What did you do with your flock today?

The weather lately here cant decide how it wants to be. I think we have gone from Spring, to summer, back to spring/fall, back to summer. I’m really wanting the rain but I don’t want it with these temps.

How much rain did you all get?
It rained pretty much daily the whole of July (think we had something like 200% of our monthly rainfall) and for the first two weeks of August. It's been dry a few days and now they're predicting sunshine and showers today. It's the first semi-dry day I've got the chance to finish putting the coop roof on. Hope it doesn't rain too much!
 
We finally got a decent amount of rain at our house yesterday 😃🎉

Todays all about cleaning coops and seeing if I can flip the dirt in any of the newer ones. Need to clean the brooders as well and move a couple Java pea babies out to the integration pen with the adults and older babies.

My oldest coops been sitting empty for a bit and I'm thinking I'll rearrange and move one flock out there. I have 12 coops, with three of them empty right now. Think I'm going to break my dwarf flock up into three little flocks. That'll still leave me with one empty coop.

Keep wanting to downsize but everytime I try to pick birds to go...I can't pick any I'm actually willing to say goodbye too. They're all birds I know and love for one reason or another at this point. Definitely no more babies for me until old age whittles down my bird numbers a bit. Well, except for the green peas. I have a bunch of people hoping for babies from them still...but that's next year.
That's why I'm not allowed any more chicks. I can't bear to part with them. If accidental Stan was a boy I was supposed to sell him or give him away. Nope, one look at this and I was smitten:
20220905_072255.jpg
 
Sounds like you have my problem! Once they show their personalities you don’t wanna let them go! ❤️ I was just thinking the same thing today while out with my Cooplex babies. I have too many, I have to thin out, but…they all have my heart in some way. 😫 I spent some time analyzing some of my May grow outs and they’re looking like a beautiful bunch!



View attachment 3616665

View attachment 3616666
This is Jessamy. She is looking like she will be a very nice blue Ameraucana hen. Her lacing is beautiful, the blue coloring is really uniform, her legs are slate, she has several black toe nails, and her comb is small and pea combed. She could use a better beard, but for a starter pullet, she is all I was hoping for! 😍

View attachment 3616668
This girl would not look at the camera properly but I did get a nice picture of her green sheen 😍😍 I just love the sheen on all black birds. I always thought of myself as a “pretty spots, barring and lacing patterns” person but I’m really starting to fall in love with black 😍😍 Look at all the pretty sheens! 😁

View attachment 3616672

THEN I made a realization that I have just chosen NOT to see and I feel SO blind and dumb haha.

This is Finley…the baby pullet I saved at the Feed Store in June. She is a Cuckoo Marans…and she is very clearly a HE 😫😫😫 Look at those saddle feathers and those curvy tail feathers 🤦🏼‍♀️ (also—WHY do they INSIST on putting shavings in their fresh waterer?!?).

View attachment 3616678
View attachment 3616682

After that depressing discovery…I went to check on the bantam gen pop. Daisy was given a couple eggs two days ago that Aria didn’t find soon enough during our COVID haze…and she very clearly does NOT want me to take them from her 😆 I’m pretty sure she’s plotting my death if I try to remove them! :lau

View attachment 3616689
View attachment 3616690
She has been broody ALL summer and I’ve taken them all away…so I gave in in hopes she will break and be a good momma. Not sure I’ll keep them, but I have a small amount of space now that Sia is gone to give her the satisfaction. ❤️ She and Duchess are the only birds in that coop and the others just refuse to NOT cram into the green IKEA coop. Safety in numbers I guess? Weirdos.

Speaking of the Ikea coop—it’s hard to tell, but above Opal looms Elsafish—the Coop Door Enforcer. She goes to bed very early and then stands at the door, and pecks each one as they attempt to enter. 😆 You can see in the picture that Opal is attempting the “slide in so she can’t see me”—but she did not escape the Peck! Haha. I couldn’t get picture of it the other night, but Oliver is usually last to bed—he patrols until every lady is away—and Elsafish was fully blocking the door and when he finally headed up the ladder, she would peck his head each time he attempted to come in. So after the third try, he jumped up and landed on her head and walked over her into the coop! 😂😂😂 She shook her head and then got back to her door spot like it never happened. Was hilarious 🤣 She’s such a brat!
View attachment 3616694
They are all so gorgeous 😍😍😍
No wonder you can't bear to part with any! Jessamy is a glorious colour! Do you think her beard will fill out as she moults? I'm with you on the beetle sheen on black birds. Gladys always has a lovely glossy sheen, green and purple but it doesn't pick up well in photos unless the sun is shining ( ha! fat chance!).

