Another one down

Don't know what is getting our chickens but it sure is something! Found another dead chicken in the tractor today, I guess I didn't get all the sides protected enough as I found evidence of digging. Whatever killed it did not eat it, so I don't know if something got into or just reached into the tractor. Maybe it dug enough of a hole for the chicken to stick it's head outside the tractor and then.... Anyway, I hope this week we can keep them warm as it is supposed to be cold and icy! Flock of 9...that may cause a drop in egg production.

A tough Thanksgiving

Although we had a great Thanksgiving holiday, since we have been home things have been a little sad. First of all, our cat of at least 7 years, is gone...she was looking a little poorly before we left and now we fear she has left us for good. We will miss good ol' Mayonnaise! Then, when I got home from work yesterday I found that our one and only Leghorn was dead inside the chicken tractor. There was a gathering of feathers on the outside like some animal had tormented or attacked it and the body was all that was left...so now our flock is down to 10.

Hopefully things are going to be on an upswing from here!

Didn't see any chickens

Now that our computer is back from the shop I feel like I can update the blog a little easier. In our chickens of the world series....here is the best I could do in west Texas...this was a feed lot in Hereford, TX. Anyway, we are now starting to get a few green eggs again, but the short days have reduced our weekly output from the 40's to the 20's. I will get a new pic of our flock to show what our chickens are lookin like.

HMMMM.....

I don't know what has happened but our "Easter Eggers", the green egg laying chickens, have forgotten how to lay eggs...I don't know if they have gotten stressed by something or if the shorter days are confusing them or if they are having health issues. They have not layed a green egg now for 7 days....hmmm....

1st day of Fall

We are still here...I havn't posted any new pics because our lap top is currently out of commision and I guess I am spoiled and don't want to sit here at this desk top! The Flock has made it through thier 1st summer and now we are headed into shorter days...I am told that egg production may decrease a little bit, but we will have to wait and see. The State Fair is starting this coming weekend and the girls are excited to go see the animals including the other chickens...maybe I can get some pics to help identify our birds. We will keep you posted. Oh yeah, I just got back from New Mexico, but I failed to get a pic of a chicken for exhibit here...did some pics of a few cows.

GUSTAV!

What is left of hurricane Gustav blew into town overnight and left a litter of leaves all over my yard...and it has rained almost all day....curious to see what kind of rain fall total we end up with they were forecasting 7". I wondered if the rain would stress the chickens like the heat did to the point where they would not be able to produce eggs...but they were fine...in fact today we hit our average of 7 eggs and the hurricane really kept the heat down today, I think we were in the low 70's. I may have to figure out how to hook up a live web cam so ya'll can watch the chickens 24/7!

Holding steady

Now that the temps have been a little cooler (80's - 90's instead of 100's) our flock seems to be happier and egg production is up! Whatever the foot issue was the one chicken had seems to have passed...hopefully we are past the hottest temps of the year...but that may just be a dream as we are now only in mid-August.

Down to 11

The heat got one of our Araucanas. She just couldn't recoup from the heat no matter what we tried. Today we moved them to even more shade and I have rigged a fan so during the hottest part of the day they can get a little airflow...we also added a third container of water. The bad news, as if heat was not enough, one of our three Silver Laced Cochins seems to have hurt one of her feet. We are hoping that our flock does not fall to 10 anytime soon. We will keep you posted!

Heat may be bad news

The heat of summer may take a toll on our flock. We have one chicken who seems to really be struggling. We even brought her into the house to see if we could cool her enough to survive. We probably won't know for another few days as we are forecast over the 100 degree mark for the next several days. The heat has also caused enough stress that egg production has become a little erratic. Hopefully we all will be able to survive!

more chickens of the world

While we were in Branson at Silver Dollar City we ran across another Turken...

the comb on our Turken is just starting to come in, we will post a pic soon. Our friends just to our south have reordered chickens following the "Devastation in Dewar" earlier this spring, with their order they also received a Turken. It seems to be a breed growing in popularity in our part of Oklahoma!

For those unfamiliar with the breed, here is a description:

Half chicken and half turkey? No, the Turken is all chicken but unique because of its turkey-like bare neck, less than normal feathering around the breast, under the wings, and around the vent. In spite of the feather shortage, Turkens stand cold weather very well, are good layers of brown eggs, and grow to 6 pounds or more, making a fine eating bird. The hens are also good setters. The origin of this breed is uncertain but more recent development in Eastern Europe gave them the name Transylvanian Naked Necks. They are now standardized for show in White, Black, Buff, and Red. We have purposely kept our Turken flocks mixed in color (including silver) for a more colorful and distinctive offspring. Baby chicks hatch with bare necks and are easily identified.

