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Post by whollygoats on Nov 9, 2012 21:55:06 GMT
So...Now I'm down to four chickens. Two hens and two pullets. At this point, I've one each, hen and pullet, laying. I have one hen who ceased laying this year back in mid-September. And, I have one pullet who has not yet begun to lay.
In the absence of the once alpha hen (Emma), who will become the new alpha? I thought it was Chance, who was taking every opportunity to roost higher than the other three. Ingrid was in the midst of a molt when Emma bought it, and it put her at something of a disadvantage in any possible competition for alpha position. She now has her tail back, but I haven't seen any indications that she is eager for the top position....
I think it is still a toss-up. Chance is attempting to roost entirely away from the flock (in the struts of the balcony awning frame, a fairly safe location, actually). Sonya joined her last night, making for a troublesome relocation. Y'know that old saw about a bird in the hand?
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Post by Moose on Nov 9, 2012 22:11:00 GMT
Twould be interesting to watch them jostling for supremacy I think
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Post by whollygoats on Dec 11, 2012 14:16:00 GMT
Here it is approaching midwinter's day, and not one of my hens is laying. Chance stopped over a month ago and started molting. She has looked like crap over the past weeks and only now is starting in with new feathers. She's still ragged, but she's improving. It did set her back in her bid for alpha. I don't know why it is, but the whole "I'm just not lookin' good" thang interferes with pushing one's dominance.
It's months now since Emma's loss, and I still don't see a clear alpha. I think that Chance will emerge as the boss lady come this spring. I saw her peck Eleanor. Sonya is the clear omega bird. It's the relationship between Ingrid, who has both seniority and size, and Chance, who is smarter and more merciful.
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Post by jayme on Dec 11, 2012 22:29:54 GMT
Well. I hope they sort this out and start laying in time for your solstice sunny-side-up breakfast.
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Post by whollygoats on Dec 11, 2012 23:42:11 GMT
Winter Solstice? In the northern hemisphere? Not likely.
They'll probably restart laying any time between mid-January and late February. That's been the typical timeline. I don't augment the light with artificial light, so they don't lay through the dark season. I could, but I've been told it shortens the hen's life.
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Post by jayme on Dec 12, 2012 2:54:37 GMT
You're so good to your chickies! Actually, I've heard that the artificial light thingy is true about humans, too.
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Post by whollygoats on Dec 12, 2012 3:52:01 GMT
I haven't told y'all that my girls are errant girls. They have been and continue to be non-compliant in the 'bedtime routines'. They have not been going to the hencondo at nightfall. Instead, they have been ascending to higher locations...specifically to the middle bar of the awing supports over the back balcony...which are above the hencondo. This is the result of Chance being all traumatized about Emma's demise (I think the raccoon snatched Emma from out of the hencondo). She started trying to roost up there....oh, about six weeks back, mebbe more. First, it was just her. But then Sonya figured it out and liked it. Then, the other two followed suit. Every night now, right after I arrive home from work, I get to set up the step stool on the back balcony and encourage each hen to switch from the bar to the back of my hand. I then carry them through the house, out the back door, around to the entrance of the hencondo and either urge or shove them in....then, back for the next one. One at a time.
I think of it as a modest exercise regime.
I suspect it is a craven bid by the girls for attention from their hoomin.
I know it is a PITA.
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Post by Alvamiga on Dec 12, 2012 19:34:57 GMT
You're so good to your chickies! Actually, I've heard that the artificial light thingy is true about humans, too. I've always avoided artificial light as much as possible, but I've probably shortened my life in other ways instead!
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Post by tangent on Dec 12, 2012 21:59:22 GMT
Does artificial light have any effect on how long you live? (Not counting the times when you fall downstairs in the dark because you haven't switched one on.)
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Post by jayme on Dec 12, 2012 22:24:50 GMT
Something to do with you not making enough melatonin and then being more likely to get cancer, I think.
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Post by whollygoats on Dec 12, 2012 23:04:49 GMT
I think that the extension from poultry to humans is tenuous.
I can't atest to its veracity, but I was told by a chicken care demonstrator that "each hen has so many eggs to lay and once they've laid them, their days are numbered." She noted that standard 'free range' type farm chickens (who tend to not lay year-round) live longer lives than the standard 'production' hen, who has been bred to lay daily, or near daily, from the time they start...particularly with light augmentation.
