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chickens
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My life has been rather crazed as of late, so I apologize for the absence of chicken updates. This has been a rather inopportune time to have new babies in my charge, but it has also been a welcome distraction.
The twelve chickens arrived via the United States Postal system in this box:
Yes, they were all jammed in there the day of their hatching and then shipped out. They had plenty of wiggle room, but I am sure they huddled together for warmth. Immediately upon getting them home I had to teach them how to eat and drink by shoving their heads into the water and food dispensers under the warm glow of the infrared brooder box I made with a Trader Joe’s Box and a red infrared light to keep them a toasty 95F.
The stress of the travel and new home gave the chickens a bad case of pasty butt, which is very 
common. For those not in the know, pasty butt is when the poop of the chickies blocks their vent — the place from which they both poop and eventually lay eggs.
Sort of goes against the whole idea of don’t shit where you eat, but that is Mother Nature for you.
This is life threatening so you must remove the pasty butt. The babies hated it as I needed to dunk their rear ends in warm water to soften the poop up and then remove it; usually with some feathers or down. Lots of struggling went on, but when a baby weighs about 4 oz, I was able to show that poop who was boss.
After curing the pasty butt and preventing further occurrences by giving them ground-up golden flax seed, life on the farm proceeded as it does during spring time — noisily. I had to move the babies to a bigger brooder box because they outgrew the initial one. Each week I will raise the infrared lamp up a touch to lower the brooder box temp. The chickens no longer need it to be 95 F because they are growing feathers at a rapid rate. They will head outdoors once they are fully-feathered which should be in the next two weeks or so.
We had a naming contest a while back. Frankly they all looked the same, so it was useless to assign a name at that time. Now that they are getting feathers, it is easy to tell them apart. Below are the winners. Meet the new flock!
Elizabird Taylor is a Salmon Faverolle (MotherGooch).
Elizabird is beautiful, gentle, loving and supports AIDS research. On the down side, she is likely to steal her best friend’s cock.
Mushpickle is a Speckled Sussex (BBQCornuts’ son).
Mushpickle loves to snuggle. It is fun to say “Mushpickle is a Speckled Sussex.” Go on, say it like 10 times, really fast.
Margaret Hatcher is an Silver Cuckoo Maran (TackyTick).
Margaret is stoic and supports Trickle Down economic theory. She also misses The Gipper. She is one of my faves.
Henifer Lopez is a Buff Orphington (DogsofWar).
Henifer is needy and will get a big rear end.
Maude is a Naked Neck (Homoviper).
Maude is noisy.
Nuggets is Buff Orphington (Dahl and The_Obvious).
Nugget loves to sit in my hand. I bet she’d like honey mustard.
Foxy is a Silver Cuckoo Maran (DidacticTactics).
Foxy is going to be a pretty bird, but I found it distressing to name a bird Foxy given we lost north of 12 birds last year to a fox.
Cadbury is an Easter Egger (Dancing Queen).
Cannot wait for Cadbury’s blue or green eggs. She also tends to hop about.
General Tso is one of the wildcards and I haven’t figured out which breed she is yet (The_Obvious via Dahl).
I am looking forward to figuring out what General Tso is. I wonder if, once I find out what she is, if I will become hungry again.
Camilla is a Salmon Faverolle (Six Thirty).
Camilla is sweet-natured and gets bullied by Maude constantly. Where is Gonzo when you need him? Men.
Mavis is a Speckled Sussex. (EDIT: I forgot to credit Cornflowerbleume)
She has a fondness for cocks with big chins.
Gayle is a Speckled Sussex (Dancing Queen).
Her best friend will be a Black Orphington named Oprah.
Other notable names that didn’t make the cut:
From BaldwinP a very long list of chicken dishes including A la King, Kiev, Tikka and Vindaloo. BaldwinP had lots of Fonzes (yes, I think the Fonz should be a proper noun), but I couldn’t figure out for which name. So sorry BaldwinP, you lose. DidacticTactics thought Dix (as in Dixie Chicks) would be a great name so we could have lots of dick jokes. I have to agree and my husband thought it was a most excellent idea — maybe the next batch of birds. Someone who clearly doesn’t know me well suggested Justice Ginsberg; aside from the fact she physically resembles a bird, that name would never do at chez momof3.
Of course, if I ever get a rooster it will be named DearBrutus as he has a big cock as he proudly told us all. However in my experience, those who crow the most about their size tend to have {ahem} performance issues.
*A special thank you goes to my 10-year old daughter Megan who snagged most of the chicks for me before school today so I could photograph them. Although she will never read this post and thank you due to all the cock references.
