Ah bad news for me and Tim (My Black Orpington Chicken) who now is confirmed to be a Rooster. My son named him Tim when he was a day old, so we had no way of knowing, but finally he proved that he actually is Tim (which is unfortunate as I don't plan to keep any Rooster). He just started to crow .. almost like a Hen after it lays an egg. But I recall from my previous Hen who were doing that and turned out to be Roosters :D

Now I have to find somebody who will trade a Hen for him or I have to give away or ... (ah, I don't want to think about it right now) :(

I haven't had much time lately to write about my chickens since I was quite busy building their "Run" . In fact, I had to hold off work on  the run due to some weather condition lately and my work/personal life have been quite busy as well.  At any rate, I wanted to quickly share some images that I took recently of "Peaches".  Well first of all, he/she doesn't look like a hen anymore, I probably have a second Rooster in my hand.   As you can see, I have a Cuckoo Chocolate Orpington (which is by the way extremely rare from what I've learned). Rare or not, he will not be serving the primary purpose for 

 which I need chicken.   If I were into breeding and it made sense for me to explore that area, I would be ver excited to see his line continues.  However, the reality is, I need to keep hen for egg production. Last time I checked, 'Rooster doesn't lay any eggs' ;p .

Peaches (I should continue to call him that) has some personalities that is unique to him.  He is usually a loner ; constantly drift away from the other three which are always together. He also the only one challenges Tim for a quick fight.  Peaches is least scared of me. When I took these photo with my iPHone, he was not troubled by me at all.  

I think Peaches is the true bantam while the other Orpington I have are in between (Large Fowl).  I have to take some picture of the other Orpington so you can see how they have grown compare to Peaches.

 If you read my previous blog, I pretty much didn't anticipate Tim, Sally, Sarah and Peaches(those baby chicks that were hatched from my recent 'hatching' attempt).  Due to major shipping mixup, temp fluctuation etc, I thought I was heading for a 100% loss; but was I ever so wrong. I was pleasantly surprised with the 4 chicks that you read about (who are doing great by the way).    When all hopes were gone, I joined in a "Pool" of "Chick Purchase" with few buddies of mine at work.   By the time my chicks hatched, I didn't feel it would be fair for me to bail out from taking my share and leaving them with

 bunch of extra chicken (especially when they don't have room for too many chicken).  Anyway, long story short, the baby chicks finally arrived (after nearly a month and a half or more later) and I went to my friends house and picked up these chicks.   The order was for "Variety" pack, so we are not quite sure what we got.   I'm assuming "Australorp, Barred Rock, and perhaps Buff Orpington.  But only time will tell what are the exact kind.  At any rate, at this time I am more interested in tasting some my own chicken's eggs and not even keen to breed them for hatching eggs.  In fact, I don't plan to keep any rooster, so in a way, this arrangement works out better for me.  If I have to give one or two up due to those being Roos, I still may end up with few Hen to

 get some farm raised eggs.   Oh by the way,  this chicks are not as friendly as my incubator hatched chicks for some reason.  I think they have gone through the shipping stress and changing hands, among other stresses.

So far,  they are doing pretty good.  I have kept them separate from my existing 4 chicks who are almost double their size.  You will see that when I have a chance to post some of their recent pics.  I figured, it would be wise to raise these new guys separate for a little while until they grow more feathers (so they can take the bitting when the pecking order time comes) :p ...  

Oh by the way, if you are wondering I'm taking them outside based on these pictures, I should clarify that.  I only took them out for a few minutes
just to take some snap.  I also took the time to

clean up their brooder.  I had to be extra vigilant for the cat who was larking around nearby.  

Right now, these babies are staying in my basement in their brooder, with brooder light on continuously.  I've been thinking about turning the light off during the daytime as the temp seems to stay in the high 70s to low 80s.  

