More New Chickens!

These two, beautiful bantam cochins arrived in the Bluff Country (from Virginia!) yesterday. 

They are Buff Columbian pullets.  Aren't they gorgeous?

They were bred by one of the Top Cochin breeders in the United States.  I wanted to get these girls to cross with my Calico Cochin line to improve the Calico's "type" (the cochin LOOK). 

The darker hen in particular has outstanding type.

Because of her deep, coppery color, I've named her "Penny". 

I know ~ very original!

;-)

Penny exemplifies that round appearance that a typey cochin should have.  A good quality cochin should almost look like a bowling ball with feathers!

I am completely thrilled with how sweet and friendly these girls are!

They both love to be petted and don't fuss at all when I pick them up.

it's a good thing, too...

Since poor "Sunshine", the lighter pullet, appears to have been a bit "hen pecked" during their trip.  Her neck feathers have been pulled out,  completely exposing several inches of bare skin!  I spoke with her breeder and he said that Penny is the top pullet and probably just got bored and bossy in the confines of their shipping box. 

I put some first aid ointment on Sunshine's neck and put the girls in a nice, big quarentine pen bedded with LOTS of fresh shavings.  They seem to be getting along just fine.

If the problem persists, I may spray some bitter apple on Sunny's neck area to discourage Penny from pulling any more feathers.

I LOVE my new girls!

When their quarentine period is over, they will be joined by Cracker Jack, my beautiful, new Calico rooster!

In the meantime ~ Sable is taking her job of "chick-sitter" VERY seriously!  She loves it when I take out the babies to clean their brooder.  She sniffs each one, ever so gently.

Two more eggs from Opal and Red hatched last night.  They're under my black, Ameraucana hen, Scarlet.  There's still one more egg under her.  I also moved seven more eggs to the hatching tray in my incubator.  My GOODNESS there are getting to be a lot of chickens around here.!

*Note*

I was informed that the genetic code for the kind of down Opal's chicks have is "eb".  Her chicks are the only ones that have shown this type of down thus far and ALL of them have it.  It will be very interesting to see how they feather out.

Two more weeks 'till the Blue Laced Red Wyandotte eggs start hatching!!

We've Got BABIES...

Eleven eggs hatched in the Bluff Country earlier this week.  What an adorable assortment of chicks!  This photo shows the six "wheaten" (e+) based chicks.  Wheaten base always has yellow down at birth.

Opal and Red (the "Calico" breeding pair,) produced three chicks:

I'm not sure what the genetic term for this down color would be.

The lighting isn't good ~ I'll try to get better pictures but these three chicks all have "rusty-yellow" heads and grey backs with yellow-ish underparts.  I will be anxious to see if the next Calico eggs to hatch also have chicks with this down color. 

I used black, permanent marker (in different spots) to identify each of Opal's babies.  For now, their "call names" are Opalette, Scooter  (details in the next paragraph) and Tiny.

This is "Scooter"

Notice how wide apart her little legs are?  Well, when I put the chicks into the brooder (in my living room!) I noticed that she couldn't walk.  Her liegs were so far apart and sticking straight out in front of her so that she just sat on her butt!  She would 'scoot' around by wildly kicking her legs and pushing herself backward around the brooder.  I didn't think she had a chance of surviving. 

I made up my mind that I was not going to fight to save weak or sickly chicks.  I want my flock to be hardy ~ not one that needs tons of intense intervention in order to survive.  I considered putting Scooter down but decided to give her until this morning to see if she made it through the night.

It is with a happy heart that I am reporting that today, Scooter is up and walking (and running!) around, just like all of the other chicks!  What a relief.  Her tiny sister ~ the last chick to hatch, who was still damp when I moved them all to the brooder and gave me a scare because she was so tiny and lathargic ~ is also thriving as of this morning. 

Little "Sophia" is mom to this adorable, e+ (wild-type) chick:

At least I think she's e+.  Normally, there are distinct "chipmuink stripes on this down type but Sophia's chick doesn't have the stripes, so I'm not positive.  I'm hoping someone with more genetic knowledge than I will help me out with this one.

If you look back at the first pictures of Solo, you'll see a good example of an e+ chick.  I believe this little one is also e+. 

Again, the stripes are not clearly visible but they are there, faintly.

Enough genetics!  These babies are SO cute!  I am loving having them in my living room.  I made a brooder for them by cutting out part of the cover of a large, plastic storage container and putting hardware cloth over the opening.  I used cable "zip-ties' to fasten the hardware cloth so it's cat and puppy proof!

My house is so FUN!

No wonder I never want to go anywhere...

;-)

The ORIGINAL Back Yard Chickens...

As much as I love and enjoy my bantam cochins,  they were not the first chickens in my back yard.  It was because of the hours of entertainment and delicious eggs that I got from my little flock of mixed breed chickens that I decided to get more. Yesterday was the first day that my chickens decided to venture out of the barn so I was able to catch a few shots of them enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.

I truly had no idea how much fun chickens could be and what incredible personalities they possess until I had my own, living in my back yard.  It wasn't long before I wanted more.

The first purebreds to join the back yard flock were my beautiful Buff Orpingtons.