I have a door monitor too. Clara does the pecking here. She'll even do it to Gladys, who's very obviously top hen. That does not go down well! Clara is vicious pecking her sister, Pru. It's never just one peck, it's half a dozen! And if she gets past the door, Clara will push her out of the coop. Clever Pru has decided the way to avoid all this is to come to me at bedtime as she knows I will lift her in through the nestbox roof. Once she's actually in, Clara leaves her be.

Ferdy makes sure everyone's in bed here. Including Stan. He knows who sleeps where and if anyone tries to go in the wrong coop he herds them back to the right one. I find it amazing he will actively get Stan into the big coop with Gladys, Pru and Clara, when he knows he will be mating with them. Clara and Pru are very much Ferdy's favourite girls, too.
As soon as he's helped put Penelope to bed in his coop (she's easily distracted and wanders off so it can be a trying experience for both of us!), he jumps up on my shoulder to tell me it's snuggle and tv time.
 
I averted a tragic happening this morning by looking down to see why I couldn't close a coop door. A pullet hat her head inside and her body out and her head nearly got removed from her body. That would have been one more thing to keep me awake at night. I left the RIR's layers in their coop and the Delawares in their coop to stop them from laying out in the woods today. I need a few eggs tomorrow for a favorite charity. Where the lay in this heat I can't physically get to with out heavy equipment.
 
It rained pretty much daily the whole of July (think we had something like 200% of our monthly rainfall) and for the first two weeks of August. It's been dry a few days and now they're predicting sunshine and showers today. It's the first semi-dry day I've got the chance to finish putting the coop roof on. Hope it doesn't rain too much!
Yeah, I don’t think I like rain that much 🤣. However, right now it would be much appreciated! Hope it is only a little rain! 200% is a lot!
 
They are all so gorgeous 😍😍😍
No wonder you can't bear to part with any! Jessamy is a glorious colour! Do you think her beard will fill out as she moults? I'm with you on the beetle sheen on black birds. Gladys always has a lovely glossy sheen, green and purple but it doesn't pick up well in photos unless the sun is shining ( ha! fat chance!).

I have a door monitor too. Clara does the pecking here. She'll even do it to Gladys, who's very obviously top hen. That does not go down well! Clara is vicious pecking her sister, Pru. It's never just one peck, it's half a dozen! And if she gets past the door, Clara will push her out of the coop. Clever Pru has decided the way to avoid all this is to come to me at bedtime as she knows I will lift her in through the nestbox roof. Once she's actually in, Clara leaves her be.

Ferdy makes sure everyone's in bed here. Including Stan. He knows who sleeps where and if anyone tries to go in the wrong coop he herds them back to the right one. I find it amazing he will actively get Stan into the big coop with Gladys, Pru and Clara, when he knows he will be mating with them. Clara and Pru are very much Ferdy's favourite girls, too.
As soon as he's helped put Penelope to bed in his coop (she's easily distracted and wanders off so it can be a trying experience for both of us!), he jumps up on my shoulder to tell me it's snuggle and tv time.
Ahhh that’s adorable! I think it’s so cute when they have these characteristics and you can see it in action 😍 Duchess is that way…she stays out till everyone else is in bed except Oliver…and he won’t go till she’s done dinking around. He sort of circles around her and talks and circles and talks…and she finally wanders slowly to bed 😆 Such funny birds ❤️❤️

Ameraucanas beards are the last thing to fill in so I’m hopeful that it will start looking floofier in the next month or two. Would make her perfect! ❤️
 
Last edited:
O my gosh that's too funny! Elsafish sounds like a ham 🤣 You have so many gorgeous birds! I think I might keep an eye out for some local puffy cheeked babies...I haven't had Easter eggers in a long time but I did always love those crazy adorable faces. Might have to look for some bantam eggers or Americana...Jessamy is just a doll ❤️

Oops. Ugh. Slap me back to sense 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. Out of room...at my limit for feed, work etc etc!
Your birds have me wanting more again! Nonononono! 🤣🤣🤣
Hehehe I’m working my magic—puffy cheek beeebies!! 😆 It worked on @TropicalBabies hehehee :p And they hatched and are precious!! 😁😁😁

But seriously, there’s something about the cheeks when they look at you…it just gets me every time! 😍

58B2526B-85E2-4936-8294-9749965DB39C.jpeg


There’s also something about the bantam EE that’s a combo of the Ameraucana personality and the d’Anver. I think it makes them more friendly than either breed alone. Ameraucanas are such gentle birds but can be rather flighty and shy if not handled enough, and d’Anvers can be sassy and evasive but are sweet when handled a bunch. Seems like the mix makes them gentle and friendly but with a healthy dose of curiosity and busy. I’m a fan 😍
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom