Becca's Poultry Madness

14/04/2024

Today I left home with some birds to sell, not intending to purchase anything else today.
Well... I came home with more than I sold 🤣
Welcome to the Madness new Hamburg pullets and three new muscovy ducks.

11/04/2024

Introducing the Mackenzie A&P Reserve Champion Poultry exhibit, Jet!
Not everything is about Chickens here at the Poultry Madness, I also have a population of ducks including muscovies, cayugas, and the rare welsh harlequin breeds.
Jet is one of the first muscovies I bred myself, and he has grown up to be one stunning lad!
Jet will be attending his first season of Winter Shows this year where he will be up against some of the big competition in the South Island.

07/04/2024

Today I traveled to Rangiora to host a talk on Chicken Nutrition for the Canterbury Young Bird Show. Well worth the trip with great enthusiasm from fellow poultry lovers. Advising people on the best way to feed their chooks is definitely my calling ♡

05/03/2024

28/01/2024

Scruffy Duck was the only survivor of her clutch of freshly hatched siblings when a cat raided the nest.
Thanks to the quick actions of some friends, who have been caring for the mother of Scruffy Duck for me at their place, handed tiny little Scruffy over to be rehabbed and hand reared with some chicks born the same day.
Scruffy is now all grown up and pretty much rules the roost at Becca's Poultry Madness, where she has her forever home.

18/01/2024

Moments like these remind me why I love rearing poultry so damn much.
Last night this chick's egg shell broke during hatching when the hen accidentally stood on it, severing a blood vessel in the membrane which usually leads to the chick bleeding to death.
With my thumb stemming the point where it was bleeding from, I quickly but super carefully removed the hard, sharp, shattered shell from around the chick, making sure it stayed within the inner membrane while it continued to absorb the last of its yolk.
At this point, the chick is well aware that it is still in the process of "hatching", but knowing it will be weaker with blood loss I gently opened part of the membrane so that when it was ready it didn't have to fight with a tough sac.
Normally chicks in these types of situations don't make it. They're often too weak to finish the hatch, or simply die of the bloodloss.
So when I check under the hen 24 hours later and find this little one up on its own two feet, following its day-older sibling around while mumma hen continues to sit on the remaining eggs, my heart warms knowing that what I did saved a life. ❤️

16/01/2024

Every now and again I get things wrong... like forgetting to document when I set the eggs under my Araucana hen and thinking they weren't due to hatch until around the 20th January... and finding one very pretty little baby hanging out with Marble on the 16th... 🤔🥰
Marble still has 7 eggs underneath her and she's still sitting firmly, so fingers crossed we have some more babies in the next day or so.

15/01/2024

Spicy Boi has taken to the ducklings living in his pen quite affectionately it would seem. He's often standing watch over them as they venture away from their mother. Roosters are so important for the flock, they are hardwired to protect their ladies and the offspring.. even if the offspring is an entirely difference species in this case 😅🥰🐓

04/01/2024

Lou is so proud of her seven tiny but feisty babies. Look at Spok's vicious little claws already 😅

03/01/2024

It's hatching day for my muscovy, Lou! This is the second time she has hatched babies this season, her first batch being Welsh Harlequin eggs I slipped under her the first time she went broody. This clutch is the first time she has hatched her own eggs, and what a wonderful mother she is.

19/12/2023

I asked my 7yr old cousin to collect the eggs for me today.
One of the araucanas didn't disappoint 🤣
He's also decided that the biggest blue Barnevelder cockerel is called Blue Tiger and he's going to get even bigger and cooler than his dad, Ubbe. He could be right about the size thing 😅

11/12/2023

Sneeuw had angry face on my lap this evening, but he didn't leave when I gave him the option, he just stayed looking angry 🤣

10/12/2023

Oh so much has happened since I started this page, and then it all got away on me and this page got pushed aside somewhat.
Well, it's coming to life now. Watch this space!
Feat. Valkyrie, who I hatched back in August.

06/08/2023

It's always devastating when you lose a batch to an incubator malfunction. Of the 6 eggs I put in, 5 developed to hatching, but sadly only 2 made it out of the shell.
I'm incredibly thankful that the two survivors are here, with one having a few leg problems that will need some work to overcome.
First hatch of the season is always a big learning curve, and now I know what went wrong I can fix it for next time.
But for now, I have two wee babies to love and nurture.

23/07/2023

Despite the weather the last 24 hours, my girls have been hard at work!
I'm patiently waiting for my Barnevelders to start laying so I can add brown eggs to this gorgeous rainbow assortment 🥰

15/07/2023

We have life!
All 6 Greta and Hans eggs have signs of development at only 3 days!
Grow safely my wee babies 🥰

13/07/2023

Lots of excitement at Poultry Madness today!
This morning I found the first egg from one of my crossbred babies (Twig and Willow are two out of the 3 daughters by my Easter egger rooster, Ronny).
Then later today I collected the first egg from my pure araucanas.
And just before I put the ducks to bed, I found the first muscovy duck egg!
That's 3 new layers today alone! I'm beyond excited!

12/07/2023

Welcome to my Poultry Madness!

Sadly, I'd already written a novel about how I ended up becoming a "Crazy Chicken Lady" but somehow FB decided to have a meltdown and my long-winded story was lost to the Meta world.
Probably for the better!

Instead, I'll just let you all know what the point of Becca's Poultry Madness is!
It's simple really. I want other people to enjoy the interesting, and some of them rare, breeds of chooks and ducks that I have acquired either by luck or by determination.
This spring I will begin selling fertile eggs from my Araucana, Barnevelder, Barnyard Special and Silver Spangled Hamburg chooks, as well as potentially some fertile eggs from Cayuga, Welsh harlequin, and muscovy ducks.

There is so much excitement in hatching your own chicks, and I want to share the breeds that I have with others. So welcome to Becca's Poultry Madness 😁