Our Poultry Page

Ron & Sue Wall's Poultry Page - devoted to one of our hobbies - Pictures of our Ameraucanas, Silkies, Japanese Bantams and other assorted chickens

I always said I wanted to raise chickens when I retired from the corporate world. At first, Sue thought I was crazy - but she has come around. WE ARE NOT A COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE We no longer sell or trade fertile eggs, chicks, pullets and cockerels
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Our Flock (Pictures taken in March 2008) click on photo for larger image - use your browser's BACK button to return to this page All of our chickens are free-range and grain-fed. They have their own yard, but like the grass in our back yard. Because of the danger of nocturnal predators (coyotes, foxes, bob cats and stray cats and dogs) we lock them up securely in their coops at night. Although my neighbors lost several chickens to predators, we have lost none until we began to have problems with hawks. We have since covered our chicken pens with chicken wire to keep out flying predators as well.
Our two Japanese bantams started it all - Roscoe the Rooster on the left and Rufus the Rooster on the right. The two red pullets in back are Penny and Ruby (can't tell which is which in this photo). This picture was taken in the summer of 2007 when they were still pullets and cockerels (hens and roosters under 1 year old).	Rufus (left) and Roscoe and a young pullet named "Babe" that we kept for a friend of our grandson. Babe was of undetermined parentage, except that her father was a game cock and her mother "an ordinary hen." Babe was an excellent brooder, a devoted mother and raised several chicks. The bantams were a birthday gift from my grandson when they were still young cockerels. They were from the same brood and always hung out together.
Lassy, one of our two black silky hens. Silkies are adorable non-agressive creatures, tame and easy to pick up, good brooders and mother hens. Lassy and her sister Sassy jointly raised several broods of bantam/silky chicks. Silkies have feathers that are more like fur than feathers and they cannot fly.	Sassy on the nest. We can Silkies apart because of the shape of their combs and head feathers. And, their personalities are different. Sassy preferred not to be handled but she would squat to be picked up. She was the "squawker" in the flock and was the first to let us know if there is an unwelcome predator about. Silkies lay small white to cream colored eggs.
Lassy and her first brood of chicks (all turned out to be roosters). Sassy and Lassy jointly hatched and then raised the chicks. After Sassy lost interest, Lassy continued to mother the chicks until they asserted their independence.	Another picture of Lassy. As of November 2009 she was almost four years old. In addition to the fur, Silkies are easily identified by their five toes and feathered legs. They are larger than our bantams but smaller than the Rhode Island Reds.
This is Flower. She was an Ameraucana "Easter Egg" hen who laid green eggs. Flower belonged to our granddaughter Nikki who had to leave her in Arizona with us when she and her parents moved to Tennessee.	Flower was very gentile and quiet, but she did not like to be picked up. She would jump in your lap if you were sitting in a lawn chair or if you had a piece of bread to feed her. At the time, Flower was the largest hen in our flock
This was Penny, our "Rhode Island" Red (few reds are pure Rhode Island Red, although most people call them that). As of November 2009, she was still alive over four years old. She liked to be picked up and petted, very gentle and quiet. For more than a year after reaching maturity Penny was a good, reliable egg producer. She laid large light brown to medium brown eggs but was not a good brood hen. We gave her sister Ruby to a friend who lost his laying hen to a coyote. We had to clip their wings because they enjoyed flying over the fence, not a good thing where there are lots of predators. Once they realize that they cannot fly, they stop trying and it is not necessary to clip their wings again.	Rooster Dance. This was my neighbor's rooster "J.D." trying to impress our white Leghorn, who seemed to think he was being silly. Our hearts were broken when we had to put the hen down because of a tumor from which she clearly suffered and caused her to stopped eating. We never named her, but she was very gentle and loved to sit on the arm of my lawn chair while I petted her. J.D. was part Japanese Bantam and part Silky, although not much Silky showed in him. He loved to be handled and sought out human attention. J.D. was one of the first three chicks raised by Sassy and Lassy. We sold all three but J.D. roosted just down the road and liked to come back to visit. He always went home at night. We named him J.D. ("Juvenile Delinquent") because he kept running away from home. One day J.D. disappeared and we think a coyote finally got him. The Japanese bantam in the background is his father or uncle.
This is our little Yorkshire Terrier Nikki socializing with several of our (then) young pullets. At the time they were only a few months old. Both our Yorkies tolerated the chickens but Nikki, when they were little, thought the chicks were her pups. Poor little Nikki died of lymphoma early in 2007.	Babe and some of her first brood. Babe was not aggressive towards humans but was a fearless defender of her chicks against everything else. She was a beautiful bird, liked to ruffle her feathers and fan out her tail like a turkey. She squawked loudly when picked up, but seemed to enjoy being handled. She laid smallish cream colored egg. Before we could fence over the top of our chicken yard a hawk snatched Babe.
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Our Flock