Cassie Bustamante

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We Doubled Our Brood

September 6, 2016 by Cassie 26 Comments

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Hi guys!  I hope you all had an awesome holiday weekend and were able to get outside and do the things you love.  We just spent time together as a family watching movies, grilling and eating outside, hanging out by the fire pit, hiking, shopping, and just being together.  One of the highlights was heading out to the last Maryland Poultry Swap of the summer in Sharpsburg, Maryland.  This event is a great venue for finding all sorts of poultry as well as different small farm animals… One of these days I am going to come home with the pet of my childhood dreams, a lop-eared bunny.  They’re just so cute!  Anyone have one?  We went to the swap with plans to get a few more chickens, but we got caught up in the fun of the moment and we doubled our brood!  Where there once were five hens, there now are ten.  I wanted to take a moment to introduce the new members to you. (And don’t worry- tomorrow I will be back with a design-related post!).

Before I show you the new ladies, I want to take a moment to tell you a little bit about the existing crew: Friendly, Patches, Leia, Ray, and Chewy.  We bought five hens, all the same type, from a friend of a friend after our original flock were killed by raccoons. We had no idea what type these were but were just happy to have some free ranging in our yard again; and to be honest I can’t really tell these girls apart as well.  After some “research,” I discovered that these girls are Stars.  They’re extremely friendly with people… they aren’t afraid to approach me at all.  Friendly-Star-HenAnd no, she isn’t about to peck my toes, she just wanted to be where I was standing.  These girls will follow us all over the yard.  When I headed out into the yard to shoot photos of the new crew, these ladies followed me around.Red-Hens-BackyardStars are not supposed to be broody, but we did have one particularly broody hen, ironically named Friendly.  For the last couple of weeks we noticed that we were only getting 4 eggs, so we thought we had one that wasn’t laying.  I had searched the yard for another place she may have been nesting and came up empty.  Well, this past weekend, Chris found Friendly hiding in some brush under our pine trees, and he was able to grab two eggs that were nearby, but knew she was sitting on some.  Later that day, when she had finally left her post, Chris went back out and found a mountain of eggs- fourteen brown eggs, to be exact!  She had been hiding them all from us!  Luckily, we did the float test and all eggs were safe to eat.  (To test an egg place it in a pot of water.  If it floats, it’s no good; but if it sinks, it’s safe to eat.)  At the moment, Friendly is not too happy with us for taking her eggs, and hasn’t been laying any in her special spot.

Speaking of Friendly, here she is chasing the new pullets…Star-Hen-Chasing-PulletsWe are thinking she needs to be renamed Unfriendly.  The older established hens have definitely let the new members of the flock know the pecking order.  It’s hard to watch them chase or peck at the little guys, and sometimes we intervene, but it’s all part of the order of nature.

Now, let me introduce our new hens, all of which are young pullets just weeks old.

The very first hen we bought on Saturday morning was a Rhode Island Red.  In our first bunch, we had Vader, a Rhode Island Red who quickly worked her way into our hearts with her sweet demeanor.  Sawyer picked this one out (as he did Vader) and named her Squeaker.  She already loves to have her photo taken, and sat posing for a few minutes.  Squeaker will be laying brown eggs when the time comes.Rhode-Island-Red-Pullet

After picking her up, I was on the hunt for a Silkie, an interesting looking bird named for its crazy plumage.  They are not the brightest of chickens, but they are fun to look at nonetheless.  To my dismay, there were not many Silkie hens, but leads of roosters.  We do not want a rooster!

I ended up finding a couple other interesting and beautiful breeds to take home.  First off is this beautiful black and white hen who is a Barred Rock (after Plymouth Rock).  I named her Shakespeare after the most famous bard I know, in a play on the breed name.  Chris and I love to walk into the back yard now and shout, “Wherefore art thou, Shakespeare?” when we look for her.
Barred-Rock-Hen-ShakespeareThis soft gray and tan beauty is a Swedish Flower, and their feathers are truly graphic and resemble a beautiful bloom and come in an array of colors.  Chris named her Mowgli, simple because we were going to watch The Jungle Book that evening.  I am not sure it suits her well, but it’s her name, and that’s what I get for letting him name one!  She will lay pale brown to cream colored eggs.Rhode-Island-Red-and-Swedish-Flower-Pullets-Squeaker-MowgliThis black and white girl is an Exchequer Leghorn that Sawyer selected.  He named her Sparkles.  I have no comment.  She will be our only hen who lays white eggs.Exchequer-Leghorn-Hen-SparklesNow I saved the best for last…. Emmy’s pick of the day.  Emmy selected the smallest of the Wheaton Americaunas, which are beautiful tan birds that lay blue eggs.Emmy-And-Sweetie-Wheaton-Americauna-HenShe named her little girl Sweetie, and is very protective of her.  But Seriously, isn’t she the cutest? When Emmy held her for the first time, all I could think of was Elmyra and the squirrel!Wheaton-Americauna-Pullet-SweetieThe new hens seem to be finding their groove by sticking together.  These three are the smallest and they tend to travel as a group.Three-Cozy-PulletsAnd they even eat as a group.Three-Pullets-Feeding-BucketI had some fun yesterday with my sidekick putting these photos together for you, so I thought I would show you a couple of outtakes.  Emmy joined me in the yard, and I handed her my old camera.
Emmy-Shooting-Photo-Star-Hen

Emmy-Taking-Photo-Star-HenTomorrow we’ll upload them and see how they turned out!

