A couple of days ago, the color bands that I ordered came in so that I could tell the chicklets apart. Ten colors: black, brown, white, red, orange, yellow, pink, green, blue & purple. I banded the nine Russian Orloffs and did not bother with Becky-buckeye. I picked up #10 (10/16") size and I have #11 already which they will need in a couple more months. I put the bands all on the right legs so that I know which leg to look for.
It was a rather eventful day. We turned the coop and moved the pen to new grass. Instead of a "paddock" system, we are thinking we can just keep turning this every week to 10 days until we come to a complete circle and hopefully, the grass/weeds will be back in full growth by the time we get back around to starting point. Photos below will show that the ground is pretty beat up after almost three weeks in the same location. We kept it there way too long, so we will see what it looks like in a month.
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Point made here is that we truly have pasture grass for the chickens; not lawn grass. So they get the real pasture effect. I was a bit shocked to learn that some stores are selling "pasture fed" chicken eggs for over $7.00 per dozen!!! Granted, the stores need to make a profit on the deal and I'm guessing that the farmers are getting about 35% to 50% of that price.
Anyways, after the move, a friend stopped by for a chat, and his dog did fine around the chicklets for about 15 minutes, but the moment the dog thought he had a chance to get to the chicks, he lunged and barked, freaking the chicklets. One of the chicks hurt her wing, but no blood or sustaining injury there. One had a gouge in her comb right between her eyes that was bleeding a little. I doctored that with baking powder to stop the blood and keep it from smelling or looking like blood.... Chickens LOVE to peck on bloody things ;( I proceeded to use the new colored bands to help me identify and check over all the chicks to ensure that they were okay and that no one else was bleeding. In the photos below, the one with the black ankle bracelet, near the middle of the pens, is the one who was bleeding. The third photo shows some of the ankle bracelets with blue arrows pointing at them. Aside from the major freak'n scare, the chicklets seem to be loving their fresh grass experience. What I found funny was that Becky Buckeye is over at the food pellets trough, while all the rest were more than happy to be in their new grass!
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When that occurred, I was in the process of setting up a temporary pen for the hens by attaching it to their pen/coop's opening so that they could venture out into some fresh grass before we move their coop tomorrow. The grass was a bit tall, but they stamped most of it down in no time at all. The tall grass had gone to seed, and they were taking advantage of eating that fresh seed right off the stalks of grass. I would normally not just let them out in a pen like this without being close by to chase off any predators or dogs. I was outside working on the yard/garden so.... they got to explore a little. The hawks were out in full force today, so I added a mesh over the top of the makeshift pen for a little added protection since those guys are stealth! In the photos, you will see that one of the hens is finally starting to show her spangles. :) It's a slow process before they finally spangle.
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