Oh no greykyttyn, so sorry to hear about # 9 :(
Nutmeg's gonna be a mom!
If she continues to injure them you might want to move them to a brooder.
It's not normal for a hen to injure her chicks if i have one like that i remove the chicks to a brooder.
The people I know here who have pet chickens said that being a new mom its not uncommon. That its no different than a Cat being a mom for the first time & looking at her kittens thinking WHAT am I suppose to do with this then walking off? She just kinda steps where she wants then looks down as the chicky bats against her leg, goes.. o.. well.. um.. didn't see you & lifts her foot up while looking perplexed that it was under her foot.. the chick hops up & snuggles for a moment then hops away. I am no longer set up to have them in a brooder. Its 60 here at night right now. too warm for a light, too cold not to have mama sleeping on them. i have no way to keep them warm enough without overheating them either. I think it would stress them all too much. She has plenty of space.. they just don't stay out from under her. I carried her outside first today & they threw a fit. I let them have a bit of grass & dirt time since it was near 100 during the day. Their first encounter with sunbeams was adorable! They all lined up & squished themselves into one tiny sunbeam, facing all directions & making these little cooing sounds.
Do you mean they are geting under her when she is teaching them to scratch for food?
no.. its kinda like trying to walk with a dozen toddlers trying to stand on ur toes I guess. I kinda feel sorry for her.. but then I feel sorry for them bc she takes a step & they get stepped on.. then she stands there like she's listening, cocking her head to the side.. she looks & looks then kinda says "o... so that's where the noise is from, why r u there?" as she lifts her foot & finally looks at the baby.. then steps to the side & goes on walking around. From a story line point of view its quite amusing.. from watching her learn to care for her babies.. its awful. When she's scratching, they get behind her foot.. trying to watch & she sends them flying backwards lil wings a flapping. Its hilarious but sad at teh same time.
Oh god, it sounds funny greykyttyn. I shouldn't say that, but it does. Their learing to fly at a young age ;-)
You should have a video of that......LOL
I guess they will learn to stay out of her way.
i tried tonight but i couldn't find my camera with video capabilities. I will look tho. I want to video them tomorrow. :) They can fly just fine tho. They flew up on the love seat out on the porch this evening. It was so cute & shocking, 2 week old chicks flying & its pretty high up onto the love seat. I had to rescue Nutmeg when I let them out in the yard bc the roo found her. They ignore the babies.. but they wanted nutmeg. She was running everywhere trying to get away. I finally got close & called to her & she's learned pretty quickly to fly up into my hands & the roo leaves her alone. I took some pictures but I'll post them later. I think I've decided she's got the run of the front yard alone during the day. The other chickens are in the back yard. As long as she stays off the porch that is. Nutmeg repeatedly kept coming up on the porch & getting on my chair to "visit". Mom wasn't happy with chicken poo on her rugs.
Those sassy roo's.
I was in one of the runs yesterday, and one of the girls was taking a dust bath. The roo thought he was going to have easy pickings, until I want after him and told him to leave her alone......MEN!
Since they know how to fly already, well maybe that was nutmegs way of teaching them to fly...LOL
I wish we could teach ours to stay on one area when we let them out. Ours are all oaver the yard and out into the neighbors field too yet. Right now we have black raspberries almost ready for picking, so none of them come out until I have all the black raspberries I want. For now they get grass and weeds that I know they really like picked and throwen into them.
This roo that was after her is the silliest thing. He follows me around the yard like a puppy but i"m not allowed to pick up him, pet him or even look at him.. or he turns around & runs. but if I glance over my shoulder.. there he is.. 6 ft behind me, just following me as I walk. I'm just waiting for him to attack but idk if he will or not. I did find out the neighbor has a hen that is his same pattern.. only white & black. :) full size hen.. might just have to take him for a visit & see what chicks we get. besides he needs someone his own size to pick on. He is the biggest bantam roo i've ever seen.
no luck finding the camera yet.. i'll keep looking this week tho. Nutmeg & babies out in the front yard is hilarious to watch.
