Christy's Coop

See the new baby chick hatched today! That is not its “real” mother but just one of the hens that sat on the batch of eggs. Four total hatched today (so far)!!

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Did you know that chickens like yogurt? I was reading about “chicken snacks” on some site (yes, really) and read that they like yogurt. So, we tried it. I think this is Greek yogurt with strawberries. They were a little hesitant to try it at first (I think it was the container that worried them) but loved it once they did. Check out the yogurt on the chicken’s beak!!

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This is Erin with her favorite chicken, Hamburger. He is a Red Frizzle.

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These are four, relatively new, Barred Rocks that have been recently moved to the big coop. Unfortunately, it is taking them a while to figure out how and when to go in at night. Here is Erin carrying all four at once to the coop!

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Wow!! Just picked up our turkeys from being processed. So, there are now seven jumbo (a couple are EXTRA-jumbo) guys in the freezer. YUM!! We have some serious poultry – all home grown.

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Hamburger in her (?) awkward teenage phase:

Queen Elizabeth:

One of the turkeys – starting to look yummy!:

Some of the sheep:

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Rango and Gru:

Hamburger with his “eyelash” wings:

Baby turkeys:

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Here are some pictures of our new baby chicks. They are about 2-3 days old here. The black ones with the dot on their head are Barred Rocks. The rest are Erin’s Bantams and will be little even when grown! She got Silkies and Frizzles this time. Can’t wait to see what they look like when they get big…

One of the Silkies. I love the serious look on its face.

One of the Frizzles. I think the ones Erin ordered will be reddish when grown.

Note: We got our baby TURKEYS last night!! Will post pictures of them next!

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Here are a couple of the new chicks…

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Here are Erin and Jordyn repainting the chicken tractor. They are getting it ready for Erin’s new babies. She is getting six Bantam chicks at the end of April to be her personal pets. They are going to live in the chicken tractor in the yard…

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The broilers go to the processor today (if we can figure out how to get them there) and then to the freezer. Yeah! Having 45 giant chickens in the garage gets old fast.

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Here is one of my beautiful Spotted Sussex hens. She is very sweet.

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Yesterday was the 4H broiler show. Whew! Travis got 22nd and Kathryn got 24th out of over 70 pens of chickens. Not bad for our first try.

Here is Travis with his helpers Erin and Jordyn and his three chickens:

Here is Kathryn with her helper Kat and her three chickens:

Here is Travis waiting with a chicken for Junior showmanship:

And Kathryn with a chicken waiting for Senior showmanship:

So far, we have only lost 4 out of 50 chickens. They all head to the processor and then the freezer on Thursday. Yum! Guess you know what you will be eating if you come visit…

Goat show is Friday.

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We got our chicks for the 4H Broiler project yesterday evening. 50 total and they are being raised in the garage. Yes, I did say garage. These are Kathryn and Travis’ project. (Erin has a goat.) They are really cute right now – all fluffy and yellow. Unfortunately, they won’t stay that way long. Here are a few pictures.

Here is a picture of my homemade brooder ring. It is made of leftover Cub Scout popcorn boxes taped together to be approx. 5-6′ in diameter then filled with wood shavings about 4-5″ deep.

Did you see the cool stands the waterers are on? Troy made these for me (my design). They are a couple of 2×8′s at the base with some old dowels inserted to hold the waterers in place. You can then raise them higher as needed by sliding pieces of 2×4 across. The 2×4′s were cut long enough to give the base plenty of stability. Those chicks are tiny now, but by the end of the project they can weigh close to 10 pounds! Here is a picture of an empty stand.

Simple and cheap (not cheep!) – made with all stuff we had on hand.

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Did you now that chickens will eat just about anything fed to them by just about anyone?

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Better than the Toys-R-Us Big book! Yesterday afternoon, I received the catalog from the Murray McMurray Hatchery that I ordered. Pictures of all the different types of chickens (and other birds) and information about them. Everyone was fighting for their chance to see it. Amazing. YOU too can see the Murray McMurray info at their site (and order a catalog for yourself if you are so inclined) at www.mcmurrayhatchery.com. Enjoy!

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Our new hens, which we are VERY happy with came from Poultry in Motion. Their site is at www.poultryandrabbits.com.

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We got our original batch of five chickens from a neighbor’s son-in-law who lives in New Braunfels. We told him we wanted five girls. He brought a big cage of assorted chickens over one Sunday afternoon and we picked out five cute ones which we named Sweetie Pie, Daisy, Aunt Bea, Harriet and Stevie.

Too our chagrin, we found out as they got a little older, that we actually had four roosters and only one hen! Erin, smarty-pants, informed Steve and I that “that’s why we don’t have any eggs Mom! Boys don’t lay eggs! Duh!”

So, Steve “took care” of the problem…

Good bye Daisy:

Good bye Aunt Bea:

Good bye Stevie:

Soon to be chicken and dumplings…

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Chicken Bea, the Rhode Island Red, is getting a little TOO friendly! Erin has most of the chickens eating out of her hand. But Chicken Bea, when all the snacks are gone, is not ready to quit eating!!! She was pecking at Erin’s hearing aids and ear lobes looking for more tasty things.

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I’ll start with the newest news first…

We bought three new hens Friday from “Poultry in Motion” out of Utopia. Chicken Bea, a Rhode Island Red; Stu, a Black Sex-Link; and Daisy May, an Araucana. All three girls are settling in nicely with Sweetie Pie (the rooster – he’s a Barred Rock) and Harriet (she is some type of Bantee – not sure which). Each of the girls laid an egg today! Harriet’s eggs are little brown eggs about the size of a filled, chocolate Cadbury Easter egg. Chicken Bea and Stu lay brown eggs about the size of a regular large egg. Daisy May lays light pink eggs! Very pretty!

All the new hens seem very sweet and Erin spent a lot of time IN the coop with them today. (I will post a picture of that too soon!)

Here is Sweetie Pie:

Harriet:

Daisy May:

Stu:

Chicken Bea:

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