The Underbelly of the Chicken World

* I try and keep this blog as PG as possible, so I will not post photo's here of events that transpired, but a word of caution...there is descriptive carnage in following post.

I awoke with a start this morning.  There was some gruesome sounding squawking going on in the coop. There I found one of our 2-month-old-babies (Daisy, the Buff Orpington) with it's head in a hole (not unlike an ostrich) breathing deeply but otherwise not moving. My heart sank, I gently lifted her to my chest and quickly saw that the feathers and skin had been pulled back from her neck. She was horrifically mauled by her own kind. The older ones have been pushing the younger ones around some, but they must have cornered her and really went for it. Things were pretty heated a few weeks ago, but I was under the impression that they had worked things out. Thankfully I have my most knowledgeable chicken friend on speed dial and frantically woke her from her sleep shortly after 7am. She confirmed that I should separate her from all others, gently clean wound, medicate with Neosporen and let her rest in the quiet garage with the heat lamp.
Daisy has been eating, drinking, pooping, and chirping so I think she'll make it, but oh, I do not want to go through that again. I will take more precautions next round of chicks, and have already altered the coop so I can manage the two flocks easier. We were all pretty shaken, but it's a bit of a reality check; they are animals, they have instinct and no amount of anthropomorphising on our part changes them.

Roomies

So our once, little fuzzballs are all feathered out and living outdoors...finally! The problem is that in typical fashion the older gals are going after them like sharks! Until the new 2-month-old ones get old enough to hold their own, I have to separate them for most of their waking hours. It's not that big of a problem because I need a bit of weeding done, and the 11-month-old girlies more than happy to take care of it! Really once they've laid their egg, they're much less cranky, but I've expanded the coop outdoor area to give the young ones some space to hide and the older ones some respite from their incessant and obsessive peeping when they all are in there together.

Introducing:

Daisy, Ivy, & Clover

Thanks to all who participated in the poll, can't wait to see these gals grow!

Welcome Home!

I simply could not resist putting the new girls into our dollhouse this morning. It's probably because E and I just finished reading the greatest book, but we set up their brooder in our living room when we brought them home yesterday, and the dollhouse was just sitting there aching to be explored this morning. I may try and pop them in there in a week or so to gauge how much they're growing. Our most prominently featured gal has been prematurely named Clover as she is decidedly E's favorite (clearly the prettiest) and the name is leading in the polls by quite a substantial margin. The yellower of the two others is a Buff Orpington and has affectionately been named Daisy to go with our flora names. N has taken quite a fancy to her, so that leaves the white fuzzy unnamed sweetie all to myself!