Our Chickens and Ducks Make A New Friend

My husband and I were sitting on the front porch when I heard one of the chickens give their distress call. It was probably Sassy because she is constantly running to me clucking anxiously. If she were a human, she would definitely be a busy body and a tattletale.

Doesn't the look in her eye remind you of Mrs. Olsen on Little House on the Prairie? Chickens have certain sounds for certain situations. If you really pay attention you can learn the difference. I've become more familiar with what's going on just by their call.

As we rounded the curve on our sidewalk, we could see that the chickens had discovered something. We just couldn't see what that discovery could possibly be.

As we got closer, the chickens all turned and looked at us, because they weren't sure what to do.

And then we realized that they had come across a SKUNK! I gently lead the chickens to the coop.

Even the ducks, who usually keep to themselves when mischief occurs, had to come take a peek. They nonchalantly walked by, just one time and they too followed the chickens and me to the coop.

The cute little critter was not afraid of me. As small as it seemed, I figured it was just a baby. I know nothing about skunks. The cute little thing was so busy rooting for whatever it is skunks root for, that he/she didn't notice that I had gotten....

this close. I photographed the skunk many times. It seemed unfazed. And then it scrunched and started to lift it's tail. I'm not sure at what age they start spraying. Nor, did I know this critter's age. I do however know exactly what the spray smells like, so I ran. We ended up with three skunks in our yard. I'm not sure what drew them to our property. I'm not even sure if they will bother our chickens. Now that I know she can simulate a spray attack position, I am absolutely sure that we plan to stay away from them.

Getting Familiar With Nesting Boxes

The hens love their hen house but they aren't quite sure what to think about the nesting straw.

We couldn't get the hens to lay in the nesting boxes. So we put a beach towel in the boxes since they preferred the tractor seat with the beach towel cushion rather than the hen house.

She sat and sat. We really didn't think the towel would be a good long term idea. But it did get them in the nesting boxes. After the hen laid her egg she accidentally hit it with her foot causing the egg to roll off of the towel. And so we put straw in the boxes so that next time the egg would be carefully cradled.  This is what happened.

Belle and Merida are now laying in the nesting boxes as long as there are beach towels in the boxes. When we put the straw in the boxes both hens cleared all of it out making a mess on the hen house floor.

Which of course posed a problem because now they have no beach towel or straw. Hm.

As you can see she looks a little confused. She is looking back through the entrance of the hen house wondering what her next move should be.

 She was the first one to start laying and she is determined to lay an egg again on this day.

It's been a few days now. They are both laying eggs. As you can see in the photo it doesn't take long for the eggs to look nice and perfect. In a few days the smaller, paler egg will look like the darker bigger egg. A few days after this photo we had four more hens laying eggs.

 All the red hens are laying. Sassy, a Plymouth Rock is now laying, she has the pale one with the specks. It was her first day. And then the blue egg belongs to Hark, our Ameraucana. We just need to get JoJo laying eggs. We have recently discovered that she is a White Plymouth Rock.

This is our JoJo, not the best photo but you can see that she resembles the White Plymouth Rock.

This is a photo from a White Plymouth Rock website. JoJo looks an awfully lot like this. She was supposedly a cornish hen when we purchased her back in March.

We are currently having an issue with Penny's right foot. She favors it when she walks fast or runs. She eats but has not been gaining weight. She is much smaller than the other two Rhode Island Reds. I've been trying to get a good video of her walking and we've been using the process of elimination to try and figure out why she has a limp. I've been isolating her once a day in order to make sure that she is getting a nutritional diet. She eats just fine. But continues to stay small and I believe she has been losing weight this week. She is happy and friendly though. Any suggestions on what might be the problem would be much appreciated.

Early Egg Layers

We now have two Rhode Island Reds laying eggs. Belle and Merida are early layers. One prefers the tractor seat and the other prefers the nesting box in the hen house. 

I didn't want to disturb her, so I took a picture through the hen house window. We have three nesting boxes. The produce stand where we buy our straw, is currently out of hay. The beach towel will work for today. The eggs will easily roll off but the first one is usually not edible.

As you can see there is a difference between the first egg and the rest of the eggs. The one on the right is much paler and smaller. Her next egg should look like the one on the left.

Another shot of the two eggs. The brown eggs do have a different nutritional value than white eggs. The yolks are very rich in color, almost amber. More on this in my next post.

