Death on the Farm

R.I.P to our buck, Aladdin, and to one of our "originals," a hen named Cheesecake.







Although not posted about nearly enough, our Kinder Goat herd has suffered a sad loss just a few days ago.

More than a week ago, he fell under an odd illness that I figured was some sort of digestive issue, perhaps he ate a bad mushroom. . . It was raining outside, and unlike the buck he'd been living with, he was standing out in it, crying out over and over. I finally went down to check on him, and thought nothing of his unsual behavior. He's young, so he does stupid things at times. I moved the other buck to a new spot, then moved him. When I pulled him by his lead line, he walked for a short while, then collapsed to the ground and continued crying out. I thought he was just being stubborn. But after a while of touching and feeling his underweight body, I decided to do a test of flipping him carefully on his side. I did so, and he simply lay there, still crying. Now I knew something was wrong. After trying to help him up, which he didn't respond much to, I immediately carried him on over to the does' and yak's pasture so he had direct access to hay, a large dry barn, and fresh water. He was there for about a week, and never passed on his illness or symptoms to any of the does or the yak, but didn't get better.

The last day, he went dramatically downhill, and through all my worries and efforts and even research to find out what was wrong with him - Nothing helped. He was very slowly fading away. He first had the strength to exit and enter the barn, then it went down to tripping over things, then not standing up at all, then not even laying with his head held up. His stomach was gurgling often, as it did when I first found him, and he was still thin and crying. . . It had to have been a digestive issue, but what? Fearing the worst, we did nothing more but give him a proper burial.

Even now, days later, none of the goats or the yak display any symptoms or illness. We've been on the thoughts of a bloggage, a spider bite, a poisonous mushroom, . . . Who knows.

I really feel guilty that the only recent photo I have of him is the one in the snow. . . Because he has matured a LOT since the others. His face was extremely wide, ending in a very pointed, narrow snout, and his whole body was pretty chunky. It is too bad, he would have been an exceptional buck. . .










Cheesecake, a darling and much loved Brahma, has been on our farm for nearly 2 years. She's always been the sweetie, and one of our "original" chickens we started the farm with. Just yesterday, after the death of our buck, I found her completely flopped over and in rigor mortis in the Goat's Barn, under their "raised bed." Though it sounds graphic, I did an autopsy on her to find out what caused the death. Like shown in the first photo, she was in molt, so it was not egg related, and her crop was fine - But her body had a lot of excess fluids. She's buried near a tree now, and will always be in my memory. Now, all I have are two Brahmas. . .




And, with that past, we also got rid of all of our "food / cull" roosters from the bachelor pad.

We no longer have our White Ameraucana, New Hampshire x Marans mutt, blue Jersey Giant, or our completely red looking Wheaten Marans.



We've been through some sad and rough times lately. The rain is non-stop, the muck is worse than ever, and the numbers are decreasing. We're culling for food, selling to thin down the herd and flock, and even experiencing some death in no known relevance to our actions.

I honestly can't wait until we start hatching eggs and seeing the sunlight again. Probably in February.

The Bachelor Pad

Welcome to the flurring frenzy of a bunch of roosters being given some grains!


In this post, I'll be showing around and talking about my own method of breeding chickens and the core of it. The Bachelor Pad. So to start out, I'll answer some questions you might be askins. . .

Can roosters actually live together and get along? How? If a hen is introduced, will they fight?

- The answer is yes, and in most cases, no. The actual population of the bachelor pad will move up and down a lot, as I keep both breeding roosters and eating roosters here, but in general, the only fights I get are about once a year, and they usually end with removing the troubling bird. Otherwise, if you raise and keep roosters together, even with hens around, chances are there will be little quarrel. . Unless of course you're keeping gamefowl.

Now, onto the birds again. . .

The Bachelor Pad is a large fenced in area, about 150' x 200.' It is spacious and makes a good resemblance of free ranging, as it has plenty of grass, shrubs, trees, and perching places. It has anything a rooster might need. Except hens. And of course, there's their sleeping area too, which is a building attached to the hen's coop in which they fly up to and sleep in. IT still needs a lot of perfecting though, as it currently is drafty and doesn't fit all the boys comfortably.

Well, let's go around and meet the current boys, shall we?

Going through this bundle of boys (in the winter muck) here, . .



We find an assortment of young and younger, orange, red, black, blue, and other colors. The little one in front, to the left, is an eating rooster. He's grown bigger since this image, and is one of our crossbreeds. He's half French Marans, half New Hampshire - And he's got some excellent meat on him for so young of a cockerel. In the background are some Wheaten Marans eating together (blue on the left, normal wheaten on the right) and a young blue Jersey Giant who will also be for food soon enough.

In detail -



This is our Blue Wheaten Marans cockerel, a very prized and beautiful bird. He is the rooster we use for our Wheaten/Blue Wheaten Marans breedings as well as some of our Olive Egger projects.