I also got some Organic "Chicks Feed" from the friend who ordered the chicks for us.  I am giving them and some left over "Manna Pro" non-medicated feed that I fed the other chicks.  I read and heard some good things about Manna Pro, so I don't feel bad.   However, if I can help it, I will always avoid processed feed.   I think chicken should eat organic food.   My older chicks are eating the organic feed, grass, bugs, worms . whatever they can find.  In fact, I am finding them to be a huge help on weed control.  I noticed they devour any weed that sticks out in between my bermuda grass.    I also give them grapes (broken ones), mealworms etc.  They seems to be very happy.  :)

 Chicks are doing pretty good.  I think they are growing up too fast for me in fact.  Its like every morning, they are different chicks. :) I have been giving them "Manna Pro: Non Medicated" feed and also water with Organic Vinegar.  In fact, I don't think they had water without the Vinegar to this day!  The reason why I have been so strict about adding the vinegar was due to some hard time with "Pasty Butt" last time around.  Yep, when they are baby chicks, their poop get stuck on the feather around their back and eventually clogs up that area. I wasn't sure back then what was happening but after speaking to a friend, I learned about the "Pasty Butt"phenomenon :)) ... After some research, I found out that people uses this Organic Vinegar in their water to prevent that.   I used it and noticed the improvement, so this time I decided to start from the very beginning and I

 Above:  Peaches Right:  Sally

have been pleased with my decision.  I've also been resisting giving them any table scraps until recently when they are hanging outside often and eating grass and whatever else they can find.  I think another thing I'm doing better this time is cleaning up their brooder almost every day (or other day) with my straw collection that I bought at the local hardware store.   Last time, I often picked up leaves, straws etc from the garden and gave them nesting spot in the brooder.  I think keeping good supply of straws, I am giving them

 much more cleaner environment.  Anyway, so far so good.  I have some more battles to fight and perhaps I will have better success at fighting the war ahead of me.  I will have to think about how well the coop is protected, so I don't have the same misfortune this time around.   I have some ideas but still not sure which one to pick just yet.

I am also little anxious about another issue that I may have to deal with very soon.   Back when I thought I nearly lost all my eggs, I have joined a "pool" for "Chick Purchase" from MyPetChicken.  I was very egg-cited about it until I realized these chicks are growing big and they will peck the new comers to death.  And, I don't have a lot of space for another batch and with various planning and arrangement, I need to

Above: Tim  Right:  Sarah

make sure they all go "out" around the same time.  But I am hopping I can deal with that matter come next week :(.  Anyway, meanwhile the chicks are really enjoying hanging outside.  The minute I let them go out to their run, they runs around like "Crazy Chickens" .. and play fight wit each other, jumps around. You can easily see how happy they are outside.   Few days that rained quite heavily in Atlanta, I had to keep them inside and they were not happy campers.





I also explained my situation with the predators and expressed my concerned to the new Sherif who promised to keep them safe.  

So I decided to try again this year.  I guess I just couldn't give up after trying all that, and of course, just missed having some chicken pets.  I love those birds hanging out in the backyard, browsing around, doing their things :)).  After reading some online blogs, frequenting  some of those chicken forums, youtube videos, I was sold.  I got some eggs, started my incubator.  (Well, had some bad luck with shipping, so had very little hopes for any peeps.  Just when I almost gave up hopes, there were peeps!

I did have to throw away a lot of scrambled eggs and clear (Non-fertile) eggs which couldn't deal with the stress.  I also had to throw away few (about 4) that were fully developed but dead.  I didn't even see any sign of attempt to 'break in' or out rather.  They were just simply asleep and never woke up:(.  I have no idea why those didn't make it and these did. So I ended up with 4;  blue, black,splash,chocolate orpington.   My son named them all. 

 This is Sarah

 This is Tim

This is Sally

And finally, this is Peaches

So it's been a while since the chicken me got a chance to speak to the chicken you.  I had nothing but bad news to share, so I figured it wasn't worth sharing.  Ah alright, I will tell you.  I lost one to a possible hawk, second to a possible Coyote, third one to a possible hawk or other avian predator, and 4th one (a rooster was traded for a Hen) to a Weasel.  I've just about had it with Chicken.   You would think I live in the woods, but I don't (perhaps I fool myself thinking that I live in a city :p).  

