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| News from the coop |
In the past couple days there have been some new developments.
Dog tried to get in with the chickens. He didn't go very far, but he had his weight on the hardware cloth over the top of the box, and it was pressed down fairly far. He jumped back when I hollered, so no damage was done. Have to watch that one.
The little turkeys said their first word. When I reached into the cage to change their water yesterday morning, one of them said "gobble, gobble!" I nearly fainted. It's too bad that wasn't captured on video. Baby's first words!
Some of the birds have learned they can scare the others when they flap their wings and fly. Homer figured it out, and uses it to his advantage. If there isn't a spot at the feeder, he scoots away from the feeder, then turns, and flaps his spindly wing-like things just enough that, combined with a jump, he lands on top of the feeder. The noise of the flapping, such that it is, causes the other chickens to suddenly raise their heads, and bang! Homer lands in the midst of them. It's kind of funny to watch. The other chickens are doing similar things. The bigger birds "fly" across the box, or up to the top of the water jar. Every time the wings start flapping, everybody else runs! I'm sure it's quite exciting for the little birds.
Some of the bigger birds really do look like chickens now, rather than just little chicks. Steve came over yesterday and held one of the larger birds. I was struck by how big they have gotten, and also how well behaved they have become. This bird didn't even run when I stuck my hand in the box. Instead, he (I'm pretty sure it's a male) just stared me in the eye, and stood there while I picked him up. There was only the slightest of complaints, and he sat calmly and quietly in Steve's hand as he was being held. When the bird was returned to the box, he jumped spritely from my hand, and ran to join the other birds. I'm hoping this is a sign we'll be able to handle the birds as they get older. It will make egg picking easier if they aren't fighting us.
The little white Araucana is developing to be quite pretty. The wings are getting little black barred feathers on them, and just above the wing are sprouting little golden feathers. Looking at the Araucana web sites I see some really beautiful multi-colored birds, and have my fingers crossed, a little afraid to get hopes up lest they be dashed.
And EAT! Oh my goodness! I am now feeding 6 cups of feed per day to these little devils. And it's not enough. This morning the racket in the box work me around 1:30. Finally I got up only to see they were scratching like crazy looking for more feed in their litter. So, I gave them another 2 cups of feed. That's 8 cups in the last 24 hours! And when I got up this morning, it was gone.
Time to buy another 50 pound bag.
That's the news from the chicken ranch, where all the hens lay double yolks, the roosters are all pretty, and the chicks eat above average.
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Posted by Bearville on 2009-05-08 08:02:35 | Rating: | Views: 28
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