Chicken update- 4 months old

 For the first few months we wondered which chicks were roosters and how we could tell. We carefully observed behavior, feather development and weighed the birds. By 10 weeks, one chicken had developed a beautiful tail and was clearly a rooster. Pecky, one of the smallest of the birds and not at the top of the pecking order, made it evident he was a boy. 

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We patiently waited another month for the other roosters to make themselves known but finally gave up and rehomed Pecky, who had not still not started to crow, but was pecking at the other birds. The farmer who took him told us that all the rest of the chickens were hens! That's right 9 out of 10 were hens! We figured that we would likely get 4-6 hens since we had no experience in choosing female chicks. 

We gave two chickens, Chin and Tall, back to our wonderful teacher friend who hatched them. 

The seven hens that we kept have continued to get a lot of attention, and several have new adult names to replace their baby names. The baby names were mostly based on their appearance or behavior at 6-days-old so it seems only appropriate that they would get new ones as they grew. 

Iris (formerly Stripe) seems to enjoy being held like a baby. 

Iris chose a new perch for herself. 

Roadrunner (formerly Cheep-Cheep-A-Peep) is fast and hard to catch. Her small size means she can still fly quite a bit. When held she is the most "talkative" of the birds and makes a wide range of sounds. She has fluffly cheeks and impressive red eyes. 

Cheeks is curious and eager to eat out of your hand. She is the most likely to go exploring at this point and doesn't run from being caught. No name change here, she still has those amazing cheeks!

Black Beauty is a big girl with feathered legs. The name fits with her beautiful iridescent feathers.

Cheep is little and relatively shy. She is not high on the pecking order. She enjoys a good snuggle. We need to vote on a new name for this sweetie. She has the most pronounced comb of the girls. 

Toast, aka Cap or Cap Garland, was our big adventurer in the first few months. She is pretty laid back and gentle, but was the only hen who would stand up to Pecky, the rooster. 

Henevere, formerly known as Ducky, has been a kid favorite. She is happiest hanging out with the crowd but doesn't hesitate to get in their when there is fruit to be had. 

We love watching, holding and feeding the chickens. They really like to roam the yard but enjoy eating some of the plants a little too much! We have to try to keep them on the grass and out of the forest. Currently they are in dog crates indoors hiding from the smoky air. We are eager to see what color eggs they will give us. We think they will start to lay in the next month or so. 

First Day

Yesterday was the first day of school  emergency child care. Due to the Covid emergency we can't have both school (which must be remote) and child care, so sadly we closed the school for the year and our families are homeschooling in the morning while we provide child care, enrichment and learning support in the afternoon. It is a very confusing time for all! 

The children marked the start of this unique year by painting a photo backdrop and signs featuring what is on their minds: forest fires, covid, Black Lives Matter, masks and the presidential election (they support masks for president). Someone added a rainbow- a symbol of hope, pride, or just celebrating colors- it is a welcome addition to the gloom. The green stick is what is left of a sunflower that blew over in the wind storm. 

One of our mascots, Misty, posed herself with student chalk art. She doesn't want to miss out on "not exactly back to school" pics. 

Physically distanced snack time in the front yard. The backyard was too dangerous with branches continuing to drop from the high winds. Forest fire smoke gives everything a yellow tint as the tiny orange sun fights to peek through. 

The chickens came out front to say hi and enjoy the berries and other goodies the children found for them. 

2020 continues to surprise and challenge us, but we have an amazing group of bright and adaptable kids. We are looking forward to a super year! 

 

A bird story and other spring sightings

One of our favorite parts of spring is watching all the birds that live in or come through the Double Creek yard and woods.

One day we heard a funny noise coming from an area of tall weeds. It was a raspy sound, almost like crickets. We watched carefully and saw two birds flying in and out of the weeds. Careful searching led us to this extremely well hidden nest.

Three partially feathered birds sat quietly in the nest until mom or dad would come with food, then they would ask for food with their funny little noise. 

This is where the nest was carefully hidden. On the ground right below the arrow. 

The next day a quick peek revealed only one little bird. They were clearly too young to fly, so we felt sad that two were gone. We were hoping for the best for the remaining nestling.

