Backyard Poultry Info Centre

Lovely pics! With the 'kicking stuff in the water' problem, I have found it helpful to sit the waterer on a bit of ply large enough to keep the waterer well clear of the worst of the kicking. That way everyone can still get to it but it gets less full of stuff as they can't scratch and dig right next to it.

I think that my coop must be way smaller than your arrangements, 70%cocoa.

Originally, the piece of wood that I put in there was to keep the waterer well away from where they could scratch. It's simply not far enough away. Despite only scattering crumble on it, and no rice hulls, the entire board & entire rim of the waterer (right around the 'moat') was full of rice hulls when I first saw them on the floor of the coop yesterday.

I'm currently recharging the video doodad so that I can get some footage of them all.

When I stuck my head in a short while ago, I saw the little yello' fella learn a new lesson in life:

- Don't stand too close behind Mum when she's scratching the ground.
'He' was kicked clear across the coop like a small ball, landing on his back & making plaintive sounds of humiliation & confusion. After a few seconds of complaint with no response from any member of the family, he stood up & rejoined them... and didn't go near her legs at all.

They were all given a group lesson after that:
- A decent dustbath a day keeps the nasties away.
Mum had a massive roll in the corner of the coop, with four tiny faces watching her with amusement. The yello' fella stood on her back at one point, but that didn't last long as she kept rolling on her side. The large hole that she created seemed to be of some interest to them all, and once or twice I was a little concerned that one or other of them would be squashed beneath her. They were all in one piece, and unsquashed, when I left her there rolling about with pleasure.

They're massively more inquisitive of things today compared to yesterday:
- Everything must be investigated.
All of them, upon seeing parts of the coop that they didn't necessarily notice previously, stretch their necks & stand on tiptoes to see as much as possible. You can see their brains assessing whether or not they can leap to certain places, and then trying different routes to see if that will help them reach their intended destination. A quick call from Mum, or her wandering away a little, is enough to scare them into thinking they'll be abandoned, so they run back to her in a straight line (including up & over bricks if they're in the way).

Winglet (suckered in big time... I wonder if Mr Winglet will notice if I move them indoors?)

Congratulations Winglet, I put my waterers up on house bricks. High enough to keep most things out of it and lower enough that the littles ones can jump up for a drink.

Shea

Thanks a lot winglet for sharing with us !
I start feeling a bit sorry though for all the chickies that have to grow up without a "feathered" mum.....

And I wonder what you are going to tell them at work - you can't go back now, can you........?

Looking forward to the proceedings.......

How goes the tribe??

The tribe are doing very well indeed. Lengthier updates & photos to come over the weekend sometime.

Briefly:
- Last night I noticed (by torchlight) that some wing feathers are coming through on at least one or two
- I witnessed a chick poo being deposited !! Very healthy it looked, if I do say so myself.
- The little yello' fella is not the brightest of the bunch... although seems to be the favourite of many who've seen photos of the four (personally, I prefer the black chicks)
- Two of the black chicks LOVE to sit under Mum's breast feathers & poke their heads out to view the world from a safe spot
- Then the lazy peckers get fed little titbits by Mum, who picks them up from in front of her & drops them again for the chicks to eat
- Mum fed one a tiny caterpillar-like critter that I inadvertently added to the coop whilst adding some rice hulls (must have been in the container) day or two back
- I have some video footage of them foraging with Mum, although I have no idea how to get it onto the interweb-thingy anywhere (help appreciated via PM please)... includes clucking of both Mum & of the rest of the flock (Elwood et al) outside the coop, behind the camera

Winglet

Your photos are brilliant! i am going to learn. Mine seem to be fuzzy as the girls keep moving. Those chickens are creatures that make you melt. I also wish all of them had a mum. It is the best thing on earth to watch. In my previous life we put 6 day old chicks,all different colours, under a broody RIR hen. She was a wonderful mother. My children are adopted and I did it to show that mothers love their adopted children the same even different coloured ones. They loved the whole thing. I have wanted a hen and chickens for a long time. Perhaps when I move back to civilisation. Te r Winglet saga is enough now.

coppertop.. mytricks are: a) have a really good camera, b) take LOADS of photos (digital cameras are great for that), c) read the tips in the Photo Competition area of BYP... the one I recall the MOST is to take lots of photos & forget about framing; you can digitally alter the frame later.

More photos uploaded to Gallery which were taken tonight... my favourite few are....

Okay then....

Tonight we came home to discover:

1. One poor lonely chick in the outside run, screaming loudly to be rescued; Mum in the nestbox inside with the other three & all of them calling gently to the lost one with no success... I helped her in & she was MOST grateful.

2. Both inside & outside water containers FULL of rice hulls; I've removed the pebbles from the inside one (and refreshed the water, which I've been doing at least daily since they hatched); and retained marbles in the deeper outside one.

