Grass Growth in Five Weeks

I took photos a little more than a month ago (five week ago) of the over picked ground where the pen had been for a bit too long with the ten chicklets.  I took photos of the same area today, and it is mostly filled back in.  In the photos below, are the before and current grass situation.  Of course, most people could care less about our "pasture" recovery, but this is for my records, not for anyone else. LOL

Section 1 - May 31	Section 2 - May 31
Section 2 - July 3	Section 2 - July 3
Section 1 & 2 - July 3

Fourteen Weeks with Ten More to Go

The younger girls are doing well. They have about ten more weeks to becoming layers. This past week, we had to keep everyone shaded and well watered because the heat went from 60s into 90s basically over night. It was hard on them, since they are now heavy-feathered and the heat was not something they were able to suddenly adjust to. I took some quick snap shots today. Not the best pix, but gives a quick overview of how they are all looking at this point. 

Three Months of Growth

It's three months already and they are starting to look more meaty.  They are a united flock, with pecking order and outliers. There are some that always hold back a bit until the brave ones check out the situation first.  The same three or four are "in the coop" first and the same two or three are the last to proceed in.  It's an interesting group dynamic.  Since we only had four, last year, we didn't see this quite as much, or we kind of assumed that it was just their "personalities."  And, well, I guess it still is, but seems more pronounced, two fold. 

The color bands are still fitting, but we will need to switch them out soon. Two more months and they will be egg layers.

Almost Thirteen Weeks - Turning Pink

No pictures this week. They look pretty much the same with a couple of exceptions.  For some reason, the chicklet with the yellow band has feathers down onto her legs. Will need to keep an eye on what that's all about.

The combs are turning pink finally. They are starting to look more and more mature each week, 

They are finally tall enough to eat out of the special feed trough that I made inside their coop, so that saves a little space for them... One less feeder inside the coop. 

For the older gals, I just found out that the guys had taken the roosts out of the other coop, so the gals have been relying on their nesting box for sleeping purposes... What were the guys THINKING when they made that decision?  The guys built some different roosts for them, and hopefully, they will get back on track with roosting at night and stay out of the boxes unless they need to lay an egg!!! Oy Vey!

That's all for this week. 

Eleven Weeks and still growing

The girls are starting to make their vocal transition... from high pitched peeps to low pitched honks. They are a little less than three months old now and their voices are in transition. They don't quite cluck/braak yet. It sounds more like a little chicken honk. 

As you can see from the pix, the girls are feathering in nicely. They have more feathers on their faces and necks now. They also have the more upward stance that the mature Orloffs have. 

Thinning the flock has helped make it easier to clean up and we are not going through so much food and water for them any more. We should start getting eggs in about 15 more weeks :)

We don't get to see the rabbits very often. But tonight, near dusk, this little guy was holding very still trying not to be seen.

Rabbit scrounging for food?	It's a close up of the rabbit.

Becky, Leesa and Kow have found a new home.

Today, I was able to find a good home for the Buckeye and two Orloffs. We are down to seven Orloffs now. That will save a little on feed.  I was shocked at how quickly they sold. Posted an ad at noon online, and they were purchased five hours later!  Granted, they are both rare breeds, and such loving chickens, so I guess I should not be surprised.  If I knew that I could regularly sell a few extra chickens each year, I might be tempted to do just that to get some of my investment back.

The rest of the flock is in a bit of a funk. Becky was their "leader" and now they seem a little lost without her.  The other two Orloffs were lowest on the pecking order, so they were a bit bewildered when I pulled them and Becky out to place them in a pen next to their fun run.... They were definitely wondering how to get back into the main pen. 

Hopefully, the seven will get back on track since I kept the Middle of the flock intact. I'm certain that the two just above Leesa and Kow are wondering what they did to deserve being relegated to the bottom of the pecking order.

Color Tagged for Identification and Excitement Galore

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. 

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!

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.