Indy, the chicken killer

Indy killed another chicken. Black Hen. 

And then today when I went out to shut the coop, he had Weasley pinned down with his mouth. Wesley didn’t fight him, which I’m sure is why she’s still alive. But once I got Indy inside I had to physically carry Weasley to the coop. 

He thinks chickens are treats!

Golden doodles kill chickens (with dead chicken pics)

Indy, our 5 month Goldendoodle who by the way just completed puppy training, killed Corny tonight. 

So that’s great. 

The chicks are getting pretty big so Mama Weasley has been letting them roam on their own more and more. I thought that they had gotten too large for Indy to take out so I let him outside without supervision. 

When I went to close the coop tonight, Corny was missing. A hawk was circling and cawing over head so I thought that got her. Then on my way back to the house I found Corny. Or most of her. She really looked pretty similar to a grocery store bought chicken  pre-oven. plucked clean but missing head and feet. 

Mat and I were trying to look up what could have done that when Indy started the doggy vomit song. I ran to get a bowl (too late) and came back to this

Mat has a theory that the hawk killed Corny and then was interrupted by Indy. Indy saw the dead chicken and just ate the head. 

In other news: Another injured animal today was Wasabi. 

Maybe the hawk had tried to get him?  Not sure. He does play with Indy a lot, but I don’t think Indy would have hurt him.  I know Wasabi could really put Indy in his place quickly with those claws. 

We lost a Weasley

Non-mama Weasley is officially gone.  Dead to a predator that got her during the day!  

And Hickety lost her tail feathers and got an injured wing!

Mat went hunting for the predator and he saw what may have been a bobcat!  It was dusk and it started hissing at Wasabi (at Mats ankles) from about ten feet up in the woods.  Mat thinks he scared it off, we’ve seen nothing on the game camera, and we haven’t lost a chicken since. 

On the bright side, the youngens are doing well. 

From left to right: Corny, Zuchinni, and uncle Joe. 

Now Mama Weasley is officially the only Weasley. Sad 😢 

Two buff orpingtons and a barnyard mix

Based on the appearance at this point, I’m pretty sure that two are buff orpingtons. The scraggly probably isn’t a buff Orpington and may be a rooster.

Uncle Joe (the white specked one)  is the only one who’s eaten out of my hand and he already has the start of a comb. For those who don’t know, in youth cockerels are much friendlier than pullets (young hens). 

We shall see. 

The chicken scare

The other day when I went to close up the coop at night, two of the chickens were missing. Mama Weasley and Black Hen. 

I hoped that they had gone into the woods because I was late closing the coop. The following morning, I let them out and the other two were nowhere to be seen. It was kind of sad watching the chicks run around without a mama protecting them!

Later in the morning I opened the garage to go feed the cats. There they were!  Boy, was Mama Weasley happy!  And the chicks!

Three day old chicks leaving the coop

They did it!  The ventured out of, or beneath? The coop today!

This morning...

This afternoon

Three little chicks!

The kids, Indy, and I were at my sisters for a couple of days.  We had a blast!

And we got home to some new chicks!  How fun!  

Daughter waved at them. 





There was one extra egg in there so I decided to check it. Yep, it had developed almost completely. I wonder if Weasley has kept sitting on it, would it have lived?

We’ve got chicks!

Mat went to collect eggs tonight and Weasley was particularly peeved about it. She pecked at his hand. I thought maybe it was because she doesn’t know him as well as me, or else the eggs were starting to hatch. They’re starting!  

Woot woot!  Come on chickies! 

And then there were 9

Weasley is still plenty broody. But now there are only 9 fertilized eggs. Not sure what happened to the other 3?  Were they not growing?  Did the other hens move them?  Hmmmmm

When life hands you lemons...

Weasley is still broody. I’ve tried most of the tricks (except dipping her in cold water) and she just goes back. She’s not violent or angry when I collect eggs from beneath her, so I’ve just let her be. 

But I had an idea. Maybe she could hatch some eggs?  I bought a dozen unrefrigerated eggs from a friend with a rooster, marked them, and stuck them under her. 

She seemed so happy that I was putting eggs under her rather than taking them away!  She quickly fluffed out to cover them all. So we’ll see if any chicks hatch!

