Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Chicken Times

I enjoy reading alot of different blogs and a few of them are farm blogs. I use to breed show chickens..lots of them..and this time a year I would be starting to get ready for the big hatches.

I usually put 40 eggs in the incubator and had about a 97% hatch rate. So I had ALOT of chicks...in the house..LOL
Well I sole my entire flock off to a farm that breeds heritage birds, birds that have been around a long time but their numbers are few. I regret it every day but I was losing too many to predators and the feed bill was getting to be too much. Plus I can't have chickens in the small backyard I am going to have. There are certain birds I wish I could have kept but I felt it was better for them to all go together. I am not good at letting animals go and I charged next to nothing. I am just hoping they got a good home. I am hoping one day to have chickens again. I gave all my silkie breed chickens to my nephew so I still get to see them and I have 5 birds still here at home which will go to my sis's farm when I move.

So this is a bunch of little guys..they were so cute.

This is Q-Tip he was my first sickly chick. He spent 3 days almost dead in the incubator but I got him through it. He always had a bad leg but the lady that bought him loves him and he is still going strong. When you handle them alot they get quite tame.

This is a silkie chick and a mutt...awwww

This guy was striking a pose. I like this pic, might do something with it someday.

Finally the Three Amigos. These are White Crested Polish. 2 blue and 1 black. My most favourite breed of all chickens. I like this pic too.

Sigh..makes me kinnda sad to see these little guys but at least I don't have to clean up after them any more!

This is Napolean one of my most favourite roosters. I wanted to keep him but I wanted him to go with his girls. I could scratch his tummy and he would lay down and roll over. I showed him a few times at fairs and he loved it. He would crow along with any music playing.

This is Nero. He was a much showier bird with a better crest but not a good breeder. He was also very high strung and nervous. To keep his crest like that I had to keep it in ponytails.

It was alot of work to get the crest like that and then he got severe frost bite which ruined his wattles(the dangling red things) so he was unshowable.

This was my Blue rooster..very nice bird..not a good personality

Finally this was a mutt I bred on purpose. It was a good cross and he sold fast. He was a hyper fellow though.

I have alot more pics but I'm sure thats enough for now, plus it's making me miss them...I'll think I'll go out and see my old gang of five..

15 comments:

Pugsley and Lola said...

Those are cool pictures!! I like the Three Amigos.

I hate to hear that you had to send some of your chickens to another farm, but hopefully you will get to visit them often:)

Have a PAWSOME Tuesday!!!
XOXOXO
Pugsley

Kathleen Coy said...

Chickens are great! I grew up on a farm and you are right, when you handle them they become quite tame. I always enjoyed watching them going about their daily business (they had free run of the farm.) Well, they were great except for our rooster, he was evil, lol...I still have a scar from him 30 years later. He made the mistake of going after my dad and ended up in the stewpot! Maybe it had something to do with the breed? He was a Barred Rock.

Happy farm animals are important to me, which is why I buy all our meat and eggs directly from local farmers who I know. :-)

Jody said...

What funny looking birds. We had a rooster when I was a kid but there was no way you could ever pet him. Did you make some felt animals that looked like your chickens?

Totally Timmy said...

Pugsley- I don't get to visit them, they live too far away:(
KC- -some roos can be very nasty. I never kept the bad ones around. Alot of my birds went as pets/novelties so it was important to me to have good temperments. One time a little girl bought a full grown hen and it fell asleep in her arms while she carried it around!
Jody- i only felt normal chickens, these guys would be waaay to hard!

Salinger The Pug said...

OOOHHH we liked your chicken pics!

Those chickens look like they're wearing hats! HAHAHAA!

Claire MW said...

I just love the Polish pictures. They are one of my fave breeds too. I have a buff laced Polish who was a rescue from the Parkersburg, Iowa tornado. She is a sweetie. I have some silver and black (with white hats) in the brooder. I'm glad you still have silkies...

Belua Designs said...

I love Q-Tip!! I'm happy to hear that he's doing well :)

dellartist said...

Love the chicken photos! We had chickens on the farm where I grew up, but I tried not to get too close to them. They weren't amazing looking like these.

LeelaBijou said...

oh very cool pics! :)

Diego Dog said...

What an enjoyable post!! I love the pictures.

Diego

m1 Designs said...

Oh I just love all your chick pictures. My best friend is just completing the building of an aviary for some new chicks that she is expecting. I can't wait to see them when they arrive.

Unknown said...

Great photos, wow you had a LOT of chickens. I grew up on a small holding and we kept chickens, only about a dozen though-but how great it is to get fresh eggs in the morning!

Bijou said...

Your chickens were very unusual looking. I like them!

Mom has some birds in the house, she would to keep chickens outdoors if she could.

Wags & wiggles,
Bijou

Liss said...

that is so neat. I never really knew chickens could be show chickents. This was so neat to read about, how amazing!

Chicken Lips said...

Just stumbled across your blog...what fun! I LOVE your Timmy photos - I have a chihuahua and I can never seem to get him to hold still long enough to dress him up...LOL!