New Baby Chicks AGAIN!!!

I went out to make sure that Ebony, my black banty hen had put her babies to bed, she's been taking them out during the day and hunkering down outside at night, but with all the rain we've been having I make her move them inside.  These three were hatched on June 11th.

When my grandchildren and Great neices and Nephew come over and want to hold the chicks I have to pick up Ebony so that she doesn't peck them.  She doesn't seem to mind too much, just sits in my arm until they start squawking, then she tries to get loose.  I want the kids to handle them so that they are mellow when they grow up.  The more we handle them the more mellow they seem to be.  I like that because I have to pick them up sometimes and I don't like chasing them.

So when I made her move the babies inside I decided to check for eggs and heard a chick cheeping on the upper level of the coop.  I knew I had Josephine brooding, but didn't expect new chicks yet.

 If you look really close you can see a tiny face peeking out at the end of her wing feathers, right where the fluff lightens.  There is a broken shell on the floor behind her too. So I picked up her wing and sure enough this is what I found hiding under her.

 It is mostly black, but I could see feathers on it's legs.  It is a tiny one too, so most likely it is a banty.  I checked to see if there were any more and there is one more egg that I could see.  Hopefully by morning it will hatch too.  Josephine isn't as cranky as Ebony was.  Josephine scooted around until the chick came out where I could see it.  Just like her momma Sara Svati did when Josephine hatched.

I love watching the babies grow.  Can you tell I'm excited.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

Update on the new Baby Chicks.

Well, I am running behind on the updates, but it's been a crazy around here.  I'll post about that later.

Ebony (momma chicken) has been taking the chicks outside, but sometimes the little ones either can't get out of the coop cause the doorway is too tall, or they get left outside when she goes in.  I put a blocks inside and outside of the coop tonight, hopefully that will help them get in and out better.  They are so cute.  Here are some new pics I took on Thursday.

Ebony doesn't really like us picking up the chicks, so I pick her up first and then the kids can pick up the chicks without getting pecked at.  I hope they are all hens.  I don't need any more roosters.  Especially BIG ones.  

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

Total of 3!

Yes it is official, we have three (3) new baby chicks.  Here is all I could see on Wednesday.

Baby hiding under mom

 One came out at a time and sometimes I didn't have the camera with me.  I did see all 3 out a one time but my phone battery was too low to take a pic.

If you look close you can see little yellow legs under the hen.  Apparently she didn't want them to get cold.  Once I put the heat lamp back out there they were running all over the place.

Look at how cute they are, 

The little black one in the back has feathers on it legs like the Cochins.  The one in the middle looks like an Ameraucana.  Not sure what the one in the front looks like.  This will be fun to see how they change in the next few weeks.  I'll keep you posted.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

A Sneak Peek!!!

I knew that my little Black Cochin Banty hen was setting on eggs.  The roosters had been kicking her off the nest so I made a barrier to keep them away and thought the eggs should hatch any time now.  Steve and I went out this evening and found one light colored chick and we could hear another one but couldn't see it. Of course I forgot to take my camera.  When Steve and Jordan returned home after Jordan's Band concert I took Jordan out to see and this is what we found.  A little black looking one peeking out from under Momma's wing, still wet.  I saw another dark colored one too, but wasn't fast enough with the camera.  Mamma wasn't too happy with me poking around under her feathers to see just how many she has.  It was hard to tell just how many eggs she had under her but it looked like about a dozen, the other hens had been laying them in her nesting box or she had been stealing them, not sure which.  I don't know if they will all hatch or not but I hope so.  It will be fun to see how many banties and how many full size chicks hatch.  

When I took the picture of the chick Jordan said "Wow!!! He gets his first look at the world and you blind him." 

I'll keep you posted on the progress of the chicks.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

Update on my chickens.

The hens that hatched out in October are starting to lay now and boy was I surprised.  I have 2 Banty/ Cochin hens, one Black and 1 Red, 2 Banty/Frizzle hens that are Red. and 2 Silver Laced Cochin hens and 5 Black Australorp mix hens. They are mixed with Buff Orpington and Ameraucanas.   2 are solid black and 2 have a little color on the front of the neck one almost looks like a Rooster, with the 2 tone feathers on the head and neck, they are reddish orange then she has blood red feathers on her wings and chest.  She is Beautiful.  Diffenatly an Ameraucana mix.
That is a total of 11 hens. I think that is enough for now.

So I have been getting some dark green eggs which is an Ameraucana trait but yesterday I got quite a surprise when I went to gather the eggs.  I only got 5 which was not a big deal, but the size of one was, that poor hen must have hurt laying it.

 The little light brown egg is a Banty egg so it is a little smaller than a regular egg, but the green one in the middle is a normal Ameraucana egg.  the one on the right barely fits in the egg carton and then it won't close all the way.

 When I first saw it I said OUCH!!! Dawn said she had gotten some really big eggs, but I didn't think I would get any this big.  That one egg makes the banty eggs look even smaller.

 I also ended up with 4 Roosters out of the 2 hatchings.

