One morning 2 or 3 chicks made their way through the wire mesh and out of the cage and were out on their own. Lucky no cats were about. The hen was all anxious and pacing inside, probably disturbing her 2 peer hens in there brooding eggs. After a busy day it's easy to forget about adjusting the mesh overlaps so the chicks can't fit through the holes. You're just glad you remembered to close up the cages at all.. Eventually some sort of more sage-like system will have to come about, like a dog that can be trusted not to eat the chicks, or a nested fencing situation.

Now that I think of it, the egg-farmer that put his dog in the chicken cages at night probably only did it for big cages with 80 adult birds. I'll have to ask him. If Maron gets knocked up I'll have to be intensive about having the puppies hanging out with chicks a lot.. Maybe I can still train Maron to live with chicks??

#BackyardChickens #SilkyHen #JidoriChick #SilkyChick #烏骨鶏雌鶏 #烏骨鶏雛 #宮崎地鶏雛

Chicks ❤️ love ❤️ maggots.

#SilkyChick #JidoriChick #SilkyHen #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏 #烏骨鶏雛 #地鶏雛 #宮崎地鶏 #宮崎地鶏雛 #MiyazakiJidori #MiyazakiJidoriChick

#SilkyChick #JidoriChick #SilkyHen #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏 #烏骨鶏雛 #地鶏雛 #宮崎地鶏 #宮崎地鶏雛 #MiyazakiJidori #MiyazakiJidoriChick

#SilkyChick #JidoriChick #SilkyHen #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏 #烏骨鶏雛 #地鶏雛 #宮崎地鶏 #宮崎地鶏雛 #MiyazakiJidori #MiyazakiJidoriChick

Silky hen with 3 chicks, 1 Jidori rooster, 1 Jidori hen, and 1 Silky. With Silkie it's hard to tell if they are a rooster or a hen until the get big and start practice fighting chest-bumping or awkawrdly start trying to crow. My guess through this first experience with Miyazaki Jidori heirloom birds is that the roosters have a brigher red background with a dark strip foreground from the start and the hens are plainer with only a lighter red background. That's my guess for now.

The plainer Jidori chick (probably a hen right?) was in a box all by her(?)self. I was nervous about leaving her in the box with the weeks-older turkey and silky chick. I tried it for a bit but the older silky was insistent about yanking on the new JiDori's feet as if they were tasty worms. To be save I had the new one in her(?) own box. but she was noisy when I came back for lunch. And it's a lot of work t make sure the heat lamps are working and there's a variety of food in 2 different boxes, and to think about how to time their adventures outside with the colder rainy weather. It's much better to leave all that to a brooding hen.. So I placed her next to the hen that's brooding the Jidori chick (rooster?) and Silky chick.. And it went well (KnockOnWood!!)...
#SilkyHen #JidoriChicks #JidoriChickRooster #JidoriChickHen #JidoriChick #SilkyHen #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏 #烏骨鶏雛 #地鶏雛 #宮崎地鶏 #宮崎地鶏雛 #MiyazakiJidori #MiyazakiJidoriChick

This Silky hen was able to hatch one of 2 Jidori (Miyazaki Heirloom) eggs and a peer's Silky egg. She had started trying a week before I put Turkey eggs under her. Turkey eggs take a week longer than 3-week chicken eggs.. It seemed like she wouldn't give up till she got some chicks to raise so I put a local market's Jidori eggs under her. Just to be sure she had at least one chick after 3 more weeks' effort I grabbed the nearest 2 Silky eggs from the yard and put them under her too... If I had been 100% certain the Jidori eggs were viable all 4 eggs would have been Jidori eggs, but it will be interesting to have this Silky chick always with the Jidori chicks for easy comparison. The Jidori chicks start out from bigger eggs and seem to be bigger (comparitvely) all the time..

#SilkyChick #JidoriChick #SilkyHen #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏 #烏骨鶏雛 #地鶏雛 #宮崎地鶏 #宮崎地鶏雛 #MiyazakiJidori #MiyazakiJidoriChick

Miyazaki Jidori Heirloom chick under Silky Hen..
I moved them to a bigger box with another broody hen when I saw that other hens and kept laying their eggs with this hen. She should have under her only 2 Jidori eggs and 2 Silky eggs from nearby. She has like 10 eggs under her. Maybe she'll share some with the other broody hen in the box..
Since the incubator seems to have let the other 7 Jidori eggs die I have even greater hopes for another Silky Hen with 4 Jidori eggs under her. I'll need to get a good incubator by March so I can get more serious with Turkeys.. Then again, it might be better to just rely on the Silky Hens.. It's a lot less work, might be better for the birds socially too... Conflicted!! It is fascinating to see them up close in the house though.. Fun with the kids to get hem used to being in hands too... Conflicted!!

