Beautiful Life of Zig Zag Zoom

Yesterday I had to do a rescue of one of my roosters. It is a pure Aracana rooster and he is a wimp. One of the other roosters from this year’s batch attacked him and had him pinned under a board in the barn. I had to break the board free to free him. I decided to take him out of the same area as teh new chcikens and put him with last years’ hens. He got beat up by them too.

He is a beautiful rooster but he has no courage. He tried to get back in with this years chickens so I decided to try it and three of the chickens attacked him really bad. I had to take it out again and put back with the hens. He seems healthy and is quite big but I am not sure why they are all picking on him. I had already decided prior to this that he was the one rooster I was keeping to breed with but now I am not sure. I will have to see if he starts to get along with the next couple of weeks. He is 14 weeks old so maybe he will get some courage as he comes into his own.

On the note of roosters, I am hearing another crow from the barn so I will soon be able to confirm at least two roosters plus the one I rescued which is not crowing yet but has a definite rooster tail. I am counting what I think is

All this years chickens are growing like crazy. Many are almost full size.

The first batch is thirteen weeks old and the second batch is 10 weeks old. In the picture, you can see my last year hens and in the background you can see this years chickens in the fenced room. As you can see, they are just about the same size.

So far I still only have one rooster crowing and he crows all day long. You can see him sitting higher than the rest on his water container.  He faces the neighbor right next to us and starts at 4 am. They must love us. I think I have about seven roosters all together but one can never be sure until they all start crowing. The Barred Plymouth Rocks are hard to tell because the hens have full combs and are almost as large as the roosters.

The little banties are starting to grow but not very much. They are going to be quite small. They are not as pretty as the large chickens but I am hoping they will grow out to be better looking. I will have to get some pictures for you to see.

Thats all from the chicken coop for now.

There is always food scares in the news. The latest was tomatoes. The problem is that our Government is trying to regulate small farmers while allowing the big companies to pass on tainted food to the consumer.

This is why many people are returning to the old ways and raising their own food. The advantages are that you know what is going the ground or what you are feeding your animals. Growing a garden is no longer just about saving money. It is now a matter of health.

I started raising chickens last year but I am thing of expanding into raising a pig and a cow. Of course, our wonderful Government is trying to regulate us small hobby farmers to protect the national food system. We are not the problem, it is the large feed lots and large food suppliers who are causing the unsafe food supply. I know my chickens are safe and the eggs I get are very healthy and safe.

If you are in a situation where you can not raise your own food, buy local from farmers who care about their farms and are not just trying to make the quick buck.

Our silly cousins did it again. They hatched 10 Bantam eggs that they got from a guy they know. They have no idea what breeds they are and the have no plan to keep the chickens. Guess who is taking some of them? That’s right, it is me. My sill wife, who was a chicken hater when I first started raising them, has decided she wants four of the smallest ones.

She started by only wanting two but her cousin Darlene suckered her in. She gave told Karen that the four smallest ones are friends and does she really want to separate them. It worked so we will be bringing home 4 more chicks. I still have to pick up my other 10 from Darlene next week. That will make a total of 41 chicks this year. Geez, I must be crazy.

I am still trying to sex the first batch and trying to decide what to do with the roosters. I might raise them for meat. Another options is to take them to a small animal auction we are going to on May 18th. The third options is dropping them off at a local farm or just lets them free range. He takes all you have and lets them have free run of the farm. I will let you all know when I decide.

I would love to hear from other people who raise chickens. Drop in and leave a comment and if you have a blog or website, leave that in the spot on the comment box and I will visit your site.

Thanks to all my readers and I see the traffic increasing each day. I am planning a small give away in the coming weeks so please check back for that.

I am pretty excited because we are heading to a chicken swap in Madrid, NY on Sunday. This should be fun to see what other poultry farmers are raising. I was hoping to take a few of my little rooster but I have yet to determine the sex of the chicks. I have read a bunch but I can not determine for sure the cockerels from the pullets.

The swap is put on by the Northern New York Poultry Fanciers and what I hear from our cousins, it is a fun time. There is also an auction on the 18th of May and I am hoping to know the sex of the roosters by then so I can sell some.

Has anyone every been to a chicken swap? Did you buy or swap anything? Share with us by leaving a comment.

A couple of days ago I brought the baby chicks home. They are four weeks old today and growing like crazy. They are active little creatures who try to climb my legs every time I visit their pen.

Our cousin Kenny decided I could have his first batch of chicks so I now have 27 chicks and 10 more at his house which are just a week old. I am trying to figure out how to sex them. They are mostly Barred Plymouth Rocks. I have read as much as I could find on how to sex them but I am still not sure which is which when it comes to pullets or cockerels. If anyone knows for sure how to determine the sex at four weeks, please leave a comment and let me know.

I have been quite busy getting ready for Spring. My brother in law and I built a new addition to the chicken coop. We built chicken wire covered rooms both inside and out to accommodate the chicks till they are old enough to mix with my older hens. I am busy planning the garden and waiting for my neighbor to get the garden tilled. It has been unusually hot for this time of the year. We have been in the 80s most of the last few days. That is June weather normally here in the North Country of New York.

