Chickies

Chickies

TisaWee Farm
Dear Diary
In the Garden
Chickies
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'Tis a wee egg
That Wanda laid
in the wee little barn
at TisaWee Farm.

This is a picture of the sign that is over the door on the coop. It says Tis A Wee Barn. How fitting. TisaWee Farm was named AFTER this barn. Or maybe it was the other way around.

July 31, 2007. This is Gid and Riley. These are the babies you see hatching in the following pictures. They think they are hiding in the clover. Gid is on the left....he has the brown splotches. Wish I knew what kind of chicken he is!

Carson and some of his harem.

August 21, 2007. Some of the flowers are starting to grow. I think the rosebush died..... chicken doo-doo must be too potent yet!

Note that this is a previous picture of Wanda. She's sitting again! See the articles in the Virtual Village on the Courier Online. Click here for the link.

Wanda. She thinks she is going to hatch an egg. I need to have a talk with her. (No rooster...duh). She'll be sitting there a long time! I'm going to try to find some fertile eggs somewhere and let her hatch them, though.
WANDA UPDATE:
Mid April update: I bought some fertile eggs at an Amish home and put them under Wanda. I put another dozen in the incubator at home. We'll see who has the better hatch rate! <grin> Due to hatch April 30.

Late April update: Wanda decided she wasn't the sitting type. I don't know what happened. Other hens were getting in with her and laying eggs, and breaking eggs, and generally making a mess. I think she got tired of it. Hopefully the ones in the 'bator will hatch!

April 29, 2007
The first of the babies hatched! Woohoo! So far, only two have hatched, but we'll keep watching for a few more days. One minute the shells have a tiny pinhole (and we can hear peeping!) and the next time we look, there's a wet little chick.

They are so cute. They can barely hold their wobbly heads up. They look around, peep, wobble and fall over, and then go to sleep. Ten seconds later, they wake up and do it all over again.

Just an hour or so old. A face only a mother could love!

Peek-a-boo!

They are about 8 hours old now. Starting to look more like a baby chick. One is still having a bad hair day, however.

They were acting thirsty and trying to get the humidity water through the netting, so I put the little orange bottle cap full of water in with them and pushed their beaks into the cap to show them how to drink.

I don't think they figured it out yet.

While I was typing this, a third one has started to hatch. I could hear peeping, so checked on them and saw an egg bouncing around and peeping. It's 1:13 a.m. on Monday morning. I'm going to watch this time!!! I missed the first two! <grin> Might be a long night.....

2:10 a.m. She (he?) has been kicking and squirming for the last hour. I think she's making headway now. Look at those feet!

2:11 a.m. She's decided she wants OUT......

2:12 a.m. Ok. Time for a nap. And *I'm* going to bed, too! I have to get up early for work! There is another egg "rocking", too. Joe needs to be thinking of names....I told him he has to name this ....um....what DO you call a bunch of chickens? Litter? Herd? Hatch??

This is their "1-week-old" picture. Look at how long their wing feathers are already! The one in the back is the runt of the litter and he has a bit of tan coloring. I'm assuming that they are all roosters until I see differently, and their names are Riley, Gid and Clayton (as pictured). No, I didn't name them. Yes, they are named after certain people....can you guess who???! I'll give a dozen eggs to the first person that guesses correctly! <grin>

This is a bigger picture showing the "TisaWee Barn" sign over the door. This is the back "people" door. Not to be confused with the chickie door.

Here's a picture of the outside of the coop soon after it was completed.....well, almost completed. The "chinking" hadn't been done yet, nor the trim. The trim STILL isn't done.

The "girls" like looking out the picture window on the front. There is a roost underneath the window and they all line up when they hear a car pull in. By the time I get to the door (in the back ....along with another picture window), they are all lined up at the door waiting for their treats. Spoiled??

This picture was taken mid April. I've added the small run to the back, which goes into a large, electrified poultry netting field. They can come and go as they please and I don't have to worry (knock on wood) about critters getting in. The "people door" goes into a foyer. No grass yet. Sigh.

This picture is from INSIDE the coop in the nesting box area. You can see the removeable boxes inside. The plastic mesh over the top is to keep chickies from roosting ON TOP of their boxes and making a mess. This was taken before the chickens were put in here, obviously!

