FINCHES (AKA OLD ENGLISH BARRED BANTAM HENS) MAKE EGGS

 These little eggs are so small and cute, they look like dove eggs. The photo does not adequately show the difference in size but it gives you a little feel for how small the eggs are from Old English bantams. 

Check out these eggs. The large ones are from our standard size Leghorn hens. The tan intermediate size eggs are from standard size Speckled Sussex hens. The smallest eggs which measure only 1.5-inches long are from our two birds we refer to as "The Finches" (because when they were small and very young they sang like little finch song birds. 

LITTLE JOE MANNIX OUR BARRED ROCK ROOSTER HAS LEFT

Sporting a stylish 70's Botany 500 matching ensemble, it's Joe Mannix, The Rooster!

Cackle Hatchery included an extra chicken in our order (just in case one did not make it here in shipping). Our extra chicken turned out to also be A ROOSTER. We love roosters, so much so that we've made a home for 10 of them but Joe pushed us over the limit, 11 is too many! We definitely have enough crowing here. So a CraigsList ad began searching for a new home that our little guy could have an exciting life with filled purpose and meaning.

Thank you to Leisa for taking our spare rooster, Little Joe. He's a beautiful Barred Rock Bantam who needed a good home. It took almost three months to find but yesterday, Oct 19, 2024, Little Joe climbed into a box and headed to his new home in Okeechobee Florida. His cute high pitched crowing of "I'm Joe Mannix" will be remembered. 

Good luck little fella. 

PS: We named him Joe Mannix because his barred rock feathers looked a bit like the Botany 500 jackets warn by Mike Connors in the "Mannix" TV series from the 70's. 

RIP Speckled Sussex "Patience"

 The Lord called our sweet little "Patience" to come home so she left us on June 24, 2024. We'll remember you.

RIP MIATA

 Friday June 21, 2024

The Lord called our sweet little chicken, Miata back home to Heaven. We will never forget the little 'Ranger', with all her attitude and happy running around. She was a wonderful mate to our little rooster Punky. He was upset at sundown when she did not come home to roost. 

RIP little one. She was a Good Chicken

RIP SPECKLED SUSSEX 1 OF 10

 Today we lost another one of our girls, the Lord called her back. Nothing to signal her impending departure, she just left quietly. 

Good bye sweet little bird. 

R I P Natasha , The Shroom

 Our beloved little Shroom head, Natasha went to be with the Lord today. We had zero indicator of her impending departure. She was always chipper, alert and active. Her massive fluffy plumage was a marvel to behold and will be missed. 

We're both saddened but glad for the time we had with her. We'll never forget our little Polish hen with the Russian accent.

A Fowl Affair, Mel Blancs first voice work

 Mel Blanc's first work, uncredited

https://youtu.be/f5HstnWaKLM?si=k7YMu3PBLJXDUzHZ

FIVE MORE SPECKLED SUSSEX HENS COME TO P2

JUNE 10, 2023...... Not More Chickens...... it's illegal .......... no it's not LOL

Last Saturday we went on a rescue mission. If you've been reading along with us you know that we love Speckled Sussex hens. We previously bought five from "My Pet Chicken" and they've been a real joy, mellow, cute, not flighty, gregarious and so much more. 

FOGGY AND LEGGY, RESCUED TO P2

These two 7-week-old Leghorn (pronounced; "leg-urn") hens moved to the intake area of P2 today, May 6, 2023. They've spent their lives in a steel mesh cage with zero love but now all that has changed, they're in Chicken Paradise now ;-)

"FOGGY" AND "LEGGY" DEBUT AT P2

WELCOME TO P2

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARILYN AND FLOCK 2

 TWO YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP AND FUN

When we bought Flock 1 the previous month, 2-years ago, we never knew how much fun and how much our lives would be impacted by these little birds.

Wings of Love, keeping three little chicks warm

Creamsicle, Our Handsome New Rooster

 

Creamsicle is hatched from an egg laid by Miata or Corvette, with Punky the father.  So he's part standard chicken, part bantam silkie.  Creamsicle's feathers are the softest feathers I've EVER felt on one of our chickens.  He's sweet, gentle, curious, and just nice to be around.  Along with Mr. Patches and Misty, he was born on January 9th this year, and raised by two Silkie mothers (Big Pom and Walnut).

Now, Creamsicle is one of the family.

MARILYN SUSPENSE 2023

 IT'S ALMOST HERE, SUNDAY MARCH 19 MARKS 21 DAYS FOR MARILYNS EGGS

UPDATE, MAGIC HAPPENED, SCROLL DOWN TO SEE IT UNFOLD

DAY 20, GETTING READY TO POP THOSE CAPSULES ;-)

MR PATCHES IS CONFIRMED - He's a Rooster! So is Creamsicle

 It's official - one of the three Mutts born January 9, 2023 is a rooster.  Patches - now Mr. Patches - announced his Rooster-Ness this morning with a wing flap and a tiny "err-err-err-err-err".  He repeated this a few times to be sure we didn't miss it.

He's gorgeous, adorable, and we're happy to know he's going to be a rowdy rooster - now we can start planning for his misbehaving and future isolation from other roosters.

