Missing Hens?

My Husband came in last night after feeding my Buck and gathering eggs to say that he thought that perhaps we had a chicken thief. He proceeded to give me a head count. I believe he suspected Barney Google, at least that is what he said.

That set me to wondering, is Barney Google where "Google" got it's name? I have tried to think of any similarities and wasn't able to come up with much. The more I thought about it the more I realized that I wasn't even sure that Barney Google was a chicken thief. I believe that it was his cousin Snuffy Smith that is the chicken thief and moonshiner. But wait, I don't even think that they are cousins, maybe just friends? If I really cared at all, I would just Google them, but I don't really care.

I do care about my chicken population, so, how to figure out if any chickens are missing? I do not keep a written record of how many chickens I have and since many of them look alike, they don't have names. Some do have unique features that I recognize and a few lay odd eggs that I miss in my egg basket at the end of the day but it would be hard for me to say that this certain hen is missing.

Ahhh.... I know how to figure out if any hens are missing! I don't have to Google for the answer, I just have to go back through my old blogs. Sure enough there is a blog with the number of each breed of chicken that I have. Though one has died of natural causes and I have given some away.

I will update my numbers here, so that if this question ever comes up again, I will have a record. 2 Rhode Island Red Hens, 3 Golden Comet Hens, 6 Barred Rock Hens, 7 Silver Laced Wyandotte Hens, 2 Mutt Bantam Hens, 2 D'Uccle Hens, 1 Barred Rock Rooster, 1 Polish Rooster, 1 D'Uccle Rooster and 1 Mutt Bantam Rooster.

I am happy to say that all hens and roosters are present and accounted for. I really didn't think that anything could steal my chickens with Angel and Abby on guard 24/7. My DH even commented the other day on what keen eyesight they have, they can spot a squirrel a mile away. They even watch the sky and bark at birds. They do tend to be a little intimidated by the military jets that fly low over the farm though.

I know what you are thinking, why does she have so many roosters?? You were thinking that, weren't you? This is a question that my DH asks me quite often. I keep Rocky, the barred rock, to father future generations. I keep Rudy, the D'Uccle, for the same purpose. I keep Elvis, the polish, just for fun and I don't have a clue why I keep the bantam mutt but he does have a great banty rooster attitude, I suppose I should name him or give him away. Anyone want a tiny red banty rooster? I might have to do one of those blog giveaways or a contest of some sort.

My Mistake

I have searched the chicken websites and have come up with some answers, but chicken breeds can be very confusing. I suppose that is because most chickens are mutts, variations of several different breeds mixed up together. But here is what I think that I have.

Seven of my new hens are Silver Laced Wyandottes, though a couple of them do not have rose combs, so I am assuming that they are not pure bred.

My four new barred hens are Barred Plymouth Rocks to go with my remaining two Barred Rock hens that the fox hasn't got yet. I also have two Barred Rock chicks that I think are hens but I am not certain yet, one of them is rumpless.

The three new red hens are probably Red Sexlinks, to add to my three other red hens who are Rhode Island Reds.

This leaves only one new chicken to be identified and that is Cruella, who is not a Cruella after all. I am pretty sure that she is a he, and he is a young White Crested Black Polish Rooster. I hope that I am wrong but I don't think that I am. How embarrassing!

So adding all of these up tonight, I have found that I have 8 Barred Rocks, 7 Wyandottes, 6 Red Hens, 14 Bantams and 3 Roosters, for a grand total of 38 Chickens. I think that we may have more chickens now than horses, but I would have to add all of the horses up to be sure and that would be too depressing.

Peepers

I am going to try to squeak one in here before midnight, so that I will have a blog for today before it is tomorrow. I hear thunder, so I will have to make it quick before the storm hits.

Jasper and Onyx went to their new home this morning. Since Jasper had partial horn growths on both sides, I got to burn his horns again. It went very smoothly and hopefully he won't have scurs. It was the first time that I had ever actually used the iron, I usually just hold the kids while my DH does the burning.