3. Rice hulls scattered about in the outside run; so Mum must have taken them on a sojourn outside (hence our little lost chick).

4. Feathers on the wings of two chicks are growing far more than on the other two; I suspect two pullets (the greater feather growth) & two cockerels (much less feather growth).... photo of one chick only is below. I wanted to keep them away from each other for as little time as possible, so photo is taken at door of coop... Mum was very understanding about the entire affair.

Photo's a bit fuzzy.. took heaps in rapid succession, and this is the best one (sorry all).
One other black chick has similar feathering on wings (both primaries & secondaries visible). The yellow chick & last black chick only have short primaries visible at present.

I hope to get better pics of the four tomorrow for comparison, and will put legbands (plastic ties, which I'll replace as they grow) on those I believe are pullets to see if I've figured them out okay.

Ciao until the next update,
Winglet

Morning update for day 7 (6 for yello' fella):

- Mr Winglet up before me & opened up coop doors for his ladies.

- By the time I headed out to have a peek at everyone; MyShell was in the outside run with one chick, and showing it how to look for insects that might have crawled in under the run ! Very one on one lesson as other 3 chicks happily inside the coop (no calling out for mum, so quite content). I'm thinking that she's only shown that one chick outside now... but watching this morning, it is now very aware of how to get back inside up the ramp. Yay !!

- Tail feathers appearing on one chick (at least)... so must take many closeup photos from all angles of all chicks today for upload & comments in 'What is This?' as well as gloat pics for this thread. Will put ties on the two that I suspect are pullets, as mentioned in last post.

- Heading out for the day to get a few things done now... back later to take many photos, figure out what I'll put on my new signature, get many things done around the house & then upload photos for you all to see.

BTW.. I can't BELIEVE I took the photo of the water disturbance as Mum & yello' fella were drinking last night... I LOVE it !!

Winglet (so many chicks, and potential chicks, so little time !)

More photos are in the Gallery; and I'll be putting the chick side shots, front shots & wing shots into 'What is This?' shortly.

Mum being very attentive;


Mum being very protective;


Some of the yello' fellas interesing colouration... the colours in this particular photo are very true to life;

Okay... front & side shots of the chicks individually are now in 'What is This?' for people's opinions.

I'm thinking we have 1 definite pullet, 1 likely pullet & 2 definite cockerels. I do enjoy the complete lack of certainty with the whole chick raising thing... despite the angst at times & the waiting that can seem like 10 times longer than it actually is.

Today I watched for ages as Mum showed the chicks how to find live food in the run. She'd scratch & poke around under the edges of the wooden frame of the run, which sits on house bricks, and she'd scratch about in the rice hulls & lucerne on the floor. The moment anything moved she called the chicks across, if they weren't already underfoot, and they'd all dive in & grab whatever was moving. The hunger of the chicks having missed out was sufficient for them to then pick up & eat the crumble that I'd scattered for them.

The speed at which the chicks can all race about now is quite astonishing ! They seem to magically appear at MyShell's feet from nowhere when she calls them, as if they're travelling through invisible portals. Which brings me to their next interesting lesson of the day;

How to follow Mum through the wall !! The 'wall' here is the fabric curtain that hangs in the doorway between their run & the coop when the ramp/door is open. Mum & one chick toddled up the ramp & slipped between the hanging straps of fabric, with the three remaining chicks following along behind until they no longer saw their sibling & mother ahead of them... it must have seemed that they had vanished before their very eyes. The three of them stood on the ramp contemplating their next move, as I hear Mum call to them from inside. The noise caused some urgency amongst them, and one of the chicks became anxious enough to look for an alternative route in through the wooden walls from below the ramp & from either side of it; no success, but you have to give points for lateral thinking. That chick returned to the others on the ramp with no trouble, and the three of them bustled each other as one tried to stand still in the middle of the ramp; the highest chick tried to return to the floor of the coop; and the lateral-thinker tried to force the others to push on through the wall.

As our lateral-thinker made headway to the top of the ramp, the other two were looking elsewhere & considering what else they would do if they couldn't get to Mum. At the moment they both happened to be looking away, the more persistent of them pushed into the gap between the curtain & the top of the ramp, at a bottom corner of the doorway, and slipped inside easily. I laughed aloud as I witnessed this disappearing act, mainly because the pair remaining in the run could so easily have followed if they had just been paying attention.

The angst of being left outside with only one sibling led both of them to return to the top of the ramp & look earnestly at the curtain ('wall') before them. Further calls from Mother, and the fear of being abandoned, pushed them to courageously push into the bottom corner of the curtain... one following the other inside as they tumbled onto the pile of rice hulls & back towards their family. A great deal of greeting chirps followed, soon after quiet ensued & I peeked inside to see the entire family having a communal drink & then settling down for the evening as darkness began to approach.

Lovely !

9 & 10 days old (yello' fella being born the day after the rest)


Who dat dare?