#SilkyHen #JidoriChicke #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鳥 #地鶏雛 #宮崎地鶏 #宮崎地鶏雛

Food Now!
Turkey ("Seven") is write in there among the adults demanding feed. Joel Salatin wrote that Turkeys are much more energetic or active about foraging.. I'm wondering if I'll have to figure out some fencing or just give Seven to someone else in a few weeks or months. It would be fun to get set up for Turkeys.. Nice people want to do a MaruYaki Rotisserie event.. Not with Seven of course!! But in March if I can hatch a couple more eggs and end up with extra Toms (male rooster turkeys) in the winter...

#TurkeyChick #SilkyChickens #Silkies #七面鳥 #七面鳥雛 #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏

After more then 2 weeks it's impressive to see how smart and social this first Turkey chick seems. There's a lot of eye contact and learning, I think. "Seven" runs over and finds me, makes me nervous about the dog(Maron) not noticing the difference between a in-group friend and a small-meal sparrow.. But Turkey prefers to get meal-worms and BSFL from between fingers than off the ground.. I can't see "Seven" as a meal for anybody. There is a Silky rooster chick and seems intent on bullying "Seven" and their peer "LaBuBu" he Silky Chick. Maybe that mean rooster will be somebody's meal in a few months...

If I can start hatching turkey eggs in march and they get to be about 15 kgs in 6 months or so... Getting people together to eat the extra males ("Toms"?) in the winter might work out fine, the end of November, the beginning of December. From next year maybe a new tradition will start right between Thanksgiving and Noam Chomsky day there will be a Turkey Feast day to celebrate the American contributions to the world..
#TurkeyChick #七面鳥 #七面鳥雛 #BackYardBirds #FrontYardBirds #Turkey

#TurkeyChick #SilkyHens #七面鳥 #七面鳥雛 #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏

Another young hen decided to use the laying box by the front door. I confess I can't really see or remember the differences among the younger hens, but the hen that used to lay here leaves some sort of deposits on her eggs. I've been seeing those eggs over by their night cage. Three or 4 hens started laying in a wooden apple box but one went broody so I had to close it off. Otherwise that one hen would end up with 10 or so eggs under her, and probably not be successeful with any of them. Since, apparently I should be concerned about in-breeding after so many generations here I replaced the eggs with some a local heirloom's, Miyazaki JiDori. There used to be a half Silky half Nagoya Kochin hen named pink that was fascinating. If I get some JiDori chicks I'll probably give some away, let people eat the roosters but keep a few hens and see what happens. It was fun to compare the quail, Silky and Kochin eggs for a time a few years ago. Maybe, after a year or so, there will be in-hand comparisons of Silky, JiDori, and Turkey eggs!! I'm really liking this first Turkey chick, very social, lots of eye contact. As of now I can't see the bird as a meal.. Maybe that will change if "Seven" gets big, ugly, and aggressive but it's hard to imagine right now. Turkeys only lay eggs from March until the end of summer, so I won't be able to try hatching more for a few months. Just as well... "Seven" can help me decide how serious I want(need) to get about fencing and housing for a 15kg bird, how effective turkeys are as feral cat deterrrents.. In the meantime "Seven" is just sort of fun to hang out with.. Sorry I don't have a name for this hen. Better get on with the Turkey photos.. The two older hens in the photo with Seven are Prune and Plum, veteran EggLaying ChickRaising cuties. Prune tends to abandon chicks early for the roosting bar but now that team-work boxes are working the chicks don't need to come inside: a lot less work...
#烏骨鶏 #七面鳥 #烏骨鶏雌鶏 #七面鳥雛 #SilkyHens #TurkeyChick

Prune (I think) an outgoing hen...The first to run over to see if food is forthcoming.. She goes off on her own a lot.. Almost got eaten by a neighbors dog once while out in the garden by herself. Now the garden is so overgrown a dog on the street probably wouldn't notice her, and if the dog did chickens are probably much harder to catch in overgrown thickets..