This is our blue Jersey Giant cockerel. He has a bad tail and the wrong color of feet, so we'll be eating him. In general though, Jersey Giants are a very large breed who lay beautiful pink eggs. If he were to live longer, this guy would reach 13 pounds!



And, looking behind him, we've got two more Wheaten Marans to take a look at. . .



This one is another "cull," we'll be eating him at some point too. He's started a fight with our prized black Ameraucana before, and in general, he has VERY poor coloring and a "squirrel" tail. (It points straight upward)



This is another Wheaten, but much more proper in body and color. We're still getting rid of him too. We're not going to eat him, but he's for sale. He's a great bird, good egg color genetics too, but we found out that our black Ameraucana was beat up because of him.




Okay, so, let's get further into the group. . .



Ah wait, who's that? I think we have a camera hog here!





Meet one of our top three most friendly bachelors here, "Marango." He's an Araucana, and although he looks like he doesn't have tufts. . . He did. When he next molts they will come back, but in the mean time they've been pecked out by his last "love."

Marango is a very outgoing Araucana, and will be used for an array of Araucana projects as well as Olive Egger projects.



And, I'm sure he wants me to show you his gloriously "blue spangled" chest. . .




Moving on, we've also got other Araucanas. . .



This is Canis, a perfectly tufted splash cockerel who is just an absolute doll! He's very mellow, sweet, and completely tame when it comes to being handled. Sadly because of his smaller size and passive attitude, he spends most of his time "indoors."



This here is an Araucana cockerel who has yet to be named. He's a splash cuckoo colored boy, has a great body and beautiful tufts, but sadly I'm worried that little white feather sticking out of his rear is a possible tail feather. . . Well, trial and error.



Here's his brother, a blue cuckoo colored Araucana named "Cookies 'n' Cream." He's also got a very nice body, good rear, but not the best tufts. His color of course needs work too.

The two together:




That's it with my Araucana boys so far. . . Now onto the Ameraucanas. . .


We've got Hades, my black Ameraucana who recently had that terrible mishap. Good news is, he's back in shape and back in the flock, no more fights. These images are of before that incident. This boy will be used primarily for black Ameraucana breeding. He's another of the top three most friendly of the boys. Very talkative and easily hand fed.




And, here's "Poseidon," my blue Ameraucana. He too, like any other Ameraucana, is a very sweet, docile boy who loves the hens more than anything else. And by that, I mean he's a perfect gentleman. He spends most of his time offering treats, making nests, etc.



Next is my newest cockerel, "Set," who is a rare, glorious, golden buff colored Ameraucana. He'll be the main daddy to my wide array of a buff Ameraucana project. He currently spends most of his time "indoors" though. Again, like others Ameraucanas, he's very sweet and laid back.



My last Ameraucana to show off is a "cull," as he was supposed to be a Blue Wheaten, and technically still is, but has recessive white showing up, making him a pure ivory white coloring. Also, he has a very poor body type with a narrow rear, some curled toes, and narrowly spaced hocks.




Past all those boys, I still have more. . . The French Black Copper Marans.

Let's try and be quick now. . I've got Guitard, the sweetest of all the Marans, who's VERY calm, loyal, friendly, and will let anyone do anything with him. He also comes before you even call him. And he loves food more than anyone else.



Then there's "Five Pointer" another Black Copper who's not as outwardly friendly, but still tries. He also has faults (side spring on his comb, white in his tail) but I'm going to see if his egg color genes will allow him to stay around here.



And, last but certainly not least, "Cacao," another Black Copper with a very nice wide set body. He's also pretty friendly, quiet, and has a very deep crow!




Whew! That's a lot of boys! And I really do apologize for all the disguting muck, but they seem to prefer being up in it. It is only seasonal though, and only makes up an eighth of their area.

Now, let's take one last look at them, just enjoying their relaxed time.

We got some Velociraptors!

Alright everyone, we got ourselves two new birds. . . Prepare yourselves, because we're truly going to specialize in different breeds now. These really are more dinosaur than chicken. I've been wanting some for a long time, but they're just so rare and expensive. ( Yes, me and rare/expensive chickens. . . )






Anyway, here it is, a pair of Shamos!





Shamos are a type of Oriental Gamefowl. More specifically, they're a breed used for cockfighting. Of course, we won't be doing that, instead, we'll be breeding and raising them in the preservation and love of such unique, beautiful variety of chicken. They're young right now, only 4 months old, but will grow to stand over 30 inches tall, and despite their feirce, hawk-like gaze, they are extremely friendly, loyal, and intelligent. They're a good mothering and very broody breed, but are also extremely aggressive towards other chickens and towards one another if both are males. We have here a young pair, one is a Wheaten pullet and the other a Barred Wheaten stag. (Gamefowl roosters under the age of 1 year are called stags.)





