Proud little Doc

Doc has always been very sweet, and is now very happy that there are more Orpingtons on the block than just her and Richie. Of course, I don't think she knows about Tif's chickens, but if she did I am sure she would be pleased!

It's ok Jasper...

Jasper has been very chatty (or singy if you've seen the previous post!) lately, and greeting me a lot more than she used too. I think she might be missing her sister Charles. Well, it used to be Charles who would always come and greet me whenever I went into the coop. She looks kind of sad in this picture, don't you think?

American Idol of the coop

One thing you might not know about Jasper is that she loves to sing. Admittedly, I do not enjoy it too much, because whenever I go in the coop for something she comes in and just follows my around singing. This may sound cute too you, but it does get a little annoying. Oh, what a voice!

Friendly Feet

Clickens walk all over you when they have to go somewhere, but today(Friday, since this is a scheduled post) J.K. just stopped on my foot. I took some pictures:

Yay Spring Break!

Wow, I am so psyched for vacation! As you may know we are going to Washington DC, and tomorrow I have to wake up at 4:10 am! Yes, it probably is not wise of me to be blogging this late, but I think I can sleep on the six hour plane ride to New Jersey right? That is my excuse, anyway. Well, while I am on the plane I am going to be reading this:Yes, it is one of the best books around for learning about chicken illnesses and other problems that might come up. I am hoping to come across something that will explain what happened to Charles and Amelia. If you are thinking of getting chickens, or already have them, this is the book for you! By the way, I have scheduled a bunch of posts for this next week, so Chicken News will still be going while I'm gone. I am so excited!

Mother of photography

My mom and I went down to the coop the other day and she tried out her new camera. She and I took a few pictures of Lemony(mine were in Sunday's post). Lemony enjoyed the attention and especially the fresh grass and dirt. Here are a few pictures my mom took:

You can visit my mom at her blog, but fair warning to you: You might get a bit overwhelmed with all the yarn(I know I do!)

Dancing chickens

This video is quite old, but I just found it. It is from September of 2007! I really want to put music to it, but I am not sure how.

I was originally trying to get a video of Julia flying up, but when I watched it I realized what was going on in the background. I think there is a name for that dance....I don't know what it is... (and don't say "the chicken dance")...

Musique

Here are some pictures from about a month ago. You can tell because they have Charles in them. I was listening to my ipod and then Charles wanted to listen too.

More Lemony... and Shadow

Here are some more pictures from Saturday.

Lemony marches on...

In my title "marches" means March Madness, which we are watching right now. Go Michigan State! Well, I don't feel to strongly, but I like watching the games. Anyway, here is some pictures of Lemony in honor of my friend's birthday that is tomorrow. She likes Lemony best.

Happy Birthday Lilia!

A weird note~

My sister gave my dad this note when he needed to carry the chicken feed into the coop. They come in fifty pound sacks, so Emma and I have some difficulty carrying them that far. Emma got a bit carried away with her note.... Isn't it cute?

Oh, golden headed bird~

A few posts back I told you about how Eagle Hawk-eye was very shy. Survivor is the same way and it is very hard to get a picture of her. Today I was successful! She is a very handsome bird. The feathers around her head are a beautiful, golden color. All of the Auracauna chickens look very different. Eagle has a black head, Survivor has a golden head, J.K. and Pearl have brown heads and Rosa has a reddish head. Their plumage is very similar though.

Lemony in the lead

Here are a few pictures of Lemony at scrap time. Lemony is like every other chicken and loves scraps. You can tell who the chickens that are at the top of the pecking order by there feathers. Lemony has nearly perfect plumage and hardly any missing. That is a sure sign that the other chickens respect her. The only way you get to the top of the pecking order is by bulling oother chickens normally, and it is very hard to catch Lemony at it.
A nice shot of her perfect plumage.

Lemony is many people's favorite chicken for this reason. I can think of three people off the top of my head that like Lemony best(Lauren, Lilia, and Vonna)

Second in Command

Jed considers himself head of the coop. Richie on the other hand believes Jed to be second in command. Even with these differing opinions, they don't confront each other too much. Wow, I like this picture of him! He looks so authoritative.
He looks a bit mean here.
Look at those tail feathers. That is something Richie doesn't have!

You'll always be my favorite...

Charles died today. This morning at six I went down to check on him and he was all stiff. Emma raked a nice spot out for him by the chicken coop. I wrapped him in a shirt of mine so that he wouldn't get covered in dirt. It is a nice green with three little chicks on it. It reminded me of when Charles was a chick. We weren't originally going to get Delawares(his breed), but they were all cute and yellow in the Grange so we couldn't resist. Anyway, Dad dug the hole and I walked around the coop and aviary with him. Jed gave him a tribute(aka crowing), and Dad, Mom, Emma and I said a few words. Then, we had to leave because it was starting to rain. We will always remember Charles as a great chicken, and thank you guys for being so supportive(Anna and others).

