Free Range Cochins...

I love to let my Cochins out of their pens to "free range". I figure it's good for them ~ both exercise wise and food wise. They delight in picking through the grass and weeds and digging in the dirt.

I even gave them a couple of Sunflowers to toy with/eat. They didn't seem too interested until the flosers were a couple of days old.

Now they're picking off the seeds like they're a real delicasy!

Silk prefers stale bread...
I get a kick out of how the black trio stays so close together.
Under the watchful eyes of "Shine".

I love to watch their fluffy butts as they walk back to their barn...
I've divided the stall in the barn into two halves so that when I'm not there, to watch the cochins outside, only one group can be out at a time. I am defiinitely keeping my breeding groups separate! ;-)

I know ~ it's not exactly a professional job, making the divider, but it WORKS! I even cut the wire so it goes around/over the feed and water containers.

Besides, I want it 'portable' so I can take it out when I get my "bachalor pad" built for the roosters ~ then all the hens will be in the one big stall, together.

Although, I kind of hate to break up my breeding groups...
They seem so HAPPY!

Day Two ~ Gone to the BIRDS...

So, I did spend a LITTLE time with my Chickens.

They are just so much FUN!!!

I love it when the wind ruffles the butt feathers on the Cochins!


I LOVE this bird!!

SCARLET is the only one of my Ameraucanas who is friendly. And she is very, VERY sweet!

She always greats me when I come into the barn and will perch on my arm and eat bread from my hand, while I'm tossing it to the other chickens.

I took the screen off the windows in the Ameraucanna's pen so that they can get outside. So far, only Star and Elvira come out.

And they head right for the DIRT BATH...


Doesn't that look like FUN???

DREAM says...

"Yeah? Well, I like it when the wind ruffles MY butt feathers and you don't seem to think it's so cool when I roll in the dirt! What's up with that???"

If You Think the EWES Had it Bad...

My poor boys have been banned to the outer pasture, to make room for more CHICKENS in the barn!

They have plenty of good grazing and fresh water and shelter, so they're not exactly 'abused' but they're not exactly getting lots of attention either. Then again, that's not such a bad thing with rams. The truth is, I hope to have all three boys gone within the next month. Hunter (beautiful, Mioget, HST, 2yr old ram) is for sale. (although, I MIGHT just use him, quick before he goes!) I had a buyer for him but she can't take him until December and I do not want to keep an intact ram any longer.

Here are the results of his 2year old fleece micron test: He averaged 23.7 microns, with a standard deviation of 6.3, a coefficient of variation of 26.6, had 2% of his fibers below 15 microns, 85.4% below 30 microns, and a spin fineness of 24.3 microns. Contact me if you are interested in adding this handsome boy to YOUR flock!

The girls are enjoying the side pasture again today.

I have to move them back to their main pasture, before I leave for work because I don't have the electric hooked up on the temporary fence any more.

I LOVE this picture of my Black Cochin: "SHINE"

DREAM says...

"BOY! Things sure are CRAZY around here!"

Did I Ever Mention That I Tend to Throw Myself Into New Ventures???

It all started innocently enough. I was SO enjoying my Backyard Chickens. So I went to a chicken show and fell in love with a trio of Black Cochins and my three Ameraucanas. And THEN, Rayna (who hasn't blogged in longer than me!) sent me links to THIS:

Is she not the prettiest little baby chicken you've ever seen in your LIFE???

This, my Dear friends, is a "Mille Fleur" bantam Cochin pullet (baby girl)! I completely and totally ~ Fell. In. Love. With. Her. Don't worry. I didn't BUY her. Although, now I wish I had! I didn't want to rush into something that I knew nothing about. So I've spent the past week (or has it been two???) compulsively obsessively responsibly searching the Internet for anything and everything I can find about Mille Fleur Cochins. The more I've read and the more breeders I've spoken with (and there have been a LOT!) the more convinced I am that I want to start a breeding program of these remarkable birds.

As I write this blog post, I am in the process of buying this little rooster:

Ah, the wonders of the Internet!
And this lovely, young lady will be his mate...

Don't worry, she'll be much prettier when she finishes feathering out.

This is another, slightly more mature, but still youngsters, started pair that I'm considering.

Or perhaps these beautiful babies?

These chicks are from different breeders, all over the country. I've also got a trio "on order" from a top breeder in Colorado. Then, that's ENOUGH to get me started on my own breeding flock...

I'll also be breeding for show quality Black Cochins. The trio I have are SO beautiful and sweet! My grandsons can walk right up to them and pick them up and pet them. I never knew that chickens could be so pretty and so friendly.

OMG!
I'm having so much FUN!!
Now, I've got to go out and put up more roosts in my CHICKEN BARN.
I'm going to sell Hunter and not keep any rams so that barn will revert to what it originally was ~ a chicken coop! Isn't life amazing?

I hope you're all having a WONDERFUL, LONG, holiday weekend!

DREAM says...

"Even I have to admit: they are kind of cute ~ in a worthless, feathery sort of way..."

;-)