Showing posts with label Barnevelder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barnevelder. Show all posts

Monday, January 5, 2015

Good Night, Sleep Tight

   This is Sleepy. She is my double laced Barnevelder.



   As some of you might remember from an earlier post, Sleepy was not her original name. She was going to be Penny. Sleepy was just a nickname that stuck. 



   Something you don't know is that Sleepy might not have survived as a chick. When you first get your chicks, you are supposed to dip their beaks in water. They don't know what it is yet. If you don't do this, the chicks will not drink and can die of dehydration.



   For some reason, Sleepy did not get her introduction to water. She was not drinking. So, my sister and I had to do something. I took a teaspoon of water and had to get her beak into it.

She was not happy with us. She was afraid of the water and wouldn't touch it.

   Then finally, we got her beak to touch the water. She was shocked. She paused for a moment then drank as much as she could!

(The water in the cup is yellow because of a additive we bought that helps the chicks.)


   Now that Sleepy has grown up, she is absolutely gorgeous!



   Sleepy is shy. She is so shy. Sometimes, if she is thinking about sitting on my lap and I look at her, she will run away. I think she is on the bottom of the pecking order, so this can explain her nervousness. 
   However, when she gets over her shyness, she is actually a very sweet little bird!



Monday, August 18, 2014

Fly the Nest

Sleepy gave me a good scare last night,


   I went to put the chicks (or should I say chickens; they are getting so big!) to bed last night. I was so excited because they were all finally perching. They didn't take to perching right away and I was getting worried that they wouldn't. 
   This excitement lasted right until I counted the chick...ens. 

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...

That's not right...

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...

There are five over there and two over there...
5+2=...7

   Sleepy was missing. She wasn't on the perch, she wasn't on the floor. With shaking hands I plugged in the chicken's light. I still couldn't find her. 
   I was about to head outside to find either Sleepy or the place that the predator got Sleepy, when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. 

   We barricaded the nesting boxes with netting earlier so the chickens wouldn't sleep in them. But, she somehow squeezed herself into the box and settled down for the night. 
   I was so happy to see her. I lifted up that silly chicken and put her where she belonged. 
On the perch.



Monday, June 30, 2014

Arrival

   The chicks are here! We got the call at 10:10 am on Tuesday. (I was very impressed by this because they hatched on Monday and had to come from Ohio to New Hampshire.) We ran over to the post office as soon as we could and picked them up at 10:30.



    One of my big worries was one of the chicks would die on the trip. However I am happy to say this did not happen and they all arrived safely!



   And so let me introduce...

Nutmeg (Welsummer)

Piper (Easter Egger)

Lizzie (Barred Rock)

Raven (Australorp) 

Daisy (Buff Orpington)

Olive (Golden Comet)

Speckles (Specked Sussex)

Sleepy (Double Laced Barnevelder)
Originally Penny but thanks to an unfortunate early nickname, no one will call her by her real name.