New puppy!

We got a new puppy!  Meet Indy

That’s one way to cure a broody hen

One of the Weasleys has been sitting in the nesting box for a day and a half. Every time I go to get eggs I have to pull them from under her and she seemed to have a tail twitch. So I sucked it up and was going to check for egg binding. 

How you check is much how you would expect-Internal exam. I put on a latex glove, lubed up a finger, and gently went in. No egg   

But boy did it cure her broodiness!  As soon as I was done she was off running 😂

The brave chicken

One chicken, a Weasley, was brave enough to leave the coop today. The rest just sat by the open door all day. 

Brave enough to leave the coop, but she got snow trapped none the less!  

We had about 4” when we got home from visiting family and so far we’ve gotten another 5” today.   I had to carry her back to the coop 😜

We’ve got Easter Eggers!

We picked up three Easter Eggers this morning from a friend who had a few extra. 

They join our two remaining Weasleys   

I’m thinking Harry, Rob, and Hermione 😄

Rooster culling

*****WARNING!!!!  Chicken butchering pics*******

Yesterday the large cockerel (aka Mr Weasley) was staring at Daughter as she was running outside. She came within a few feet of him and I was getting nervous. 

Last night when I went to get the chickens in the coop the cockerels would not get in. I took it as a sign. 

Daughter crashed before Mat got home. I took it as another sign. 

So we had dinner, put Son to bed, and went out to cull some roosters. 

The sun had already set when we started. But here are some pics....

My stud with the first rooster (Mr Weasley)

We opted to breast them out since it was our first time and we were doing it in the dark. Mat did the work and I assisted. 

Cutting out the breast

Cutting out a leg

A pic of the crop on the smaller rooster

It was really a learning experience for us!  And we had fun!  It was almost like a date night- no kids and under the stars!

Eggs!

Size comparison. Friday's batch on the left, store bought in the middle, Tuesday's hatch on the right. 

We were out of town this weekend and came home to this. We had moved the golf ball out of the nesting box, but they moved it back!

This morning when I let them out one of them was already brooding!  So she's apparently the one that wanted all the eggs and the golf ball in the nesting box. And yes, she was brooding on an egg and a golf ball 😂

We've got eggs!

I've noticed the roosters doing their *ahem* adult thing lately (and I don't mean crowing!) so I figured the hens would start laying soon.

We put a golf ball in each of the two nesting boxes because we were told it encourages egg laying there. I've been checking the nesting boxes daily and convinced that every mushroom around the yard is an egg. 

Tonight while putting them in the coop I noticed the roosters mounted twice!  That's pretty randy, if you ask me!  So I was convinced that I just hadn't found the eggs yet.  I looked in the corners of the coop and.... *drumroll please*

That's 8 eggs!!!

I've no clue how long they've been sitting there, so we're definitely going to test for freshness before eating them. 

We put an egg in each of the nesting boxes. A hen came up to check it out before I could take a picture!  (Note the useless golf balls have been removed from nests)

I think there are three distinct shapes to the 6 eggs we brought in, which means all three hens are laying!

I'm so excited!!!!!!

Mrs Weasley crows

Turns out the chicken we have been calling Mrs Weasley all this time is a cockerel. For those who aren't up on their chicken lingo, cockerel is a young male past the chick stage but not yet adult rooster. 

This morning while feeding the cats I heard s crow from the coop. Since two of the chickens have larger combs, I was thinking it could've either. But I let them out and heard it again from none other than Mrs (ahem, Mr) Weasley. 

Makes sense. He is by far the largest and his legs are twice as thick as anyone else's. 

Now we'll probably need to figure out how to butcher him and do that in the next month or so. Unless we decide to keep a Cock?  I don't know....

Gopher hunting

We've got a gopher problem. Luckily, we have barn cats...

They also eat the gophers that we trap. They really seem to enjoy them. So now they have a taste for them. 

They're getting so big!  Daughter loves playing with them. 

Kittens can get in the way....

Mat was trying to get some lights on the mower this morning and the kittens were very curious....

He said it was more distracting than when Daugter tries to help 😊