I have to say that even though it’s only been a couple months, raising chickens is so much more enjoyable and interesting than I imagined.  I love learning about different breeds, and watching their personalities develop.  It’s also been a great learning experience for our family.  And, I might add, breakfast is better than ever.

 

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Comments

  1. [email protected] says

    September 6, 2016 at 7:06 am

    SO cute! Love them. Poor Friendly, I hope she gets over the fact that her eggs are missing. And yes to a lop-eared bunny but they are all cute.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 7, 2016 at 7:08 am

      going to work on the bunny idea for next summer. 😉

      Reply
  2. Maggie @ Maggie Overby Studios says

    September 6, 2016 at 7:24 am

    You have quite the flock and it looks like you are going to have quite the collection of chicken photos too! You’ll have to share the good ones with us!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 7, 2016 at 7:08 am

      i will! thank you!

      Reply
  3. Emy says

    September 6, 2016 at 8:12 am

    They are all so beautiful! Do they overeat from the chicken feeder? My husband was looking at those?

    I was talking to a lady who said that getting the kids in 4-H would be the perfect “excuse” to get the expensive lop ear bunnies. Mabel really wanted a bunny and it’s hard to say no when they’re so cute and some are only $5!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 7, 2016 at 7:07 am

      4H would be a great idea and then maybe i need a bunny- good plan!!!!! and it is hard to say no at that price- i agree!!!
      they don’t overeat from the feeder that we have noticed. we love it! although we did find sweetie hiding in it from the bigger hens the other day… 😉

      Reply
  4. Summer says

    September 6, 2016 at 8:42 am

    Seems like you had the most wonderful weekend! Your chicks look beautiful ♥

    summerdaisycottage.blogspot.com

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 7, 2016 at 7:06 am

      we really did! thank you, summer!

      Reply
  5. Lisa | Shine Your Light says

    September 6, 2016 at 8:48 am

    Cassie I love reading about your “brood”. The different breeds are all unique from each other! That is too funny about Shakespeare 🙂

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 7, 2016 at 7:01 am

      last night we had to go put them up and the new ones are still learning… so we find them roosting in different places. i could not for the life of me find shakespeare. so wherefore art though was highly appropriate last night! she was roosting in a hidden spot on the fence!

      Reply
  6. [email protected] says

    September 6, 2016 at 9:20 am

    yay! more chickens! chicken social life is brutal, isn’t it? It’s like middle school all over again 😉

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 7, 2016 at 7:00 am

      it totally is!!!!!!

      Reply
  7. erin says

    September 6, 2016 at 11:09 am

    aw man i cannot believe the racoons got your first group of chickens! they were so cute! how did you remedy the situation? love the story about Friendly!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 7, 2016 at 6:57 am

      we had to add steel mesh to the ventilation gaps. we have not had any problems since them. we are currently at 10 hens, and so far so good!

      Reply
  8. Haley says

    September 6, 2016 at 11:32 am

    These are so cute! I love hearing the names you guys come up with.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 7, 2016 at 6:56 am

      the kids’ names crack me up- sparkles especially!

      Reply
  9. Barbara Ann says

    September 6, 2016 at 12:21 pm

    I love your chicken posts. I’m living through you. I’ve always wanted a chicken or 2. I’ve always wanted a cow. But I live in the city in a condo. So no go for me.
    Keep the pictures and stories coming.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 7, 2016 at 6:56 am

      oh i am so glad to hear it! i am sure some people are not interested at all, but to me it’s just so much fun! but i am an animal lover!

      Reply
  10. Tanya from Dans le Lakehouse says

    September 6, 2016 at 8:57 pm

    So adorable! I really wanted to get chickens this year but I just ran out of time. I’m hoping next year, after I paint the house and build a coop. Every time I see your posts I regret not getting some this year!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 7, 2016 at 6:53 am

      oh you definitely need to- it’s such a great experience!

      Reply
  11. sarah dorsey says

    September 6, 2016 at 9:25 pm

    so cute!!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 7, 2016 at 6:52 am

      you should come meet them! and get some eggs!

      Reply
  12. Stephanie @ Casa Watkins Living says

    September 6, 2016 at 10:24 pm

    Oh my gosh! How adorable! My kids would go insane around them. They love animals.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 7, 2016 at 6:51 am

      thank you, steph! we love them!

      Reply
  13. Shelley | Crazy Wonderful says

    September 8, 2016 at 7:44 am

    They are all so pretty!!!! 14 eggs. That is crazy! Every time I see a lop ear bunny my heart melts. I secretly want one, but I can’t ever let Izzy know 😀 When I see Brittany’s (@brittanyork) on Instagram I can hardly keep it together.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 12, 2016 at 10:07 am

      oh i know- i love following her and i love her bunny, too! i don’t want it in my house though, so i need to see how well a bunny hutch would do here in MD.

      Reply

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Hi, I’m Cassie!

I believe that you don't have to spend a lot of money to live a beautiful life and be your best self.  Here you will find budget friendly ideas to live happily, healthily, sustainably, and most importantly authentically.  We all get one chance at this life, and this ordinary girl plans to make hers extraordinary. How about you? Read more...
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Hi! I'm Cassie.

Mother, wife, shop owner, blogger, writer, incurable diy-er, furniture painter, coffee and wine drinker, friend. Seeking happiness and passing it on. Read More…

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