It's a natural means of not bringing progeny into the world in the lean and forbidding circumstances of winter. The fading light triggers the moratorium, just as once the light of day starts lengthening, it will trigger the resumption of egg laying.
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Post by tangent on Dec 13, 2012 1:36:41 GMT
That figures.
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Post by whollygoats on Dec 15, 2012 15:34:38 GMT
Quattro chicas malas.
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Post by Kye on Dec 15, 2012 16:27:36 GMT
Pretty girls.
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Post by whollygoats on Dec 15, 2012 17:46:09 GMT
Yeah...well...they're spoiled rotten. They should be giving off a stench.
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Post by whollygoats on Dec 15, 2012 17:50:40 GMT
I must admit, though...when Chance chose a location, she was much smarter than was her sister, Rooz. Rooz elected to roost in the bush and was right at the height of the top of the fence, a veritable raccoon roadway. Chance selected a place where it would be very difficult for the raccoons to access. It is really quite safe there. I'd be most concerned over the metal bar in the really cold temperatures....but then, I don't allow them there overnight, anyway.
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Post by whollygoats on Dec 24, 2012 2:12:51 GMT
Oooooo....I have to tell you my Solstice story....
On Solstice morning, I was looking for breakfast fodder and my eye fell upon the last remaining homegrown egg. One of Eleanor's classic dark eggs, lain probably three weeks earlier, before she was the last to shut down the egg production for the season. It had been lingering there.
So, figuring that I wouldn't be seeing any more fresh eggs for a bit, it being the darkest day of the year, I ate it.
Later that morning, I came traipsing through the kitchen and looked out the rear window upon the sight of my little RIR pullet, Sonja, who had not yet laid her first egg, exiting the choice nesting basket, the one with the wooden egg. I thought to myself that it was nice to see her doing recon on the egg-laying sites.
Later that same day, I sauntered out to the porch of the garden shed, where all three nesting baskets are stationed, and lo, and behold, if the choice nesting basket didn't have two eggs in it. One, the usual wooden egg, the other a nice large tan (aka 'brown') egg, freshly laid. It seems in red Sonja I've got myself a winter layer.
Such as it is, with these April Fool Girls.
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Post by tangent on Dec 24, 2012 6:16:57 GMT
Well, that's a nice Winter Solstice present.
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 16, 2013 1:33:47 GMT
Well...Ingrid started laying again back about a week ago. So, now I've got green eggs to go with the brown.
In other chicken news, today I purchased a dozen chicks. Three each of red, gold, and black sexlinks, and another three of EasterEggers.
None of these will be staying, although two may come back, depending upon the circumstances. They are all going to the farm. where they will have lots of elders and at least one cock. I hear our renter already added a half dozen to the crowd I provided with Junior. The renter says they've only lost one bird to predators.
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 17, 2013 19:40:57 GMT
Proof pix of chix: I'ze bin out pickin' up chix...and my sweetheart don't care. I got three each of red, black, and gold sexlinks (Comets, Rocks, Stars...I've called them 'RockStars'), and three EasterEggers, an Americuana derivative...mongrel layers of green/blue eggs. I'm feathering them out and once they are feathered pullet stage, they'll go out to the farm. There will not be a Camp Scratch at Ravenswood this year. Four full-size hens in sufficient. In the meantime, I have little foofy peepers peeping their little foofy guts out down in the basement.
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Post by Kye on Feb 17, 2013 20:41:20 GMT
Ooooo!! Kee-yoot!
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 17, 2013 21:48:49 GMT
Datz cuz dey iz foofy.
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Post by Moose on Feb 18, 2013 0:27:24 GMT
very purty.
This might be a silly question but if an egg had been laid three weeks before how were you sure that it was edible? I suppose if you've not got a cock then it would not be fertile (?) but is a three weeks old egg still good?
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 18, 2013 1:40:22 GMT
very purty. This might be a silly question but if an egg had been laid three weeks before how were you sure that it was edible? I suppose if you've not got a cock then it would not be fertile (?) but is a three weeks old egg still good? Not a silly question. It depends. Eggs, when laid, come with what is known as 'bloom', which is a final protective coating the hen's system places on the egg. It coats the shell. It can be washed off. Indeed, that is why typical grocer's eggs can go bad if not refrigerated...they've been washed to make them look nice and clean, thereby washing the bloom off. The bloom is there to keep eggs, particularly fertile eggs, viable during typical outdoor weather. That way, once a 'clutch' has been created and, in the presence of a 'broody hen' who will sit on the eggs in an attempt to hatch them, they can all be rewarmed by hen butt at the same time...brooding the eggs. This consistant heat and humidity as applied by the broody hen starts the development process which leads to hatching. Therefore...an egg can last a goodly long time without refrigeration ...if they are not washed. I leave mine out in a pottery bowl until I use them. Some stay there for weeks. Still...if you want to know if an egg might be inedible and want to know how to tell, place the egg in a container of water. If the egg is bad, it will float...I understand this is due to gases formed during decomposition processes. Does that help?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2013 7:20:04 GMT
Cute picture!
