All gone............

They are all gone.

All of the chicks my son and I hatched out this year. All gone. In one day. Because we were stupid. 

We trusted our dog. Fatal mistake for the poor birds. The dog house was undergoing some revisions to the door and we had to put them somewhere. Our large coop was empty and the dogs were to stay in there for the day. My husband wanted them to go outside though. He reinforced the fencing between the birds and the dogs. There was even an empty pen between the dogs and the chickens. All to no avail, however. Dog went through two fences and killed every single one. Puppy followed him and helped.

My heart aches with the guilt, I knew better than this. Given the opportunity, any animal will behave according to his instincts and breeding. Given the chance, a bird dog will chase birds. That is what they do. They don't differentiate between a chicken and a pheasant or a goose when you are not around to remind them.  All dogs are predators, they kill other animals for food. That is just what they do.

Please if you have chickens, learn from my mistake. Your own dog(or you neighbors) will be your worst predator.

Just give them the chance.

Bantam Light Brahmas

Today seems  a good day to think about Brahmas. So I was doing just that. Thought I would introduce everybody to them.

Brahmas are a very old breed originating from what is now India. I am not going to bore anyone with a history penned by me, instead please read this article.  It is from a wonderful website, Backyard Poultry,  and is much better written than anything I could do.   

My son has the bantam version of these, the males weigh @ about 2 pounds and the females slightly less. They are lights, which means they are a columbian color pattern, or IOWs, white chickens with black in the hackles, wings and tail. Important features of a good bird are: 

1. A good broad skull, with eyebrows projecting over eyes, making them seem deep set. They seem to look perpetually "worried" to me. 

2. Undercolor of the body feathers should be slate colored, the darker the better. This refers to the "fluff" part of the feather, which is just what it sounds like, the fluffy stuff closest to the bottom of the feather. The dark should not extend into the "web" or top part of the feather everyone sees.

3. Feathers should extend all the way down the legs to the tips of the two outer toes. They should be soft feathers, no stiff shafts on them.

4.  Penciling, or the coloring of black on white (or vice versa) should be as fine and even as possible.

5. They have a "pea comb" and abundant feathering, making them very hardy. A pea comb is basically a jelly bean shaped comb with 3 parallel rows of bumps running down it. 

There's more, of course, but I think I have hit a few of the main points. If you would like to keep chickens this would be a good breed to start with. They are hardy, cold tolerant birds that lay well and are meaty bird when butchering time comes. They are very gentle in general, even the largest, so are good for families with children. Here is one photo of my son and his pullet (female under 1 year). He was fortunate enough to win top prize, a "best in show" at the Wisconsin State Fair. Against adults too, mind you! 

OK, that was the official nice picture. Here is the one Mom likes:



Just don't tell him, OK?

New chicks

Just a quick picture of my basement. Yes they are living in my basement! Only safe place for a chick to be this time of year. I tell folks they are just like any other animal you keep in the house, if you don't keep them clean, they'll smell. My chickens don't smell. We hatched some out this early in order to have mature birds for the county fair at the end of July and the early fall shows. There is a national show in Illinois in early September that my son and I are gunning for this year. The yellow chicks are bantam white Chanteclers and the greyish ones are bantam Light Brahmas.  More on the breeds later........