More Goodbyes

   Lizzy passed away on Thursday.

   It was a regular day. I was feeling good because I just finished up a midterm. I wanted to give the girls a special treat, so I brought them out some pasta.

   That's when I found the feathers. 

   Lizzy was my favorite of the new flock. I loved her so much.

   And even better, she loved me. Most of my other chickens became very food driven once we introduced treats. Lizzy never did. 

   If I held out my arm Lizzy would jump up and perch for a while. I never taught her to do this. She just wanted to be close to me.

   I miss her so much already, but I am thankful for the time we had. I just wish it could have been longer. 

Review: Chicken Books Part Two

   Last year I wrote a post about the chicken care books I have. (If you missed it you can find it here!) Recently, I realized that I still have some books I didn't write about. I felt I should update this topic, so here we go!


Chick Days: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens Hatchlings to Laying Hens
By: Jenna Woginrich

   This is such a great book!

   I checked this book out of the library before I got the chicks. This was definitely the most useful book I looked at for raising chicks. I does have some good general information about raising chickens (such as breeds and housing). However, what sets this book apart from others is it's "Growing Up" and "From Chicks to Chickens" chapters. 

   These chapters go day by day and tell what you can expect. Everything from signs of roosters to when feathers come in. Later the chapters go week by week, then month by month. This is extremely helpful!

Once Upon a Flock: Life with My Soulful Chickens

By: Lauren Scheuer

   This is not a informational book. It is a novel about this woman's flock. It is absolutely fantastic!

   The stories are wonderful and the author's creative drawings add so much!

This book is filled with cute pictures...

..and even cuter drawings!

    Some stories are a little sad and some are hilarious! In my opinion, this book is definitely worth buying!


   I highly recommend both these books! Chick Days is one of my best chicken resource books and Once Upon a Flock is great for a fun read!

       

Fresh as a Daisy

My Buff Orpington is named Daisy.

    She was such a friendly little chick. Whenever someone would come to see the chicks, we would let them hold Daisy because she was so calm.


   When they were chicks, Olive and Daisy looked very similar. They were both yellow. However, as Olive became a red color, Daisy stayed her cute yellow.

Here, Olive is the yellow chick closer to the top of the picture. 

Daisy is the one closer to the bottom. 

   If Piper is stupid, Daisy is smart. She was the first one to learn how to take dust baths. (This is when chickens scratch dirt and dust through their feathers. This cleans them.)

   She is high in the pecking order, but doesn't really seem to care. She is always apart from the others. Always kind of doing her own thing. 

   Another thing about Daisy is her size. She is definitely the biggest girl in my flock. I think a lot of that might just be fluffy feathers, but still! She is huge!

   She always has an almost thoughtful expression on her face, which I absolutely love!

   See you next Monday!

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!

2014

   2014 was a great year. I got the chicks, they all survived, and now I am getting eggs! I hope you all have enjoyed following along on this blog. So to celebrate 2014, here are my fourteen favorite pictures of 2014. Some you may have seen before, some are new. 

14. Winter Wonderland

   I took this right after the big snowstorm of Thanksgiving break.

13. Blue Egg

   This was Piper's first egg. You have no idea how excited I was to find it!

12. Speckles in the Brooder

   Because of the red light, most of the pictures in the brooder don't tend to come out well. However, this picture of Speckles is too cute not to include!

11. Olive

   This wonderful picture of Olive was taken about the time that the new pen was built.

10. Lizzy Photo Bombing

   I just love the way Lizzy snuck into the background of this photo. And the expression on her face is just priceless!

9, 8, 7. First Day Outside

   You can almost see the confused look on their faces as the chicks see grass for one of the first times.

Lizzy

Daisy and Piper

Daisy and Lizzy

6. Lizzy Looking

5. Lizzy

   If I sit down in the pen, the chickens will still run over to sit on my lap like they did when they were little.

4. Teenagers

   Even though Sleepy looks a little rough, this is still an interesting picture. 

3. Silly Chicken

   This picture just makes me laugh! It reminds me of her personality.

2. Speckles

1. Puffy Cheeks

   So here it is! My favorite picture! I just can't get over how cute Piper was as a chick. That really shows through in this perfect picture.

   I hope you liked 2014 and here's to an even better 2015!

Merry Christmas to All

   Wow, in only two days it will be Christmas! It seemed to come so fast this year!

   Well, with all the cold weather the chickens have been staying inside a lot. For chickens, this is never good. They tend to get bored and develop bad habits (egg eating, picking on each other).

   So here are some of the chicken's favorite wintertime treats!

1. Scratch

   For my chickens, scratch is an everyday treat. Scratch is a store bought mix of many different grains. They get it when we let them out in the morning. As you can tell from the pictures, the chickens love it!

   I usually sprinkle some outside to get the chickens to come out. They will usually spend a while scratching for overlooked grains. This is great because it gets them outside and moving around.

   I also put some in the inside bedding to keep them active in there. 

2. Sunflower Seeds and Meal Worms

   I give these in the same way as scratch, but I give much less, and much less often.

   Some people raise meal worms, but I buy mine already dead. I get mine at a bird feed store (they are meant for wild bird feeders). They look pretty creepy, but the chickens love them! They are a great source of protein, especially in the winter months when the chickens can't get their own bugs. 

3. Rice and Pasta

I don't know why I don't really have any pictures of these...

   Anyway, the chickens do really love rice and pasta! Usually they only get these when we have left overs. If we have old pasta, no one really wants it... except the chickens!

4. Cabbage

   This is the final and most special treat I give my chickens. 

   First, I cut a cabbage in half. Then I poke a hole through it and feed a wire through the hole. 

   Next, I cut up the inside. This will make it more interesting for the chickens and easier for them to pull in apart. 

   Lastly I hang it in the coop by the wire and let the chickens have at it!

They were very confused at first.

But, eventually their curiosity got the better of them!

The next night, all that was left of the cabbage was the wire!

(This doesn't have to be done with a cabbage. Any soft fruit or vegetable would most likely work!)

   

   I am sure your chickens would love any of these for a nice holiday present! I hope you and your families have a wonderful Christmas/holiday season and I will see you right back here next week!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!

Easter Egg

   Well, once we got one egg, more were soon to follow. I have been getting eggs all this week. One day we got four eggs!

I don't know why the last egg looks white... It is really is about the color of the egg next to it.

   But then, yesterday we got something extra special!

   Piper laid her first egg! She is an Easter Egger, which means, you guessed it, she lays colored eggs!

Piper's egg just happens to be this lovely blue. Other Easter Eggers can lay green eggs.

   Now if you were wondering, the eggs are completely safe to eat. There is nothing that makes them different from a regular egg. Except the color of course!

   Also, each chicken only lays one color. So we will always get these blue eggs from Piper. I am definitely not complaining though! What a cool color!

It is a perfect funny little egg from my perfect funny chicken.