It's official. Yesterday we adopted Sweetie and Cutie Pie (whose names have been changed to Queen Elsa and Moana).
We are now chicken owners, no longer chicken renters!
Moana, formerly known as Cutie Pie
Queen Elsa, formerly known as Sweetie
Also yesterday, Lady GlitterSparkles joined our crew.
She is a gentle barred rock who should start laying any day now.
Lady GlitterSparkles
There have been a few moments of scuffle and chasing but everyone is getting to know each other as expected.
Glad to have one more gal in the crew, and also to be able to be the forever home for Queen Elsa and Moana!
Do any of you chicken peeps have suggestions on introducing a newbie to the group? They seem to be working it out pretty fine so far...and I would bet that if it were me getting a new roommate all of a sudden I'd be a lot more aggressive!
That's awesome! Congrats to the new chicken family. Cheers to an abundance of fresh eggs!
PS my girlfriend forced me to watch Moana a few weeks ago and it was actually pretty good.
Thanks! Yeah it's got decent music right? I think I have it memorized at this point ;)
Haha very very catchy tunes
Sorry, I have no advice about chickens, except that those are some pretty cool looking chickens. Sorry, but that's about the extent of my chicken-knowledge. Except some day I plan on getting a few for eggs, but that's down the road. I also had no idea you could rent chickens. Wow.
No time like the present! Egg presents!! Aren't they purrrty? Today after basically a full day of playing in the rain, they looked very funny with spiky wet feathers. Who knew they'd like jumping in puddles?
That is pretty funny, never knew they liked water either. Suppose none of us ever really grow up...even the chickens.
My neighbor is always trying to get me to get chickens..."we can split them". I know I'll end up doing the chicken wrangling most of the time. Once some of the cats thin out, I can see getting some. Those fresh eggs WOULD be sweet! Those are 'handsome birds' (think that's official fowl lingo, even though most chickens are female, go figure...)
As my girlfriend was singing the 'Away Away' song from Moana today, I got a great idea.... name the next chicken Heihei after the dumb rooster in the movie hahaha
hahah- I wouldn't have the energy to keep rescuing it from its own stupidity!
Chickens tend to work things out naturally on their own. They have a few spats here and there to determine the "pecking order" but as long as it's not getting too violent (which shouldn't happen since there's no male in the group) then they'll be good henmates in no time. :)
Love the name Lady GlitterSparkles!!!
Thanks @lenadr. So far they are chasing and the new girl runs away and goes into the coop. I hope this ends soon, as I hate to watch it!
Do they let her out at all to graze and eat/drink?
A little I guess. I put extra food and water up in the coop and also just now I put the old girls in the run and gave them treats and let the new girl out to graze without bullies. Not sure if this is the right thing but I felt bad not giving her a chance to range.
That's actually perfect. Separating them gives them a chance to get to know each other without the competitive abilities. If it wasn't getting any better that's what I would have suggested. You're a natural chicken mom! :D
Update: the distance that the new girl has been keeping from the 2 old gals is getting smaller and smaller- each day is a lot better than the day before and they are nearly three amigas already!! Whew!!
Yay!!!
There might be a little fighting at first, but you shouldn't have any trouble as long as they have plenty of space during the day. Keeping them locked in a coop is how you end up with hens getting injured. The omega hen has to be able to run away from the rest of the flock to keep them from ganging up on her.
Free range hens are happy hens most of the time.
I work at home a lot of the time, so I can let them free range then, and the new girl keeps hiding in the coop as soon as the others start to chase her. The problem is that I have to be in the office this Thursday, and I won't be able to let them free range, so I'm not sure whether they will be all sorted by then. I hope this all ends soon and they can just be happy coop mates!
awsom life
Agree with @nomanijaz, chickens = awesome life. How does the chicken rent work? Never heard of anything like that
It's kind of a new-ish thing for people to rent chickens - we used www.rentthechicken.com but there are a few more in our area as well. Pretty neat if you ask me!
Hehe cool! Thanks for the link. My landlady wouldn't be happy if I got these in my apartment. :)
Haha I have no idea why!?
Chickens are the absolute best to start you on the path of self-sufficiency and fun. Second only to goats, they are the most entertaining of the homestead critters. Welcome to the chicken club.
I can only dream about having goats one day. Definitely need a bigger piece of land though...so for now, 3 chickens it is (on my tiny suburban lot).
Even if they didn't lay eggs, I'd have them for the entertainment value alone, haha.
Ohhh the chickens have wonderful names @jaymorebeet
Thanks...can you tell I have a couple of toddlers?
Hey, you're a chicken mommy! That's actually really fun. It will be a great experience for your kids to raise food from farm to table (meaning eggs, not the chickens!)
It is already so much fun for me and the rest of the family. I can't wait till these girls all three get along so we can move on from this stage, but yes, farm to table (for the eggs) is amazing!!! :)
I think next summer I'm going to have to sacrifice a flower garden for a vegetable garden. I just miss that farm to table aspect too much. There's something awesome about raising your veggies and cooking, canning, etc. Chickens would be even more fun!
Maybe do a combo flower-veggie garden?? I put some marigolds among my veggies and herbs to attract pollinators and they added some color to the otherwise green garden- next year I will probably do more flowers in the veggie beds!
Definitely something to think about! I have dahlias from my mom that I usually plant in the only bed that gets sun. But I bet I could find other places for those tall suckers. They fall over every year anyway!
Hi @jaymorebeet ! Those little ladies look lonely! You might want to set them up a #chickentinder profile like I did with my rooster!
https://steemit.com/introduction/@nerd-minion/how-you-doin-steemit-checkout-my-chickentinder-profile :)
Oh dear. Hahaha - love it!
I just saw the Trolls movie or else I'd be like Lady Glittersparkles??? lol. So cool. I love the idea of renting chickens. It looks like they have a pretty nice yard to run around in. Congrats on the new additions to the family!
Yeah I'm not sure if most people get the reference, but that movie has been on quite a bit over here....it was either LGS or Princess Poppy! Thanks @marxrab :)
Happy chicken owners. Hope they get along soon and start laying eggs.
Thanks! The older two have been laying for a while but I wonder when lady glitter sparkles will start!! Can't wait to see what her eggs look like- they are supposedly a lighter brown than the Rhode Island Red eggs
Congrats on joining the chicken "parent" club! There is definately a pecking order, unless it gets really agressive I would let them get used to each other. If not you might try putting her in a holding pen/cage where they can see each other. Kinda like what I did with Brodie Brownie for a couple of days.🐓
It's amazing but I think you're right in leaving them to it as much as possible- already just 4 days in and they have calmed down considerably. The new girl sometimes hides in the coop but she's fine in there if she needs a break. So glad they are working it out! They definitely aren't 'friends' with the new girl yet but I hope they will be in time.
Let us know how things progress. 🐓🐓
So much better!! They are hanging out a lot more and letting the new girl eat and hang out too! I think the new girl is skiddish around them still but the new girls don't really mind her, so the new URL ends up running away from them when they weren't even going to bug her. I think over the next days or weeks she realizes that they are over picking on her so much and she doesn't need to skedaddle every time they approach her.
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