Pecking Order

The birds have developed a pecking order now. The chicken at the top is one of the Buff Orpingtons (golden hen). Oddly, the chicken at the bottom is the other Buff Orpington. The way we can tell them apart is that the top bird has a thicker neck than the bottom bird. The lowest bird steps back and defers to let the top birds get their food first. Poor thing!



















The prime spot on the roosting bar is the left, where you'll find the top dog... I mean, the top bird! Every night, the top bird is in this spot. And a couple night ago, Coby and I watched her harass the Silver-Laced Wyandotte who was in her spot... until she got it.














A blog post to come is how to get a chicken permit in Palo Alto...

Broadening Diet

Remi is feeding the chickens some "scratch" (cracked corn and wheat).














The birds are enjoying their salad. Coby thought it was really funny to see their green avocado beaks!

Each day, the chickens spend most of their time free-ranging around the back yard. They really enjoy it, but now we cannot walk around barefoot out there anymore for fear of stepping in chicken poop.

I have increased the variety of foods the chickens get because one hen got pecked on its head and foot by another (or others?) and it actually bled. Giving them leafy greens that take a long time to eat helps reduce boredom and is also healthy.

These chickens are about half-way to egg-laying maturity! They are either 9 or 10 weeks old now and should start laying eggs around 20 weeks.

Free (Range) at last!

The girls have gone outside for two afternoons now and they sure enjoy it! They peck in the ground for bugs and at leaves to eat. They stay together as a group and if one gets separated, she makes a big fuss as she flies back to the rest of the flock. So far, they are rather easy to round-up back into the coop. But now that they know they can get out of the coop, every time someone enters, they want to escape-- especially the Buff Orpingtons (golden ones). Can you find all 6 in this photo? One is pretty hidden, but they are all there.


And below, I'm talking on the phone while holding both Barred Rocks (Coby took the photo).

Goodnight, girls.

I went in to take a picture of all the girls sleeping. It is funny how some face "out" of the coop and some face "in." The preferred spot really seems to be that corner.




















Livia (neighbor) loves to visit the chickens!

New Roosting Bar, Corn

Damon enjoys it when the chickens perch on him. For this photo, Coby placed little piles of food on Damon's legs. In the photo below, they have started pecking his head!





























Yum-- corn on the cob! What a treat.















Here is one of the new roosting bars Damon installed. There is another lower one that is not visible in this photo.

Thank you to our neighbors!

We often find all six chicks roosting in a row like this. The roosting bar was installed by our caring neighbors when we were away on vacation last weekend.
















Our neighbors brought over some melon rinds for the girls-- look how much they are enjoying it!