The Passing of a Our Dear Fluff

When I came home today, I was told that Mellow had passed away.

It was a very windy and cold day. And the large wooden nesting box outside in the chicken enclosure had fallen on Mellow; either while she was inside it, or walking near the box. By the time someone had found her it was too late, she was already gone.

Here lies Mellow after she was buried.

Mellow spent a short 8 months with us, and it will be an 8 months that I will treasure and look back to. She enjoyed her time and always lived life happily fighting for scraps, bossing around the 4 other "young ones", and (when she was younger) always enjoyed a good neck rub. 

Her death was unexpected, and it made me realize again that life is full of surprises. Some good, others unwanted or bad. So treasure your time with your flock, because you never know when it will be the last time you see them all together. Here some memories in honor of our dearest Mellow:

This is how Mellow looked when I first met her, she was about  3-5 weeks old. 

Foraging in the long grass.

A while ago, when Mellow was still banned from the baby chicks due to her anger issues.

Accompanying the chicks outside.

Stretching out her neck to enjoy a soothing neck rub.

Hawk in sight!

Top and Bottom: This was a day in the late summer when Mellow was babysitting the chicks, such a tiring job.

Mellow in the sky!

Egg Ritual

Baa-AH! au-au-a-a-bwua-AH! au-au-a-a--ba-AHH!!" The sound of Mellow's histerical bleating could even be heard through the window.

Who knew such a little chicken could bauwk as hard as she did?

Here's a recording of Mellow's noisy "buaa-AH's!"


Soon, the little white heads of Lime and Lemon popped out of the doghouse in confusion. Not knowing what to do, they added in soft cluckings of their concern for their dear little flock member Mellow.
 I noticed that Spice was sitting in on of the nesting boxes. Mellow stopped her loud bauw-AH-kings and ran back into her little hideout: the doghouse as soon as I arrived. Apparently, it was another call for attention on her newly laid egg; I spied a small light brown egg nested among the pine needle bedding (under Spice).

For some reason all the girls like the nesting box on the top left corner, they lay their eggs there everyday. Once in a while though, I do find eggs on the bottom box too. Another acceptable place to lay eggs is the doghouse. The chickens love to hang out there all day. I took a peak today on the other side of the chicken enclosure where the doghouse was positioned. Here's what I saw when I looked inside the doghouse:

Lemon stands up and stretches after laying her egg.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Now back to Spice. . . 

Spice was well settled in the favorite nesting box among the chickens. I could tell that she would soon lay an egg as she started panting heavily.

Spice prepares to lay her egg.

Still wet, her egg pops out!

Soon after the egg was laid, Spice hopped out of the nesting box, and Lime who had been observing for a a while, decided to hop in.

Settling in. . .

Quite the comical expression. Doesn't lil' Lime look so motherly for a change?

After a LONG time, Lime finally jumped back out, fluffed her feathers, and headed back to the doghouse. Well, I guess that's all the egg laying they will do today!

Under the Furry Crest

Mellow.
The definition of mellow in the dictionary is soft and rich, as sound, lights, or colors. There are more meanings but this is the one I'm focused on. Another good one would be: having the gentleness, wisdom, or tolerance often characteristic of maturity. And from the outside, these two definitions would perfectly describe the sound, look, and characteristics of dear little Mellow the Silkie. But ever since the baby chicks arrived, Mellow has started to show her true personality.

Isn't Mellow such a cutie, with that small poofy crest and her fluffy cheeks?

Now, let me explain. Today while Charcoal lay calmly on the ground basking in the sun, Mellow walked over to enjoy the warmth as well. As she came closer, her large, round, black eyes caught the sight of Charcoal. Mellow advanced, with snake-like grace. Her eyes and face no longer bore the look of childish innocence; the crest perched atop her head had somehow become smaller and narrower, and her neck stretched out high with authority. 

I have seen Mellow act like this towards the rest of the flock in the exact same way, and when she gets close enough (to her so called "offender") she lowers the wing on the same side as the flock member who she intends on attacking. It looked so similar to a rooster's mating dance, that the first time I saw her do that I almost believed she was a cockerel! One of the differences is that she doesn't extend her other wing and drag it on the ground.

It's kind of hard to see in this picture (mostly because Charcoal's head is in the way), but Mellow is pointing her right wing down towards Charcoal, intending on bumping her.

Here, Mellow is bumping Charcoal.

When Mellow got nearer to Charcoal's face, she turned and grabbed Charcoal's comb, twisting it. Poor Charcoal had no choice but to surrender to the punishment that she did not deserve. She stood there frozen for a few second then went off, and certainly far away from mean Mellow.

With her puffed up chest, Mellow tries to peck Charcoal's comb.

New Egger! (continuation of Idle Holi-days)

These past days, I've been finding more eggs than usual. . .

The only eggs used to be the tan-ish, tinted, small Mellow eggs.

However, now two chickens also joined the production line, accompanying lonely little Mellow.
First up was the mysterious white egg that appeared on the coop floor a bit cracked and caked with a layer of poop on the 20th of December. The next time a white egg was spotted was on the wet ground of the chicken enclosure.

I've been finding white eggs, especially on the ground.

Who was laying these mysterious white eggs?

Was it Spice?

No, she still hadn't squatted

Charcoal?

Most likely not, her comb was still small and petite sized.

Lime?

A few days ago when I had bent down to pet her, she had squatted for me. . . a possibility, but still there was a better answer.

. . . I was convinced that Lemon had laid the egg

Added to the suspicion were the giant red comb and wattles that Lemon carried. She had the biggest in the coop, Lemon also squatted for me a couple of times.

Finally it was unraveled, and I spotted Lemon one day in the nesting box. She stayed in there for a few minutes and then plopped off the box, there was no egg. Disappointed I walked away from the window. When I returned, a fresh white egg, just beaming lay on the ground. 

So, Lemon was the new egg layer.

Comparison of Mellow's egg (left) and Lemon's second egg (right). Lemon's bright white egg isn't very big, but slowly they will exceed Mellow's.

But a few days later, another egg was found. It was white as expected with a few blood stains. The only possibility was Lime, as she was the only other pullets who would squat for me.

Lemon caught being in the nesting box.

A desolate white egg was the result!

Mellow's First Egg!

Today, after a few days of knowing that Mellow had reached maturity for laying eggs (she squatted down for me one day when I extended my arm), Mellow finally delivered her first egg! The egg was found underneath the roost, and it didn't crack because I just replaced the bedding. It was small as expected from a bantam pullet and was pale brown, or as some say, a tinted color. I also spotted a few blood stains on the pointed end of the egg, which were probably from her first struggle pushing the egg out.

Mellow's first egg was small with two blood stains.

Here's one of the stains, it looks a bit like brown egg color pigment that was wiped off.

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.

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.