Operah and Goldilucks fit right in with the flock and have blessed us with big, brown eggs all through the cold, Minnesota winter!

Those of you who have followed this blog may remember the lovely little Easter Egger hen, "Star" who was the foster mom to the first cochin chicks hatched in the Bluff Country...

What a sweet, beautiful, little hen!

There will be some big changes coming to the back yard flock this summer.  I've got 30+ "Blue Laced Red Wyandotte" (large fowl) eggs in my incubator.  I've decided to go with all large breed chickens for my egg layer flock.  There are just so many people who want those big, brown, FRESH eggs! 

The incubator is also busy with bantam Cochin eggs.  I've got 5 babies that have JUST hatched (yesterday and this morning) and 5 eggs still to go.  Next week I've got another batch due and two more the week after that!

Oh MY!

Stay tuned...

He Wins the Prize...

Christine, at Front Porch Indiana had this on her blog and it was SO hysterical that I just HAD to share it:

If anyone can top that for the most irritating rooster, I'd like to hear it!

;-)

ALMOST Three Weeks...

To fully appreciate how much this little chick has changed in just 18 days, go back to Jan. 4 and see what she looked like on day one!

THIS is Solo today!

Is that not UNreal ???

Fiona is still in with Solo

Look how different her feather coloring is!

This is the MOST fascinating hobby I've EVER had!

And I'm having a BLAST!!!

(can you believe that that is Blanche and the chicks???)

;-)

All Kinds of Egg-citement...

You may not believe this but that is what I found the other morning on the recycled 'fitting stand' that I use as a roost in the Backyard chicnkens' pen .

Yup.  It's an egg.  An egg WITHOUT an egg SHELL!

And somehow, it managed to not slip through the grate of the fitting stand! 

The hen must have been sitting on the roost, just above where you see the egg and just plopped it right there.  Lucky for you, I scraped away the poop around it before I took these photos.

If a shell-less egg isn't enough excitement for you, how about my new Calico Rooster?

I had to drive over ice-slicked roads to go pick "Cracker Jack"  up at the local post office  as we've had freezing rain for the past three days.

It was SO worth the nerve-wracking drive!

Isn't he magnificent? 

I just LOVE his vibrant colors.

Sable likes him too.

Sable is being GREAT with the chickens and the sheep.  She loves to go with me when I feed.  She never chases ~ but does like to eat poop!  The sheep try to intimidate her and she just gets out of their way but doesn't run from them.  She is not afraid yet has shown no sign of aggression.  What a GOOD PUPPY!

For those of you who are wondering ~ although I do want Sable to "guard" my sheep and chickens, she will be, primarily, a house dog. 

Because I love her and want her in the house!

;-)

I am also thrilled to announce that I am corresponding with Sigrid Van Dort, who is the co-author of  "The Genetics of Chicken Colours"  (click on link to view a PDF file of parts of the book!)

Sigrid is interested in my Calico project and is going to research to try to find the genetic code behind these beautiful birds!  She may even use photos of my Calicos in her next book!

I hope that's enough excitement for you for one day.

It's time for me to crawl out and feed the chickens. 

I wish you all a WONDERFUL weekend!

Cochins in January...

My Calico Cochins like to get out of their pen, in my garage, and go exploring in the morning.   Here they are coming back in from the back yard.

Daisy, my "tabbico" cat, likes to accompany me to the  barn when I feed the Mille Fleur Cochins.

The three oldest chicks are really feathering out!

This is the biggest chick.  A cockerel (as yet unnamed).  I just call him # 2, or "Blue" ~ as that's the color of the temporary leg band that I put on him the first week.

# 1 looks a lot like "Blue" but she's a pullet!  She sports a yellow leg band on her left leg.  I used small cable ties for temporary IDs on the tiny chicks.  I need to order real leg bands now that the chicks are getting bigger.  It will be important for me to be able to identify and keep records on each chicken that I raise in my Mille Fleur and my Calico breeding projects.

I have named chick # 3.  Her name is "Tiffany".  I was sure that Tiffany was a cockerel until she was about 4 1/2 to 5 weeks old.  At that time, I could tell by her comb that she was actually a pullet.  Needless to say I am thrilled!

As of now, Tiffany is the only one of the first three chicks that shows the background color for the mille fleur pattern.  On the other hand ~ I have learned that that can change!  So, I won't be able to make any firm decisions regarding breeding plans until the chicks are older. 

You can't really see them in these photos, but Tiffany is beginning to develop quite a few of the black chevrons (mostly on her back at this point) that characterize the MFC pattern.  I'll be keeping an eye on all three chicks, as well as detailed records of their growth and development to see where they fall into my breeding programs.

In the meantime, I've finally got LOTS of eggs in my incubators that are developing!  I was having a terrible time getting fertile eggs.  This is a common problem with Cochins due to the heavy feathering on their rears.  I finally broke down and trimmed the feathers to create (as one of the members of the Mille Fleur Cochin Yahoo Group called it:) a "Landing Strip", and son of a gun ~ I've got fertile eggs!

Soon there will be LOTS of little MFCs and Calico Cochins running around the Bluff Country!