Chick update

Well, our first chick didn't make it. His legs were small and deformed and he seemed to have respiratory problems as well. He had a great personality, though, and was the friendliest of the three by far. We dubbed him Forrest, after Forrest Gump and the little splints I tried unsuccessfully to attach to his little legs. We didn't know him for very long but we will definitely remember him.

We do, however, have an overwhelming amount of cuteness to console ourselves with. The yellow chick (right) is now officially Blondie. The blue and yellow chick (left), who was born second, has become Number Two a la Austin Powers.

Our first chick!!! And second! And third! Oh, my!

So, 14 LF Araucana eggs made it to lockdown in cartons. On Saturday (Day 20) I had three little pips.

Yesterday (Day 21) the first egg zipped very quickly and popped his top. Then he just sat there in the bottom of the egg all day. When I finally intervened and pulled the egg out, he rolled right out and his little legs and feet were all curled up under him. The legs are a little less curled today but his toes are very small and curled up like little fists.

Yesterday afternoon the second egg zipped and the chick popped out very quickly. I went to the bathroom as he was zipping and came back and he was sitting next to his egg. That little guy seems fine.

This morning (Day 22) the third little guy zipped his egg very quickly . . . and then nothing. All day I watched him. Eventually I realized he'd worked his head down under the zip line and was stuck, so I popped his top for him. He still couldn't get his head out and I realized his membrane had started to dry and he was stuck to it, so I put a wet towel next to him. After an hour or so I gave up and de-shelled him--but left the membrane intact and just wet it gently with water. He was able to shake it off pretty quickly and now seems to be doing well.

No sign of movement yet from the remaining eggs, but I started to notice an odor when I checked on the eggs (the incubator is in one of my kitchen cabinets for extra insulation). So I had to open the incubator and check the eggs. One of the egg cartons was soaked through from the towel, so I had to move the eggs anyway. One was obviously bad so I tossed it. Now I'm just waiting to hear more little peeps.

There's a chicken on my roof.

Even worse . . . there's a chicken on my neighbor's roof. I may have to disavow all knowledge. I certainly have no authority. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but somehow Amelia, Pat, and Bertha heard a rumor about my free-ranging plans and decided to take matters into their own hands a little sooner than I had intended. I came home to find they had--quite literally--flown the coop and were grazing in the yard. When I approached, Amelia took flight. And wow, can she fly. Over the fence, over the house, and now seems to have taken up permanent residence in the front yard. Or rather, my neighbor's front yard and the roof of her house . . .

Luckily she's taking it very well. The nieghbor, that is--although Amelia also seems quite happy with the status quo. :-\

Three Fronts

It seemed like we went from 0 to 60 in a couple of seconds. We had three birds in the playhouse coop, new eggs in the incubator, and one lone little egg still kicking from the last batch. After much debate (which involved at one point considering the "bra incubator" option) I moved the last egg to the old-fashioned Chick-bator for the final days of chickie "lockdown" and we crossed our fingers.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. I think the Chick-bator was just too unstable for the little guy and he didn't make it. We have not given up hope, though. Bertha, Amelia, and Pat are hanging out in the coop and our LG incubator is still full of eggs. ;-)

Recycling--it's for the birds!

After researching various options--and fantasizing about building my own coop--I decided to "build" a coop in the spirit of my original goal with this project. So we're recycling! :-) I stalked freecycle and craigslist for a free structure and ended up with this:

It's a plastic Little Tykes style playhouse, which came to us in pieces. After reassembling the parts, I realized there was only a half-door, so I covered the top of the door opening with a heavy duty rubber welcome mat that happened to be handy. I stapled chicken wire over the widows and added hook and eye closures on each one and the door as well.

This morning I moved our new trio--Amelia, Bertha, and Pat--into their new house. I'm on the lookout for a small shelf for them to nest in, but for the meantime I've put a banker's box in there. They seem to be enjoying themselves so far.

I also need to add in a perch and a light, but I think this is a good start . . .

Wow, can they fly!

These birds have personality, intelligence, shock value, blue eggs, are beautiful, weird and, wow, can they fly.

Alan Stanford, writing about the Araucana

Um, yeah. I found that out last night when I brought home our three new birds. No, I haven't given up on hatching--our lone little egg is still kicking away in the incubator as I type and has now been joined by seven other little hopefuls. In the meantime, though, we were offered and I accepted three Araucana from Jen, the lady who provided our first set of eggs. Our readers may recall this is set from which I dropped the lone surviving egg and killed it. (There was blood. It was awful.)

So now we've come full circle with more eggs from that original flock and three actual birds . . .

The larger girl is 14 months and was being picked on so Jen separated her from the flock. Since chickens are social animals and don't do well alone, she came with two three month old birds. One is definitely a girl. The other we're just calling Pat. When I brought them home, the other three month old made a break for it into the wild blue yonder (of the kitchen) so she's now Amelia. The 14 month old who was being bullied by the mean kids is Bertha. :-)

Last night they were being stalked by dogs, cats, and two year olds and weren't too happy about it. They were also very, very hungry. As soon as I figured the last part out, they were much happier. :-)

Down, but not out

The 10 Little Indians that I set on October 28 were scrambled by the post office. Not one grew, which was very disappointing. I did not, however, give up. At this point, though, I think perseverance has crossed the line into obsession, which is what kept me from posting. :-) I ordered another set of eggs on Ebay. The new Little Indians (again, there were 10) went into the incubator on Friday, the 13th, which is a lucky date for me. My daughter was conceived on a Friday, the 13th, after all.

And now for the good news and the bad news:

This egg is still kicking--literally--but it's the only one. I am, however, thrilled. :-)