Just one day later the nestling was much fluffier. 

The following day the nest was empty. Could that tiny baby fly already? Or had a predator come during the night?

Feeling sad that perhaps all the nestlings had been lost, we noticed that there were still birds coming and going from the weeds. This female junco, the mom, stayed very close to the empty nest. 

The male junco (the dad), would go further away, but kept returning every few minutes. Notice how he has more pronounced color on his head than the female, his head is black instead of gray. 

We carefully searched the weeds and found nothing. After spending a long time watching and sitting very still until the birds forgot about us, we found where they were going. They were feeding three baby birds in the weeds not far from the nest! The babies are well camouflaged, but there are three little ones wedged under this tomato cage. 

We put out some bird seed to make up for disturbing their busy feeding routine and celebrated that all three baby birds would fledge!

We've had a couple other special nest sightings this spring. This messy looking nest belongs to a robin.

A closer look reveals it is actually carefully constructed of woven twigs and grass all stuck together with mud. Building took five days!

A beautiful blue robin eggs sits inside. 

Inside a bird house made by one of our students we found this family of black capped chickadees. This is the second clutch of eggs to hatch there this year. It must be a comfortable home. 

What type of birds have you been watching this spring? 

The chicks are growing up!

Our sweet little balls of fluff have turned into small chickens. The chicks are now eight weeks old and the kids love them! 

Cap the Curious says hello

The chicks enjoy wandering the yard while we are outside. They always stay together. 

The chicks moved into their coop outside when they were six week old. They quickly adjusted to spending their days in an outdoor run. The first two nights we put them in their coop at dusk and shut the door. After that they started putting themselves to bed when the sun goes down and getting up at dawn. When I mow the lawn I scatter the clippings in their run and they have a lovely edible carpet. 

They also enjoy spending time in their portable pen that we put on the grass. They spent all every dry day in their portable pen for a few weeks, returning to their cage indoors to sleep until they had enough feathers to spend their nights outside. The kids love holding the chicks and finding things things to eat-grass seeds, berries and worms are some of their favorites. 

We are very surprised by how hard it is to tell the roosters and hens apart! We learned that early development and reddening of combs and waddles indicates roosters, that roosters tend to be heavier, that big legs and feet might mean roosters and that roosters tend to be more aggressive. We've weighed the chickens, examined feet and combs and watched them carefully. We still don't know for sure who is a hen and who is a rooster!

This week we learned that spur development is a sign that a bird is a rooster, but every one of our chicks has some development where spurs should grow. The mystery of which chicks will stay and lay eggs for us has not been solved.   

Below are pictures at 1 and 8 weeks for comparison. 

Cheeks- This bird somehow turned white. It still has its cute fluffy cheeks. Weight: 26oz.

Cheep-Cheep-A-Peep- This bird is the hardest to catch. It is very spirited and not as snuggly as the others, but beautiful and fun to watch. Weight: 25oz.

Stripe- This bird's appearance no longer matches its baby name, but its yellow face sets it apart. Stripe likes to snuggle. Weight: 29oz.

Ducky-A favorite with the kids. Once you catch Ducky, it will put up with anything. Weight: 27oz.

Tall- This sweet bird is neither the first, nor the last, to join in the action. It still stands up tall when on alert. Weight: 31oz.

Cheep- Cheep has the most prominent comb of the crew, but it is entirely yellow and Cheep is light. Do you think this one will lay eggs some day?  Weight: 26oz.

Chin- Chin lost its distinctive white stripe down its chest, but it has gown the most beautiful iridescent blue green feathers. Weight: 25oz.

Pecky-This beauty shares its small size, flightiness and unique eye markings with Cheep-Cheep-A-Peep making us think they might share a parent. Weight: 26oz.

Black Beauty-At a glance, Black Beauty is easily confused with Cheep. Black Beauty is much bigger though and has yellow legs.  Prominent spurs and large size suggest this is a rooster. Weight: 33oz.

Cap- We love Cap! The only one of the black birds to have brown highlights instead of the iridescent feathers, this chick is always the first to investigate. Being the biggest of the flock with fat legs, prominent spurs, and a fleshy waddle we are guessing this sweetie is a rooster. Weight: 33oz.