Mille Fleur D'Uccles

My new favorite thing in the whole world is my flock of Mille Fleur D'Uccles (pronounced DEW-Clays). Ok, maybe not the whole world, but definitely my backyard! So after going through regular size chickens (too loud even though I only had hens), ducks (too messy, smelly and still loud), and quail (too stupid and way too loud surprisingly) , I am full circle back to chickens. These pint-size chickens are the perfect urban egg producer! Even the rooster, as far as roosters go, is not all that noisy. He crows every now and then and has his morning fit of course, but even at his loudest he is drowned out by any one of the neighborhood dogs.
Milles are clean and don't smell much compared to their larger cousins. They don't eat as much, don't take up as much room, and they are BEAUTIFUL! I love the endless variety of the feather patterns. They are so cute and pickupable! Even the rooster is pretty tame, docile, and holdable.
From 7 hens I am getting 5 eggs every two days. Two are still a bit young I think and will start laying pretty soon. But right now I get one egg one day, and 4 eggs the next day. I love 4 egg days! ;) The eggs are small, about the size of any small chicken egg. So I use about 2 to 1 ratio for recipes.
Since we have a number of hawks and owls in the neighborhood, I am afraid to let them out of their pen to roam the yard. We have had a large hawk (Harrier) attack the pen while my hubby was standing about 8 feet away! The rooster flipped out, but the hawk seemed unimpressed. I do hope maybe with the help of my dog Dori, maybe we can start letting them out to forage. Luckily, since they are small, the pen is very roomy and spacious and they seem to like their living arrangements. They are such a calming tranquil joy to watch as they cluck and peck around their pen.

Baby Quail!

My first quail hatch is over. Aren't they cuuute!! I have 24 healthy babies that hatched fine on their own, three died while hatching during the night, I assisted 5 out of their eggs, but 2 of those didn't make it, so I had 27, but three babies drowned in the chick waterer in scarcely a quarter inch of water. After thinking for a minute I put marbles in the water- no more drowned babies. I'm back to 24. Of the other 21 eggs that didn't hatch,... I'm thinking maybe quail eggs don't keep as well as chicken eggs if you wait to start incubation? Or maybe they were not held at their ideal temperature while waiting? ..., live and learn. I think I'll start a new batch, but I'll add eggs to the incubator daily as they are laid. I'll have 7 babies a day at the end, but I can keep them in a couple of groups if the bigger ones start picking at the smaller ones. After a couple weeks they'll be close enough to the same size and I can introduce them to the bigger pen all at once.

ducklings!

Aren't they insanely cute!!!
...and only 24 hours old!

Our first Cayuga egg! :)

This morning when I went to let the ducks out of their barn I was greeted with a dark oval jewel! The first egg of the year! And it's perfect! :) It's about the size of a jumbo chicken egg as you can see in the picture. As soon as the girls start laying regularly, we'll order our runner chicks and give them to a Cayuga mom, and let her do the work of raising them! Then this winter, we'll still have fresh eggs! Runner ducks are the egg laying queens. Nearly an egg a day all year long. That's some amazing production skills!

Chickens, Ducks, and Wolves... oh my!

Many critters have come and gone since my last post... er... the one before the 2 quail posts, that is. Back then I had chickens, so that's where I need to begin. As I feared, my family and neighbors were not fond of constant chicken chatter. These were some exceptionally noisy chickens. I honestly think a rooster would have been quieter! Warning- set your volume low before watching this one!



