Chicken Chatter

So much has been going on with our chickens lately.  Several of the black chicks that we got from our neighbors are turning out to be roosters.  Knut plans on butchering them after harvest.  They have now matured, and now some of the eggs I’m collecting are fertilized.  None of our chickens are sitting on them, though, as they’re not very good mothers, and I don’t have any desire to have chicks around at this point anyway.  We purposefully picked breeds that were not broody, so that they would interact with our kids with little injury, and all we wanted were the eggs anyway.  We’ve never had the intention to raise our own chicks.

For those wondering, a fertilized egg isn’t as gross as you may think, although I don’t use them.  It basically looks like a regular egg, but there’s a red vein around the yolk area.  It’s often known as “a bloody egg.”  They’re fine to eat, but most people don’t for the visual reason.  I don’t.

Anyway, that’s the overall news.  I thought I’d update of a few individuals, though.  First, there’s Princess. 

(This isn’t actually princess, but princess’ sister.  She’s the same breed, but much further up the pecking order.  The real princess now has several missing feathers and is much skinnier due to the other chickens restricting her access to food.  Princess was hiding in the woods when I was taking pictures.)

Many of you may remember Princess.  Back when we got our first batch of chicks, we split the order with a friend of ours.  As the chicks got bigger, we realized we mistakenly got a few of his roosters, and he mistakenly got a few of our hens, so we did a switch.  His coop was more crowded than ours, so there was more evidence of the chickens picking on each other, and princess was one of the hens that we got in that swap back. 

She has always been at the bottom of the pecking order, and for that reason, we named her “Princess” so as to raise her self esteem.  In the beginning we had to pour white vinegar on her wounds, and did a bit of separation from the other hens, but eventually she rejoined the group.

Well, Princess is getting royally picked on by the roosters.  She cannot hold her own, and has left the coop altogether.  We can’t get her to go back into the coop at night to roost.  I can’t seem to catch her, and she no longer lays her pretty eggs in the nesting boxes, so they’re being laid somewhere out in the woods.

She is still around though.  She’s pretty sickly looking, and is missing some feathers from the roosters’ brutality.  If we were to catch her, it’s likely we’d keep her in seclusion until she’s healed.  She won’t be caught, though, so I simply leave out food and water for her, and she roosts in the woods each night somewhere.  I’m not sure how long she will make it.  I’m hoping once the roosters are gone, she’ll be bold enough to return to us.  Right now we only see her on days when I keep the other chickens in the coop all day.  She’ll come out of the woods and roam around the yard and peck at the fallen baking apples on the ground.  Otherwise, she hides in the woods.  I’ve started keeping the chickens in for at least half a day each day to make sure that Princess is bold enough to get the food and water that I leave out for her, and she always comes out of the woods and eats and drinks if the other chickens aren’t around.

Then there’s Beatrix.  She’s the last of this breed that we have.  She’s always been a trooper.  I’m not sure why, but the roosters seem to target her most for some…interaction.  Roosters are constantly hopping on top of her, and her eggs are now always fertilized.  I’m tempted to throw in some sort of blond joke in here, since she is our only remaining blond chicken, and also the most sought after hen for the rooster’s attention.  I’m trying to refrain…

As far as the roosters go, I’m thinking that of the 10 chicks we got, 1 died early on, and now I’m thinking 6-7 of them are males.  Even Marilyn.

I named Marilyn after Marilyn Monroe, since she had this gorgeous blonde head.  Well, since then I’ve seen Marilyn be one of the most aggressive “fertilizers” and crows so, so often.  So Marilyn’s last name was changed to “Manson” since she is a he.  He will soon be butchered with the rest of the roosters, and good riddance. 

That’s the news from the chicken coop!