New Discoveries With The Ducks And Chickens

 Last evening when I went to start up the tractor to mow, I found a great surprise. Technically, our hens should not be laying for another six to eight weeks.

But as you can see, we have an egg. We don't have straw for the nesting boxes in the hen house yet. We were going to wait until closer to egg laying time. Getting the hay in too early just makes for a big mess.

But our little hen just couldn't wait. We're not sure which hen is laying early. Both the Rhode Island Reds and the Plymouth Rocks lay brown eggs. This small egg is small for both breeds of chicken. This is normal for a first lay though. 

 I proceeded to mow and here came all the chickens. Sassy was the first one to hop upon the mower to my left. And then, A RIR had to copy her. Sassy has made herself my pet hen. She's the only one that will fly up into my arms and let me hold her.

They just kept huddling around the mower as I tried to pull away. I'd like to say it's because they wanted to spend more time with me. But, I'm pretty sure since I had already mowed and acre or so,

This is a mallard with the blue stripe and green head and white neck ring.

This is a mallard with all the markings except for the blue stripe. I'm not sure why some drakes have the stripe and others do not.

But this is another great change amongst our birds. The fact that our mallard is definitely a male. He has had the blue stripe for several weeks but no other signs of being a male. We didn't know what to think. With the color change on the belly and throat turning from brown to white we were getting suspicious. And then, his head started turning a deep green. He is a male.

We're pretty sure the Pekin Duck is a female. The male got taken by a raccoon. You can see how much larger Pekin Ducks are than mallards. Yes that's Sassy in the photo. She has really been competing for my sole attention.

 This is Beaker. He is still the most adventurous of the Plymouth Rocks. The other chickens are reluctant to balance themselves on the edge of the duck's pool. But not Beaker. She has always been a fearless hen.

Once again Sassy feels the need to try to be top hen. She doesn't have the courage to perch on the pool. But she is still determined to get a drink. Streeeetch that neck Sassy. JoJo is content to just watch. We are still trying to figure out exactly what breed she is. She has a very flat comb. We do know that Hark can swim after the chasing of the dog. She wants no part of the pool. And is nowhere to be seen while the rest of the chickens are curiously checking out the water.

A Typical Morning With The Chickens And Ducks

This is a typical morning with our chickens and ducks. They have gotten along so well since we've gotten them all back in the early spring.

We go out each morning and open the coop door so the chickens and ducks can free range. The chickens spend a good hour picking at the clover and grass for bugs and morning dew.

The ducks are no stranger to this behavior as well. They don't spend as much time with their heads to the ground but they do like shuffling their bill through the foliage for treasures just as much as the chickens do. They "graze" super fast so that they can high tail it to their favorite spot.

I keep a galvanized steel tub by the down spout so when it rains the ducks can play in the water. They groom themselves carefully with this water.

The Pekin duck requires more grooming because of her white feathers. But it's the mallard that could spend hours picking and preening through her feathers. The Pekin is just lifting her left foot to run her talons through her feathers on her head.

It doesn't take long though and the chickens start looking for something new to do.

The ducks wait for the chickens to choose the direction and then they follow them everywhere they go throughout the day. You can see the hodge-podge of duck and chicken foot prints on the sidewalk.

This is the talons of a female chicken. A hen will grow spurs, but they aren't aggressive with them like a rooster can be.

This is Deleanor's feet. We thought he was a hen for several weeks. But, as spring turned into summer Eleanor became Deleanor. He is developing larger spurs than the hens. 

Here a few random shots of the ducks after they've groomed themselves. They spend quite a bit of time scrounging around the yard and making sure the stay close to the chickens.

These two ducks couldn't be more opposite but they are best friends. Even though the white Pekin is much larger she tries to hide behind the smaller mallard when people come and get too close.

 Her morning grooming routine was a success. Her feathers glisten and shine when the sunlight catches them.

This is one of the Rhode Island Red hens. Her face is in the last stages of being completely developed. She is a very happy, healthy chicken. You can tell by the bright clear eyes. She has a bit of clover in her beak.

A hen's ear lobes indicate the color of eggs they will lay. She has red lobes so she will lay brown eggs.

Red lobe indicates brown eggs. White lobes indicates white eggs.

We should end up with a wide array of egg colors. The Plymouth Rock (black and white hens) will lay brown eggs. Jo-Jo and Hark will lay what is called the Easter eggs. They are pastel blue/green.