Is Ginger a Roo, coop maintenance, and the weekly updates

So a few updates for this week...

Biggest news is that we are starting to question Ginger's sexuality.  I've been lurking around on BYC (Backyard Chickens, a forum for poultry-lovers for those of you not in the know), and some of the more experienced Easter Egger parents have mentioned that Ginger's coloring is very roo-like.  Apparently the neat mottled color she has is mostly seen in young roosters, not young hens.  Multiple picture postings back and forth and the jury is still out.  We may have to wait until she starts to crow or until she squats (a sign she is getting ready to lay)/actually lays an egg.

On that note, the updated pics for this week:

Basil.  She definitely has a single comb; I had it confirmed.

Ginger.  See the reddish-brown on the wings and back?  This is what is causing the gender confusion.

Curry.  Barely got her to sit still for the picture.

Paprika.  You can't really tell the difference between her and Curry in this picture, but the top of her head is much darker.

Daffy.  Notice the green sheen on the wings?  The feathers on the top of his/her head are coming in that way as well.

And Aflac, who was much more interested in peas and carrots than getting a good shot.  Weight gain has slowed a bit - he's about 5.5 pounds this week.

Now Aflac and Daffy might look cute, but if anyone is reading this blog let me tell you (or maybe retell you):  DUCKLINGS ARE MESSY!  Cleaning the coop takes about 30 minutes each morning.  Currently we have the original coop I posted about, plus a dog crate attached at one of the doorways.  I am still lining the house portion with newspaper, which needs changing about every other day.  The bottom half of the coop gets scooped/raked daily, with any soggy or soiled shaving removed and added to the compost barrel.  In the dog crate we have the food and water, so the bottom plastic tray has to get hosed down daily and the water pitcher cleaned daily.  Tonight we are trying something new - since the ducklings make such a huge mess with the water, we moved it on top of a screen above a shallow Rubbermaid tote.  The idea that any water that gets splashed out will run down into the tote instead of flooding the dog crate and the coop.  So far so good - if it seems like it is working I will add pictures of the setup next week.

Expanding the coop

So we decided that the chickens needed more floor space, so today we expanded the coop.  To do so we ended up purchasing a larger crate for Misun (our dog) and moving his old crate out next to the coop.  By lining but the doors we were able to add on additional floor space to the coop.  The food and water containers will be in the new space, with the hope that the bare floor will keep it cleaner in there and that with the smaller doorway it will be harder for them to track shavings into the food.  We then filled out the rest of the pen with shavings to give them more roaming space.

Everyone is growing well.  Not sure if there is much of a change from last week, but it is worth a peek:

Ginger.  I tried to get a back view for someone who had commented on her coloring:

Basil, who I still think is the prettiest of the bunch:

Curry, who apparently still thinks she is a hawk.  She won't sit still at all if I set her on the ground (learned that the hard way), but she will perch momentarily on your hand:

 Paprika.  The color difference between her and Curry is more prominent now:

Daffy.  Daffy still hates to be held and clawed me up pretty good earlier this week.  I attempted pics out of the coop but he tried to run every time I took my hand off of him.  You can't really see it in the picture, but some of the feathers on his back have a green sheen to them in the light:

Aflac.  He was more interested in exploring than in taking a picture.  He will allow you to hold him if you keep him cradled, though he will shout in your ear the entire time:

 

And the family dog, Misun.  He was not at all pleased with all the attention the birds were getting.

Peas are like duck crack

So another week has gone by and life in the coop is good.  After about 2 days everyone figured out the ramp going in and out of the coop - Curry of course was the first one and she crowed out her delight immediately.  Now they all have figured it out, and depending on when you go out and check on them you can find them in various places throughout the coop.  Generally speaking the ducks tend to stick together, but the chickens seem to share no such loyalty.

And now for this weeks pictures:

Basil.  She was the only one that would sit still for pictures - the others tried to escape.  While she doesn't love being handled she will endure it.  She also seems to make the least fuss in the coop, and can be regularly found hanging out with the ducks.

Ginger.  I wish I knew how to explain the color she is turning.  It looks for all the world like she took a tumble in the soot bin.  She has a grayish sheen to her feathers that Curry and Paprika do not, though her chest seems to be coming in a peachy color.  For a couple of days it looked for all the world like someone had pooped on top of her head, as some lighter feathers were just peaking through her cinnamon fluff.

Curry.  She never sits still, so of course was not that interested in taking pictures.  I think she is turning into the boss hen and will take charge of the situation.  Where she leads, the others follow.

Paprika, or as my daughter Jasmine called her, the screaming one.  Of the chickens she is the least likely to allow you to hold her, and she screams at the top of her voice whenever you try to take her out.  In looks she remains very similar to Curry, though not quite as red.

 Daffy.  Daffy is getting harder to hold down the bigger he gets.  He screams as soon as you think about touching him, though if you leave him on the ground he will do anything for a pea.  He is not nearly as curious as Aflac is, as you might be able to tell by the second picture.  Can you also tell how much bigger Aflac is now than Daffy?

Aflac is getting huge.  Using the same method as last week we have him more than double in size - about 3.4 pounds this week.  He will allow you to hold him, though he talks your ear off the entire time.  He also loves peas.

