You Gotta Train A Chicken...

Chickens are not born knowing everything... 

So... 

You gotta train a chicken to go up the stairs...

... to get into their coop...


And you gotta train a chicken to go in through the door...

 Before the automatic door closes at dusk...


And you gotta train a chicken to go up more stairs...

To get to their perch for the night...


And you gotta train a chicken to get on the perch...

  

And not laugh when they don't seem to 'get it'...

And you gotta train 17 chickens to do all the above - not just one...

And you gotta get them to stay on the perch even when they challenge you...

 Alli

And you gotta love it when they finally seem to 'get it'!

Lulu

And you gotta train all 17 chickens while one jealous girl looks on...

It has been a busy week for us... 

'Cause you gotta train a chicken and we are training 17 of 'em!

Who woulda thunk you gotta train a chicken?

If you are wondering where we are

Just meet us by the coop - we are training chickens!

See the Boards and Meet My Chicks! Part 2

 The 'poop boards' worked exactly as they were supposed to! Woke this morning to an icky clean:

But in three minutes flat, this is what it looked like!
 

Now, since I have lots of people wanting to see the 'gals' now that they have grown up I am going to introduce you to the chicken clan!

The first pic below is Allie - and Allie is a Dark Cornish. Allie is still young, so (s)he is still kinda homely - this face just shows you how homely Allie is. Allie we suspect is a male. I didn't want any roosters, but if Allie is a rooster - I will seriously have to consider keeping him. Why? 

Well, Allie has to be in the middle of everything.  Every. Single. Thing. I. Do.  

He even stands on my foot sometimes looking up at me waiting for my next step.

If I add something new, Allie tries it out. If I toss a worm in the pen, Allie gets it because he is paying attention to every move 'mommy' makes. If a chicken squabble is going on, Allie is looking at me, squawking for me to come break it up. If anything is happening - I am sure to know about it because Allie will make it known I need to come look.

And if all is quiet and Allie doesn't see me? He squawks until I come tell him "mommy is right here!"

So yeah, I will have to consider not having him for chicken soup... because he is always IN MY FACE, AT MY FEET and KEEPING ME IN LINE!

He cannot be chicken soup - 'cause someone has to keep me in line, right?


This is Verne - a Wellsummer roo. Verne used to be LAVerne until the day he started crowing.  Since he is rooster number 2 - he will not be staying with me. But he is a sweet rooster... 
 

 chicken soup... 


This is Big Bert - a Buff Orphington. He used to be Big Bertha - but looking more and more like he, too, is a rooster:
 

More chicken soup...


And this is Belle - who I think is also a rooster.  He is chest butting with the best of them and was trying to mate with another chicken yesterday - and he was dominate.  *sigh* He is also very hard-headed and was the last to go 'home' last night. After dark we finally got him into the coop. I have no idea yet what breed he is - but he was bought as an Easter Egger"
 

I had high hopes for Belle - I love the coloring he is showing.  But, alas, more chicken soup... chicken soup is good for the soul right?


 These two pics are of Laverne - she is a very sleek Wellsummer pullet (female) chicken:

This is Ellie. She is a Golden Sex Link pullet:
 

Aunt Bea is a Black Sex Link and I hope a pullet. She has the prettiest chest feathers of all:

This is Ella - a Golden Sex Link pullet:
 

This is Gracie (the gray and white with dots) - whom I am afraid may also turn out to be a male, however, I am still debating this theory. No crows yet, but a bit dominate...

Behind Gracie is Stacy who is still outgrowing her(?) baby down - so we still don't know what she will look like. I suspect she is a Black Copper Morans but the other breed she might be is a Auracana. Since I don't know my breeds, All I can do is guess and trust the people I bought them from!  Lol...

And now you have met 12 (remember you met two yesterday) of our chickens.

They are our daily entertainers... who woulda thought they would be so fun??

Life Building a Chicken Coop

As you saw on the last post, we have been building a chicken coop castle. It has take so blasted long and so much work that I have not had time to post. Sooo... what have I been doing??

I have painted:

And painted:

And painted:

And painted:

And painted:

And I am sure I have painted at least half the state on this coop!

I *hate* painting!


Then we assembled:

Can you see I still have painting to do? Yep! Under the eaves...  *sigh*


Steve assembled, assembled, assembled - assembled some more - and added steps:

We added "poop boards" for the chickens to roost above. The idea is they are supposed to roost and poop on the boards that are filled with Sweet PDZ. To clean out, you just sift it like it was cat litter and it is clean!

The chickens seem like it... 

And we will see if it is easy to clean like they say it is... Tomorrow.



Today we are installing their chicken door and fencing their outside area...

It is a good thing, these chicks are not teeny chicks any more:

 Charlotte and Lulu

So, now you know why I have not posted! We are still building the chicken castle!

And wait until you see what I am going to name it... 

But you gotta wait!