Got Ham ?

Well while we were in Houston the chickens laid thier 1st non-white egg. Green! We ended up with two green eggs by the time we got home. Good thing was when we craked them open

they still taste good!

The Incrdible Edible Egg

As predicted egg production began while we were on vacation. I don't know if we have more than one chicken laying yet but I witnessed our white chicken laying an egg this afternoon. I think the balance of the chickens are a week younger so i suspect they will begin full production sometime before the 4th of July.

On a more somber note, while we were gone we lost a chicken in a horrible tractor accident. Ok, shortly before we left, one of our two white chickens got rolled under the edge of the tractor. Apparently she could not recoup from her injuries. Now we are down to a dozen chickens.

Araucanas/Americanas

I think I have identified this particular breed (we have two in our flock). I think they are as follows:


The "Easter Egg Chicken", This unusual breed gets its name from the Indian tribe of Chile where they were first discovered. Araucanas lay beautiful colored eggs of blue-green shades from turquoise to deep olive. These natural Easter Eggs will amaze your friends and make a great "show and tell" project for school. Adults are of medium size with pea combs and our breeding stock is selected for their ability to produce colored eggs. They exhibit a wonderful combination of colors and color patterns and 10 or 20 of these birds make an absolutely beautiful laying flock that is extremely hardy and will be the talk of the town. Baby chicks come in all colors, plain and fancy, just like the adults. This is a unique breed and great fun to have when the colored eggs start coming. Our Araucanas are recommended for egg laying color and ability and not for exhibition.

I hope I am correct as I think it will provide a unique set of eggs for us to have.

Is anyone interested in preordering ?

EGGS!

Alright, so they are not exactly the eggs we are looking for...these are in one of Amanda's hanging plants on the front porch. We are expecting to have chicken eggs in the next couple or three weeks (probably happen while we are on vacation). But, we are ready whenever they arrive.

Benefits of a chicken tractor

The yard before the chickens

The yard after two days

This is the benefit of the chicken tractor and hopefully we can keep pulling it around our acerage to keep it clear...still a few weeks away from eggs.

Growing and mowing

Our chickens are now in the pasture and are really starting to fill out. They did suffer through their first tornadic storm, including hail. Amanda got the children into the storm shelter ('fraidy hole) but she decided not to try and get the chickens, I don't know that I fully supported that choice. But they all seemed to make it through ok. I think we are about 8 weeks away from eggs, we will see.

Moving Day

We have now moved the chickens from the brooder box to the chicken tractor. Of course, as soon as we did it the temp dropped, overnights were in the 30's, but the flock seems to have survived just fine. We will be moving the tractor to the pasture in the very near future, but right now the girls, the dog and the cat are all interested in just sitting and watching the chickens and their new environment. We also have thinned our flock to 13 total, which is about the max amount we wanted. Hopefully, when egg production starts that will mean about a dozen every 2-3 days.

Birds of a feather

When we purchased our chickens, we bought a variety pack of "layers" we were supposed to receive at least four or five different breeds of chickens. My thought was the girls could see various kinds of plumage as well as a different variety of eggs. As the feathers begin to replace the fuzz, we are starting to see some of the variety. Our most unique and easily identifiable chicken is the turken, you can easily pick him out because he has no feathers on his neck. We had to do some research to find out what he was exactly and hope we can identify some of the other breeds soon.

Little Jerry

This was a chicken that we ran across on Oahu, at the Turtle Bay Resort. He charged us while on the golf course. We refered to him as "Little Jerry" ever since...maybe Little Jerry retired to Hawaii after the show about nothing went off the air.

Future Plans

We are planning to house our small flock of chickens in a chicken tractor. This is a picture of ours prior to completion, actually I still have to finish it. For those of you who are not familiar you can check the following web sites for more on chicken tractors:

http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/tractors.html
http://www.chickentractor.net/
http://www2.gsu.edu/~biojdsx/fowl/tractor.htm
http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/issues/2/2-1/Bill_Dreger.html

At least that is our plan for now...I have to finish the laying boxes and roosts then wrap the whole thing in wire.

Others

From time to time I will add pictures of chickens that I have taken. This is one that I took somewhere in the middle of Equador. Anyone know the breed?