Silver Gray Dorking Archives - A Country Girl's Heart -Beats that Matter

April 24, 2018April 29, 2018

Roots and Wings: New Life ~ Chickens

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Have you ever reached a point in the journey of your life, stopped for a moment and wondered, How did I get here? That describes how I have felt these last few weeks as I wrote about my memories of new life and how it pertained to goats and horses.

I turned down the opportunity to foal out mares this year. A difficult decision for me to reach, largely due to my health. Staying up all hours of the night disrupts the body’s circadian rhythm. This negatively impacts the adrenals. Since I am working to create an environment for mine to heal, I believe it would be counter productive. A smaller percentage of the picture is the fact that I have a limited amount of energy and I have chosen to direct it to my current goals of breeding chickens and a homestead lifestyle. I am hopeful that I will discover a way to add foaling mares back into my life in the future. If that doesn’t happen, I will simply relish the memories of that season. To read my blog on seasons click here.

Swedish Flower Hen chicks hatched at CG Heartbeats Farm

I adore babies of almost any species. Spring time brings new life in plant and animal form. I like to see the tiny plants pushing their way up through the soil, but not quit as much as seeing new life appear when a mother gives birth or an egg hatches.

How did I go from foaling out horse to hatching chicks? I see some humor in the fact that an egg or newly hatched chick is about the size of a foals hoof. Now that is quite a big difference, going from one to the other. My health goals have played a part in directing my current path. It is a simple truth that when making room for change in one’s life certain activities must be let go of to make room for new. An area I struggle with at times, letting go. Some days, I actively choose to stay focused on the new adventures.

Silver Gray Dorking and Swedish Flower Hen chicks hatched at CG Heartbeats Farm

Hatching chicks

Hens make hatching chicks easy. They do the work of an incubator and brooder after the hatch. One of the Swedish Flower Hens went broody last fall. Click here to read the story. The relationship a chick has with a broody hen seems like it would provide an education. However, the incubated chicks seem to know instinctively to peck at food and drink water. Again the power of new life is amazing.

Today, as I write, new life abounds around me in the form of hatching chicks. Yesterday, the little chirps greeted me before I even seen a pip. Today I have been privileged to watch them pop out of their shells. Some times I need to work hard to pop out of my shell. It is tempting to stay where it is safe, comfortable, and truthfully, easy. Working to get out of a shell takes effort, and then just when I accomplish breaking out, I find myself faced with changes. Like a chick who suddenly finds space to stretch and learn to walk and balance. Freedom to move is one of those changes. I mean what chick would want to stay cooped up in a shell. In reality, a chick dies if they don’t break out in time. Similarly, we risk a different kind of death( I am not referring to an eternal death here) if we too stay in our comfort zone.

Last year incubating chicks became a new challenge for me. I have used 3 different incubators to hatch chicks in the last year and a half. The Little Giant, Incuview and Janoel12 produced chicks, but offer different features that seem to influence hatch rates. The Little Giant, a styrofoam, I used only once when I borrowed from a friend. I hatched only 2 chicks. Perhaps with time and experience I may have improved the %. I like the plastic incubators best for the easier clean up after a hatch. Both the Incuview and Janoel12 are constructed of hard plastic. They clean up nicely. And oh those newly hatched chicks make a mess.

They are adorable though once they dry off and the fluffiness appears.

A discussion on different incubators would provide enough material for its own blog post. In the hatching course, I am preparing, I include info on different incubators and a worksheet to help you decide which one suites your financial need and personal preferences.

Consider joining the wait list while I finish up the e course on hatching chicken eggs. If you are not needing this type of information, perhaps you know someone to pass this opportunity onto? There are going to be a few bonuses for signing up early.

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October 27, 2017February 28, 2020

New Chicks

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NOTE: This page or post contains affiliate links. When you click and make a purchase I earn a portion of the money you spend at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support.

This week was filled with new life in the form of hatching eggs. The Swedish Flower Hen broody had 6 SFH eggs to hatch out and the IncuView Incubator held 13 fertile Silver Gray Dorking eggs.

Broody SFH hen: 6 Swedish Flower Hen eggs

Monday night October 23, 2017: Broody hen 1, Incubator 0.

Tuesday morning she was hiding whatever she had. I decided to leave her alone. I could faintly hear at least one chick chirping above the multiple rooster crows. Another part of a shell appeared in front of her part way through the day

She stayed on the nest all day Tuesday. But one chick appeared in the evening.

On Wednesday morning she was off of the nest.