What do you have planned for the Spring? Leave a comment and let me know what is happening with you.

We have had a few problems with our rooster getting mean and attacking. I learned to deal with him but when I was down with my back, Karen had to take care of the chickens and the rooster attacked her and did a number on her leg.

We already had all the eggs that we needed for the season fertilized so there was no real need to have a rooster anymore. We did our first cull. I took him to our cousin Kenny’s house and he showed me how to do a clean kill and pluck the feathers. I though it would be much worse but it did not bother me. I made Karen stand there with us so we can start doing our own when needed.

I thought the rooster would be hard to catch but I did it pretty quickly. The problem was, he stirred up the hens and one of the hens fell between an opening in the walls and got stuck. I thought she was dead or broke her neck and I tried to get her out but she fell too far. I ended up going to the outside of the barn and breaking through the wall. By time I did this, she flew up half way and I went back in and rescued her. I still thought she might be hurt but as soon as I lifted her out she flew off with the rest of her flock. Silly hen!

All the baby chicks but one is doing good. That poor little thing was attacked by the rest and pecked hard. I am not sure if she is going to make it but we are all crossing our fingers. They are growing fast and since I do not have electrical power in the barn, Kenny is still keeping them until they can come home without need for additional heat.

This week we are building a room inside the coop to keep the new chicks when they come home away from the older hens. This will be just fenced in so they can get use to each other before mixing them.

We have another batch of eggs scheduled to hatch next week so I will have more pictures to share. I will also be putting up some updated chick pictures as soon as I get time.

That is the update from the old homestead right now. Stay tuned for some cool pictures and video links of the chickens.

Our cousin Kenny has been hatching eggs for us and yesterday was hatch day. I gave him 11 of our eggs to hatch and out of that we had 9 chicks. They are so cute! Eight of them are black and one is yellow with brown strips. I am pleased that I had such a high rate of hatching.Kenny hatched 21 of his own eggs and he got as of last night 11 hatched and four that had peck holes in them. Below is some pictures of the new babies.

This is what is left of the babies former home. Mine were the blue shells.

This is all the little babies but one. We had one still in the incubator waiting to dry off.

This is the chicks sitting on their food.

Nine of the eggs I gave Kenny were a cross between a Plymouth Rock Rooster and Arcauna hens. Two of the eggs were from my neighbors flock and they were a cross between and Aracuna Hen and who knows what rooster since they have several breeds. I believe the yellow may have come from one of those two eggs.

I just took 14 more eggs to be hatched so we will see how many more we get.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of the baby chicks. Also wish me luck that they are a majority of hens.

I started raising chicken this past summer and it is fun and everyday I get nice fresh eggs. They are one of the easiest animals to raise and require only minimal care.

I allow them (except) in the winter to free range on a nice fenced area. One of my first concerns was that they like to fly out of their area. I had thought of clipping their wings but I watched and only one of the breeds I have fly out and they stick right in the main yard then fly back in shortly after. Because of that fact, I decided to forgo the wing clipping.

Chickens do need to have food and water at all times and if they do not have access to small rocks, you need to add grit for them to be able to digest their food. They also need a safe shelter to protect them from the elements and other animals. Any place will do, I use an old shed that was built on to my main barn.

If you plan to hatch the eggs you need a rooster. If you are just using the eggs for food, hens do still lay eggs without a rooster but they will not be fertilized. I chose to get a rooster even though I do not hatch the eggs. I thought he would be good protection when another animal comes around.

At times, I feel that getting a rooster was not my best idea. He protects too well and in the fall I went out to the barn with shorts on and he attacked my leg. Let me tell you, roosters can do damage and they do hurt. I was lucky he just got two good cuts on my leg before I kicked him off. He was headed to the guillotine before my wife convinced me to give him another chance. I pardoned him from death row but now I have a 2×4 handy and he has learned who is the real boss of the roost.

The one thing I learned about raising chickens is that if you read too many books, you will spend all your time worrying about problems. I have one good book and use it as a reference guide. Otherwise, you can learn everything you need to know by just doing it., it is really easy.

Collecting eggs must be done daily. If you have new hens expecting to start laying (approx. 23 weeks from birth), make sure you look everywhere for the eggs. I made really nice nesting boxes and the older hens have laid their eggs in them. I have two newer hens who just starting laying and they laid everywhere. The first bunch of eggs, I found on a high shelf in the barn (12 in all). Then I found them under an old wood stove. Now they lay on the floor in a corner. I guess they do not like the boxes I made. Well at least they lay in the same place everyday now.

The chickens love treats and they eat many scraps like apples, apple peelings, pumpkins (chopped up), tomatoes, zucchini, and more. They for some reason do not like broccoli or any of the cabbage family.

The downside of raising any animal is the winter. The last few weeks it has been in the teens down to below zero and it is a pain to change the water everyday and collect eggs when it is so cold. The chickens also hate being cooped up but that is part of the life.

My farm is also a no kill chicken farm, they are here for eggs and as pets. We are looking at raising for meat in the future once I get some experience in doing so.

This post should give and idea about raising chickens and I will include future posts on the topic.

Remember when the manure in life gets too much, just say “That Blozzz”, and move on !