It's Starting!

I got home from work and looked into the coop and there it was, that first crack! It never gets old. I have been recharging extra batteries for my camera in preparation for the weekend.

A few hours later and I heard faint chirping coming from the egg.  I absolutely fall in love with each little egg and for three weeks I'm impatient and cannot wait until they are all hatched safe and sound in this world.

Each egg is shaped differently and they are all so unique already and will arrive on their own time. However, I do get anxious and a bit afraid for them. What if they can't make it out of the egg. I have read you are not to help them. My great-grandmother would take these stuck chicks and on a warm stove carefully help them out. She said they just needed a little push. But all the websites and the books say it is survival of the fittest and helping out a chick that would otherwise die could harm the flock or cause heartbreak sometime down the line when they prove too weak to continue living.

Happy Birthday!

PeeWee, Fuzztop,Dash,Chickiebaby and Keet! They are all two years old!

Fuzztop on nest!

Fuzztop on nest!
Originally uploaded by Tera in the Isles

Fuzztop has gone broody for the first time. Since I am now left with two hens I decided to procure hatching eggs. This time I ordered a few out of Schertz, Texas though Ebay. We'll see what happens the weekend of May 1st. Fuzztop is not sitting on the eggs the way Ducky did. Why does this amaze me? I guess because it's just more evidence that they are all individuals and it's something I find so exciting on a daily basis.

I have a decision to make, should I raise this flock or leave it all to Fuzztop? I did notice the difference between Gen1 and Gen2. Hand raised is the way to go if you want to bond with your birds. At the same time, Twinkie was not hand raised but so super smart and tuned into me.

The Drama

These past few weeks have been difficult in the coop. One thing I have not mentioned in this blog has been Twinkie's dark side. I try to focus on the happy and pleasing things that happen, not dwell so much on the negative. Twinkie had demons.

Twinkie lost her mother last summer then I gave away her brothers, Nacho and Farina. She was as close to Farina as she was to Ducky. I feel now, in retrospect, that it was cruel to separate them. At the time Twinkie still had Ducky and I thought she always would. PeeWee and Fuzztop of Silkies Gen1 never bonded with Twinkie and I thought they would. They seemed to be respectfully apathetic towards each other. PeeWee and Fuzztop were a tight clique. I would keep Twinkie company as much as I could and shower her with attention but as the months went on she became increasingly more aggressive with me. I did play along and let her be the boss but that wasn't it.

Chickens have expressions and those who keep chickens know this. Twinkie had an angry face and it wouldn't let up. Her caustic squawk became even more abrasive and the pecks became more deliberate. Twinkie would put her beak on me, shut tightly then pull and twist. She broke skin, it hurt. She never pecked the other hens and they never pecked her. Why was I getting pecked? What happens when you love an animal dearly and it all it wants to do is hurt you? I was being attacked pulling weeds, sitting out and reading a book, walking around. She would see me from across the yard and charge to nip, peck and bite with all her might.

I phoned my grandfather and told him about Twinkie and he said he'd never had a hen act that way. Then he suggested maybe it's because she has no family. Chickens are very social and this little girl just wasn't having her needs met so I made the decision to try to find a family for Twinkie. This was so hard because as I said, I love this bird very much. I posted an ad on Craigslist with photos and a link to a video of Twinkie. A few hours later my inbox was filled with people who were interested, curious or just wanted to tell me I had a cute hen so why get rid of her. Feeling like a flake, I decided, after everything, not to let Twinkie go and get her a rooster instead so she could start her own family.

It was at this moment that I received a call from a distraught chicken owner who came home that day to find her old hen dead and her pet duck mourning the passing. She said the whole family was upset but none more than her duck who had so much love and affection for his friend. She wanted to adopt Twinkie right away. My heart sank because this was the family that needed Twinkie and she would be happy there and she would be leaving me.

The next day the woman came by with a really cute carrier made of wood and chicken wire. Twinkie had been out in the yard. I couldn't bring myself to photograph her one last time. I had taken so many photos of her already and didn't want any of these last few moments together. I loved her and didn't like what I was doing and yet it felt right. I began to tell the woman what to expect from my hen, how she is smart, very smart. Twinkie then freaked out and ran all over the yard squawking for dear life. She had never done this before, it was as if she knew. She reads my mind. I caught her, hugged her and the woman continued to tell me how she had a lovely garden, how she had pullets that could use a leader and had a duck who would  love her more than anything. She said Twinkie had the best disposition for her flock. Then she said her son wanted a buff Silkie and how beautiful Twinkie was. Twinkie calmed down completely and I put her in the cage with some food and then she was gone. I went inside and cried because it was her birthday.

A few hours later the woman called and told me that when she got home Twinkie heard the pullets and was anxious to get out. Once she was released she went straight to the coop and sat and gathered some pullets around. Then she jumped on the roost (Twinkie loves to roost) and then jumped off and went straight for the food and water. The duck approached her and she didn't flinch and they walked off together. The woman said Twinkie seemed so happy and fit right in.

All living things have a purpose or want one. Twinkie wanted to lead, to belong to a group that accepted her and she found her place.  Lesson learned: Next time, close sibs will be given away together. It is hard to have to give any of them up, always. Twinkie was special and I comfort myself in thinking that I will continue to raise and meet unique and special personalities so long as I stay in the business of chickens. But I do miss her and despite all those mean injuries and scars, I still love her.

Bad Egg?

I have sung the many praises of my Girls on this blog, especially Twinkie. I haven't been completely honest though. There is a dark side to my flock.

On April 12th 2009, Twinkie came into this world a cute, fluffy, fresh as could be, curious lil chickie. She was a sweet and submissive pullet and I don't know when she went bad but she did. Twinkie , as smart as she is, can be so very mean. She pecks people in a mean and nasty way. I don't know when or why this came  about but it has been recently. I have observed that she never pecks her sisters and steers clear out of their way.  PeeWee and Fuzztop don't seem to peck Twinkie either.  Twinkie still comes when called, eats out of anyone's hand and will allow me to pick her up and even allow me to check her feet and keep her on my lap. But when I am sitting in the yard she'll charge at me and jump to peck my face or my hands and arms.

This is no love peck she takes the skin and twists and does not let go. On a low day the last thing you want is an object of your affection to hurt you and with the attitude that you desrved it for some reason. No one likes to be hurt by anything they love.  I confess that Twinkie has made tears flow, scantily but surely, out of physical and emotional pain.