Sunday, June 21, 2020

Birds and Bugs


More baby birds!

Yesterday one of our Black Australorp hens hatched out two little chicks.


They're even smaller than the ducklings recently hatched and follow around on their mother's heels like little wind-up toys.


This is not a good picture but while I was watching them this afternoon, this little chick found an earthworm.  It seemed as though he/she instinctively knew it was something good to eat but had a hard time figuring out exactly how to do so.  

Mama hen came over, saw what the chick had, then walked away and I imagined her saying to herself, "He/she has to learn to figure it out for him/herself." 


This trio of our Speckled Sussex birds posed for a picture.  This Sussex breed is about the friendliest birds we've ever had.

Yesterday morning, before breakfast Papa Pea went out to do some weed whipping around the electric fence line of the poultry pasture.  Part of the fencing goes along the woods line and there he was assaulted by hordes of no-see-um's.  They bit right through his gloves (the kind with cloth over the back of the hand and rubber on the fingers and palms) to the extent he was almost going bonkers with the itching when he came in.


He slathered up with Calamine lotion which we've found to be the best in the case of bug bites.  Good thing he had a head net on or he would have been in a lot more discomfort.  Yep, the bugs are bad right now and we pretty much plan our times outside, to the extent we can, when they aren't present.  (And why is it we choose to live here where the state bird is the mosquito?)

18 comments:

Leigh said...

Poor Papa Pea! Does he find Calamine helps with the itching? I can usually make do with aloe vera, but that's doesn't help Dan so it obviously doesn't work equally well for all people.

I so envy your baby chicks! Our Australorps haven't hatched an egg in years. We'd replace them with Speckled Sussex (Dan's favorite breed) but at five years old they're still laying strong.

Leigh said...

Poor Papa Pea! Does he find Calamine helps with the itching? I can usually make do with aloe vera, but that's doesn't help Dan so it obviously doesn't work equally well for all people.

I so envy your baby chicks! Our Australorps haven't hatched an egg in years. We'd replace them with Speckled Sussex (Dan's favorite breed) but at five years old they're still laying strong.

tpals said...

Oh, your sussex are pretty. I have more hatching happening in my living room. This is the last batch this year...really, it is.

Mama Pea said...

Leigh - My husband doesn't usually get bit very much. I always say that's because if there's a biting insect within 5 miles, they go for me and no one else. Calamine lotion has proven to be the only thing that (halfway) stops the itching for me so that's what I suggested he put on all his bites. And it did help. Your Australorps are five and still laying strong? Methinks you take good care of them! Actually, we've always managed to keep hens laying way past what they (the experts, ya know) say should be their prime. This is the first year we've had much luck at all with chickens going broody and staying with it up to the hatch. Usually, it's our ducks that have been the good setters. And hatchers!

tpals - Yes, the Speckled Sussex breed is an attractive one, isn't it? We've hatched out our share of eggs in incubators in the past, too. Which has always proven to be more reliable than with hens that seem to have the broodiness bred right out of them these days. That's why we're so thrilled to be getting some chicks that have been hatched under hens this year.

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

Such beautiful breeds of chickens. Those speckled Sussex are gorgeous! Where do you get them? Do you raise them from chicks? -Jenn

Michelle said...

I thought Speckled Sussex were so pretty so I got some, but the ones I got were not my favorite hens. I like my Australorps better; they are my friendlier birds!

Goatldi said...

Cute chick smart hen. I assume it is true with a lot of species that lessons learned on ones own last a lifetime.

I hope my Buff Orpington hatches a chick out. I realized that she is behaving very similar to when she hatched out Flame in August of ‘18. Erratic setting and eating shell and all of eggs in the clutch. She is finally settling in and has one remaining egg. Perhaps she favors only one chick?

Mama Pea said...

Jenn - These particular Speckled Sussex birds came from Murray McMurray Hatchery. My husband says they're almost too friendly because he's always afraid of stepping on one or tripping over them as they surround anyone in the yard to the extent that they're bothersome!

Michelle - I'm partial to the Black Australorps, too.

Goatldi - We were just talking at breakfast about what variety of birds to order for next spring and we recalled fondly having the Buff Orpingtons in the past. Nice birds. Your hen seems to feel she wants to handle only one chick at a time!

Nancy In Boise said...

You're very pretty chickens! I'm hoping my three new chicks grow up to be very attractive as well. I'm sorry you guys have such terrible bugs! Itching is just the worst. Sometimes a washcloth with ice water will help kind of calm things down

Mama Pea said...

Nancy - It will be interesting to see how your little chicks turn out. When they're feathered out, you could post a picture of them as little bitty ones, and then as adults. The coloring sometimes changes quite a bit.

Tigger's Mum said...

Gorgeous chooks. And those chicks would be an ideal meal for a cat, - just sayin' - I wouldn't have been allowed within roaring distance of chicks, but I would have had foxes to compete with at our place anyhows. Foxes were the main reason Mr B and F eventually agreed that raising chickens wasn't a good idea.

Mama Pea said...

Tigger - Yep, we have foxes around here, too. So far, we've been successful in keeping them out of the poultry yard with our electric fencing. But this last winter, there were a couple of mornings when we saw fresh fox tracks walking around the chicken house. In the winter with the snow level, we can't keep the electric fencing on so have to keep them inside their house and attached "solarium."

Nancy In Boise said...

Yes the gold sex link was light yellow and is now turning reddish brown, the Silver Laced Wyandotte is getting her markings more, and the brown leghorn is getting some of her black markings along with her Brown. They grow up fast!

Mama Pea said...

Nancy - When they start getting their feathers, and grow out of the cute, fuzzy chick state, I always think of them as gawky adolescents. A hard period for man and beast!

Rosalea said...

I envy you your chooks. I'd love to have some but there are just too many wild critters around here who would enjoy a chicken meal. We've just had a bit of rain here. Its not enough, but we'll take it! On the down side, it will enliven the biting insects!

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