Good morning Everyone! Happy, sunny day here in the yard......other than typical Alberta gusting winds!
Today I figured I would talk about some of the trials of the last 6 weeks of our lives as new chicken owners here at Coop DeVille.
It started out on Easter Sunday for us. I bought a mix breed flock of chicks; Black Copper Marans, Blue Birchen Marans, Splash Marans, Cuckoo Marans, Dorkings, Ameraucanas and some Blue Wheaton Ameraucanas. It's kind of funny because even though they are mixed, meaning maybe a Maran Rooster with an Ameraucana Hen, they definitely looked liked one or the other when they were day olds. Then I added in a baker's dozen of purebred Black Copper Marans (BCM'S) as I wanted the dark brown molasses colored eggs, and they were my guarantee.
As time moved on for us, the Dorkings where the easiest to identify as they have an extra toe, and the BCM's had furry feet and legs, so again, easy to know what was coming. The rest? Totally a drop in the hat, and they identified themselves as the weeks passed. What I thought at one time was a BCM mix turned out to be a straight Splash Maran, or a Leghorn guess turned out to be a beautiful Ameraucana Rooster and Hen.
One of the Dorkings had what I believe was a Sour Crop at 4 weeks. I investigated all I could via the internet, 'Raising Chickens for Dummies' and Ashley English's 'Keeping Chickens'. After a day or two of research, I took matters into my virgin hands and tried to help her, as she was a hen and I wanted to save her for her beautiful eggs and her sweet temperament. After 4 days, she did pass in the night when I wasn't there. I was very vigilant with her care, but I believe she was just too young to recuperate. Afterwards, I looked at it like losing 1 when I had 34 was a very good ratio and just made sure no one else had any symptoms. (Later on in the posts, I will discuss Sour Crop to help anyone with those issues, or feel free to email me and we can discuss)
Today, I still have 33 chickens of various breeds, both Hens and Roosters, that are feathered in and seemingly happy, other than some feather picking, but we'll discuss that another day....
Back to the baby, garden, dogs and Coop needs..... Happy day to all of you!
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