Oh the fluffy cuteness of newly hatched Swedish Flower Hen chicks.

I think she did good for a first time broody hen less than a year old. This hen sat on eggs for 5 weeks at least. She is being a good momma to her 3 chicks.

IncuView Incubator: 13 Silver Gray Dorking eggs

I found the first pip Monday afternoon shortly after 3 pm. Oh, I felt excitement. I always do when an egg pips! Now this rainy, dreary day had new life written into it.

It was Tue morning about 8:30 am before the piped egg hatched. There were 3 more eggs piped by this time.

The anticipation and excitement continued for the next day and a half.

As one or two would hatch a couple more would pip.

I kept a close watch and if one was not making progress and it had been several hours, then I helped out a little. Deciding to help has its benefits and heart aches. I have helped chicks out finding them perfectly normal. Some times there is a reason the chick is not making it out on its own. Those reasons are unpleasant. More on that in a future post.

Thursday morning I moved the chicks to their brooder pen in the house. This particular group of chicks will be going to a new home in a few days.

Hatching chicks keeps me young at heart. I never seem to tire of the beauty of new life in babies.

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October 20, 2017October 20, 2017

Misfits

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Misfit #1

A few weeks ago I shared that my growing Silver Gray Dorkings were struggling with Coccidiosis. I ended up with one that is coming along nicely. He has been getting stronger and proving how quick he can be.

He resides in my office in a card board box at night and….

has an outdoor pen during the day.

A few days ago it was too rainy to be outside. He escaped his box and by the time I went to put him back he had made himself at home on a fiddle case.

He does do a nice job of blending in.

Misfit #2

The broody Silver Gray Dorking (SGD) hen that was given the hatched chicks has struggled to rejoin the flock. She had been penned in a separate cage with in the SGD pen. Since allowing her to rejoin the flock she has been treated badly by one of the other SGD hens. Now, she too is in need of special accommodations.

She has been pecked repeatedly by the other hens in spite of my best efforts to provide multiple food and water sources for her and the other SGDs. Time to make some changes.

She spent the day in her own outside space, next to the grow out cockerel. She is an observant hen. A large bird flying overhead had her attention. She cocked her head over to the side intently eyeing the sky til it was gone.

Integration

In my mind I would like to allow them to share the same pen both inside(the barn) and out.

Day 1 ~ AM : I put them in the same pen and sat down to watch.

The young cockerel was hiding under his shelter and cautiously exited to drink water. The hen who had been happily eating became bent on pecking at the little guy. So for today, they will go back to separate pens next to each other.

PM: I put the SGD hen into the same outdoor pen as the growing SGD.

Day 2 ~ AM: I will call this successful. They are not exactly best friends but no one is being hateful either.

I am undecided if they will become a breeding pair.

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September 21, 2017October 8, 2017

And the Greatest is Love

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Along the lines of keeping my farm/homestead experience honest I am moved to write this post. I have been struggling to stay positive and it began the night of my aunts passing on July 31, 2017. Grieving is expressed through various emotions over time and loosing my horse McCoy added a sadness of its own. I needed to look deeper for the root of my heartache and the Lord is showing me a little at a time areas I need him to heal my heart in. Sunday I was feeling better, nothing like sitting around the campfire with friends Saturday night to ease ones pain. But a series of events had me reeling back into heartache by Tuesday morning.

Finding one of my grow out Silver Gray Dorking birds dead Sunday night had me perplexed. Finding another Monday morning and then Monday night was upsetting me! I found a clue though. Blood in the stool of the living birds in that pen lead me to believe they were fighting cocidiosis. Not completely uncommon for chickens to acquire. I felt self loathing creeping in. I had not kept their pen clean like my heart intended. For over 2 weeks upon returning from being gone for over 4 weeks, I had been able to do only what was absolutely necessary. I want to insert here that I struggle with low functioning adrenal glands, leaving me easily exhausted. I am learning to pick and choose how and where to expend my energy. Also these chicks were hatched to sell, not to keep. The intended buyer was unable to take them and I found myself raising chicks I had not planned on. Monday night I began treatment for cocidiosis, removed them from their pen, and began cleaning the pen they had been housed in. No rain was forecast to my knowledge. I looked.

