summer_jackel: (Default)
summer_jackel ([personal profile] summer_jackel) wrote2007-03-15 04:48 pm

Hellloooooooo, Chickens!!!!

It's been a hard year for my flock. But...the weather is really gorgeous and springy, the coop is mended and will be reenforced soon, and the girls are beginning to lay, so I thought I'd share pictures.

The beginning of spring saw the flock reduced to three, so reenforcements were obtained as of yesterday and today: five americauna chicks and two young hens of unknown lineage. (I think the white one may be a leghorn?) They all came from the local feed store.

I'm used to chickens being reasonably tame...all of mine were handled as cheepers, so they don't mind being picked up and messed with so much. I forget that most chickens scream bloody murder when you try to handle them. I casually reached into the box after the white one when she was still in the back of my truck, and got a facefull of yelling, flapping hen for my trouble...thankfully, I had a hold of her before she made her great escape.

Playing with them this afternoon, I realized how hilarious chickens really are. Thus, these pics.



First, the cheepers. Day-old Americaunas. They will grow up to be neat-lookin' hens with floofy faces that lay green eggs. How cool is that?! Lucy is already purring about green eggs even though these little guys won't be laying for 6 months.
Wish them happy and successful growings-up, everyone. Young chickens can be fragile and unlucky, and I've lost too many recently.
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A couple amongst the blooming sorrel, for pretties:
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Yeah, I dare you to try and get an in-focus pic of a baby chick, looking at the camera! It ain't easy.
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My BLUE hen! I LOVE blue fowl.
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The white leghorn (?) She looks really noble in this picture.
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BAWK
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Suzie, Lucy's wyandotte, our best layer right now
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She's the pretty one
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Phantom, our surviving Samhain baby. :/ She's not laying yet, but thankfully past that light, I-can-fly-out-of-the-coop phase which claimed her cohorts' lives. :/ Wings get clipped SOONER on the babies. :( :( :(
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And old Double-Dip, our matriarch. I don't know if she will lay at all this year.
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[identity profile] tinygalaxies.livejournal.com 2007-03-16 12:16 am (UTC)(link)
I love the baby chickies!!!

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2007-03-16 12:49 am (UTC)(link)
cheep cheep cheep!
They are loveable and fluffy.

[identity profile] genmaicha.livejournal.com 2007-03-16 12:41 am (UTC)(link)
Chickens! I <3 chickens!

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2007-03-16 12:47 am (UTC)(link)
That's cos chickenses is LOOOOOOVE. :D :D :D

[identity profile] sophiedoph.livejournal.com 2007-03-17 02:09 am (UTC)(link)
OMG I love your pics!!! That third one is adorable and the first chicken (the super fat one!) is hilarious!!!

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2007-03-17 05:19 pm (UTC)(link)
hehehehe! :D Thanks. She's an amusing bird.

[identity profile] leora.livejournal.com 2007-03-17 09:18 am (UTC)(link)
Green eggs?

[identity profile] summer-jackel.livejournal.com 2007-03-17 05:19 pm (UTC)(link)
yep! The shells are green or bluish green. Americaunas and Aricaunas (which the former are often sold as, but are in actuality a far rarer chicken) are sometimes called 'Easter egg chickens' for this reason. The eggs don't taste any differently, though.

Not that I'd know, since I don't eat eggs (only when incorporated in baked goods, I loathe the taste) but my partners do eat eggs and they say no difference.

[identity profile] larylich.livejournal.com 2007-03-20 06:26 am (UTC)(link)
They're too much like ducks! They'll fit in my hands!! I want to sqeeze them!!! 8D

I <3 chickens too... but usually when I'm eating them. Ahhh go figure.