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Post by whollygoats on Aug 4, 2013 19:16:53 GMT
Uh-oh....I see I have not been keeping y'all up to date on the Ravenswood chicken society. You see, late last spring, like around May Day, Sonja, my Rhode Island Red, went 'broody'....she decided that she wanted to hatch eggs. Now, in the past, when I had a hen go broody, I tried to break her of it by separating her from the nest and not allowing her to 'sit'. Some folks actually have the hen sit in cold water to 'cool her down' (yes, they do increase their body heat somewhat, but they also pluck all their underside feathers in order to get warm naked flesh directly on the incubating eggs). I haven't yet. Anyway, this time, we figured that we had a source of fertile eggs in Junior and his harem in the sticks. So, we got a handful (7, actually) and put them under Sonja and put the whole setup in the garden shed for safety. She sat and incubated for three weeks and, on Father's Day, she hatched out five of the seven eggs. It's now seven weeks later and the little fluffballs are now fully feathered out and ranging the yard... They still all squeeze into the basket, which I have set back in to the garden shed, each night with Sonja. However, they have shown that they are adept at lightning foodgrab strikes right under the beaks of the 'mean girl' biddies. Sonja has taught them well and although I've only managed to handle one of them, they are unafraid of me and have learned to expect treats and to beg at the back door. They'll now eat from my hand...or snatch goodies from the beak of an unawares biddy. Allah the kids on my lawn. Polishing off the tin of catfood. The hatchlings, milling about my feet. The two at five o'clock are my two suspected pullets. The Turkomarans on the six o'clock side and the Easter Marans on the four o'clock side. Noon and nine are pretty good bets to be cockerels...baby roos. The hatchling there at 10:30 is difficult to determine. It has more of a gold tone on the head feathering and it covers the head and extends down to the shoulders, like a mantle. There is comb development, but it is between that of the suspected pullets (5 o'clockers) and that of nine o'clock, a pretty sure bet of a babyroo. I'm hoping that 'gold mantle' turns out to be a pullet. Of course, they are all direct relatives of Eleanor, my Black Copper Marans hen: Eleanor is a sister to Junior, their father. Boss chicken around these parts is Ingrid, the EasterEgger: Chance, my Welsummer, is the Executive Hen: Curiously, Ingrid used to be the meanest girl, but that torch has passed to Eleanor after Ingrid could use the garden shed to lay her eggs. Eleanor does, too, but getting that access did not change her demeanor. Eleanor is now the chief bully and consequently gets the most squirt bottle action...which is why she looks so tenative in her first pic; she doesn't like to have anything pointed at her now. Chance, however, got early acceptance from Sonja to graze with the chicks....she doesn't even bother with annoying the chicks. So...The Turkomarans has a home. She'll be going to my former feathering co-conspirators to a larger flock on a larger chunk of property...with goats! I'm hoping to keep the Easter Marans pullet and the gold mantled Marans mutt (I think it's a Welsummer trait pushing through all that Marans hereditary material) that I hope is a pullet. The boys will be "going on mission". Oh, yeah... Picard keeps a close watch on everything from inside the back screen door. He really thinks that he should be allowed to go out and play with all those peepers.
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Post by tangent on Aug 4, 2013 19:38:44 GMT
Nice photos.
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Post by raspberrybullets on Aug 4, 2013 19:57:43 GMT
Eleanor is a pretty one! Nice name too, I have thought of naming my baby that if I have a girl. Then I can call her Ellie for short which is so cute. And it's a flower in Lothlorien as well.
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Post by tangent on Aug 4, 2013 20:00:25 GMT
I have thought of naming my baby that if I have a girl. Are you pregnant?
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Post by raspberrybullets on Aug 4, 2013 20:02:08 GMT
LOL no. I mean in future. Funny, my mum also thought that when I called her up excitedly. I think she was just projecting cos that is what she would be excited about.
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