Tuesday morning I had hopes of attending the Scottish Highland show at the St. Joseph County Fair in Centerville, MI. Attending the 2016 show taught me basics of where the breed is today while providing an opportunity to meet SCH breeders. I awoke to realize that it had rained overnight on the Silver Gray Dorking grow outs and one of the newly hatched chicks did not make it. (That chick was in the barn) No cattle show for me, I was staying home to attend to the animals I have. I am not sure what happened to the one little chick. Perhaps another hen had killed it? Not sure, but I had believed it to be safe. Lesson learned! That being said I am still working on a plan to move the momma and baby to a different area. So far as of Wed morning the other chick is doing well. New pen for them is in the works. I felt horrible the grow out SGD chicks had no cover from the rain and dealing with an illness to boot. By Tue evening I had 6 left. I doubted some of them would survive, but at that point I only wanted to show them love. I do not like to play God and decide who lives and who dies. Although I have in the past culled diseased chickens.

One protocol for not spreading disease is to care for the sick chickens last. I practiced this yesterday, spending my energy first cleaning waters and caring for the healthy chickens to help prevent future illnesses. After that I brought the sick chickens into my house. Some I warmed with a hair dryer. I have saved kittens that way in the past. One in particular I spent well over an hour removing eggs from it’s feathers. It seemed like it had some fight in it. Little thing woke me up chirping during the night. The only way to quiet it was to sit by it or hold it. I opted to wrap it in a towel and sleep with it sitting on my chest on the recliner. I don’t know if it is going to make it or not, but I know I showed it kindness and comfort by holding it.

These events have me questioning my goals and my ability to achieve them. My head knows, setbacks are common and no failure only feed back. My heartache and feelings of failure threaten to overtake my thought patterns. Oh, but I know I can change my thoughts. I am reminded that the Lord says He loves me in spite of my shortcomings. That I am more than my failures. I am reminded of 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV)

It seems the more I have been hurt, the harder it is to put myself out there. For instance, I felt hesitant to put forth too much effort to save those growing SGD yesterday. I felt, what would it matter, they might die anyway. After all, I had pushed myself beyond what I felt capable of to try to save McCoy and I lost him anyway. I prayed and found peace in the simple act of showing these birds love even if I knew they probably were not going to make it. Translate to human relationships. I find it easy after being wounded by people or circumstances for me to withdraw and give up. It feels safer to stop putting my true heart out for all to see. Truth is my expected outcome is not the most important when relating to others. Knowing that I showed someone love while maintaining healthy boundries becomes more important than my personal expectations of a particular outcome.

I am still discovering take away lessons from the first half of this week. I tend to feel like things are my fault. I strive to look for what I can do differently. I see several areas that a different choice on my part would have provided a different outcome. Feeling like a failure seems to follow. I need to remember NO failure, only feed back! Have you ever felt like you were not enough? That it might be easier to give up on a dream or plan? Or perhaps give up on yourself? Leave me a message or a comment about how you went from a valley to a mountain top. If we are honest, we all have both in our lives, don’t we?

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September 14, 2017October 8, 2017

Silver Gray Dorking Hens go Broody

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I did not get a picture of all three hens in one nesting box, but that is what I came home to when returning from my trip out west. I am excited to share my trip, but that is for other posts. They had been setting approximately a week when I returned on August 29th. I have been rather impatient checking under the hens. If one left the nest another one would gently use her beak to pull the exposed eggs under her.

Sunday morning at feeding time I found a lone Silver Gray Dorking chick out with the adults birds. I placed the chick back in with the setting hens after offering it a drink. I knew I needed to set up a pen for the coming chicks but was still working out ideas in my head. There was only one chick so far. It was going to need a momma and access to water and chick starter.

This is what I came up with. I pulled out the closest broody hen and placed in the cage with the little chick. The chick could get out of the cage, but I was hoping with time it would bond with the hen and remember where the food and water was located. I was confident the adult birds would be kind should it wonder out of reach of Momma hen. Earlier on Sunday I observed the chick had left the broody nest (again) and was following one of the roosters around. The rooster was talking to the little chick! My heart loved that!

Yesterday, as in Tue, two days after the first chick had hatched I was being nosey again and found that a chick had piped under the die hard broody hen. I still have two hens broody but one is definitely more dedicated to her position. I was excited and impatient. I know it is best to allow nature to run its course. I have had enough heart ache to last me for quite some time and I was looking for some positives around here to ease my broken heart. More on that in another post. Last night, at last, I felt the tiny legs of a chick under broody momma.

This morning I removed it from the broody nest and gave it to momma hen. Kind of like natures version of an incubator and a heat lamp when I am presented with 3 broody hens. Oh yes, I have tried moving the hens to other boxes and giving them other eggs. They left them. Perhaps, if I placed them in a separate cage I would improve the outcome.

I never get tired of watching babies. Check out this video.

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