#SilkyHen #PruneTheSilkyHen #SilkyChicken #BackyardChickens #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏

Another hen got broody. I think it's one of the younger once that lays a smaller egg. She saw all the cute chicks (11!!) running around and decided she wants her own!? She left her spot to go eat when I walked by yesterday morning so I took the warm egg and ate it.. But she was in the same spot at night: with no egg!! I felt bad, I hadn't thought she was serious when I took the egg. But I already have too many Silky chicks and have always wanted to see what Turkeys are like so I ran out to a local produce store and got Turkey eggs. It's the same place that provided the Silky eggs that started our group, and all the groups that have spun off from this group.. I was tempted to place another bigger-egged local breed in with the 3 turkey eggs. But a quick search shows that Turkey eggs need 28 days to hatch.. Maybe next week I'll add in two Local Breed eggs and see what happens. I'm hoping Turkeys can keep away cats, and I'm curious about them. I've been talking with a guy that seems more interested in non-Silky local breeds so it will be interesting if these Silkies live up to the Silky reputation of being able to hatch any sort of egg from quail to Turkey: but 28 days! I have to make sure she has fresh water and feed nearby.. Even if this doesn't work out I know how to go about getting the eggs for when the 4 hen cooperative in the old dog-house box gets going again, if it does...

Two photos show two little Silky eggs beside a Local Breed egg and a Turkey egg. The egg-yolk pictures are of the Local Breed eggs to the left and the Turkey egg to the right. Turkey eggs seem to taste more eggy. They make me nostalgic for 70s eggs, maybe it has something to do with pre-Animal factory times or something, or maybe I'm imagining things.

#SilkyHen #TurkeyEggs #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏 #七面鳥卵

The Silky hen that went broody by the door hatched two eggs. When she went broody there were no eggs under her. She must have taken a break just when I came by so that the egg seemed free and got placed inside the door.. She wouldn't leave from the unprotected basket on the bench so I moved her into a box so I could put a wire mesh square and a brick over her. A visiting kid chose two eggs to place under her 3 Sundays ago. Like clock work, exactly 21 days later I notice the chicks are chipper and had to rig somethig so that they could start wandering around with their mothering hen. They starting moving around pretty well that first day. The first night they chose an empty apple box so I had to find more wire mesh squares. From the second or third night they joined another mothering hen in a wider apple box. It's nice to have fewer boxes to close up every night and open up every morning. I'm guessing it's better for the hens and chicks when they cooperate too. Another smaller box ahd 4 hens and 7 chickes in it. Hopefullly it's harder for the street cats to pick off the chicks when the hens are working together. The roosters are noisy and showy but surprisingly unhelpful in meeting threats..
#SilkeyChickens #SilkyChicks #SilkyHens #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雛 #烏骨鶏雌鳥 #雌鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏

Hens, baby protectors..

#SilkyChicks #SilkyHens #SilkyHen #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏 #烏骨鶏雌 #BackyardChickens

Last night the long box where the veteran hen hatched her chick was still wet from the heavy rains. So she jammed herself into the little box with the other 3 younger broody hens...

In the morning there was a dead chick in the water bowl. I had been thinking that the big water bowl would be ok: it's not like they are quail, and it's pretty high up. Examining the chick, it seemed to have the mangle turned feet and was really small? How did it hop up into the water bowl? I wonder if one of the hens pushed it up in there? I was a bit worried that a chick might get stomped to death in such close quarters so it was good to see 3 out and about today, and that the veteran hen that ushers them around outside the boxes is not back into her long box... I should have got a photo of the long box too, I guess. Maybe tomorrow night.

#SilkyHens #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏 #BackyardChickens #SIlkyChickens

A Curious Hen. They seem to be always hungry now. Maybe there are too many. I should find someone to take 4 or 6 mid-mature birds as a group... They are hard to resist, so when an outgoing hen runs over to me like this I usually break down and give them some more feed, or, as a special tree, hemp seeds. It's helpful to have a few bird accustomed to eating out of the palm of your hand for when visitors come and want enjoy that "sense of wonder" with Silky chickens. It's funny how they can seem so curious, and judgmental, like some sort of prophet birds from the old Testament. Maybe Amos was a woman? I have no reason at all to come up with that question, it's just that the bird that put me into prophet-musing mode was a hen, you know like female... Not that the metaphor seems to transfer well to human societies, except for laughs..

#BackyardChickens #SIlkyHen #Silkies #SIlkyChickens #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏

One of the hens went broody in the box that has been serving as a night cage for a hen and chick AND as a go-to egg-laying spot for 3 or so hens... Now I have to make sure the other hens don't keep piling more eggs up under the broody hen, so I block the entrance with 100yen store mesh.. BUT, I have to remember to open it up again in the evening so the chick and MomHen can get in there to sleep. Luckily I noticed their confusion enough to remember last night.. Mangle can't move around much anymore so it's important not to forget to carry her into the big night cage with all the others. I think our problem with the feral cat that came to eat a chick or two a day got started that way. I forgot to move a Mangle Hen to safey one night, and the feral cat came and ate her, developing a taste for Silky...

The hen with the chick looks very judgmental. They can seem to have very tough, strict expressions..
#SIlkies #SilkyChickens #SIlkyHens #烏骨鶏 #烏骨鶏雌鶏