New Baby Chicks!

On July 16th my mail ordered baby chickens arrived! The original order was 1 Partridge Cochin, 1 Jersey Giant, 1 Sicilian Buttercup, and 1 assorted rare chick. But because of the bad hatching, my order was changed and the Jersey Giant and Partridge Cochin were replaced by 2 White Leghorns.

When I arrived back home I instantly went to check and see if there were any casualties (which luckily everyone was fine ). When I had gotten them settled in their brooder, they didn't know where to find water so I dipped their beaks into the waterer. After the chicks ate their fill I started naming them; the 2 White Leghorns almost looked the same but one of them had a yellower head then the other, this baby chicken was named Lemon the one that was less yellow was Lime. Spice the Buttercup was named that way because of her spotted appearance. And apparently the assorted rare chick (which I searched on My Pet Chicken, the website I ordered from) was a Blue Andalusian, named Charcoal for her hazy gray coloring complemented by a yellowish white under belly.

One Day Old

Chubby lil Spice. 

Charcoal is a bit sleepy after their long journey.

This is Lime because when she was day old she had a red spot on her beak (which eventually fell off).

Lemon has a yellower head which you cannot see from this picture.

Will you be my pillow. (top: Lemon, bottom: Lime)

Top and bottom: The little chicks playing outside of their brooder.

I also introduced the baby chicks to fluffy little Mellow. Whenever Mellow catches sight of them he makes weird clucking noises and if they come to close he pecks at them, so when they're near each other I have to watch closely. I you show Mellow a chick and draw your hand back, he follows it like an angry rooster about to attack.

Lime and Mellow are having a stare down.

Soon in a few days their personalities were unraveled and Spice I discovered was a brave and fearless lass, standing up to the foreign object while her sisters ran away in fear therefore deeming her leader of the flock. Lime was a quiet chick who liked to be near people and was not as easily frightened of hands as the others, but I see her very often confronting Spice trying to take her place on the throne (I think that she's second in status). Lemon likes to sleep in the brooder and is less adventurous than the others, she's usually the last to leave the box. Last but least, Charcoal the smallest of all loves being in high places and flies up onto the top of the brooder a lot.

2 Week Old

Top and bottom: Spice the proud flock leader.

Charcoal and Lime.

Synchronized preening.

Lemon with Spice.

Top and bottom: Curious little chickens.

One Chilly Morning Day

For the past few days it's been surprisingly chilly and many of the birds in my backyard are storing up on calories. I've been seeing many tufted titmice, black-capped chickadees, woodpeckers, and chipping sparrows visit my bird feeder in this coldspell. I even saw a house sparrow that I released a few years ago which had gotten into my house.

A chipping sparrow eating from the feeder.

A male downy woodpecker waiting for his turn to the feeder.

Titmice are so adorably fluffy in the cold.

Tufted titmouse breaking open a sunflower seed.

Standing on the garden door.

A tufted titmouse found something to eat in the garden.

Sharing feeders.

A few minutes later I noticed a chubby squirrel waddling towards the bird seed. Even a squirrel wants to join the feast.

2 Ways of Everyday Contentment (for chickens)

 Sometimes chickens want a relax time in their everyday foraging routine from sunup to sundown. The hens I used to have would eat a quick morning snack then head directly to this big pine in our forest and start sun and dust bathing. Fluffing up their feathers when done, they would scrounge the backyard for more grass or insects, by afternoon they liked sneaking to the neighbors yard ( everyday I had to chase them back. Though once my Buff Orpington Butter got broody and snuck into the neighbors garage and decided to brood her eggs on an orange bucket in the garage!). After I chased them back to my yard they would ventured to the deck where they hopped onto a tree stump and stole seeds from the bird feeder. When the sun started retreating, the hens would run to the front yard to grab some caterpillars then lazily walk back to their coop, eat from their feeder, and jump up to roost.

Dust Bathing 

After finding a nice dry area to lie down my hens would start dustbathing and creating shallow pits that they would revisit day by day. Dustbathing is essential for chickens because it helps deter parasites who live hidden under their thick layer of feathers sucking their blood. I usually find mites near the vent, the bare skin makes them quite visible other than that they are basically unseen.

Sunbathing

Spreading out their wings down onto the ground and relaxing their whole body, chickens soak up the warmth and vitamin D and other essential proteins for a healthy body.

         

I see something way way up there.

What Mellow saw.

Morning Flocks

Today in the morning I heard a bunch of "chacks" and "readle-eaks" so I looked out the window and saw a big flock of Grackles in the yard. I see them quite a lot because the visit my yard weekly. When I looked down at the tree stumps near my third garden I saw a 3 Northern Flickers eating away at tiny insects that I could not see from this view, so I grabbed the camera and headed out.

2 Flickers and 1 juvenile Grackle who happened to sneak in the picture.

The Dragonflies and Damselflies in My Backyard

In my backyard there's quite a variety of dragonflies and damselflies I often go outside to look for them.
Here are 2 dragonflies that happened to be on the deck so I quickly grabbed a net and snapped a few pictures of them.

Top and bottom: A male Blue Dasher.

An immature female Great Blue Skimmer.

Top and bottom: I'm not really sure what this damselfly is, but my best guess is an immature female Red Eyed Damselfly. 

UPDATE: 7/4/13

Top and bottom: A male Violet Dancer.

Top and bottom: A Male Fragile Forktail damselfly, they only grow to be 1 inch so most people walk past them without even noticing.

Tiny as they are, they harbor a glimmering green sheen which is hard to see.

Top and bottom: This is an immature male Common Pondhawk, a beautiful contrast from neon green to powder blue.

Top and bottom: I caught another Blue Dasher though this time it's an immature female!

UPDATE: 7/5/13

Top and bottom: This is a female Violet Dancer. Unlike the male it is brown and harder to find in grass. 

Top and bottom: If you look closely you can see little red dots, it is not uncommon to find water mites on damselfly and dragonflies. 

UPDATE: 7/6/13

Top and bottom: It's the first time I've seen one of these female Common Pondhawk, Their apple green is quite striking compared to the normal brownish colored dragonflies that roam around my yard.

UPDATE: 7/8/13

Top and bottom: a female Meadowhawk dragonfly. I used to see them quite often but it seems that they're starting to disappear.

Top and bottom: I often see these female Willow Skimmers flapping their wings lazily like butterflies.

UPDATE: 7/12/13

Top and bottom: This is a male Swamp Darner they're migratory and I often see them outside at dusk. Compared to the other dragonflies this one is giant! The biggest dragonfly I have ever seen.

As you can see, this Swamp Darner is about 4 inches!

A stunning blue enveloped in green.