This is more current! I took this at bedtime. Darned buggers haven't learned that they can't sleep in the nesting boxes!!!! Grrrrr.

July 31, 2007. This is Gid and Riley. These are the babies you see hatching in the following pictures. They think they are hiding in the clover. Gid is on the left....he has the brown splotches. Wish I knew what kind of chicken he is!	Carson and some of his harem.	August 21, 2007. Some of the flowers are starting to grow. I think the rosebush died..... chicken doo-doo must be too potent yet!
Note that this is a previous picture of Wanda. She's sitting again! See the articles in the Virtual Village on the Courier Online. Click here for the link. Wanda. She thinks she is going to hatch an egg. I need to have a talk with her. (No rooster...duh). She'll be sitting there a long time! I'm going to try to find some fertile eggs somewhere and let her hatch them, though.	WANDA UPDATE: Mid April update: I bought some fertile eggs at an Amish home and put them under Wanda. I put another dozen in the incubator at home. We'll see who has the better hatch rate! <grin> Due to hatch April 30. Late April update: Wanda decided she wasn't the sitting type. I don't know what happened. Other hens were getting in with her and laying eggs, and breaking eggs, and generally making a mess. I think she got tired of it. Hopefully the ones in the 'bator will hatch!	April 29, 2007 The first of the babies hatched! Woohoo! So far, only two have hatched, but we'll keep watching for a few more days. One minute the shells have a tiny pinhole (and we can hear peeping!) and the next time we look, there's a wet little chick. They are so cute. They can barely hold their wobbly heads up. They look around, peep, wobble and fall over, and then go to sleep. Ten seconds later, they wake up and do it all over again.
Just an hour or so old. A face only a mother could love!	Peek-a-boo!
They are about 8 hours old now. Starting to look more like a baby chick. One is still having a bad hair day, however.	They were acting thirsty and trying to get the humidity water through the netting, so I put the little orange bottle cap full of water in with them and pushed their beaks into the cap to show them how to drink. I don't think they figured it out yet.	While I was typing this, a third one has started to hatch. I could hear peeping, so checked on them and saw an egg bouncing around and peeping. It's 1:13 a.m. on Monday morning. I'm going to watch this time!!! I missed the first two! <grin> Might be a long night.....
2:10 a.m. She (he?) has been kicking and squirming for the last hour. I think she's making headway now. Look at those feet!	2:11 a.m. She's decided she wants OUT......	2:12 a.m. Ok. Time for a nap. And I'm going to bed, too! I have to get up early for work! There is another egg "rocking", too. Joe needs to be thinking of names....I told him he has to name this ....um....what DO you call a bunch of chickens? Litter? Herd? Hatch??
This is their "1-week-old" picture. Look at how long their wing feathers are already! The one in the back is the runt of the litter and he has a bit of tan coloring. I'm assuming that they are all roosters until I see differently, and their names are Riley, Gid and Clayton (as pictured). No, I didn't name them. Yes, they are named after certain people....can you guess who???! I'll give a dozen eggs to the first person that guesses correctly! <grin>

This is a bigger picture showing the "TisaWee Barn" sign over the door. This is the back "people" door. Not to be confused with the chickie door.	Here's a picture of the outside of the coop soon after it was completed.....well, almost completed. The "chinking" hadn't been done yet, nor the trim. The trim STILL isn't done. The "girls" like looking out the picture window on the front. There is a roost underneath the window and they all line up when they hear a car pull in. By the time I get to the door (in the back ....along with another picture window), they are all lined up at the door waiting for their treats. Spoiled??	This picture was taken mid April. I've added the small run to the back, which goes into a large, electrified poultry netting field. They can come and go as they please and I don't have to worry (knock on wood) about critters getting in. The "people door" goes into a foyer. No grass yet. Sigh.
This picture is from INSIDE the coop in the nesting box area. You can see the removeable boxes inside. The plastic mesh over the top is to keep chickies from roosting ON TOP of their boxes and making a mess. This was taken before the chickens were put in here, obviously!	This is more current! I took this at bedtime. Darned buggers haven't learned that they can't sleep in the nesting boxes!!!! Grrrrr.