Wednesday 12 January 2011

Purple Chicken Syndrome

Gradually I'm introducing Archie Archer to the rest of the girls. It's so cute, every morning we take Archie and Mum out of their night-time coop in the walled garden and carry them to a run in the main garden. A snuggle a day keeps the doctor at bay... that way all the hens can see them and get used to them. 

I tend to feed all the chickens beside the little run where Mum and Archie reside and occasionally I open the door and, keeping a watchful eye out for cats, I let Archie attempt to eat with the others. Usually this results in him getting a huge pecking before he cries and I let him back into the run. (Sometimes I give him a cuddle first.)

Today Mummy took this feeding opportunity to dump the kid, so to speak. To be fair she's been holed up with him as egg and chick since the middle of September, a stir-crazy madness every mother must recognise.......

Anyhoo, as she blended in with the crowd of tobacco coloured hens and rooster I realised I had a BIG problem. She has a twin sister, another white hen so similarly marked that I cannot tell them apart. I used to be able to tell them apart: Long ago Snow White injured herself and I sprayed her chest with the purple antiseptic and henceforth we called her Snow Pink. Whitey has always been just Whitey. However since the great moult of 2010, Snow Pink has reverted back to Snow White, so I can't tell them apart.

Bum!

I briefly thought I knew which was which and indeed I managed to catch said hen and put her in with Archie... but suddenly I didn't think she sounded right, that she wasn't making Mummy noises I recognised, so I whipped her out again. Bum!

I have now sprayed one chicken purple again so that when I eventually do tell one from the other, I will easily be able to tell them apart at a glance....... Does that sentence even make sense? ...... In the meantime however, Archie cries at the bars for his mum.... it's awful. But for the cats and the fact that you just can't make chickens wear nappies, I'd bring him inside with me...

Maybe I just need to find some 3 month old, outdoor raised chickens to form a baby gang inside the run... Oh the guilt, guilt, guilt, I should never have let them out because the snow's due back soon and Archie really isn't big enough to keep himself warm...

10 comments:

  1. Oh no! Poor Archie. I'm happy to adopt him. As long as he doesn't mind hanging in the kitchen, fenced in away from two small children with good intentions but strong hands.I hope you find momma soon. I suspect she's just taking a sanity break and the mum instinct will kick in soon. I hope. Poor Archie Archer.

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  2. I feel your pain! Every addition to the flock and every incubation takes lots of planning and careful management, it's a bit of a PITA sometimes to be honest... but oh, aren't our chickies worth it? ;-)

    Good luck with little Archie, I agree that he needs a few friends his age to keep him company!

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  3. When you say 'hanging in the kitchen' I hope you mean like 'in the hood' as opposed to something dungeony?

    Hmmmn ....... I am now wondering about the idea of cloning myself to get a quick break. Nice thoughts to go to sleep with..

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  4. Our two Buff Orpingtons got quite a shock this morning. 6 inches of new snow. They stood on the end of the coop and surveyed the large expanse of white. Archie would have definitely lost his mom today

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  5. Hi - thanks for popping over to projectforty. It's good to meet a fellow chickener. I have just let mine out of their quagmire run. They look sooooo happy....

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  6. 'Cross the Pond: He was very sad. Thanks for the adoption offer, he could be a Londoner!

    Technodoll: Archie is so worth it, he's so soft and gorgeous... one of my babies.

    MadameSmokinGun: 'Hanging' hmmmnnn maybe I watched too much Catherine Tate over Chrimbo... Cloning; now that IS an idea.

    Legend in his own lunchtime: God. No more snow PLEEEESE! Usuually you get it, then we get it. In fact the gritter lorry was out and about yesterday!

    projectforty: Nice to meet you. Thanks for popping in.

    STOP PRESS: STOP PRESS:
    The 8yo came home from school yesterday and pronounced the purple chicken to be Mummy. I duly caught her and she is now incarcerated with Archie again.

    It is sad that they can't roam like the other chickens but as soon as Archie is big enough they can both become free range, possibly March.

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  7. Lou, I have similar identification problems with our hens. Dot and Delilah, the two buff Orpingtons are identical, except that Delilah has bigger feet. Fine if you can get them to stand next to each other to make the comparison.The two Black Orpingtons, Martha and Mavis are likewise identical. I can't find anything to distinguish them at all. The two Black Orpington cockerels, Clark and Colin, are also identical except that one crows and the other hasn't quite found his voice. Fine if he decides to crow but as he generally reserves that activity for about 4am, it doesn't really help. The only one we can always tell apart is Dilly as she's the only Lavender Opington. It's a bugger this poultry business! Ours live in one end of our piggery. They absolutely refused to go out when it snowed. How do chickens poo so much? It was hideous. The farmers around here say we haven't seen the worst of it yet - snow that is, not chicken poo!

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  8. Poor little guy! I grew up with chickens--lovely pets--am now feeling rather nostalgic for my old childhood chicken coup days!
    ~M

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  9. I had no idea there was such trauma in raising chickens. It's a sweeping saga in the making. I do hope Archie gets over his abandonment. Somehen needs to give his mum a good talking to.

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  10. who knew chickens had it so tough!!

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The Archers at The Larches

Lou - Chicken whisperer....

Lou - Chicken whisperer....

Snowy and Moon

Snowy and Moon