Which brings me to the comment:  peas are like duck crack.  Seriously.  I ran across a website that listed out duck treats and how well their ducks liked them, and peas were mentioned to be well-liked.  Having some left after dinner this week I had to try it of course.  Both Aflac and Daffy go crazy for these things!  Have you ever been mobbed by ducks at the park looking for bread?  (Which you shouldn't do by the way, it is terribly bad for them.)  It was like that times 10.

Moving to the new coop

Another week has gone by and the babies are growing up so quickly!  The project this weekend was to get everyone moved out to the new garage coop.  So nice to have my office space back and to not have the living room smell like pine shavings!  Actually, the chickens themselves weren't too bad, but the ducks are horribly messy.  Plus at the rate they are growing they really needed more space than our over-sized tub could offer.

The girls are in a really funny looking stage right now - they are about halfway covered in regular feathers and halfway covered in baby fluff.  Very much some ugly "ducklings" here!  It is so interesting to see the new feathers coming in and to watch the color transformation.  Hard to believe that they are the same chipmunky little creatures we brought home three weeks ago.

I am starting to wonder if Ginger is a day or two younger than the other chicks.  She is still one of the most adventurous ones - all this week she followed Curry around on her escapades to escape from the tub.  She is taking the longest to get the feathers in.  So far she seems like she is going to be a dusty-brown color:

 

Don't tell anyone, but I think Basil is going to be my favorite.  She definitely stands out from the rest of the group with her black and white coloring.  More black on the top and cute little spots coming in on her chest feathers.  She is also the calmest of the four and the least likely to try and escape:

Paprika is also relatively calm, not likely to explore but the first to try and hop out of the tub when I am in there messing around with feed, water, and litter changes.  She and Curry appear to have similar feather colors coming in, though she is slightly darker overall:

Curry remains the bad girl of the bunch, constantly testing the boundaries and finding any weak spots in the containment system.  So far her feathers are similar to Paprika's, though her feathers have a bit more red to them:

All of the chicks appear to have fully functioning wings now, and are able to fly up and out short distances.  Of course that leads the hubby to question weather we are raising chickens or baby hawks, especially when they all get going with their squawking.

Aflac is turning into quite the doll baby.  He (yes, I'm still calling the ducks "he" though I still have no clue on the gender) will calm down and allow you to hold him pretty quickly, though he talks right in your ear the entire time.  He's also a big boy - we weighed him yesterday doing the mommy weighs herself with and without duckling method and he's approximately 1.6 pounds.  In contrast, Daffy is only 1.2 pounds.  It is hard to tell in the picture, but his yellow baby fluff is slowly giving way to white feathers:

Daffy remains incredibly skittish, screaming and fighting any time you pick him up.  I will have to do some more research on Swedish Blues to find out if this is a breed thing or simply an issue of needing more socializing.  Still more social than the chickens from a distance - the ducks overall seem to have more curiosity and awareness of our comings and goings than the chicks do.  Daffy has a softer appearance than Aflac still and I haven't noticed the adult feathers coming in yet (though the color difference may have something to do with that):

  

And now to show you the new coop.  After much deliberation we decided on a pre-fabricated one that we picked up at the farm and feed store.  It ended up being cheaper than buying all of the lumber, fencing, and tools that we would have needed to craft our own.  Plus once our city gets to the point where we can openly own poultry we can easily transfer it outside.

The design is fairly simple - coop with attached nesting box with a ramp down into a run.  We did not attach the roof (since the birds are inside we do not need to worry about it blowing off or predators coming in) so we suspended a bar to allow us to hang the heat lamps - one inside the coop for now and another brighter one to illuminate the run.  We also changed out the garage lights for daylight bulbs to increase the brightness.

Another view from the end:

We did buy larger food and water dishes as they are eating and drinking a lot more than when we first brought them home.  There was a natural division of the run, so I have the food and water containers sitting on newspaper on the one side.  My hope is that we won't end up with water dish filled with pine shavings like we did in the tub, and the newspaper will be easy to change out as it gets dirty.  The other side has the pine shavings, giving the birds something to scratch around in and also that will absorb stool and make great compost for the garden.  The coop is lightweight enough that we can easily move it to one side or tilt it up so that we can sweep the litter out when it comes time to do a complete change.

View inside the coop so that you can see the nesting boxes.  We will eventually get some hay to put in those, but it is way cheaper to buy it in the 80 pound bale (about 3 dollars more than the 6 pound bag they sell in the store) and it wouldn't fit in our van with the kids.  So that will be a separate trip this summer when we get closer to the time where we will start seeing eggs.

There are two roosts the coop.  We have a heat lamp in there for now to keep them warm until the weather breaks for good - we will have to see how to adjust that as they grow so no one bonks their head.  Under the roosts is a removable tray that I also lined with newspaper for easy clean-up.

The girls aren't too sure yet about the new home.  When I first put them in they all huddled in the corner like you see here.  Once I put the ducks in they started to relax (picking up on some of the curiosity from them?) and scratched around.  So far I know they know how to go down the ramp, though no one seems to have ventured back up it yet.

I will keep you posted as to how everyone settles in!  We saved the larger tub to make into a bathing tub for the ducks - the plan is that until the pond is built we will put them in there once a day to splash around.