Welcome, Mr. Patches!

 

 For future reference, Mr. Patches crowed his first crow at 9 1/2 weeks.

BABY CHICKENS, DAISY AND MIDNIGHT ARE BORN, MARCH 2023

 MARCH 10 = DAISY, MARCH 11 = MIDNIGHT

Daisy is less than 24 hours old, peeping out from under Mom's wings of love

Nothing makes us smile like new baby chickens, yesterday, Daisy came out of her capsule and today Midnight jettisoned her pod and entered the real world. 

Our Silkie chicken named "Sunny" is the surrogate mother. She has dutifully kept these eggs warm and it paid off nicely, she has at least two new baby girls (we're hoping for girls :-).

DISCOVERING DAISY, BABY CHICKENS MAKE US SMILE

These eggs came from the two sex link hens known as "The Rangers" and were fertilized by our all time favorite Silkie rooster, Punky.

BROODER BOX #2, SUNNY SITTING ON BABY CHICKS

Our previous batch of three baby chickens from the same sources have nice personalities. 

SUNDAY MARCH 13, 2023

The world may be self destructing around us but Chickens are happy.

Daisy is the strong and advanced chicken, but watch mom's wing tip carefully and you'll see little Midnight peaking out from the warmth, now that's "wings of love" :-)

Can't stop looking at and touching baby chickens. It is difficult to imagine how soft a baby chicken is. I picked up little "Midnight" today, It's like holding a piece of fluffy air, there is nothing there but softness, little tiny feet wiggling and a fearless attitude. 

Midnight was less developed when she popped out of her space capsule. She's now entering her third day of life and doing great. 

Yesterday, Daisy was twice as old as Midnight, she was two days old LOL.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY #2 FLOCK ONE, TWO YEARS OF LOVE AND FUN

 FLOCK ONE IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN TWO YEARS AGO

King Raven, Queen Blackie, Phylis (the jester), Lucy (u got some splain'n) and the most precious, orbiting around it all, the Duchess of tinyness, the one who shall not be touched.

Remembering Lemon, he was an odd rooster who disappeared one afternoon, we honestly don't know what happened to him. 

And then there's Orangie, over there holding down cabin number Three with his girlfriend, Henry Penny. Orangie is part of the original Flock 1 purchase at Tractor Supply. So it's also Happy Birthday Orangie. 

Saving the best for last, there is PILBR (pronounced "Pil-Burr", stands for Pretty Little Baby Rooster). One of Mary's favorites, Pilbr is a work of art to behold, his magnificent fluffiness is only exceeded by his soft feel and gigantic attitude. Mark calls him "Fritz" after the late great Fritz Von Erich, wrestler. Don't get too close to Pilbr, he'll take your leg clean off below the knee LOL, he's what we call, an aggressive rooster LOL. 

ROOSTERS RULE!

For anyone considering Chicken Friends, you definitely need to get control of how many Roosters you have. Roosters have amazing chicken personalities but they are programmed to kill each other so you don't want too many that can physically get to each other or else there WILL be problems. 

PARTY ON! HAPPY #2 FLOCK ONE, TSC SUPPLIED PURE MAGIC

Raven has grown into being a real dick, Mark and Raven play "Owwww" every morning. This game involves Raven pecking, double fighting kicks and attacking Mark through the chicken wire. It's become a morning ritual and it's funny. Similar behavior from Orangie and Pilbr

MARILYN'S BROOD FEB 2023

Marilyn will be two years old in April. She has spent a large part of her mature life being "broody". Apparently it's what Silkie hens do best (besides being soft, fluffy and nice chickens).

JUST ANOTHER MANIC SUNDAY (AT P2), MINKY UP!

 We seem to have taken on a number of birds.

We have three bantam hens named "Minky". They are miniature Rhode Island Reds and they are the sweetest most gentle hens we have. 

Mary has been training this little Minky since she was a 1-day old chick. "Minky-UP" is all she says and this little chicken flies up to her arm for a special treat (dried meal worms in this case).

P E E P !

CHICKEN CHRISTMAS 2022

Our first flock of chickens is still so magical, each bird has a unique personality. This group has lived together since their third or fourth day of life. When they come out to play in the patio courtyard they all stick together with their beautiful black rooster, Raven, leading the way. 

Christmas lights add festive glow to the Flock 1 Castle

PEEP PEEP PEEP..... BABY CHICKENS BORN AT P2

Scroll down to see updates

L to R: Muddy, Skunk and Lemon, descendants of Punky and the Rangers, raised by Puffs :-)

 PUFFS HATCH A MIRACLE CHICK (OR ?), Come along for the first look......

We took, what we thought were fertilized eggs, from our two favorite full size hens (Miata and Corvette) and placed these eggs under a broody bantam Silkie hen, affectionately named Mom1. She dutifully looked after the jumbo brown eggs as if they were her own. Almost to the day, 21ish days later we have confirmed "peeping" sounds coming from Mom1's nest box. 

FLOCK 1, JAN 2023

 MARY WAS OUT PLAYING WITH FLOCK 1 TODAY