Stokes Yolks

I didn’t post this Monday because it has just been too damn depressing lately on my page. We lost three of our hens in one afternoon. I have had to resort to locking them out of the coop because they go in to lay and the exertion plus the heat does them in. Yes I have tons of ventilation, yes we have fans, yes we have water, electrolytes, frozen treats….all the things…but with this heat it happens so quickly! Hell I even have a splash pad going in the middle of the day now! Anyways I’m just saying this heat is no joke and it’s so hard on our flocks. We do the best we can, it’s sad to lose them but this season has taught me that I can handle it and I can move on and continue to love and soak in the joy the rest of my flock brings to me and my family.

Picture is of Penny and Delilah when they were young, they joined our flock together and they passed away together RIP girls. I couldn’t find a picture of them grown or of the other hen in my 10000 chicken pictures 😮‍💨

When the boys won’t leave you alone and you gotta remind them who makes the rules 😂 She is small but she ain’t taking no 💩

Yes losing chickens is hard on me but this right here along with the joy they bring me is why I keep doing it. She now wants to breed her own silkies, she is so excited for this crew to get older so she can hatch the eggs 🥰 I love that we get to share these moments without any outside distractions, just me, my girl and a whole bunch of chickens ♥️♥️ PS the first picture is not a silkie it’s a polish, the second photo are young silkies

I’ve wanted a lap chicken for so long and out of all the chickens Archibald (Archie for short) is the one. Of course it’s a he😑 or at least I’m 95% sure…sigh. I wasn’t planning on keeping any more boys they weren’t specifically for my breeding projects but I mean look at him!

Another sad day at the homestead…RIP Mini 💔😭

Mini was from the first batch of chicks we ever hatched. I remember how excited and amazed we were. She got the name Mini because she was a little bit of a runt and slightly under developed. She was so much smaller than her siblings. Out of the five we hatched she was the only girl surrounded by 4 brothers. We kept her and her brother Midnight. She grew to be not Mini at all but a big beautiful hen who laid pretty speckled eggs. I doted on them from the time they were chicks, hand fed treats, so many hours watching them grow and loving on them 🥹

Today I found her in the chicks small coop, I didn’t realize it was her at first because we have some pullets (her offspring) that look so much like and her head was turned away. I have no idea why she went in there she has never gone in there before, most likely trying to lay an egg. I can only assume the heat got to her. I’m so sad and wish I had discovered her in there sooner so I could have chased her out. I didn’t and now it’s too late. We will miss you my not so mini Mini, beautiful girl 🐓 This past month has been a rough one for losing my feathered friends 😞

My girls just started laying regularly again and now this heat wave 😑 I stress about my chickens dying of heat exhaustion! What are some tips and tricks y’all have for keeping your flock cool and safe in these super hot days?? I provide electrolytes with vitamins in water, small shallow water tubs they can dip their feet in and frozen treats. I will also soak the ground with the hose in their shady areas to give some extra puddles to play in.

We needed the rain but I would have preferred not to be running around in it panicking because one of my coops was flooding…of course it was the one my little bantams were in who like to sleep on the floor 😆 oh and my wee ones had to be rushed into a kennel in the garage because they were getting drenched. It was an unexpected chain of events this evening!

These fellas and gals are looking for a new flock!

2 buff silkie cockerels
1 partridge silkie cockerel
4 silkie mix pullets

They are all just over 3 months old, pet quality.