Since Abby does not seem to want to give birth I am going to Chickucate you today about the new little chicks that are still living in the publicist's basement.
Boy are those little birdies growing!
It must be all the chick starter they are eating. Chick starter is a special food that the baby chicks get until they are ready to start laying. It has all the vitamins, amino acids and minerals they need.
Then they move to a layer mix which has calcium in it to help the shells on their eggs form.
They are very cute and their wing feathers are starting to come in. In fact the publicist found two of them roaming around OUTSIDE of their brooder!
Silly chicks!
It is good they are growing so big and strong.
The publicist apologizes for the photos - the little chicks are constantly in motion and very hard to photograph.
It's that time of year!
The time of year when a peeping package arrives on the Farm.
That's right!
The new chicks are here!
The male person got a phone call early Sunday morning that the chicks were in Missoula. They came a bit earlier than he was expecting them.
He hopped in his truck and headed down to get them.
While he was gone the publicist cleaned out a space in the basement for them to live until they are old enough and strong enough to go outside. They need to be contained but still have a bit of room to stretch their little chicken legs.
They also need to have a heat lamp to keep them warm.
The chicks arrive in a special box with lots of air holes.
They huddle together inside for warmth. This year all of the chicks arrived alive. We are all very happy about that.
The male person and the publicist took them out one by one and showed them where their water was and gave them a drink.
They were thirsty!
They soon found their food all on their own.
We have an exotic chick again this year.
Fortunately it does not look to be another Blue Guy. This is a good thing. Blue Guy was a very baaaaad rooster. The publicist is guessing this is a Dark Brahma chicken because of it's marking and fuzzy feet but she doesn't know for sure yet.
It is cute, though and easy to pick out from all of the Rhode Island Reds.
The chicks will stay in the basement for about 5 - 6 weeks as they grow bigger and get strong enough to handle the outside world.
Then I have heard the publicist muttering about rooster stew again because of the way the current roosters are treating her. She says some very bad words when those birds attack her. She plans to try and make friends with this years' crop of roosters.
I wish her luck.
The publicist apologizes for the reddish/orange cast to the photos. The heat lamp is not the best lighting for taking pictures of the chicks.
Tomorrow: Goat Vogueing
So today I am going to teach you all about Blue Guy or as he is more formally known - The Blue Andalusian Rooster. Blue Guy is our exotic rooster. When the male person ordered his chicks last spring he received one exotic. If you remember, we didn't know what that little chick was going to be for quite a while.
But that little chick grew up to be Blue Guy.
He is a pretty rooster, isn't he.
The Blue Andalusian is named after the Province of Andalusia in Spain and is one of the oldest Mediterranean Breeds. The lovely slate blue color came about by breeding black and white birds. Sometimes if you breed two blues together you will get a white bird - isn't that funny?
They are decent egg layers (well not the roosters!) and very fast runners. I can attest to that. I have seen Blue Guy tear across the goat pen like a crazed bird! Usually to attack the publicist!
I hope you liked learning about Blue Guy's breed of chicken.
Tomorrow: More video!
It's Monday so you know what that means - it's time for Goatucation!
But not today. Today I am going to do another Chickucation. I like to shake things up around this Farm. I will tell you all about the chickens on this Farm; the Rhode Island Red. (I will tell you about Blue Guy next week - he is the odd rooster out.)
The male person picked the Rhode Island Red mostly because the breed he really wanted (the publicist doesn't remember the name of it) produced medium sized eggs. When the publicist heard this she looked at the male person like he was crazy and said how to you expect me to bake anything around this Farm with medium sized eggs you fool I need large eggs, duh kindly told the male person she needed large eggs for baking so he went back to his research and chose the Rhode Island Red. Isn't he nice to the publicist? He also chose them because they are a very hardy breed of chicken and he knew they would be able to withstand Montana's cold winters.
They are also very good at free ranging; just ask the horses across the street.
The Rhode Island Red was developed in, well, Rhode Island as a dual purpose bird. That means they are good for both laying eggs and for their meat.
The rooster
can get to 8 1/2 pound and get to be a little
A LITTLE?!
A LITTLE?!
aggressive.
The hen
is usually around 6 1/2 pounds. They are much nicer to the publicist. You will note from the comments above that she has some problems with the roosters. Heh heh.
The Reds lay brown eggs.
This is a very interesting chicken fact; chickens with red/brown feathers lay brown eggs. Chickens with white feathers lay white eggs.
There - you have been Chickucated!
Tomorrow: The does get their pine
I have just come to realize that January 5th will be my 1 year Blogoversary. I am very happy about this and will be planning something special for all of my wonderful readers.
I noticed that there were lots of questions when I updated you all about the chickens on the Farm so I thought I would devote today's Goatucation to answering them - hence Chickucation. I can share. I am a kind goat. I also know I have not been very good about answering my comments but the publicist has not been feeling very well and she has been putting me to bed early so I apologize for that.
So here goes..
Lin asked: Do you have to leave the lamp on all of the time to keep them warm? The male person keeps the heat lamp on when the temperatures are going to be below freezing. This helps to keep the chickens' water thawed and to help keep the chickens warm. It was especially helpful for them when we had that nasty cold snap when it was below zero. Brrrrr!
Daisy said: Those are some lucky chickens! I'll bet they lay happy eggs. Well, Daisy, I don't eat eggs myself but I know the publicist likes them very much. They have very bright, yellow yolks and the chickens are VERY free range - they even go and visit the neighbors - so they do live a happy life.
Cici asked: What do your chickens in snow? Our chickens seem to stay in their chicken house when there is snow on the ground. The few that did venture out either ran into one of the goathouses or stayed underneath their chicken house. I can't say that I blame them.
Aunt Vicki asked: Do the chickens make fewer eggs in the cold weather? They did. Instead of the 8 - 10 we usually get we were only getting about 5 - 7 during the cold snap. They are back to normal now.
Jen asked: Do the eggs freeze? Yes, they will if the publicist or the male person doesn't get to them in time. Or if the chickens lay them somewhere that's a surprise to them. They crack open when they freeze. In the really cold weather the publicist goes out and checks the laying boxes at least once an hour.
Nanny Goats in Panties said: The male person sounds like a keeper to me! This is not a question but it is very true! We goats love the male person. He does lots of nice things for us. I am very happy with him right now - he just cleaned out my goat pen in the barn. Wasn't that nice of him?
I hope you enjoyed this change in Goatucation. If you would like more Chickucation just let me know and I can do some reading up on the feather fiends, erm, friends that share my goat pen.
Tomorrow: Mallory and Luke dance the Argentine Tango!
