Sassy & Sweet Notes

Baby Chicken Update!

Soooooo..... Thursday night with the new babies went great! The babies got warm, and went to town on their food and water. Happy babies!

But... I told Alan I felt really bad leaving the other little bantam chicks at the store. There were only five of them, and remember - they didn't have very good heat until Alan fixed their light. We didn't recall seeing any food in their area either. Granted, chicks can live on the nutrients they get from the egg yolk, but if they've hatched and are ready to eat, they should be fed. We decided that in the morning Alan would go back to the store to get the rest of the bantam chicks. We just had to hope they survived the night.

They DID! When Alan got to the store, the light was where he'd adjusted it to, and they'd been given food. They all looked like they were doing well. He brought the five of them home, along with one more of the standard red chicks. (They require you to buy at least 6.)

They're all getting along well, eating great, and must be part duck as they LOVED to wade in their water dish. They graduated to a chick waterer today, to keep them from just standing in their water dish.

Here's a quick video of the bantam chicks...

If you're not able to see the video embedded here on my blog, you can view the video on YouTube.

Ahhh, love the peep peep peep of happy baby chickens!

Two Baby Chickens!

Here you go! Two baby chickens!

If you're not able to view the embedded video here on my blog, view the video on YouTube.

Let me hear it ... Awwwww!

Yesterday I checked on the egg in the incubator. It was pipping (that's what it's called when a chick breaks a small area through the shell near it's beak). I made a quick trip to the post office (less than 10 minutes), and shortly after, Alan came home. He went to check on the egg, and she'd hatched! So I missed the whole thing! I had planned to create a hatching video... I guess we'll make plans for that next time!

I thought this chick might be a Peanut/Zippidydoodah baby, but turns out it's a Peanut/Edward Scissorbeak baby! So, she's a Mille Fleur (Peanut) and Ameraucana (Edward Scissorbeak) cross.

Shame on you, Peanut!! What will the neighbors think!?

But still, cute as can be!! Here's a video for you of the chick still in the incubator drying off. This video was taken last night. After she dried off, I moved her in with the other chick. Finally, a friend!

If you aren't able to see the embedded video here on my blog, you may view the video posted on YouTube.

Poultry in Motion...

Finally! YouTube success!! Here's a short video I put together last night. Miss Daisy even makes an appearance!

The video: Sizzle!

To watch the video on the YouTube site, click here.

What's that!? BABIES!!

We had excitement on the farm today, in the form of BABIES! Little Brown Barn Hen (LBBH) has been sitting on 18 eggs for some time...about 21 days, actually! And this morning, 5 of the eggs hatched!

One of the chicks didn't make it, but the other four did. Alan and I needed to move her and the babies to a warmer location in the barn. Unfortunately, LBBH wasn't interested on sitting on the remaining 13 eggs. Two of them had started to hatch, and we couldn't chance leaving them there with it being so chilly. So, in the house they went.

We also decided that we'd take the rest of the eggs too (that hadn't started hatching). They wouldn't have a chance for survival if mama hen stayed off the nest much longer. So, in the house they went... We put them in an incubator. I'm not sure how many will hatch, but we'll give it our best shot.

The two chicks that had started hatching were successful, and they're doing GREAT! The photo above is them, fresh out of their shells. Another one is working on escaping from it's shell currently, and I expect it to be fully hatched by early morning. So, that will make four chicks outside with Little Brown Barn Hen, and three in the house so far... You know how much I love chickens, and BABY chickens are even BETTER! 

Take a look at how CUTE they are! You should be able to view the video here on my blog, but if not you might have better luck where it's posted directly on YouTube.

I love baby chickens! *grin*

Tiny Tim Learns to Crow

I can't even begin to tell you just how hard I've been laughing, for two days now! Yesterday evening, Tiny Tim started crowing. We've never heard him crow before, and it's likely that he's just now figuring out how.

The nights have been in the low 30s to high 20s, and that's just too cold for Tiny Tim to be out with the others, so we keep him in a small kennel in our utility room at night. I took this little video this morning, while we waited for it to warm up enough for him to go back outside with the rest of his chicken friends.

The little "hiccup" he does at the end of his crow is there every time! It's a stinkin' RIOT!!

Oh, and by the way, to make the entries about Tiny Tim easier to find, I've created a Tiny Tim the Frizzled Roo category - you'll find it over on the right side, in the categories section. Who knew such a crazy little chicken would have such a following! I'll get the other posts about Tiny Tim added to that category as well.

The video:

You should be able to view the video here on my blog, but if not here is a link to the video as posted on YouTube.

PS: Looks like it's time to toss Tiny Tim's coat in the wash! *grin*

Tiny Tim's New Coat

By request, here is Tiny Tim & his new coat!
(Mom and Dad, you've got to watch this!) *grin*

Sorry for the choppy quality ... I tried to get the video file smaller than 130mb, and I think YouTube reduces the quality even more!

The video is posted on YouTube.

A Barnyard Home Movie...

For those of you who would like to see a little video I made today of some random farm activities (basically animals eating and being, well, odd)... The little red rooster in the beginning is Little Buddy. He was sitting on my knee when I took the clips of him. The rooster at the end is a black Japanese Bantam. He's TINY! He might weigh 2 pounds. Maybe. But he's not the smallest rooster we have, if you can believe it!

If you have a slow internet connection (ie: Dial-Up), if you chose to view the file, it will take you a LONG time to download the video...it's 8mb! Sorry about that!