Scrap Time!

Today we had a nice Sunday dinner, so naturally we had a lot of scraps to give out the chickens. They love scraps and were running all around trying to get the best ones.

Charles and Shadow

Charles is laying down now, she made it through the night.

Shadow was very sweet. Last night the two touched noses and Charles preened Shadow's ear.

Also, Shadow likes moving around Charles's box. Charles doesn't seem to mind.

Charles report

Charles is still alive, and she is a little perky. She still hasn't moved, except to lie down in her box. Shadow has been really cute. There are two boxes in our garage, one with Charles and the hay in it. Shadow jumped in the other one and whenever we go out there she jumps out and sits next to us. We gave Charles some Gatorade in a cup, and she has drank quite a bit of it. The Gatorade has lots of electrolytes in it, which is supposed to help. I hope she makes it through the night.

A tribute to Charles.

This is really sad and unexpected. Today we went into the coop and Charles was standing there, with his head and bum down. He wasn't moving at all, and Charles is usually the most active of all of them- trying to escape and running around. We took him into the house and set him near the fire on some newspapers, but he still wouldn't move. That was on Thursday.

Today his comb was purple and he kept his eyes closed for long periods of time. We took him up to the house and put him in a straw-filled box. We sat with him for two hours, and tried to feed him water and Gatorade, but his eyes were closed. He can't seem to sit down, so we think he is egg-bound, which means he can not release an egg. I have checked all my books, but I can not find anything remotely similar to what Charles has. You all know of course that Charles is my favorite chicken, and I am pretty sad about this. He will die either today or tomorrow. You may think"Oh he is just a chicken, you have 11 more". But it is like losing a dog or cat to any of you.

Click here to see all the posts with Charles in them.

I didn't want to post a picture of Charles in his current condition, I just don't want to remember him that way. I want to remember his curious, crazy manner that I liked best about him. Here are some of my favorite pictures of him:

Header Pics

Many people who have seen my new header don' t like it that they can not see the pictures very clearly. I meant it to be black and white because it matches my header. These are the pictures that are currently on my header. Jed
Richie

J.K.

Me, wow my eyes look weird!

Doc

Spring break is almost here!

As the days toward our trip to Washington DC become fewer, I have been doing some researching on the different places we will visit, to make sure we won't miss out on anything. We will be visiting the Washington monument as shown in the photo above, as well as these attractions:

• Vietnam Memorial
• White House
• Supreme court building
• meeting with our state senators with other citizens of our state(!!!!!)
• Some of the Smithsonian's(as many as we can fit in!)
• The Holocaust museum
• and many other points of interest!

I am very excited for spring break and counting down the days left till that fateful week! Yay!

A Doc Wednesday

Here are some pictures of Doc. We got eight eggs today! That is a lot for the winter season, as they do not lay as many at this time of the year. Lets hope they keep up the good work.

Mark your calendars....

If any of you are considering getting chicks, now is the time! The next three months are chick season! If you are contemplating getting chickens, first thing to do is check your city or town ordinance, to see if your city or town allows raising chickens. They aren't as hard to manage as you would think. Quite as easy, but different, as keeping a cat or dog. I hope some of you will take part in this eggciting time! Pardon the pun!

A Wayward Winter

There are eleven days left of Winter, but that hasn't stopped the snow before. When I was in first grade there was snow on the first day of Spring. Unlike the last post, I have some pictures to display for you. I hope you like them, and enjoy the snow!
This is a large cedar tree on our property. I really liked the contrast of the green of moss and the white of the snow. I think it creates a nice effect.

Looking out the front door...
The view out my bedroom window. And I had to drag chickens in, since this is a chicken blog. I took Meez for a short walk, keeping her quite warm of course. However, I had an "Anna incident" as I have come to call it, and I put her away soon after. Enjoy the snow while it last and for those of us who are in school: Keep your fingers crossed for a snow day tomorrow!

I'm dreaming of a white....March?

For around the fifth time, I find myself posting about snow.... Well, it is back folks! Hail and snow came down in a mix last night, and today everything was covered with a blanket of white. We took advantage of it by going over to our neighbors house and doing an all-out snowball fight. Our aim really improved throughout the morning, and by five o'clock tonight I was able to hit Emma from twenty yards away, and that was with a moving target. We all improved dramatically, and are ready for the next snow day(or two-hour late day!!!)! Hopefully we will get some more snow tomorrow! Keep your fingers crossed!

Clean Straw welcomes all....

Well, I am proud to display these pictures because they not only show chickens, but that there is clean straw in the background. As a chicken owner, clean straw always makes me happier as some of you might be with freshly mowed grass or new paper. J.K. deciding which piece of feed to peck... What a tough decision. She still hasn't chosen one....

Well, I guess she just wasn't hungry. How do you all like my new header?