The Chickens are Back

What? Where did they go? WTF?

It's been a crazy few months. In a nutshell... I thought I was moving out of the house, so I took my chickens to my friend Robin's place up near Castaic. Then, it turns out I decided to stay, so after a somewhat exhausting search for new roommates, I was able to go retrieve my ladies. I happened to go get them during some of the worst rain I have ever seen in Southern California. That is how much I love my chickens!



I made them a new place in the side yard. Unfortunately, the greenery only lasted a couple weeks. They seem to like it OK, although they are still somewhat suspicious of me.



I don't think they liked it very much out in the country. They had to live with a bunch of other hens who constantly picked on them. It took a couple weeks, but I got them looking fat and happy again. When they first got back I only got one really tiny egg. About a week later I started getting eggs, but I'm pretty sure that only Blackie was laying. This weekend I finally saw evidence that Molly is laying and now I am getting two eggs again some days.

Broody

Molly got a little broody last week. It was very strange. She hunkered down in her nest and wouldn't leave it. If I came up she made this very strange screeching sound. Blackie was right in there backing her up. Neither one tried to peck at me but they were both very fierce looking. It was only after I got her up off her nest that she made her egg laying noises. She did it for a couple of days and then gave up. She hasn't been laying much since then. Hopefully she will be back to normal soon.

Blackie has started showing signs of maturity. She should start laying soon, I think.

Molly on Her Nest

All Quiet on the Chicken Front

So I took the Marans back and got a Cochin. I was sad to see Typhoid Mary go even though I didn't really like her very much.

The switch was a bit traumatic for Molly. She was very noisy and agitated for several days after the switch. We had to put her in the garage a couple times because she was screeching away at the top of her lungs and wouldn't stop. She was also very hostile to the new chicken.

After a few days things calmed down and by the time I got back from Juplaya things were back to normal, albeit a much quieter normal.

The new chicken is extremely quiet and docile. She is a black Cochin, big and fluffy with feathery feet. The feathers on her feet give her a funny, exaggerated gait, like a Tennessee Walker or perhaps a Monty Python funny walker. Her call is quiet and deeper than Molly's. She isn't laying yet.

Unfortunately when she does lay eggs it will only be one or two a week. When I chose her it was because she was a similar size and age to Molly. I didn't think to ask about the egg thing. I don't really want to keep a purely ornamental chicken so I will probably try to trade her for a better layer.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Two More!

Our First Egg!!!!!

One of the chickens laid her very first egg today. It's tiny, about half the size of a regular egg. They say the first eggs can be small and/or misshapen, so I'm expecting later eggs will be more normal size. Judging from the color, it was probably Molly, but it could be that Typhoid Mary's dark brown coloring for the eggs isn't working yet. Kate was home at the time and she tells me that the two chickens freaked out for a bit, and when she went outside later, she found an egg on the bricks where the potted plants are.

We have some bad news. Well, it's good news for the neighbors probably, but I'm going to have to get rid of Typhoid Mary, aka the Marans. She is just too noisy for an urban chicken run. She has always been a complainer, honking incessantly for minutes at a time, often and loudly. Lately she has taken to crowing(!) in the morning, which is just unacceptable. Apparently crowing hens are not uncommon. The woman I got her from is OK with me taking her back to them, and while I'm there I can pick out a quieter (hopefully) companion for Molly. If it's still too noisy back there, I will have to consider giving the chickens up entirely. I really hope it doesn't come to that.

Lord of the Flies

So, now that warmer weather is here I'm experiencing some wonderful new chicken issues. There is more chicken odor and we now have a plague of flies. The smell really isn't that bad, but the flies are just disgusting. They are everywhere on every surface. Their fly poop is everywhere too.

it happened practically overnight. I was tempted to just hit the yard with some flying insect spray, but it says right on the can, remove your birds. so, must be really bad for them if they actually bother to mention it in the instructions. Next step, stinky fly trap. the stinky fly trap has been deployed, but it is neither particularly stinky or effective.

I read that diatomaceous earth is effective for fly control around chickens, so I picked up some of that as well. it wasn't until I got it home and spread around the yard that I discovered that I had the wrong stuff. Turns out that I need the "food grade" kind. Who knew?Hey, at least I knew not to get the kind for pools.

It turns out that you can sprinkle the food grade kind in your pet's, or even your own food and it will help control parasites. But I would never eat dirt, you say. Well, you are almost certainly consuming it already. Food grade diatomaceous earth is used to keep grain dry in storage.

Food grade diatomaceous earth can be found at some feed stores and health food stores. If it doesn't say food grade, it isn't. I'm hoping that the stuff I put down on the ground won't harm them.

The other thing I'm doing that should help is I'm finally getting rid of those stupid yard rocks and putting down some grass. Even if the grass dies, dirt will be easier to keep waste-free than those stupid rocks.

Hopefully I'll get those flies under control one way or another.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]