Quick Update

Welcome back, this is just a quick update on the baby chickens. Their all doing good, they've started growing their wing, and tail feathers. They all seem happy, and their eating a lot, so they should be fine. I don't have any more pictures yet, I'll try and take some within the next couple of days. Keep visiting.

Chickenman

The Fluffballs

I have good news! On the 24th of July, the post office called, my 10 baby Dominiques had arrived. They are cute as can be.

Here they are, they've already discovered the feed.

It didn't take them long at all to discover the feed, and the funny thing is that they don't have to eat until two or three days after they hatch. Right before they hatch they absorb the yolk, which provides them with the nutrients to survive for three days without food or water (I don't take any chances with this, as soon as they arrive provide them with food, and fresh water).

Here's two more pictures of them.

Well that's all for now, keep visiting for updates on the new chickens.

Chickenman

Signs Your Hens May Start Laying

This post will tell you some signs, you can look for, to see if your hens are about to start laying, these signs aren't 100% accurate, but they can give you an idea.

Squatting: They'll be squatting, it looks pretty funny.

Red Combs, Red Wattles (Wattles, on their chin): As their getting ready to lay, their combs, and wattles get a brilliant red, this means their producing the right hormones to lay.

Nesting Boxes: If you have hay in their nesting boxes, they'll start arranging them into different nests, it's funny, you never know what nest it will be the next time you check.

The Roosters: This one might sound a little crazy, but when hens are getting ready to lay, you may just find a rooster in the nesting boxes. They'll inspect the boxes to find the safest possible box, even if the hen doesn't listen.

The Rooster 2: Another sign is that the roosters will be more active with the hens.

Well, these are just a few signs that your hens may be getting ready to lay, do you know any more signs that your hens are about to lay? If you do, or have a question, or just want to say something, then feel free to comment. Well that's all for now, Thanks for visiting.

Chickenman

I'm Back

I'm sorry for being gone for so long, but I'm back now. My chickens are recovering from the mites, we got rid of them for sure about a month and a half ago, it just takes a while for them to recover. Sadly, I lost a total of 3 chickens to the mites, my new rooster, and two of the new hens. I'm down to 11 chickens, Demonique, the three Dominiques, four Rhode Island Reds, and three of the Black Star. But this is soon to be remedied, I have placed an order for 10 Dominique Pullets. They should be here in the 5 days or so, I'll try and write a post, and show some pictures of the baby chickens. Well that's all for now. Keep visiting.

Chickenman

A Brief Respite

Finally, after dealing with squirrels, feathers growing back, a mini-molt, and weasels attacking, it looked like we might get some eggs. After about four weeks, of me being extremely cautious, I finally turned on a light for my chickens. I read that they needed 17 hours of light per day, to kick them back in laying. So after about four weeks of running the light, with the final two weeks running the light 17 hours a day, my hens started showing signs of laying again. We kept running the light, and within a few more days, we got an egg. It started with one egg, then we gradually got up to 6 eggs a day (on average), averaging 6 eggs, out of 7 hens a day is pretty good. Unfortunately I got greedy, I got 5 laying hens (Black Star), and 1 rooster (I believe it's either a Cuckoo Maran, or Barred Plymouth Rock). Can you guess what happened? They started fighting, and my egg laying, started slacking off again. What happened next? I'll tell you in the next post. Thanks for visiting.

Chickenman

Sorry for the delay, I've had some complications, I'll go into more detail in another post.