog yard with Diva and Megabyte. Of course Diva and Megabyte sleep in the house.  They just play with the goats during the day.  Much to my surprise and relief, the dogs get along with the kids.  They had to get things straight the first day I introduced them.  Gypsy, the extrovert, went right up to Megabyte and headbutted him.  Megabyte stood in shock.  Then Gypsy headbutted Diva. Oh NO!  I thought Diva was going to eat Gypsy.  I stepped in and calmed Diva.  But Gypsy won't mess with Diva again. Gypsy didn't know that Diva is a real DIVA.

They kiss and make-up.

Back to cleaning the goatgloo.  I raked out the old hay.  Got the hose and washed the igloo out.   Then I let it dry in the sun for a couple of hours and replaced the hay.

Tonight all the critters in this urban farm have clean sleeping quarters.
                                                         Now I need to clean my house.