Shamos are a slow growing breed, but once past a year old, they will be HUGE! These two, for now, are pampered in their own personal coop, complete with insulation, heat lamps, natural lights, and their own specially mixed food. When they're completely used to their new environment in a week or two, they will be loose in our yard, practically as lawn ornaments. They're also very good vermin control!



Beyond that, we've come across another bit of news. . .



Our once beautiful black Ameraucana cockerel, Hades:



Now looks like this:



Has he recently gotten a bath in that photo? - No.

What happened? Well, I'm not entirely sure. . . All I know is - I went out to check on the bachelor pad, see what the ruckus was about. . . And found him completely upside down on the ground, gasping for air, and absolutely matted and tattered with mud. His comb was pretty bloody too. My Wheaten and Blue Wheaten Marans were obviously the culprits, being completely soaked and having bloodied combs themselves, but why I do not know. I'm just finding that Ameraucanas are generally better males than Marans.

So, on the verge of tears and worried he was close to death, I rushed him inside, got him a slightly warm shower/bath, dried him off (which he loved the blow drier!) then checked his body for injuries. I treated his comb, and found nothing more. . . But he was hardly standing at all! His balance was terrible, he was still breathing hard, and the most he did was just stand in place, chittering at me every once in a while. He's a talkative fella.

Once I let him back out, a fight broke out again. He was muddy all over again!! So, I'm having some troubles now with most of the boys accepting him for some reason. . . I'm coming to the tough decision of getting rid of all my Wheaten Marans except of course my Blue Wheaten.

In the mean time, sadly, Hades has been hiding away in the boy's sleeping area with the rest of the "rejects." - My perfectly tufted splash Araucana, Canis, and my new Buff Ameraucana, Set - Who's becoming a little more of a man now that he's been given a couple days with the hens.

Our first snow!

Yep! And boy did it fall early. Out here, it is quite normal that we have a winter without snow, or maybe one with just a couple inches in December or January. . . But this one happened just before Thanksgiving, and, well, ended quite badly. At first, it was beautiful. . .





Even white chickens couldn't hide in it!



And of course, some chickens just plain couldn't hide FROM it. . .



But have no fear! Our Yak has been guarding the now very dark barn, so all the hens had a nice, safe place to be. . .



Here's a look inside. The barn is very dark because the roofing is transparent, which allows snow to block out almost any light.



But still, some of our animals didn't hide away. These are our Sebastopol Geese.



Of course, though, some of the boys seemed to enjoy the snow. . . They wanted to offer a beautiful Christmas Card photo.




But, after all the pretty snow, things got bad. . . The following night, it cleared up, and froze. Just before midnight, the power went out. It did not come back on until 9 AM in the morning.

What did I lose?

- 4 chicks, died in the mass huddling for warmth

- An entire incubator filled with eggs waiting to hatch

- Water. All the pipes froze, so it took 2 hours to torch them near our wellhouse and finally get water again, but still, the animals had to have it hauled to them daily in buckets of hot water. Our hoses were still frozen, and their waterers kept freezing up the following mornings.


Finally, after a few days, the snow melted and it began to rain. Things were back to normal. However, my egg production seems to be worse in this rain than it was in the freezing storm.

Buff Ameraucanas

Yes! Besides a lot of new chicks, we also purchased a new color variety of Ameraucana. I must really say, I'm getting quite the addiction to Ameraucanas. Why? Because they're good sized, lay good sized eggs, and they're very sweet, friendly, and laid back. Unlike Araucanas, cockerels get along better, and unlike Araucanas, they're not practically bantam sized. But still, I do love Araucanas as well!

Anyway, here's my new pair. I got them from a well respected breeder, Jean Ribbeck. (Known well as Pips&peeps from BYC) They're Buff Ameraucanas. A very rare color, and sadly also very underrated. Because most Buffs lay a poor egg color and the color in general is rare, they're rarely spoken of. If anyone mentions the color, it is usually another misinformed owner of a typical Easter Egger. (Who of course is NOT buff colored)

The pair are in quarantine right now, so the photos aren't the best. . .

The evening sun just feeds to his gorgeous golden glow!



The two. . . Perhaps two in love?



. . . Or a pullet who thinks beards are tasty. . .




Now that we're done with that excitement for the night, let's take a very brief tour on how others are doing..

First, our Tolbunt Polish are still growing! This here is Spike, my frizzled cockerel.





And this is Bowie, my Smooth cockerel.






Looking out at some girls free ranging. . .





Her secret hidey hole.



Searchin' the tree trunks. . .



Our colorful Blue Wheaten Marans cockerel. . .



Crowing. . .



Sultan, our "White Wheaten" crowing. . .



Our Wheaten Marans crowing . . .



Even Bowie crowing!



And at last, here's a little sample of all the egg colors we've been getting. Isn't the purple looking one just awesome?