Saw my 2 hens lay eggs and other stuff from this morning...

I had just witnessed my 2 girls laying eggs while I was cleaning up the coop and nest boxes this morning.  Contrary to the popular belief, the shell was already hard (not soft) and wet while it was coming out of the vent (chicken's anus).  Just before the egg was about to be laid, the hen stuck her butt up and as soon as I saw a light brown tip of the egg, I placed my hand under her butt and caught the egg.  And guess what, as the egg was being laid, the hen made a soft sound almost like a silent fart.  Okay you're probably thinking I have too much time on my hands. J Just coincidence I was inside the coop cleaning the nest boxes.  These 2 hens have been sitting in the nest boxes for a while.  Too bad I didn’t have my camera (obviously).  I was busy with the chores and the gloves in my hands were covered with chicken poo.  What a joy to witness this in real life though.  It makes all the work worth it.  I was ready to complain this morning and started talking to myself “There’s gotta be a better way to make a living than this.”  But to witness 2 hens lay eggs is worth it.  I can cross that out in my bucket list.

When I took the egg immediately after it dropped in my hands, this hen didn't look too happy because I stole her egg.  She's very broody and she was looking for her egg to sit on.

 

Here's the other hen I saw lay her egg this morning.  She didn't care I took it right away.  As soon as she's done laying she went and eat.  That's the hanging feeder.  Those young hens in the background are supposed to use the nest boxes only for laying but they keep using it for sleeping.  I don't know how to stop them from doing that.

It takes about 2 hours in the morning (except if I have to take pictures and blog about it like right now) and about an hour in evening to finish all the chicken chores.  I have nailed all the steps -- from checking and replacing the feeds and water as needed, replacing soiled straw on the floor of the coop, replacing the wood shavings inside the separate 2 small rooster coops.  I prefer wood shavings in the nest boxes than straw because it is much easier to clean.  Nest boxes have to be cleaned daily to keep the eggs clean.

Below are a few random pictures of the chicken and the coop taken just this morning. 

Isn't she so adorable?  She has a lot of character and lays tinted white/greenish egg and a prolific layer.  She can be bitey if you get too close to her.

 

The nest boxes with the hens and rooster (upper right corner) hanging out. We meant to add more roosts but it will make it more difficult to go in and clean the nest boxes on a daily basis.  That one black hen on the roost is missing its tails due to the dog-attack over a month ago.  I released her from the cage today and let her mingle with the rest.



Just released the hen without tail and the other black chicken (and to my disappointment it turned out to be a rooster).  You can tell by the long tail.  These are 2 of the survivors of the dog attack over a month ago.  I still keep an eye on them because the rest of the flock picks on them.

 

Very beautiful birds and extremely timid.



The hanging feeder.

 

This is how it is hung from the ceiling.

 

View from inside the main coop.

 

Those are 2 small rooster coops.  The two roosters in the smaller coop remains caged.  I feel bad for them but everytime I free-range them, they don't come back.  Those two roosters outside the run on the left side are allowed to free-range because they come back at night.

 

Huge rooster guarding the coop.  He's allowed with the hens as he's not as vicious as the others.



I've already fed them but they still want to steal the rooster feeds.

 

Very unique colour.  Pure white tail with reddish brown body.

 



The 'twin' roosters.

Up close.



Tree pose.

I'm cuter than him.



And I can fluff my mane.



On a different note, Sweaty cat (used to be Sweety until we discovered he is male) really thinks he is a chicken.  One of the roosters, was breeding him and he did not even care – just let the rooster do it.  I had to interrupt the whole thing.  Just doesn’t look right.

This is the rooster that was mounting Sweaty cat.

 

'Henning' Back to Normal

It’s just been over two weeks since the dogs attack on the chickens.  And everything is going smoothly in the new coop.  The 4 injured chickens (3 hens and 1 rooster) are recovering well.  They stayed inside our bathroom (in the tub) for a week so we could take care of their wounds.  They've been in the chicken coop for over a week now but still isolated inside a cage.