Found the camera.. got a bit of short videos of them.. but now.. i can't figure out where to post it so that you guys can see it! Any suggestions?
Wish i'd had the camera this morning after the rain. They took a 8 to 12 inch off the ground, 5 ft in length flight path across the yard.. then returned back the same way. it was sooo cute!
Awwww, I just love baby chicks. But I have to get alone this year with looking at everyone elses. We don't like to raise them to late in the year here because of the weather.
May raise some more next year.
Hummm, I would have to look over the site and see if I can find anything about posting videos. Or I'll try to get my son to check it out. He knows computers and the internet very well.
i found that the business computer has video editing on it.. so i found something.. i just need to bring the sd card down here & edit it. :) I'm guessing i could post to my blog.. then post the link here so u can see it.
ok these video's are kinda short.. & not great.. but u can at least see her & the chicks. I'll work on some better ones. http://greykyttyn.blogspot.com/
awwwww, cute :)
And nutmeg sure is keeping an eye on them.
And by the way, I like that name nutmeg. It's a cute name. If my BF's daughter cooked or baked, one of our might end up with names like that. She is the one who names most of the.
Here is an updated pic of what's left of Nutmegs babies, minus Sweet Pea who is still slightly a house chicken due to the coyote attack. We lost one in that attack.
OK, how may roosters did you end up getting?
Very nice! She did a great job.
Well.. 2 crow currently.. one has a beautiful long tail but acts very henish.. BUT does a long tail mean a roo.. idk. Sweet pea was/is very henish but sheheit started crowing after I got her feeling better.. BUT Nutmeg crows when she's seperated from her family too till she finds them again. So idk. I guess i have to wait till eggs are laid.
So..
Freckles - Roo
Speckles - not sure
Sweet pea - not sure
midget - pullet
Topsy - pullet
Raven - pullet
no name - Roo
coyote took a pullet. blasted coyote too my brownish pullet that was a matched pair to No name.
OK, was hard to tell from the picture. I could make out one that was probably a roo for sure, but wasn't sure on the others
No name is going to find a new home. He's a lil snot & he picked a fight with the Welsummer roo who's like 5 times his size. he's awful. I don't need him & his dad (who is obviously sage from the way he acts) to team up on the other roos. They stalk the yard together.. its pathetic. He's not brave enough to try & flog me yet tho but he sure thought about it today. I told him if he didn't want to be baked in a pie in the oven that he'd better make good choices.
OH, I remember the nasty roosters all to well and am glad that we found homes for ours. The 3 roos that we have now have are good ones.
We gave one of the nasty roos to a friend who has a big turkey, and you should have saw how afraid that roo was of that turkey.......LOL
He met his match there.
I've never seen a very tiny bantam take on a huge Welsummer.. & the little snot did. The Welsummer he just kept backing up to get away looking at the banty like it was an angry wasp. It was hilarious except for the fact I was afraid the Welsummer would turn & beat the crap out of him. either that or my welsummer is a coward.
Greykyttyn: You are one hilarious chicken owner. I have two very large blackcopper roosters, they go everywhere together and I have a very small banty rooster is a sweet little guy. But when the two coppers get even close to his girls he puts them both on the run. It is so funny how afraid they are of him and as you said they are each five times his size. I listen to your story and you just make me laugh so hard. P. S. I never added you or anyone to my facebook page cause I don't like it and I am going to get rid of it.
I have a beautiful little roo named Trey. He is 3/4 bantam and 1/4 game. He rules the roost. He could walk under Dumplin, the big white plymoth rock roo but Dumplin steers clear of Trey. LOL
I think the little guys are just too quick for the big guys... when I was a kid, my yorkie used to chase the neighbors St. Bernard up the street, just being a holy terror of a terrier...
=0)
Cajun I love that name (TREY) Do you have any pic's of him? Sure love to see one with banty and game mixed. Hay
I called him Trey because he is the 3rd in his line. Hid grandad was Abraham Lincoln because he had a beard. His Dad was AJ for Abraham Jr and he is Trey. He is quite a looker.
Hubba-hubba Bubba!
Got him in mid crow. A very proud little man.