My Chirpy Chicken Coop

Is Eliza...A WELSUMMER?!?!?!   January 31, 2021 (Eliza's beautifully speckled Welsummer egg on the kitchen counter!) Is Eliza...A WELSUMMER?!?!?! I sure think so. Ever since Eliza started laying eggs, she's always laid speckled eggs, which only Welsummers and Cuckoo Marans lay. (Eliza can only be part Welsummer, because her egg has to be chocolate brown for her to be part Cuckoo Maran.) Now we suspect she may be a cross breed of Buff Orpinton and Welsummer! In the eastern Netherlands lies a small town called Welsum. In this town, Welsummers were bred from various native chickens about the beginning of the 20th century. Some of the breeds in Welsummers background include Barnevelders, Partridge Leghorns, Cochins, and Wyandottes. Welsummer chickens are a well-known breed in the United Kingdom and Australia, but are still somewhat uncommon in the United States. Nothing accents a beautiful egg basket quite like a dark brown, speckled egg. Few birds lay such pretty speckled eggs, an...

   Is Hamilton...A BANTAM?!?!?! January 24, 2021 (Hamilton's teeny tiny bantam egg on the kitchen counter!) Is Hamilton...A BANTAM?!?!?! I sure think so. Ever since dear Hammy started laying eggs, she's always laid eggs that were half the size of a normal egg. Now we suspect that she may be a bantam variety of the Rhode Island Red breed! Bantams are chickens which are known for their unusually small size, often around one fifth the size of an ordinary chicken. In some cases, bantams are selectively bred from standard chicken breeds, so they could be considered miniature versions of larger breeds. In other instances, bantams have no large-breed counterpart, so they are considered to be “true bantams.” True bantams are highly diverse and they are prized as pets, ornamental chickens, and of course for their eggs. They are basically "mini chickens". The bantam originates from the small, plucky chickens raised across Southeast Asia. When sailors started traveling in this r...

Prolapsed Vent January 17, 2021 (A [yes I know, awkward and revealing, but bear with me!] picture of Angelica's prolapsed vent!) A prolapsed vent is a potentially serious condition which occurs when a portion of a hen's oviduct ends up outside her body and doesn't retract back inside. It's likely to happen on a recurring basis after it has occurred once. It is more common in young layers, chickens being forced to lay through the winter (by using artificial light in the coop) instead of being able to adhere to a natural laying cycle, overweight hens, or hens who strain to lay extremely large (double yolk) eggs or soft-shelled eggs. Conventional treatment: Carefully cleaning the prolapse with warm water and then pushing it back into place before applying medicine. (Preparation H, KY jelly, petroleum jelly, or 1% hydrocortisone is the conventional treatment.) Natural treatment: However, not generally being a fan of "conventional" or commercial treatments, a more ...

A New Experience & A New Year January 10, 2021 (One of the chicks peeking up at me from the brooder!) Happy New Year, fellow readers! To start off 2021, I have a surprise: I'm raising chicks! We picked them up as 1-week-olds from a local hatchery. The reason I'm raising chicks in the middle of winter (which is not normal, as chicks are usually raised in spring) is that I am doing research on them for an experiment at school. More on this below! Two weeks ago, we brought home a bagful of peeping, sleeping chicks! We decided to get 1 Silver Laced Wyandotte, and 3 Easter Eggers. They are the cutest bunch! I was only supposed to get 2 chicks for my experiment, but we decided to get four, so that we would have 2 chick backups.  At school, we were supposed to develop our own lab experiment and complete it over winter break. So I, being the chicken freak that I am, clearly decided my experiment had to do with chickens. The purpose of my experiment is to find out whether classical ...

Chicken Scratch ~ Pt. 2 January 3, 2021 (My homemade "ultimate chicken scratch"!) Dropping temperatures herald the beginning of scratch grain season for our chickens! Most chickens love getting a bedtime snack of mixed grains and seeds that help to keep them warm overnight. Digesting the grains boosts the chickens' metabolism and creates energy while they sleep which helps to keep them warm. Traditionally, scratch grains consist of corn, wheat, oats and other grains. High in fat and carbs, scratch is more a "junk food" than a balanced diet... And it's exactly what chickens and ducks crave heading into winter. (Kind of like us humans!) Like junk food, too much scratch can make your chickens fat, putting them at risk for health issues. So during the warm months, treat your chickens with healthier snacks like garden trimmings and kitchen scraps, along with dandelion greens and other weeds. But when the cold wind blows, it's scratch grains all around! Ultima...