The two black Australorp hens were the most injured I didn’t expect they were going to survive but they did.  The one had a big hole on her side where you could see the internal organs moving.  I was just about to finish her when I saw her but my husband didn’t let me.  Below's the video of the two injured hens.

 

The Chantecler rooster was badly hurt I was also ready to bury him. But luckily my husband wanted to give him a chance. And look at him now (see video below).  The hen on the left is a Brahma mix breed.  She's also ready to mingle with the rest but we're just being cautious.

 

 

 

Feeding carrots, beets and apple roughage to Mr. Roo ( I call all roosters like that by the way).  He's one of the 6 'bad' roosters who are completely separate from the hens. 

Mr Roo (in the middle of crowing) and his harem.  Well there's 2 roosters here.  The other one is on the top left of this picture but that one with red comb is the king of the harem.  I've allowed only the 2 most gentle roosters to live with the hens.

Those 6 black birds (Australorps) are recent addition to our chicken flock since the dogs attack.  They tend to hang around with each other.  It is true, birds of the same feather flock together.

These two young hens are also recent addition to the flock.  They are very timid and shy and very afraid to mingle with the rest.  These are the 3-tired nest boxes inside the new chicken house.  Notice the egg on the far right.

This is one of our henny pennies (meaning one of the original 7 free hens we got earlier this year).  One of the 7 died from the dog-attack

This is a gentle rooster that's why he's with the hens.  It has feathers on its feet.  One day another rooster must have mistaken him as a hen and started mounting him.  Apparently that happens between roosters to show dominance.

Also one of the very shy young hens.
 

 

Dogs Meet Porcupine

As if our lives were not full of enough disasters, this morning at about 6:30 am our dogs Baloo and Louie were just let out to do their business as usual.  This is our routine.  We let they roam freely within their designated invisible fence.  Then at around 7 am my husband called me while I was still in bed and I somehow knew by his voice that something was wrong.  So I came down and lo and behold both dogs had razor sharp quills on their nose, mouth, tongue and face.  By the look of it they went after a porcupine and lost the battle.  They were hurting and frantically clawing at their own faces.  It was instant dog whiskers.  Porcupine quills have sharp barbs just to give you an idea.  I know they are not-so-perfect dogs but even they didn’t deserve this.  



Baloo had it the worst. He had quills at the roof of mouth, tongue and lips. 

 

Louie had only a few quills on the left of her face.

 

 

 

So we rushed them to the vet for quill removal.  They were lucky that none of the quills struck them in the eyes.  I was shocked with the vet bill but at the end of the day I’m happy they gave me a discount after I asked for it.  They had to be put on anesthetic and IV fluids.  By 5 pm, my husband and I picked them up from the vet clinic and the dogs were all alert as if nothing happened.  They are still on pain meds.  We were advised by the vet to keep an eye on the inside of Baloo’s nose as they could not remove the quills completely.  I hope they’ve learned their lessons but suspect not.  Worst case scenario would be them trying to get revenge.

Chicken assassins update

Unfortunately 4 of the 8 injured died (please refer to my previous blog).  And 2 of the 4 remaining injured are on the verge of dying.  Below's the latest counts.

	Alive	Injured	Dead
Hen	10	3	7
Rooster	1	1	2
Total	11	4	9

Chicken Assassins

Just to give you some background, we have a total of 40 chickens.  The 6 roosters were in a separate chicken coop and another 8 much younger hens and all are unharmed.  And there were 26 chickens in the new coop to start with where the attack happened but two of them (roosters) were in a cage inside the fenced run so they never free-range.  So only 24 were attacked in the new coop yesterday (September 6).  Here’s the damage. 

	Alive	Injured	Dead
Hen	10	6	4
Rooster	1	2	1
Total	11	8	5

 Among those injured, 2 (both roosters) are severely injured and probably not going to survive the night.  There are also 2-3 hens which I think are not going to last more than a couple of days.

