# First year of chickens!



## happybooker1 (Nov 5, 2012)

Well, almost LOL! I got my first Bantam babies from McM on 10/30/12 & a week later, 7 Silkie chicks from a private breeder. Of those first 33, at least 11 were Roos (or so I believed) & were re homed. I traded another 10 to the local feed store for dog food. Then in January, I bought 4 Serama chicks, & in April, a pair of Bantam EE pullets.

The hens I have now that survived are: 1 Serama (Blackie), 1 Silkie (Mary Poopins), 1 frizzle Cochin (Ms. Frizzle), 1 Dark Brahma (Shy), 1 EE (Hattie), and 1 Sultan (Poof-Poof). Ms. Frizzle, Poof-Poof, & Shy are from the original McM chicks. Here is a pic:









Those 6 have survived flooding:









And dog attacks. I was afraid I was gonna loose Ms. Frizzle when I came home from work one day in early June & found the 2 little Maltese- Shih Tzu dogs from next door had dug under their fence into the chicken yard. Another 30 minutes of them worrying her & pulling her feathers out would have killed her I think. All the other hens were in the coop or had flown over the fence & into the woods. Poor Ms. Frizzle had ALL her back feathers pulled out & most of her tail feathers. But she's recovered quite nicely.

Hattie flies over the fence at will to get into the woods for better 'stuff'. In this case the grass IS greener on the other side! She always flies back when I bring goodies or a scoop of Scratch into the pen though! All the hens lay in the coop box or a box I have set up outside (both used cat litter boxes I had laying around). They all went through a molt in July & early August -- so many feathers everywhere I thought a predator had gotten in. I get 3-5 eggs/day -- more than I can eat, so my family benefits too. The Girls LOVE raisins (they know the sound of the package crinkling), & to see them eat spaghetti is a HOOT!

I haven't bothered shutting the coop door in about 4 months -- guess I'm just lucky to not have any ***** or other vermin around. My only experience with Broodies hatching eggs (Mary Poopins & Blackie) was a complete failure. I bought a dozen fertile eggs from a man close to me that has Bantam Lavander Ameraucanas (drove up to get them). Not a single one developed even partly  so I tossed everyone out of the nests. This was back in June. Since then Blackie has been broody 2 more times but I'm just persistent in getting her off the nest every day & eventually she snaps out of it.

All in all, it's been a year of experiences & fun. And I haven't heard from the HOA again since February ( fingers crossed)!


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## 7chicks (Jun 29, 2012)

Wow! You and your girls have had quite a year!!! I hope the new year is a 100 times better.


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## cluck13 (Jun 14, 2013)

Certainly an interesting year, well done you have come through it and may you have many many more chicken years


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