Asymetrical chick may be a "gynandromorph"

Gynandromorph chick at 5 weeks

Last week I noticed that one of the 5 week old chicks has different colored feet -- one white, one yellow. Its feathers and waddles were also asymetrical, so last night I decided to look into it on BackyardChickens.com.

After posting some information and pictures in their forum, I got feedback that it could be a gynandromorph -- half male / half female. Apparently this can happen if an egg was fertilized by two sperm.  Here are some photos. The left side looks male with a red waddle and thick yellow leg. The right side lacks the waddle and the pale leg is thinner like a hen would have.

I'll post more photos as this one matures when there's more to see!

Free for all in the chicken run

Mother and chicks needed more space so we set up a little area for them in the chicken run. They've got their own nesting box, feeder, and waterer under cover, but they share the run with our two other hens.

One problem with this setup is trying to feed them separately. To prevent illness when they're little, it is common practice to use a medicated chick feed for the first several weeks. However we don't want our laying hens ingesting a bunch of this. (You'd think they wouldn't be interested in this crumbly textured feed, but they seem to love it.) So yesterday I put the feeder in a box that only the chicks can fit into. We'll see how it works out. 

Chicks at one week

New chicks with their mother

New baby chicks!

We have eggs hatching this weekend! We went and took a peek under the mother hen tonight and several chicks are out! One was just coming out of the shell so we're just letting them be right now. We'll take some photos tomorrow. Update: 7 of 8 eggs have hatched!

Happy Easter!

We came home from Spring Break to lots of eggs! Our neighbor who took care of them while we were away put them in cartons for us -- which is too nice because of course we'd like for her to eat them. Anyhow, there were 28 eggs from 3 chickens over 14 days.

First egg of spring

In December the hens stopped laying eggs for the winter, so we've been buying eggs from the store. This week I saw signs of nest building in the coop and was happy to see an egg this morning. This is the first egg from our Easter Egger that hatched this past June. She still needs a name -- we still call her "the white one". Anyhow I'm so glad that we've got another green egg layer. The other Easter Egger was killed by a raccoon last month.

Raccoon trouble

Last night raccoons got two of our chickens. Richard heard a noise in the middle of the night that he thought was one of our kids having a nightmare. He got up, walked around for a little while in his underwear, and didn't hear anything more. He came back to bed (I was sound asleep) and then heard more noise -- got dressed, went down and looked out back and saw one raccoon on our deck. So he went outside, saw another raccoon escaping from our chicken run, and then found two dead, half-eaten chickens by the coop and feathers all over the place. This is very upsetting and the first time since we got chickens over 3 years ago that we've lost any to predators. The two that got killed are the one that lays green eggs and the little red hen. I do feel like it is my fault in that I had stopped locking the chickens in their coop in the night. The door was open so that they could come out early in the mornings. They have netting over their run, which seems to keep cats and out, but is not raccoon-proof. I had decided that the raccoons around here were too well fed to bother climbing through the netting. The main precaution we have always taken was to not leave food out at night. But this week there were apple cores in the compost out there -- maybe that attracted them? Maybe they are hungrier in the wintertime? Aren't they supposed to be hibernating? Tonight the remaining 3 hens are locked away safe and we've got a trap set. Apparently raccoons keep returning once they've found your coop. The bait that's recommended on the forum for urban raccoons is marshmallows and cat food. Richard was out setting it up at dusk and saw one climbing up the net already (at 6pm !) So we'll see late tonight if we've got one. I'm not sure what we're going to do with it if we do... Update: 2 nights later and no raccoons yet.

Hand taming the chickens

The newest chicken -- now about 5 months old -- is finally integrated with the flock. She got chased around so much by the others that she's also scared of people. She still does't eat out of our hand unless she's being held. Any ideas for a name? In these pictures the chickens are being fed "scratch" which is a mix of grains and cracked corn that they love. Their regular pellets have more protein and less fat. I think that an ideal diet for a chicken would be 1/3 pellets and scratch, 1/3 vegetation and 1/3 bugs and worms. The chicken run is full of straw, old grapevines, and fall leaves now. Hopefully the pen won't get too muddy this winter.