Here’s what we think happened.  The dogs jumped on the link fence surrounding the new coop recently built.  The fence was not securely attached to anything but it was resting on the corner of the coop.  It was like that in the past 4 days as we are still doing some finishing touches to the coop.  So far it was working just fine until yesterday’s disaster.  The coop is built on stilts so it is raised about 2 feet from the ground so the chickens have more space to roam underneath.  Unfortunately, we haven’t finished putting chicken wires around the three sides of base of the coop.  We have temporary boards in place but it’s not securely attached to anything.  We left the chickens inside the link fence when we left early Saturday morning as we normally do. 

Here’s the picture of our new coop shown on side view.  It is not completely done yet (i.e. windows are not there yet and the front chicken door is not there yet.  It just needs to be drilled in. 

 

Our 2 dogs have a collar that ‘electrocute’ them when they reach a certain boundary that we have set on our wireless fence system.  Unfortunately, 3 days ago, the battery on both dogs’ transmitter collar died.  And the prong on Baloo’s transmitter collar had gone missing so we are still waiting for the new replacement collar prong to arrive in the mail.  So in the past 3 days there was nothing stopping them from going beyond where they are not supposed to go.  They have been respecting their boundaries in the past even without the collar.  They’ve never wandered on the road nor chased cars.  So we took a chance on Saturday morning leaving them without a collar as we had to go to the city to buy the replacement batteries as well as church.  Sadly the dogs must have realized that there is no ‘static shock’ stopping them from going close to the chickens.  When we’re here supervising them, they are fine with the chickens.  But unfortunately, no one was home, they must have gone to the new chicken coop and tore down the boards that were propped against the coop.  And that’s how chickens escaped and the dogs must have chased and killed them for sport.  According to our neighbour up the hill, coyotes or any predators attack chickens for food.  There’s no evidence that any chickens were eaten at all and no one is missing.  The dead ones are all intact with major injuries and one with the head torn apart (my beautiful Cochin hen) and left on the field.  Apparently, coyotes would not have come near if they knew there are 2 dogs there already.  And also if coyotes did come, the dogs should have injuries fighting the coyotes.  But there is none.  The dogs are unusually tired this morning and just peacefully sleeping inside the crate.  They usually do not want to be cooped up inside the house during the day (look at the picture below).  And the most convincing evidence that the dogs did this horrible attack on the chickens is the presence of egg shells in Baloo’s poop and I also saw a couple of chicken feathers near the front porch of the house.

 

 

The dogs had never shown aggressiveness against the chickens before.  But I don’t know exactly what motivated them to go after the chicken coop.  I can only imagine maybe the outdoor cat that live around the coop was the main target and during the chase, they tipped over the board that was propped against the bottom of the coop that is not completely attached yet.  Then the chickens got startled and started running around fast.  Our dogs love to chase and run and I guess instinct kicked in and discovered the chickens are fun to attack and kill.  And now, everyone’s probably wondering why we’re keeping the dogs.  But the dogs keep away the coyotes and the wolves and they’ve proven that in the past.  So which is the worser of the two evils?  The dogs or the predators?  We can control the dogs and if necessary we can put them in the kennel when we’re out in the day but the wolves and coyotes would slaughter the whole flock.  It’s our fault we failed to keep replacement batteries on their wireless fence containment system.  So is it better to have dogs that keep away raccoons, coyotes, and wolves?  Or is it better to get rid of the dogs and fully secure the coop which can be really costly? 

The lady who sold us the chicks back in the spring is so concerned that she came this afternoon to help us nurse the injured chickens and gave them antibiotics.  She insisted that I bring the 8 injured ones inside our bathroom while their wounds are still in bad shape.  I was hesitant at first about the idea of bringing chicken inside but she has a point.  The wounds will just get worse outside due to flies.  So here they are in the bathtub.  We’ve put peroxide and put a bandage on one that is badly wounded.  There are also 2 roosters inside the bathroom but caged inside the crate.  They are really in bad shape and may not survive the night.  She also kept telling me I have to choose between the dogs and the chickens.  She used to be a dog trainer and found Louie very aggressive for us and it is just a matter of time we would get in trouble because of her.  Baloo is a hunting dog (Hound mix) and not a good idea to be in a place with chickens.  So I’m really torn between getting rid of the dogs to save the chickens or keeping the dogs and risking the chicken.  [Pictures of the injured young hens below]

 

While the chickens are in antibiotics, we cannot eat their eggs for two weeks.  Therefore we will not be selling eggs for the next three weeks. 

