#backyard flock
CO-PARENTING HENS
This year we have a lot of co-parenting pairs of hens. Two hens will share a nest and brood the same eggs side-by-side. When the chicks hatch sometimes the generosity lasts and sometimes one of the hens will take over. So far these two pairs are sharing parenting responsibilities.
None of these chicks biologically belong to these hens, they are barnyard mixed eggs from the farm. We do have an offspring of the black hen shown here who hatched out in early April. It is now over 6 weeks old and looks incredibly goofy.
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STICKY CHICK
Was stuck to egg membrane
Chicks are hardwired to struggle. It takes strength and perseverance for the average chick to get out of its shell. The little thing on the tip of it’s beak is an egg caruncle or egg tooth. The chick breaks a hole in the shell, and then using the egg tooth, they cut a circle around the egg and pop off the end to crawl out.
It takes hours to do and they nap in between.
Humidity at this point is crucial, high enough to soften the egg, not high enough to drown the chick. This poor little thing got stuck to the egg membrane when the humidity dropped (side effect of living in a desert) and it struggled for nearly 24 hours before I realized what was going on and helped to free it. I had to bathe it in hot water to get the stuck shell off of it. Helping is a big no-no but sometimes you can’t just let them die.
Recovery has been slow, as of yesterday I was still holding the chick up to drink water and it wasn’t eating. At hatching they have absorbed a few days egg yolk to survive and that kept it alive. Still, I’ve been worried it would die. But life is scrappy sometimes and this little one turned a corner this afternoon and is doing much better today. Eating, drinking and starting to run around with the other chicks. It could still could take a downturn, but I’m hopeful for the first time.
Cute little thing, very fuzzy, with feathered feet. Curious to see what it will look like as an adult, should it make it that far. Fingers crossed.
These are hatched shells below, you can see how the chick cuts around the egg, and in the two at the bottom (especially) you can see the shell membrane. The chick grows inside the membrane which lines the shell, then climbs out of both to hatch.
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DARK CHICKS
Gallus gallus domesticus
Black Silkie and maybe Partridge Cochin?
©Teenytinydinosaurfarm
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I’m writing this here because I don’t want to be an ass to my neighbors.
We’re on lockdown here in Los Angeles. I’m a recent breast cancer survivor so I’ve been on self-quarantine since early March. I need to be extra careful about not contracting the virus as chemo permanently farked my immune system.
We’ve had an egg delivery contract with a farm-to-table bakery/café for years, but they had to shut down two weeks ago to delivery only, and this week let their pastry chef go, so I don’t have a client currently to buy eggs.
Instead, I’m selling them from my front door.
I forgot how much of a pain in the ass this is.
With no farmers markets here, there is a shortage of pastured eggs in So. Cal. I have people from all over the Los Angeles Basin calling to buy eggs, chicks, chickens and a limited supply of everything available, except roosters.
The other day I put out 8 dozen eggs, and the first woman who came, took ALL of them, everyone else then came back the next day as well as new people who wanted eggs and it’s created a weird waiting list of sorts that people expect me to keep track of. I’m not having it.
Here’s why…
Today a woman called frantic for eggs so I moved her to the front of the line and let her know that she could come for them. She texted back great, she will come by to pick them up tomorrow afternoon, if she has the time.
No.
I sold them instead and told her to just come at 2pm like everyone else — first come, first served. I don’t have time to coordinate schedules with people.
My mentor Harold called this morning. I finished an intense LA Zoo docent class - 23 weeks with a heavy-duty workload. Our final was March 7th and we were supposed to have graduation this morning. It didn’t happen, of course. I was curt with him as I didn’t catch who it was and he called on my landline which is 90% robocalls. So embarrassing!
I explained that we have a lot going on here.
I have a full-time contracting job that I have been doing from home for a decade and while work is definitely spotty, it’s still something. I have to be available to turn around projects quickly if they come in.
In the meanwhile, my phone is ringing off the hook as some guy dug up a “Next Door” post from back in 2014 and now I have a ton of people wanting eggs at 2014 prices, because they just saw the post for the first time, today. I don’t even know these people and they all seem to want to argue with me. No. Just no. Yikes, are most Next Door people jerks? Or just here?
To add to the fun, we’ve had the Newcastle poultry quarantine in effect in LA County for nearly a year now — no buying, selling, trading or moving of poultry is allowed. Hatcheries can’t ship to us. I now have a year older flock and way too many roosters from the incubator loads of birds I’ve hatched out during the quarantine period.
I have an incubator of eggs set to hatch next week, I hope. It’s that time in the process when it’s hard to believe that they eggs actually have life inside, though I could swear I hear cheeping this morning. I candled them on day 8, and removed the clear eggs, but who knows about the rest. New incubator, first time using it. As a distraction people have “adopted” eggs and will name the chicks if they hatch. It’s dopey fun.
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
