Our Chickens

I decided to do a post on each of our animals. The chickens are the only animals that I will only post about as a group instead of each individual animal having their own picture, etc. Promise. :)

First off, the meat birds: these are birds that we get every summer to raise for meat. They are super cute when they are chicks and super gross when they are adults. Right now they are in between and somewhat less than super gross.

THIS is the meat bird coop. Nasty right?

Personally, I think the roosters are grosser. But maybe it's because they are boys (jk!)

The hens are nicer, but that is obviously because they are girls

So yeah, that's the meat birds.

OK, moving on!

              Next up, the laying hens: this is a flock of various breeds that we keep for laying. We have 19 or 20. I'm not sure which. These are the cleaner, prettier, neater birds. They preen, spend a lot of time outside, and just don't muck up the coop as much. Of course, there are only 19 or 20 of them as compared to the 50 meat birds but that is besides the point. I like layers better. Hands down.

They come running when you come out. :)

And they are friendly

This is our only Rhode Island Red. This is a very old chicken...

This is out only Bantum Hen. She is the oldest chicken we have.

This is our broody hen

this is our nosy hen

Besides, layers have an obvious benefit to them...

...they lay!

Leaving the old layers behind, let's look at something sad. ):
This poor little chick has a crooked beak and therefore can't eat and won't be able to live long. Poor thing. :( I feel so bad for her.  She has a really hard time pecking, so yeah. She is in the brooding box by herself so that she will be able to get food without having competition. She is about half the other chicks size. :(

Poor little crooked beak. :(

She has her own little house thingy with food, water, and straw in case it gets cold.

And... Last but not least, the layer chicks! These are probably my favorites. They are clean, fluffy, and they don't stink! :) Without further ado, here are some pictures!

Here is the flock of 30 new layers

it's a mix of Ameraucanas...

...And Barred Rocks.

Except that white one.

The other whit looking one is actually a grey Ameraucana. Weird right?

Oh yes, that white one. After a few weeks when the meat birds were getting to their gross size, we noticed that one was only half their size. And she was neater. And she had tiny feet. And she had black feather tips. So we figured she wasn't actually a meat bird. Imagine! But we moved her in with the layers and she is the exact size and shape as them. So it's settled. She's a layer. We still don't know what she is. Maybe someone who is familiar with chicken breeds can tell us (hint hint LeeLee!).

If you want to know more about chickens or you like reading about them, go to LeeLee's blog. http://therealhousehensofmaine.blogspot.com/2011/05/welcome-to-coop.html


That is all for now!