Tori Spelling's Chicken Gets Handmade Outfits

Lucky Silkie chicken Coco wears a sweater knitted by hand by her owner Tori Spelling. If you're so inclined, here is a chicken sweater pattern to get you started!

Chickens sold on craigslist

This week we advertised and sold a pair of Easter Egger chicks that are 10 weeks old. The one pictured on the left is looking like a rooster with his red comb and feathering, the one on the right has female characteristics.

The buyer has a flock of 100 and is converting to Black Copper Marans and Easter Eggers for their egg colours. So asked her if she'd want our problem Maran Ginger as well. Her egg laying is back to normal, but she has been a bully in our flock. The buyer took Ginger for $15; this is a discounted price since Marans would usually go for $25. The chicks were $20 for the pair.

This brings us to 5 chickens -- a manageable number for our space. We'll get 3-4 eggs a day with these particular hens.

Chicks now 8 weeks old

Here's what the chicks look like now. Fancypants is still mothering them -- when there's food around she clucks for them and waits for them to eat first. Also she still sleeps with them. (Except for one who has taken to sleeping up in the grape vines for some reason).

We're waiting a few weeks to see if any are hens, then we'll decide which chickens to sell. Of course we can't keep any rooster. We may replace an older hens with one of these. With chickens, their egg production decreases after a couple of years, so you have to keep new ones coming in.

Finally -- green eggs from "Easter Egger" breed

This month the chickens are doing well -- and we're getting green eggs from a new hen that we bought this spring. Things seem pretty much back to normal with egg production. I've even been able to give some extras to a friend.

Ginger's egg quality problems continuing

One hen, Ginger, has been laying the occasional soft-shelled egg this summer so we've been trying to improve her diet. So far, it is not helping. She generally alternates between a regular egg, an egg with a chalky coating, and a soft-shelled egg. From Monday - Thursday this week she didn't lay anything at all, indicating that she may be eggbound.  Sure enough she had a bulge just under her vent. This is the first time I've had this happen, so I looked up what to do on the forum at backyardchickens.com. Anyhow, yesterday I followed the recommended cures -- warm Epsom salt bath, heating pad, putting olive oil into the vent with a dropper, and the rubber glove treatment. This is probably too much information. Anyhow, this morning she laid two eggs. One had a soft shell and was broken in the nest, and the other was the chalky coated egg. This can't go on...
Update on 8/12: No problems this week....

Double-yolk egg from new layer

The new hen pictured here just started laying eggs a couple weeks ago. Most of the eggs were still on the smallish side -- which is normal -- but then we got this huge one with a double yolk!

Chickens back in the coop

After a few days of letting the mothers and chicks free in the yard, we've moved them into the regular coop. They seem to be doing fine. I thought we might keep them out to mow our grass for us for a while, but this seems simpler.

Hen laying soft-shelled eggs

Ginger, a one year old Black Copper Maran, has periodically been laying strange looking eggs. What caught my attention were two recent ones with papery soft shells. Some of her eggs also have some whitish areas on the shell. After looking this up, it seems that it is a sign of an unbalanced diet lacking in calcium and protein.

This makes sense, as I rarely see Ginger eating the regular chicken feed (pellets and oyster shell). In fact, she is a real hog of kitchen scraps and often chases the other chickens away if we put something out. We used to think it was kind of funny -- Ginger knew how to work the system and get the good stuff. But it seems to be a problem, especially since we throw out a lot of bread and vegetable scraps that would be low in protein and calcium.

Our solution right now is to separate her for a while and only give her access to the regular pellets and oyster shell. We'll wait to throw any scraps out to the other chickens when Ginger is in her own cage. We'll try this for a little while. I'd hope we could throw out bread, etc. without one chicken eating it all.

Free ranging family

Two hens are more protective than one so we decided to let these guys free range. Look at the scratching claws on that chicken. We won't have to mow the backyard anymore this summer.

So far so good with two moms and chicks

Three chicks hatched yesterday -- there was one egg that never had developed. The two hens seem to be sharing duties with no problems so far. They sit together with the chicks and both are showing them where the food is today. 

In the photo below, Fancypants has her self all fluffed out so the chicks can come under and rest. 

Hatch day