What a heart-wrenching week it’s been.  I’m tired of digging graves especially just past week our cat Copper was euthanized due to kidney failure.  I’m hoping only time will help me become less emotionally attached to the chickens and expect things can go wrong.

Lessons Learned

1. Never leave the dogs alone outside without the wireless containment collar and fence fully activated.  Even though at times they respect their boundaries without the collar, it doesn’t mean they will respect it when no one is around.  Make sure that if the battery on their collar is dead, go out and replace immediately even if they show they are respecting their boundaries.

2.  Never transfer the chicken to a coop that is not completely finished yet.  Make sure if we are putting temporary boards, at least screw it in place that it cannot be easily tipped over.

3. Never take anything for granted.  What may be working well today may not work tomorrow.  Never take a chance.

Chicken ranching in mid-life crisis

Wow time flies.  It’s almost the end of the summer and I haven’t blogged since mid-spring.  It really shows how busy it gets once you’re up and running errands with the chickens.

Out of the original 25 chicks we got last spring, one young hen (spotty head) died mysteriously while we were away one weekend camping.  My brother-in-law was looking after our place and the chicken just died in the morning.  We never figured out why. 

 

 

Spotty head saying hello to Louie

Chicken as pets are fun.  Each young chicken has its own personality.  Some are very shy and don’t want to be petted.  This one particular pullet pictured below is so beautiful but I can never get hold of her.  She’s next to impossible to catch.  But it’s probably a good thing because it will be very hard for a potential predator to catch her.  She’s very special because she’s a Cochin with fancy feathers on her legs.  She also fights against the weaker rooster (pictured below). 

 

 

 

 

Others are just extremely friendly and will just jump on your lap or shoulders.  Others want to be carried and be patted on their backs like this one below. 

 

However the bad roosters are very aggressive and will try to pick on you.  And they hoard the food and water. 

 

Overall chicken ranching has its ups and downs.  They are fun to watch.  They love worms and one would grab it and the others chase her around for it.  And then they will pull it apart and get the worm to the size they like.  But it can cause headaches trying to break a fight between chickens (particularly between roosters).  I wish they can just figure out pecking order right off the bat.

So out of the 24 pullets we have, 12 turn out to be roosters and I’m pretty much confident this is the final count.  And I’m a bit disappointed it turned out that way.  I was really hoping for more laying hens.  Last month I thought there were only 8 identifiable roosters but I was wrong.  I thought these guys (pictured below) were hens until they started mounting the hens.  I mean do they look like a rooster to you (pictured below)?  Yes they are roosters.  The funny thing is that I've never heard these two crow.  And there are other roosters mounting this beautiful brown Brahma/Rhode Island mix rooster so I never thought it was a rooster. I found out that a rooster will go after another rooster as he might a hen to show dominance.

 

 

On another note, our struggle with our two dogs roaming problem has ended.  Our agile dogs (35 lbs Australian Cattle dog and 67 lbs Hound/ Great Dane mix) used to roam the neighbours farmyard and disappear across the road to his field and at times brought home rotten bones probably from dead animals.  But that had ended last June when we decided to get the wireless containment system.  My last straw was when Baloo (Hound/Great Dane mix) went barking and jumping up onto the police officer parked at the end of our sideroad.  And I heard a voice yell "Hey get off me!"  The police officer must have heard my voice and told Baloo to get back here.  I seriously thought that Baloo had caused an accident when I saw the police and cars stopped but it was simply a vehicle check on an early summer Friday afternoon. 

The dogs can be challenging at times; especially Louie (Australian Cattle dog) who is very dominant and loves to jump and bite me if she doesn’t get enough play time.  I totally lose my cool at times with this female dog.  On the other hand, Baloo is very mellow and calm despite Louie dominating him but is very slow in learning some tricks.  Baloo only barks if necessary (i.e. if there are some strangers coming to the house).  Louie on the other hand barks at everything including air.