 Miss Mary, my chicken whisperer holding Mr Speckles, who looks like his dad Zeus did.  He is a mix between a Silver Laced Cochin Banty and a Silver Laced Wyandotte.  He is the size of the Wyandotte not the Banty.

 This Rooster is a Black Australorp/Ameraucana mix.  You can see a little bit of coloring in his neck but not much.  He has the puffy cheecks that the Ameraucanas have.  We are calling him Mr. Ameraucana.

 This Rooster is a Black Australorp/Buff Orpington mix.  You can see some buff colored feathers in his neck area. Black Australorp roosters are very tall, they stand taller than my knees, I am 5'2".  The one below has a lot of buff feathers in his neck area and on his wings.  He looks more like what they call a splash.

 I am thinking about selling the roosters, I don't really need any new babies this year.  I can't eat the eggs like I had planned when I first got the chicks so now I am selling the eggs.  Mr Speckles keeps everybody in line for me and makes sure they all go to bed at night, which is nice.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

The Baby chicks are 2 weeks old now.

They are so cute.  They are getting big too.  The other morning when I let the other chickens out of the coop the new babies came down the ramp in between the ones that were born in July, Cleopatra was on the ramp about half way down and stopped.  The little baby chick decided it didn't want to wait for Cleopatra to move so it jumped on Cleopatra's back.  Cleopatra jumped and ran down the ramp and shook real good to get the baby chick off her back and was ready to go out side.  It was so funny to watch.  Here is a  pic of the new babies.

Chuck is learning to crow, it sounds like a Kazoo.  At first I thought it was the neighbor boy playing  with a Kazoo in his yard, but it was Chuck.  I love to hear him crow, it is so cute.  Here is a couple pics of Chuck.  I think he is quite handsome.  Mostly white with some black speckles on his neck and tail.



I hope you enjoy hearing about my little farm.

I have a few new cards to share soon too.  I'll try to get those posted in the next couple days.

Happy Scrappin,

Janice

New Baby Chicks.

Medusa has been setting on 2 eggs for three weeks now and so I have been checking on her quite often the last couple of days. There were still 2 eggs yesterday morning and yesterday afternoon, when I went out to check on Medusa to see if we had babies, we did.  One was all dry but the other was still wet.  My hens like to lay in the same nest box and so sometimes there are 3 different colors of eggs in the one nest.  I tried to keep Medusa from nesting but she insisted.  She even pecked at me once when I tried to take the eggs so I told her she could keep 2 and I put and M on both and pulled all of the others that I found.

Here are pictures.

 I believe that the first one is a Silver Laced Wyandotte, because it doesn't have many feathers down it's legs and on it's feet.

This one is a Cochin, it has lots of feathers on it's legs.

It is getting pretty chilly at night now, I hope they will be ok.  I have heat lamps in the coop so I think they will be fine.  I will keep you posted on the growth.

On a sad note, I lost my favorite hen yesterday.  Sarasvati, the hen that just hatched chicks in July.  Sara was a Partridge Cochin

RIP Sarasvati Feb. 2011 - Oct. 11, 2012

I have a crop and card class on Saturday so I should be able to get some artwork made.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

One fine day.

3 of my grandchildren spent the night Saturday night and on Sunday, Grandpa took Zack to some garage sales with him.  He was so excited and had a great time. He found a Game boy advance with 2 games and a caring case for $5.00.  What a deal.

When the Girls got up, I took them out to feed the goats and chickens.  They love to catch the baby chicks and hold them.  Elliot took some treats right out of their hands like he does for me.  Of  course he has to spin a circle between each treat or bite of bread.  He is so funny, he is quite the character.  Still thinks we are crazy for wanting to touch him.   I will have to take a video of Elliot when I give him a treat.

After we were done feeding the animals, we went into the Stamp room and I cut out a mini album with 6 pages each for Mary and Hailey from the new Artiste Cartridge and 3 items each from other cartridges.  I let them choose the paper colors and they both chose the mini album from page 58, which has 4 pages so I let them choose which pages they wanted 2 of.  This little book took most of the day.  The girls had a great time.

When Dawn came to pick up the kids, I took her out to meet the goats, Elliot took a treat from her and Giselle came right to me  and took a treat from me.  This is a first for her, especially with other people standing near.  I usually have to gently tug on her rope to get her to come over to me to get the treat.  We noticed that her rope was all twisted up (she still had about 15 feet that wasn't all twisted up), so I held her collar while Dawn untangled her rope and we slid it back on her without her even flinching.  She just stood there letting me scratch her neck and head until we were done, we walked away before she realized that we were not holding onto her.  They are both getting used to all the kids running through the yard and making all kinds of noise.  They just stand there and watch them now instead of running.  Once in a while they still get startled but not as often. We had 10 kids in the yard at one time today.

My Chicks are 6 weeks old now.

It is hard to believe that time passes so quickly.  I am pretty sure I know the sex of my chicks now.  I have 3 hens and 1 Rooster and now that I know that I have decided what to name them too.  Here are their pictures and names.

