Bibbi & Survivor

Hello again!
Sorry it's been so long.

Last week I asked if you guys though Survivor would be lonely without friends.
And we felt, as you said, that she would be lonely.

So we went to the family's house who has our chickens presently.

And we got Bibbi back.
We are insane, I know--give 'em away, get one back.
But I'd like to say that, though they will be slaughtered, our chickens seem very very happy at their new home. They now have (*gasp*) their own rooster! A VERY pretty, golden rooster, which loves our chickens. We spoke with the wife of the man who picked up the birds, and she seemed very nice--they have 25 of their own (VERY beautiful) birds and she was kind and I believe our chickens won't suffer when they're killed, so I'm happy, I guess.
Anyway.
Bibbi was quiet on the ride home. She sat in a cat cage. We brought her up to the coop with Survivor in it, and I opened the "human" door of the coop, and then opened Bibbi's cage. She didn't come out at first, and then suddenly she came running out and she seemed to recognize the coop, and she jumped in and started eating food. Survivor looked like she was in shock, she was so surprised, but she was clucking, and she came off the roost and went and looked at Bibbi. Then she drank water. RIGHT away, she drank. Which makes us think that maybe she was too afraid to come off the roost to drink and eat before.

She and Bibbi seem very happy now. Bibbi used to be one of the quietest hens in the coop, but she's now the "leader" of her and Survivor--she comes right to the door and she's always just -there-....

She's also laying eggs! Only one every other day, but it's still nice! :)

So our two chickies are happy.

The ladies. lol

Over and up,

How Do You Give A Chicken A Bath?

This is Bibbi. I believe she is a faverolle...anyway, she spends probably 23 hours and 45 minutes of her day sitting in one of the nest boxes--whether there are eggs in the box or not, she sits there. Once a day I do her the favor (Yes, a favor) of shoving her out of the box so that she is forced to go eat food and drink. Of course, as soon as I do that she runs like a mad hen squawking out the coop shed and into the pen to drink water and eat some food like she has just been let out of prison and hasn't eaten in months. Really, she acts like we force her to sit there! So, my first question is, do any of you know how to discourage her from sitting in the coop so much and get out in the fresh air?

Also, because she sits there so long, when she lays an egg she tends to, sometimes (I'd say twice a week) crack the egg and get the yolk all over her stomach. She did this recently, and she has the egg sticking all over her stomach, and her feathers are all gross and ewwww, gross...so I'm going to give her a bath. I was going to give her one today, but I haven't because it's not that warm out, and we are not bringing her in the house. I think I'll do it like it says here, mixed with the way this lady here does it...except not in the kitchen.

Have any of you ever given your chickens a bath? Any suggestions?

3:34 PM

Strange Egg---Chicken or Hummingbird?

A few days ago I went out to the chicken coop and found this egg on the ground. I don't really think it's a chicken egg--it's very small, and our chickens are over a year old, it's been a year since they started laying eggs, so they can't possibly still be laying such small eggs, right?

I think maybe another bird flew in and laid it... Anyway, I tried to crack it in a bowl. It wouldn't crack, though, the plastic-like layer on the inside wouldn't break, so I slit it with a knife.

This is it! Isn't that yolk SMALL?! I thought it was really weird. I wonder if, because of the way the yolk is shaped, if it was already a baby bird...?

Do snakes lay eggs?

This is the yolk up close-about the size of, or smaller then, a jelly bean.

So this is it. Now-

-What are your thoughts? Could it be the egg of a hummingbird? A chicken egg? Do snakes lay eggs? That is the question.

On a different note, I start school again next Thursday--one week left. **Grumble, groan, rolls-eyes, sigh.**

6:33 PM

Ribbons/Trophies/Plaque, and Eggs

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Just a gorgeous pic I took of Daisy on Tuesday morning, at the same time that I took the video (see post below this one!!!!)...isn't it a great pic of her? I'm sooo happy that she looks so shiny, and fit, and even her socks (the white on her legs are called socks) are relatively clean. Too bad she has her fly mask on...but I still like it! :)

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These are my ribbons, plaque, and trophies! I had a few people ask for a pic of them...I think you meant with me, but I didn't get that to happen, so I just got a picture of the stuff itself...

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Soooo, this is the plaque (or, as 4H calls it, a revolving trophy). It was started in 1996 by the Heads Up 4H Club (as it says). They mad the original board and top plaque, and put all the small plaques on it, and the idea was that every year the winner of the Junior, Western Command Class would get the trophy, engrave their and their horse's name (as well as the year) on it, and pass it on to the next year's winner. I won it for this year, and I found that the person from last year hadn't filled their name and horse's name in! SO, I'm hoping to find out who it was, put the info in, put mine in, and keep it, because my name would be the last one-it's the last empty space! It's really interesting to read the names of the horses, and people, and think that when I was still really little, that trophy was started! I like the idea of it...

Now, I'm posting this because I wanted to show what the eggs in the last video (see below post!) looked like after I washed them, because they looked pretty gross and unloved sitting in the box :-P. Don't they look nicer now? There were a dozen altogether, but two of them ended up having weak shells and breaking, so Abby (our dog) got them with her dry food for dinner. :) It gives her a shiny coat. :^)

9:30 PM