So I had to find them a new home. As luck would have it, a very nice couple from a farm in Rosalia (a small town to the south) came to pick them up. They have about an acre fenced off for their flock of chickens, they told me, with lots of grass and bushes and a small pond- sounds like chicken heaven!
So I have flat given up on the idea of chickens. But I have not given up on the idea of eggs! As you can see from my quail posts, there are other egg options out there for urban egg production. I found a source for quail, but we need to make an enclosure for them first. But we still had the chicken pen and barn....so I thought, Ducks! Like quail eggs, duck eggs beat chicken eggs for nutrition. So we bought a few ducks off of Craigslist to try them out. I had read that khaki Campbell ducks lay more eggs than any chicken breed- almost 300 a year! And that's without light supplementation! So I decided to get a few. Nope, not for me. They were as noisy as chickens! So they went. I had read that khaki's were developed from runner ducks, another type that lay 300 eggs a year, so we tried a black runner female. We had also gotten some Cayuga Ducks. These have since become my absolute favorite! They are exquisite! And they are Quiet! The runner was a bit noisier, but not too bad.
Now... unfortunately we learned the hard way that an Arctic wolf though not all that interested in a chicken is terribly interested in a duck!!! One day I had the ducks out of their pen in the backyard. The dogs were inside, the back door was locked. ... Or so I thought. Orio opened the door when no one was looking and went out in the yard to play. It didn't take him long to find that a duck made a great toy. I went outside to find him trotting across the yard with a dead duck in his mouth. He saw me and came prancing over to me to ask me to throw it for him. I fell to pieces! It was the Cayuga female! All I could do was just hold her and cry. Don made sure Orio knew he had screwed up royally! Afterwards I wouldn't talk to Orio for 2 days. But as if that weren't enough, about a week later, tragedy struck again. The ducks were put away in their pen, the dogs were out. No one was looking. Suddenly Dori came running to the door yipping and barking to tell us Orion was getting into trouble. No one realized that our Arctic wolf had had a taste of his natural food source and decided that was what he wanted for dinner. He plowed his way under the gate to the duck pen and killed my remaining 2 ducks! Luckily I only had 2 at the time, the Cayuga drake, and the runner. I was so furious I came frighteningly close to killing him!
So Don is going to rebuild the duck pen for me. It will be taller, thicker wire, and he will run it underground and fan it out so that if Orio tries to dig under it, he'll hit wire. Nothing is entirely wolf-proof, but we can at least slow him down enough that we can catch him before he gets too far. I now have 3 pairs of show quality Cayugas. They are absolutely beautiful! No way is that wolf going to get any more of my ducks!!!

Raising Quail

I found a very informative article on raising quail!
Click Here
From Backwoods Home Magazine which I highly recommend! Housing requirements, feeding, nutritional values of the birds, nutritional values of the eggs, great article!!

Quail Eggs- Perfect food?

I have still been researching the best critters for producing eggs. When I thought of quail I immediately hit the internet to find out if this might be a good idea. I ran across this article about the nutrition in quail eggs:
http://geniuscook.com/quail-eggs/

"Quail eggs are small speckled pearls that nature gives us. Since ancient times, this delicacy has been prized as a dietary and healing food. While quail eggs are so small (10-12 g), they are packed with many biologically active substances we need to be healthy. They are an abundant source of useful trace elements and vitamins. Their nutritional value is 3-4 times higher than that of chicken eggs. They contain 13% proteins while chicken eggs provide a bit more than 11%. Quail eggs contain 140 μg vitamin B1 compared to 50 μg in chicken eggs, and they contain twice as much vitamins A and B2. And quail eggs provide five times as much iron and potassium as chicken eggs. They also are richer in phosphorus and calcium.

Due to their amazing content, quail eggs are considered as a dietary food. The thing is quail eggs do not have “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and are very rich in “good” (HDL) cholesterol, so even seniors can eat them. Unlike chicken eggs, they do not cause allergy and diathesis. What’s more, they can help fight allergy symptoms due to the ovomucoid protein that is even used in the production of some antiallergic drugs. Regular consumption of quail eggs can help against many diseases.
Health Benefits of Quail Eggs

Quail eggs:

* are a remedy against digestive tract disorders such as gastritis, stomach ulcer and duodenal ulcer.
* can help cure anemia increasing hemoglobin level and remove toxins and heavy metals from blood.
* help in the treatment of tuberculosis, bronchial asthma, diabetes and vegetative-vascular dystonia.
* have strong anticancer effects and may help inhibit cancerous growth.
* help eliminate and remove stones from liver, kidneys and gallbladder.
* may accelerate recuperation after blood stroke and help strengthen heart muscle.
* are a powerful stimulant of sexual potency. They nourish the prostrate gland with useful substances, phosphorus, proteins and vitamins and therefore help restore sexual potency in men.
* promote good memory, enhance brain activity and regulate the nervous system.
* strengthen the immune system slow down aging of organs and increase the life span.
* improve skin color and strengthen hair making it shiny and voluminous. That’s why quail eggs are used for facial and hair care masks.

