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Poultry Comings and Goings
Aug. 17th, 2010 01:25 pmJoe, who bought all of our ducklings last week, came by this weekend with his MIL and wife who were interested in the two Buff Silkie chicks. They adored them, especially the MIL, so they have now gone on to their new home with the ducklings.
We helped in a rescue last week by taking in two horribly abused Rhodies. Someone had massively over-hatched, failed to sell or re-home them and so obviously ended up with 4 dozen very stressed out birds in their small home pen. Needless to say, as tolerant as Rhodies are to confinement, no chicken is that tolerant and they'd been attacking each other viciously. I'm not going to put pictures up, each of the two birds has a naked (feather-plucked) neck that are growing back slowly and thankfully, the cockerel's eye which was swollen shut has re-opened.
The first night after I tucked the two Rhodies in our pen, I checked back in a few hours and to my surprise found Sandy, one of the Buff Cochins, up in the loft nests with them, her long wing cradled protectively over them. She has continued to keep an eye out for them in the loveliest way. I've been spending roughly a half hour an evening in the coop, stroking Sandy while singing to them, then stroking Beryl (pullet) and Rojas (cockerel). They are calming considerably but still startle easily when you first pet them.
The chickens have begun to realize that Libby's kills are edible, not to mention lots of fun. Whatever your feelings about rodents, rats kill chicks and ducklings, infect a pen with fleas and bring in diseases. The chickens appear to be getting even with the rats and mice by running around with them in their beaks, pulling them apart and eating them. It's occasionally quite funny to see ten chickens chasing after a small chicken with a dead mouse in it's beak. They pull this same thing with frogs and insects.
The Island County Fair is this weekend, so we're gearing up here for a very busy weekend.
We helped in a rescue last week by taking in two horribly abused Rhodies. Someone had massively over-hatched, failed to sell or re-home them and so obviously ended up with 4 dozen very stressed out birds in their small home pen. Needless to say, as tolerant as Rhodies are to confinement, no chicken is that tolerant and they'd been attacking each other viciously. I'm not going to put pictures up, each of the two birds has a naked (feather-plucked) neck that are growing back slowly and thankfully, the cockerel's eye which was swollen shut has re-opened.
The first night after I tucked the two Rhodies in our pen, I checked back in a few hours and to my surprise found Sandy, one of the Buff Cochins, up in the loft nests with them, her long wing cradled protectively over them. She has continued to keep an eye out for them in the loveliest way. I've been spending roughly a half hour an evening in the coop, stroking Sandy while singing to them, then stroking Beryl (pullet) and Rojas (cockerel). They are calming considerably but still startle easily when you first pet them.
The chickens have begun to realize that Libby's kills are edible, not to mention lots of fun. Whatever your feelings about rodents, rats kill chicks and ducklings, infect a pen with fleas and bring in diseases. The chickens appear to be getting even with the rats and mice by running around with them in their beaks, pulling them apart and eating them. It's occasionally quite funny to see ten chickens chasing after a small chicken with a dead mouse in it's beak. They pull this same thing with frogs and insects.
The Island County Fair is this weekend, so we're gearing up here for a very busy weekend.