I lost the Lavender Orpington right when she was about to start laying.  It was a major heart breaker since I almost thought I was about to enjoy my free range chicken eggs!  Actually, that was my first wakeup call when one day she vanished.  No sign of her anywhere!  I looked for evidence, searched all corner of my property, beyond my property .. Alas, she was just gone!

I think I got desperate after loosing the Lavender hen.  Because I was wondering if one of the rooster was "Hen" .. LOL .. she ...Ahrm! I mean He had look of a Hen compare to the other one which had very short tail, but tall, and looked more like a rooster.   One day she started to crow (i still was in denial and after digging online, found out that the dominant hen often crows).  Well, I soon found out how wrong I was.  Anyway, I wanted to trade, sell one rooster but got stuck with them for a while.

I miss those Rooster Brothers.  I even made a video about them too.  It is still in youtube.  Just click on Pay :)

Towards the end, they were often coming up to my deck and crowing in the morning.  I was not very happy and my Wife didn't like that one bit.  I just couldn't figure out why they were coming up instead of the coop??  Well, the answer was a rude awakening (Literally).   It was about 4AM and my wife who also got up asking if I was hearing what I was hearing!  Wow, howling pack of wolves!  No way!   I ran outside and whatever they were, ran in the wooded area (it was very dark, so I couldn't make out if they were some stray dogs or Coyotes or Jackals .. (could be anything).  I just thought I saw the leader which stopped for a second before vanishing.   Oh I should say I did start to force them to go to the coop and locking the coop (which I wasn't before).  I was locking to ensure they don't come back to the deck and crows (also do some business).  Well, I was glad after learning about pack of whatever they were.  

Later I traded one of my Rooster for a older Buff Orpington Hen.  I think that was a very bad move on my part as I broke the brotherly unity that defended them from various dangers.   Soon after the trade, I lost the other Rooster (which also vanished just like my Lavender Orpington without a trace.   So I ended up with the Hen I traded his brother for.   She was very nervous at first, but slowly got used to my presence.  Just when I started to plan of using her as broody hen to incubate some eggs, she was killed by a weasel.  We discovered her headless body that was a work of a weasel.   

Now my coop sits barren ... all kinds of weeds, grass growing inside.   Part of me wants to give up and sell everything on Craiglist, but another part tells me to try one more time.   I just hate to give up without tasting at least one farm raised chicken egg!   Sad :(

Finally, the Home sweet Home!

Jerusalem Artichoke or Sunchoke Blossom.

I was debating for a while if I should build the Chicken Coop from the scratch, buy a readymade, or perhaps one of those in eBay (Coop Kit). Since I am not a very handyman type, I end up buying one from eBay. I had experience putting together Children Play station/house, so I knew it would come in a million pieces (sigh) but in the end, I will be able to manage it.

Anyhow, I think around August 25th, I pull the trigger. The seller is from California and had pretty good review from all the previous winners, so I felt pretty good. He indicated in his auction that he will not be able to ship before the labor day. However, by the time I got those two boxes full of my chickencoop parts, it was late September! Nah, I don't give him a negative review for it.

Anyway, long story short, putting together the coop wasn't as difficult as I thought. I was little disappointed with the wood quality as it was quite thin and I doubt if these material can withstand any hard storm or other disaster as well as if I were to buy the right materials from Home Depot or Lowe's (and build it myself). Oh well, its done and I have to work with what I got, so I go on. :)

I wish it was little bigger as my Large Orpington chicken doesn't have a lot of room to relax by the time I put the waterer and feeder. I also plan to hang the waterer and the feeder so they don't make so much mess, but so far, haven't seen that sweetspot just yet. I think the overall the house is not so bad, especially I like the Asphalt roof look. They have spent couple of nights so far but still tries to walk up to my Deck thinking that's their coop. I have to get them used to it, and perhaps keep them free range most of the time, but only use the coop for night time nap. I introduced them to the coop when it was dark, so they really discovered it when they woke up and came down for food and drink. Then I kept them in their throughout the first half of the day before releasing. But when it started back to get dark, they were coming back to my deck. So it will require some work :)