All dozen egg layers arrived safely and soundly. I received a call at 7:15 a.m. from my lovely postmaster this morning who begged me to pick up the express mailed chicks because the peep peep noise was already driving her nuts. I was happy to oblige as the chicks were overnighted to me moments after hatching, placed in a straw-lined box (8″x10″)and shipped to me. These chicks would huddle together for warmth in their trip from Ohio to Newark to Fairfield, CT. They needed water, food and most importantly HEAT.
They were very cold, thirsty and hungry when they arrived. Chickens aren’t the brightest creatures. They need to be shown how to eat and drink. Immediately upon getting them home, I pick each one up and place her in the preheated box that will be there home for the next week or so. I then must grab them, one by one, and literally shove their beaks into the waterer. I only need to do it to about half of them and then the rest figure it out. Lemmings. Same goes for food. I have to ‘force’ their heads into the feeder and by the time half of them figure it out, the rest join in the meal.
Baby chicks need to be at 95 plus degrees for the first week. I accomplish this by creating what is a brooder. My initial brooder is simply a cardboard box I picked up at Trader Joe’s the day before and it is heated by an infrared bulb. I place newspapers on the bottom and then top it with paper towels. Eventually, I will replace the paper towels with wood shavings once the chicks get the hang of eating their chick crumble. As the weeks go on, the temperature of the brooder will go down 5 degrees each week. I adjust the temp by moving the infrared bulb further from the brooder. These chicks will grow rapidly and will within a week or so outgrow the box from Trader Joe’s. I will be on the look out for a bigger box. I probably will be heading to Bed, Bath and Beyond.
Each of the chicks are about 1.5 oz currently. They are approximately 2 inches tall. Here they are in the coop next to an egg carton for a point of reference.
….and this is what they will eventually do: lay eggs. One of my Auracanas laid this baby today. Not sure which one did it, but I suspect she is now walking bow-legged. They have had a bit of a shock so I haven’t manhandled them too much today. Tomorrow, each of them will be properly named and I will post pics of each chick w/her name.
In addition to hoarding silver and gold (thanks Glenn!), our family is preparing for the apocalypse by producing our own food. I have already started my veggie seedlings under grow lights, planted my kale in my raised beds and tomorrow or Wednesday twelve new baby chicks will be arriving via post — yes, they are mailed to me. They will be a welcome addition to the ten gals I have already.
I ordered from Mypetchicken.com the following breeds:
Two Buff Orphingtons. These friendly, gentle birds are dual purpose — meaning good egg layers and good eating, but we will only use them for eggs. They aren’t flighty and are good egg layers. The only unfortunate thing about them is that their pretty buffed copper color really stands out on my lawn. It makes these trusting fowl a major target for hawks and other predators. The one I had last year, Gigi, bit the dust in the great fox massacre of 2010.
One Easter Egger. This is a hybrid variety of the Araucana breed that Martha Stewart made so famous. They lay blue, green or even slightly rose colored eggs — thus the name. When fully grown, they can look very different from each other. The distinguishing feature they all have is pale green legs. That is unique in the bird world.
Two Salmon Faverolles. I’m very excited to be getting these beautiful birds. Very shy and sweet-natured, I’m going to have to watch out that these two don’t get picked on by the others. I will probably keep them under the heat lamp far longer than the others I am bringing in this week. Beautiful salmon colored feathers with some white lacing make these hens out to be some serious eye candy for the backyard. They are prolific layers of light brown to cream eggs.
Two Silver Cuckoo Marans. Another breed I am excited to add to the flock. These beauties lay dark chocolate brown-colored eggs. The eggs taste the same as all the others, but are stunning to behold.The birds are good natured and good layers.
Three Speckled Sussex. Great layers of brown eggs and they are good cold weather layers. They tend to get heavy so they end up not being too flighty. Very curious in nature and will often come right up to you to ‘beg’ for a treat. Their speckled plumage offers protection from predators.
Two Wild Cards. Although I am a planner, I love surprises too. So I choose an assorted rare breed where My Pet Chicken gives me what’s available from a rare breed list. I’m hoping I don’t get a Naked Neck.
So I need some help naming these ladies. Girls names only please as I am guaranteed hens. The top twelve ranked names — vote with your Fonz — will get the honor of being my gals’ names. Names already accounted for: Roberta, Oprah, Carol, Hestia, Blaze, Pinstripe, Aimee, Eileen, Patsy and Judy. EDIT: These are names for chickens I already have.