If kids eat at least 2 quail eggs daily, they grow better and are less likely to suffer from infectious diseases."

With a nutrition resume like this it is worth some serious consideration!!! I know quail are easy to raise and don't take up much space, are pretty quiet, don't stink, ... hmmm.... I might be on to something!

New Chickens!

Now that I am pretty sure I have a good setup for the chicken coop and yard to keep "Big Nose" out of my eggs, I decided to get chickens again. After searching for a week or two I found a lady who needed a good home for her flock that she had rescued along with some other animals from an abusive situation. I had to do a bit of research to find out what kind of chickens they are. I think I have decided that they are Wyandottes. There are a Black, a Golden-Laced, and 5 Columbian, one of which is a rooster. Well, being in town, dot dot dot, no rooster, so I had to find him a home. Luckily it didn't take long. There was a catch. This rooster is sterile! I have a couple of friends out in the country that have chickens, so I called around. I thought it might be hard to find a home for a sterile rooster, but I got lucky! One of my friends said that she didn't need a rooster, but she has a friend with some laying hens including some younger hens she was raising up. She had lost one the other day to a hawk and was desperately looking for a rooster to protect the flock. She did NOT want fertile eggs, just eating eggs- so this rooster was PERFECT! And as luck would further have it, my friend was already in town and volunteered to drop by and pick up the rooster for her other friend. The only sad part was I never got a picture of him. :(
The hens have spent the last couple of days getting used to their new coop and yard. Today I let them out into the whole backyard and they have been all over the place checking everything out. I have a ton of pictures! Click a picture to see it larger. Enjoy!

End of Summer

Well, summer has come and gone here in the Northwest. They say our low this Wednesday will be 29! BRRRR!!! I have most everything harvested and I have been making jelly all week. I have made crab apple, plum, grape, plum, some green pepper jelly, and more plum. Oh! Did I mention plum?




Our old Damson Plum tree as usual makes more plums than the chickens, the squirrels, the dogs, the neighbors, and us together could ever eat. (Though Orion tries his best to eat them all).








This year was pretty successful considering it was our first year back home and the soil was in pretty pathetic shape. No one told the pumpkins or squash that though, they pretty well took over the whole garden! Next year they get staked!







I found out that my favorite summer squash is the white patty pan. Not only are they quite tasty raw, steamed or baked, they were the most prolific in the garden.
And aren't they just the neatest shape? They were definitely my favorite crop this year.



Here's a few more of my favorite pictures from this year's garden...

A Rainbow of Eggs

I found this on BackYardChickens.com
Who knew there were so many color possibilities among chickens! Since I have a Maran rooster (now living with a friend in the country, more on that later) and Ameraucana hen, maybe I can breed some gray, or maybe green layers.

Clockwise, starting with the white:
1. Leghorn
2. Light brown layer, like Barred Rock
3. Medium brown layer, like Rhode Island Red
4. Marans
5. Cross between 4 and 8
6. Cross between 3 and 8
7. Cross between 2 and 8 (typical Easter egger)
8. Ameraucana or Araucana

Chickens Again!

We have chickens again! I returned the 2 little roosters a while back and ordered 2 dozen Black Copper Maran eggs from mail order place. BAD idea! I asked to be notified when the eggs were shipped so I would be expecting them. Well we came home one chilly 37 degree day to find my box of eggs sitting on the porch! I rushed them inside and turned on the incubator. When the temperature seemed stable enough, I put the eggs in and hoped for the best. Only 11 developed, and only 5 hatched. There was another problem as well. This breed's eggs are supposed to be dark chocolate burgundy brown. These eggs were not all that dark; in fact, they were not much darker than regular brown eggs. It was a big disappointment. Soon after my 5 little chicks hatched, out pet shop had a few amaraucanas come in. I brought home the cutest little white chick to add to the flock. We still don't know which are boys and which are girls, but we are getting a bit of an idea. There's one in particular- quite aggressive and tends to run off by himself. We figure that one must be a boy. But time will tell! About a week ago we brought home 3 more amaraucana chicks from out pet shop. These were sexed and are supposed to be hens. They are all a cute soft buffy brown. Sorry, I don't have pictures of them yet. So the total is 4 Marans (we lost one to a local Cooper's hawk- my daughter caught it in the act!) and 4 amaraucanas. Out of these we will hopefully have 2 girls out of each group. If my marans don't lay any dark eggs though, I'll be shopping for replacements next spring.

