Future Fuzz Butts Coming Soon!

     So this Saturday, March 24th 2012, the next additions to my favorite feathered flock will be hatching. I'm so excited. I currently have 12 eggs sharing space in my friend's, Krisann, incubator. Started out with 16, but 1 broke in shipping and it looked as if 3 were not fertile when candled. So, I'm hoping for a 95% hatch rate. This is supposedly the average from the lady I bought the eggs from. She also stated she has a 98% fertile rate with my purchase being 80%. It might even be less than that because the Marans eggs are too dark to properly candle. I would be grateful for a 75% hatch rate. This might even be on the high side, but with the good chance that I'll get a 50:50 ratio with the sex, I'm crossing my fingers I get 5 females. My luck all hatchlings will be roos.

    The breeds I have baking are 3 Marans, 2 Cochins, 1 Silkie, 2 Yokohama, 1 Silvered Phoenix, 1 Americana or Araucana (we will see if it hatches rumpless or not), and 2 unknown breeds. I'm hoping the unknowns are a blue/lavender breed and preferably an Orpington. Krisann has about 11 eggs from her flock baking along with mine.

     Krisann plans on streaming the hatch live online all weekend. Stop by and check what's hatching. I'm sure one of us (or both) will post when its up and running. So stay tuned...I will definitely be blogging and posting pics of our new fuzz butts!!

My New Additions...

Four weeks ago, I brought home four new additions to my flock. Two White Rocks and two Araucanas. When they were 1-2 days old, I picked up my girls at William's Farm and Garden. They have adjusted well, and have given me and my family joy every day since.

That was until at 2.5 weeks of age, my brooder lamp fell and seriously injured one of my Araucanas, Rozella, and she passed away four days later. It was a very sad time and for those few days, Rozella spent her final days in my bedroom. I fed her with a medicine dropper and spent a lot of time with her to try to make up for her being isolated. I knew from her behavior that she suffered major brain trauma. She passed away on her own, which was somewhat of a relief because I dreaded having to cull her.

Although we lost, Rozella, she will not be forgotten. My kids talk about her almost every day. They express how much they miss her but also discuss how cute, loveable and fun she was in the short two and a half weeks we had her. It is very sad, but at the same time, it is also a teaching moment for my children. A small lesson about life, death, love and appreciation. Its a lesson that touches the heart a bit better than flushing the goldfish down the toilet.

The other three are doing very well and getting big. They are now hanging out closer to us when it is play time outside. They seem very happy and healthy, and they are so much fun to be around. Just yesterday, I was watching them play in the back yard, and Stella was the first to fly up onto my daughter. It was cute. I forgot just how well the little buggers fly when they are small.  Of course, once one does something, its not long after the others follow.


I love them, and can not seem to say enough to express the excitement I have about each and every one of my girls. I am  lucky to have Krisann to share the excitement with. She herself has just introduced three of the cutest Auraucanas to her flock as well as two Black Copper Marans she adopted from S and S Poultry. It is these amazingly gorgeous Black Copper Marans that will be providing me my next additions when it is time (refer back to my "Chicken Math" blog if you are shaking your head right about now).  I am also looking forward to when I can introduce my new girls to my original flock. When I take them out to play, I bring them over but away from the older girls. I do this so they can see and slowly get use to each other. Then, when it is time to join them, it won't be a complete shock or hard adjustment, and hopefully they will be welcomed with opened wings.

I am a little concerned that one of the she's just might be a he. It is way to soon to tell, but there are subtle signs that GG might just be renamed to Gustave or "Gus Gus".  His/her feathers are very slow to grow in. The other girls look as if their feathers have completely come in while GG looks quite ragged. Other signs are the size difference, chest bumping, and the slight domination he/she has over the others. There could be other explanations for these signs, but nonetheless, the concern is there. Who knows, if GG is Gus Gus, maybe just maybe, Polly will have a boyfriend and baby White Rocks will be in their future... I said maybe.

So, say hi to GG, Stella and Polly. I hope to keep you up to date on their growth, progress, and if GG really is Gus or not. I haven't been the greatest about keeping up on the progress of my other girls. They are fantastic and I promise they haven't had any lack of attention because of the new additons. I look forward to posting more stories and pictures in the near future. Untill then...

And you thought algebra was confusing???

     Well, try chicken math! That's right... chicken math. I know what you are saying right about now... "That crazy chicken lady is off her roost." Nope. It is well known amongst us chicken enthusiasts, and it will even have the nerdiest of math lovers scratching their heads. Any attempt at understanding chicken math, will put any confusion of algebra to rest.

This is basically how it works:

    First of all, 1 chicken + 1 chicken NEVER = 2 chickens. At the bare minimum, it equals 4. Second, a dozen chickens = 16. Just like a baker's dozen = 13 (so the baker has one to eat), a chicken owner will mailorder a dozen chickens which will have 12 + 4 ''packing peanuts'' (16). Third, if you go to your local farm and garden store to buy 6 day old chicks, it is guaranteed that you will leave with at least 7. Why you ask?? Don't know... it is just how chicken math works.

  Lets take my situation for an example. Last summer, I decided I was going to purchase my first, and at the time only, flock of chickens. I thought long and hard about how many I wanted and decided on 3. Yet, when I placed my order, I got 5!  This was my first experience with chicken math. However, at the time, I was new to the whole chicken experience and was still pretty skeptical about this chicken math everyone warned me about.

    Then the neighborhood dog came by and snatched 1... down to 4. Ok ok. That math is correct. 5-1 does in fact equal 4. The difference is, whenever one chicken is lost it is replaced by at least 2. Now, remember I said just a moment ago that the intended 3 that I ordered (which somehow turned into 5) was going to be my ONLY purchase. If the neighborhood dog never ate my Edy, things may have stayed the same, but since I lost her, chicken math intervined. Now, I have 4 more chicks coming Thursday... which, in fact, was only going to be 3!

   Still skeptical?? Fine, that is perfectly normal. Like I said before, I was once a disbeliever. So, try and prove me wrong. Go get yourself some chickens and see what happens. It might not happen instantaneously, but it will happen.

FYI... before my chickens, my daughter was failing algebra. 

I rest my case.

The Crazy Chicken Lady...

So, I've got an obsession. Who doesn't? The problem is that not many people share the same inthusiasm as I do, and as a result, I have been dubbed The Crazy Chicken Lady.

However, I do have a few supporters. One being my husband who, no matter what wacky scheme, project or obsession I engage in, is always there. The funny thing is, I usually get him just as interested as a result. Another supporter would of course be my mom. She doesn't always understand me, or have any interest in what I am currently up to, but she will always listen to my craziness. Then there is one of my closest friends, Want Less, who at times, feels like my mirror image. The one person who "gets me" and the one I get a lot of my crazy ideas from.

That being said, it is the rest of the world that I associate with whom have given me this name. Ok, ok... I will take some of the blame for the fact that I can not stop talking about my chickens. I am constantly talking about them to my classmates at school, my fellow reservist,  my wall on Facebook, coworkers and even my patients!  It is these people who make the comments like, crazy chicken lady and fowl mouth. They are just teasing, right?

While I know that not everyone is going to "get me," I take comfort in knowing that I do have some who will endure my never-ending stories, fun facts and pictures, and a few who are even excited to hear about them. I also have a place to go that is filled with people like me. People who might obsess just a wee bit more than I do, and there really isn't a day that goes by that I haven't stopped by to say hello on BackYardChickens.com. They even have excellent advice and tons of information. So, I really don't mind. It is kind of endearing to be known as  The Crazy Chicken Lady.