I checked my Mille Fleur D'Uccle's nest yesterday and she had no baby chicks but when I went out to the goat/chicken shed this morning there was a little peeper looking out at me from under the hen. This evening we picked the hen up and she has three little peeps under her. Hopefully some of the other eggs will hatch out in the next couple of days but three is good if the others don't, because I was afraid that none of them would hatch for her.

I also set seven large eggs under my broody Rhode Island Red. Since she is bound and determined to set, at least now she has some eggs to set on that should be fertile.

Weaned

Jasper and Onyx are officially weaned and they aren't real happy about it. Their mother doesn't seem to mind much. We milked Cinder at 7:00 this morning and got 1 1/2 quarts. We will probably get more than that this evening.

Still haven't gotten Zinc and Copper's horns taken care of. We don't want to do it when it is raining and it has rained for the last two days.

We checked under my little D'uccle hen last night and no babies yet. It did look like one was in the process of hatching. She has a ton of eggs under her, the other hens must have continued to lay in her nest after we moved her, the sneaky things, one of the eggs is from one of the big hens. I don't know how she managed to get into the nest, the door is tiny. Maybe we will have some chicks today.

One of my Rhodies has gone broody now also, I have put in a request to my cousin for some eggs to set under her.

I know that I didn't blog yesterday because I got an e-mail asking me if I was alright. For the last three days I have been nursing a kidney stone I believe. This is the first one that I have ever had and the pain comes and goes. I am currently trying some home remedies. I don't like going to the Doctor.

Separation Anxiety

I did a lot of separation today but most of the anxiety was mine. I took Cinder and her kids out of the goat lot, so that I could put Cooter back in there to get some exercise and sunshine. He has been living in the horse trailer because he has learned to escape from his pen. As soon as we have time to put a hot wire around his pen, we hope to resolve this problem.

I put a rope halter with lead on Cinder and took her through the double electric fence gates and with much coaxing of her two babies and trying to keep the other two does from getting out, I succeeded finally but this was difficult to say the least. I was about half way to the barn with Cinder and babies when the other two does jumped the gates and caught up with us.

I turned Cinder loose and she joined Calico in the barn eating from an unopened bale of Alfalfa. Why they want to eat hay with all of the tall green grass, flowers and weeds that we have growing out in the yard is beyond me.

I haltered Cooter and took him to the goat lot, then went after the two escaped convicts. Catching, haltering and dragging the unwilling Paris and Collette was annoying but having Cooter waiting just inside the gate didn't help much either.

Next I found a kid halter and haltered Jasper for the first time, he did pretty well. I put him in the dog kennel and went after Onyx, she did very well also. I fed and watered them and turned around to find that Paris and Collette had escaped again. I struggled to put them up again, then again, and again. I finally managed to keep them up long enough to get a piece of webbing up higher than the top wire. Hopefully they won't be able to jump the gate now. They never knew that they could jump before. I had hoped that they would never discover this.

I also had to move my Mille Fleur D'uccle hen's nest, because two of my Rhodies kept running her off of the nest so that they could lay their eggs in it.

We went to a Graduation Ceremony last evening and when we came home I found one of my Barred Rock hens dead, I am thinking that it was probably that stupid Fox. I am getting paranoid about leaving home.

Egg Production

For some reason our egg production went down yesterday. We have been getting 9 eggs per day and that dropped to 5 yesterday. All three of my Banties laid on Wednesday and only one laid yesterday. But I don't understand what happened to the other three eggs from my Rhoadies and Barred Rocks. They are always so faithful.

I never did find my missing Barred Rock or any evidence of what happened to her. If she did hide a nest, she did a very good job of hiding. One of our neighbors reported seeing an Eagle again but we haven't seen it, that doesn't mean that it wasn't here and carried off my hen.

One of my hens has been laying eggs in my Granddaughters playhouse out back, but didn't yesterday. I have a feeling that I am missing something, they are probably laying somewhere but I just don't know where. That is the problem with free rangers, they can provide you with a constant Easter Egg Hunt.