The Cock Doth Crow

This morning I woke up hearing a very strange sound. At first, it sounded like a macaw,... but I don't have any macaws right now! I heard it again. It sounded like one of my chickens, but something was terribly wrong with it! I ran to the kitchen and looked into the dog kennel. Both of the chickens were standing there looking at me. Then Daisy (the millie) looked at me, held her head in the air,... and crowed? It still sounded like a macaw- sort of a hoarse squawk. But it looked like crowing. So I guess she's a he? I'm so sad! I can't keep a rooster! Not here in town! And certainly NOT in my kitchen!!!! I haven't heard another peep out of either of them since this morning. The millies are known for being quiet... does that apply to the roosters? If she... er... he crows 3 times every day at mid-morning... I could totally live with that. But I doubt very seriously this boy could really stay that quiet. I'll wait a few days and see what happens. Maybe I can work a trade with a local breeder or something? Or maybe I'll take them back to the pet shop and wait till spring like I originally intended.

Our first chickens!

Meet Daisy and Zeeba, our first chickens. We don't know much about them, unfortunately. We found them at a local pet shop and the owner wasn't very helpful. What we were told is that a lady brought them in, they should begin laying in a couple of months, and they are bantams, (duh) the blond one is a "Millie" and the zebra one is a "cochin". Hmmm... So I hit the internet and did a bit of research. It looks to me like Daisy, the blond feathered girl is indeed a "Millie", short for "Millie Fleur", French for "thousand flower." But this is actually the name of her color pattern. The name of her variety is called the Belgian d'Uccle. Her color and markings are just amazing. I've never seen anything like it! Don's eye was captured by our other newcomer, Zeeba. This little hen is apparently a Silver Sebright. Both of these little girls are super sweet and very quiet. A good thing since they are spending their nights in our kitchen in a large dog kennel! We had planned to get chickens in the spring, after we built a small coop in the corner of the back yard, but when we saw these,... surprisingly, even Don didn't want to let them get away! We built a run for them to spend the day until they get used to the backyard. I want to give them free range of the whole yard, but I don't know if that's going to be possible with our neighbors' 3 mean dogs. They said they will put up a privacy fence this spring. I hope they do! Another possibility is clipping their wings. (the chickens, not the neighbors) I may just do that anyway to be sure they stay safe and in our yard.

Easter Egger Chickens!

YES! I can have a few chickens! I just checked the laws and we are allowed to have chickens in the Spokane city limits as long as they do not smell or wander, and NO ROOSTERS!
SO! What kind of chicken(s) should I get? Easter Egg Chickens of course! I want one chicken that lays brown eggs, one chicken that lays pale or pinkish eggs, and one chicken that lays blue or green eggs!

Believe it or not, the blue egger will be easier to find than a pink (actually just light tan) Blue eggs are laid by Araucanas or Ameraucanas. The blue egg shell is a dominate trait, so crossed breeds will also lay blue eggs.
Wikipedia has an excellent article on the blue egged chickens: Araucana
Here's another article: click here.
If you read a bit about the araucanas, you find out that this is a mutant breed to say the least. These chickens are missing the last vertebra on their spine and completely lack a tail! I like chickens with tails (not to mention all their vertebrae) so I will stick more to the Ameraucana type. Here is the history of that breed: ameraucana.org

For my brown egger, I think I like Marans the best. Welsumers also have brilliant colored eggs, but I think maran eggs are spectacular! Dark rich mahogany-colored! Just look at these pictures! Also, The most common feather color of the British maran is cuckoo, my favorite chicken color!









So, now for the light tan to pinkish eggs. For now, somewhere in the neighborhood of this color. (like the eggs in the left of the right picture above) This is a bit more unpredictable. I think it may be sort of trial and error with a few brown-egg chickens until I find one that lays light eggs. There are a couple of breeds that are known for lighter eggs, and I will look for one of these. Prehaps after some breeding efforts, I can develop a chicken that lays pink eggs. Wish me luck! :)