 This is Cleopatra. She is a Partridge Cochin Frizzle.

 This is Bella Vie. She is a Partridge Cochin Frizzle also.

 This is Josephine. She is a Partridge Cochin, but I don't think she is part Frizzle.

 And this white one is my little Rooster Chuck. 

Chuck refused to come out from under the tree so that I could get a good picture of him, and when he did he ran under another one near by.

I am pretty sure that Chuck's Mother is my Golden Sex-link, not sure who his dad is,
maybe my Cochin Rooster.

I have learned a lot about chickens this year.  I learned that Sex-links are bread to know the sex when they hatch.  To get the Golden Sex-Links they breed a Red hen with a Silver Rooster and when they hatch the Golden are hens and the Silver are Roosters, they never stay true the next generation.

Well I am off to finish working on my stamp room, hopefully I will be able to share pictures later this week.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

Update on the Baby Chicks.

The babies are now about 3 & 3 1/2 weeks old.  They are getting bigger and now I can see tail feathers starting to grow.  I still can't tell the sex yet, but in another couple weeks I'm sure I will be able to.  Here are some pics.

 This is the youngest one, it has the strait wing feathers and I can see the tail feathers starting.

 I love the coloring of this little chick.  This one is so fast we call it Speedy Gonzales.

 This is the second one that hatched and it is the darkest of all of them.  It has the curly wing feathers and barely has tail feathers.

 This is the First one that hatched, it has similar markings as the other two but it's wing feathers aren't quite as curly. It is lighter in color like the youngest one.

 This is the third oldest and has a lot of white feathers.  It is now getting some black on the wing feathers.  After reading a lot about my hens, we think that this one might be from my Golden Sex-link.

 I let them out everyday so they can forage in the grass.  Sarasvati and Medusa keep a close eye on them, especially when the other chickens are around. 

These chicks are so cute and fun to watch.  I can hardly wait to see them develop into big chickens.

Happy Scrappin',

Janice

My baby chicks are now 2 weeks old.

They have several pin feathers now and are growing like weeds.  

 Here they are getting ready to hop down from the door jam like Sarasvati did.

And here Medusa is in the Door jam.

 This one is the 2nd one that hatched.  I believe it is part Frizzle because the way it's pinfeathers on it's wings are curling up.  I am pretty sure that the mom is Sarasvati, my Partridge Cochin.

 Here my Great Nieces are holding 2 of the chicks.

We are trying to pick out names for them but I'm not sure if we have pullets or cockerels, or maybe both.  I am hoping for Pullets but won't know for sure for a few weeks more.

 Here my Niece, Tarina is holding the youngest of the 4 chicks and we are looking at it's pinfeathers.  No curls on this one, Yeah.  

 This is the 3rd one hatched and I'm not sure if it is a golden sexlink or if the dad was the Silkie.

 This is the first hatched and it also has curled pinfeathers.

 We have been letting them out in the grass during the day.

 Here are the 2 hens and their 4 chicks.  They are letting my great niece pet them, we all got to pick up the chicks and hold them and the hens too.  They are so mellow, except when another hen tries to get too close to the chicks.  Medusa takes quick action and lets them know who they are messing with.

They are really exploring the yard today.

 Zeus is small enough that he fits through the gate and can go between the two pins.  I bet he is tired tonight after all the trips between the two pins.

Here Zeus, Marigold and one of my Silver Laced Wyandottes is curious to see what is in the Upper part of the coop.  I screened it in so that they couldn't just jump right in with the hens and their          chicks.  

Happy Scrapin',

Janice

Update on my Baby chicks.

I am having so much fun, watching the new babies.  I have a total of 4 babies and the 2 Momma's are doing a fine job of protecting them.  Here are some pics.

Here are the newest members of our family.

 I haven't named any yet.  Still waiting to determine the sex.  2 were born on my SIL birthday and he is out of town till Sept. so he didn't get to see them yet so I told him if we have a little rooster I will name him Chuck in honor of Charlie's Bday.

 You can see here that all 4 are very different.  

 For some reason the little white one likes to sit on Medusa's back.  

 Now she has 2 hanging out on her back.

 Yesterday and today both hens decided to go out side for a bit.  Yesterday the hens keept looking back and clucking at the chicks and I thought they were saying "Well, come on you can do it."  But today I was taking these pictures and the hens are down the ramp and they are clucking and the little white one steps out on the door jam and the clucking got louder then the white one went inside.

 The one on the left gets on the door jam and the 2 hens hustle back up the ramp and rushes them all back away from the edge.

 Sarasvati first then Medusa right behind her.

Play time was over.  I will try to keep you up to date on the chicks.  Especially when we introduce them to the rest of the flock.  

I have been busy working on the projects for Saturdays card class, Bunko and the crop.  We are using the new Clementine papers and creating a beach scene.  I am having so much fun. I am playing with both of my CTMH Cartridges and coming up with some fun stuff.

If you are interested in coming to the card class, Bunko or the Crop you can sign up here.

Happy Scrapin',

Janice