Eggs for Sale

Spring has sure made a difference in egg production, my bantams are still not laying but everything else sure is. I just went out to gather eggs and every nest in the shed has a hen sitting in it. I have a refrigerator full of eggs and need to sell some. I have been selling some to a neighbor and giving them to my kids, but they just keep coming.

My chickens are doing wonderful and I really enjoy them. When I go outside in the mornings they are waiting for me. I slide open the big barn door and they follow me everywhere I go until I feed them. I feel like the Pied Piper with my little flock clucking along behind me.

It's Back...

After a few beautiful Spring-like days, Winter has come back with a vengeance. My chickens were all convinced it was Spring and gave me five eggs yesterday. Then today, it is only 16º and the temperature is suppose to keep dropping. It is also very windy, so it feels much colder.

I did get one egg this morning, I may get two more but I am not holding my breath. I don't know how old my three Rhodies are but most of my Barred Rocks are young. The Rhodies are very good layers, if I get three eggs today it will be from them. They are very faithful about laying even in bad weather but from what I hear they usually don't go broody even in the Spring.

I keep getting one large, deformed egg from one of my newer hens everyday. After researching this, I have found out that eggs get larger as hens mature, older hens also tend to sometimes lay deformed eggs. So, I am not sure which one is laying these eggs but it is interesting to see the weird shape each day.

I didn't blog yesterday and didn't even realize it until this morning. I was busy answering comments to Friday's blog, so, it slipped my mind. Sorry, Punky, is your headache better?

Bald Eagle

There was a time when seeing a bald eagle where we live was unheard of, but for the last 3 or 4 years we have been seeing a few during the winter months. This morning my husband came in the house and told me to get the camera. I grabbed it and ran out to see what was going on.

Sitting in a tree overlooking one of our smaller pastures was a bald eagle. He looked enormous but my camera doesn't have much of a zoom, so I am afraid I didn't get adequate pictures of him.

In comparison to some of the hawks that we have around here, the hawks might get away with one of my bantams, but this guy could take one of my standard Rocks or Rhodies, maybe even Shorty, our miniature horse.

More Chicken News

I know that you are all waiting on pins and needles to find out how the great chicken transfer is going. Well, when last we visited the Spinner's Farm, she had taken her three Rhode Island Reds to the goat/chicken shed during a driving rain and wind storm, you will be happy to know that they survived their first night in the shed.

Meanwhile, back at the house/barn, I do actually live in a barn with a small apartment built on one side. The five Barred Rocks were waiting in a large pet taxi to be carried one by one to their new home. The transfer went without incident, the Rhodies were turned out into complete freedom, which I doubt they had ever experienced before, while the Rocks were put into the large cage in the shed that had held the Rhodies the night before. Tomorrow the Rocks will join the Rhodies in complete freedom.

I was afraid that Angel would chase the Rhodies but there seems to be one Rhodie that has an attitude. When I first took her out to the shed she pecked the nose of a curious goat named Cinder, who is my oldest and queen (alpha) doe. I don't know what happened out there because I was gone most of the day but I did notice that the three red hens and Angel seemed to be respecting each other's space.

Angel is terrible about chasing my little banty hens, she doesn't hurt them, at least she hasn't so far but she does enjoy the chase. The banties have learned how to avoid her and they know when she is sleeping.

Rhode Island Reds

I did get my Rhodies taken to the goat/chicken shed. I carried them one at a time through the driving rain and waded through the knee deep mud. I am not complaining after the drought that we had this summer, I am still not tired of mud. I am elated that our drought is finally over.

Getting the Rhodies into the large cage that I have in the shed was a trick, I had six goats and a dog trying to help me. I came back covered in mud and manure. I will try to get my Rocks taken out there tomorrow.

The three Rhodies seem to be aggressive and loud, that is why I went ahead and took them to the shed, they were fighting and making a lot of noise.

My Barred Rocks are very quiet and don't seem to be fighting at all, you hardly know that they are here. I hope that they are all good layers and I will have some eggs to sell.