Posers

The latest batch of baby chicks are now three weeks old and furiously feathering out; the one on the right bears a resemblance to a couple of the chicks born in April who are now closing in on 19 weeks old. It will be interesting to see if she will be jet black like the others (except for the Barred Rock mix, who is a nice big girl with an ambiguous barring pattern, and the young roo, who is resplendent in his emerging suit of blue-green iridescence with bronze hackle and saddle feathers). These babies are also growing up in the coop and doing very well. I think next year I may buy hatching eggs from people who raise the breeds I want and let a broody raise them. It makes life so much easier.

Update 9/18/2012: The yellow chick is now five weeks old - and is bigger than any five-week-old chick I have seen thus far. He or she (not sure at this point - but leaning toward this one being a roo) has feathered out quickly and has a very different feathering pattern than the other chick. I'm very interested to see how this one continues to develop.

Broody, Take 3

DH, who has become the unwitting (and loving) co-caretaker of an increasingly odd* assortment of animals (because A. he has a wife who loves critters and B. he is extremely good natured about it all), was, a few months ago, somewhat taken aback when our first set of broodies presented us with four baby chicks. "I thought chickens were simple, and here I find out that they have MOODS," he complained. Well, yes. They have moods. They go broody, because this is what they were designed for - to put it clinically, to propagate their species, or, to put it a bit more warmly, to brood over, hatch and rear babies. Life is insistent, life will have its way, and unless one has been completely eaten up by cynicism, one can't help but find it a marvelous thing.

Those four baby chicks, by the way, have matured into three robust and hardy pullets and one beautiful cockerel, all of them having benefited from hybrid vigor, the result of cross-breeding. At fifteen weeks of age, the pullets are nearly as large as the full grown hens.

So, once again, life won out. A third hen (an Australorp, but a different one) went broody several weeks ago, and despite my efforts to persuade her to take up other projects (like laying eggs), she stuck to her guns, and consequently this was the scene in the coop this weekend:

* By way of example, we have a Red Star chicken named Little Char who has decided she no longer wants to be a chicken. She has moved in with the guineas. The guineas, for their part, seem happy to have her on board. Little Char steadfastly refuses the chicken coop in the evening and lingers by the door to the guinea coop until I let her in, where she contentedly roosts with her adopted family until morning.

So there it is.

UPDATE: I tried the feather sexing technique on the chicks at the day-old mark and according to this site: Feather Sexing Pullets & Cockerels - I should have two females. Here's hoping.

Updates!

The baby chicks are growing up quickly - and have officially entered their awkward phase, where they look less like chicks and more like some strange hybrid - the homely, but cute anyway stage. I believe I see at least one, if not two cockerels in the Gang of Four, but they are still too young for me to be able to tell definitively. Three are Black Australorp crosses, and one is a Barred Rock cross. They have done very well growing up in the coop - much better than I expected. They know to stay out of the way of their elders, who are quick to deliver a reprimand when the kids violate the established pecking order; still, none of the older girls have actually harmed them in any way and the roosters have been exemplary. Stonewall has, on occasion, appeared to actually baby-sit the youngsters, and (as he does for the ladies) he will call when he finds food for them.

This is Red Top, our newest resident. She came to us by way of DH's co-worker; she was the last chicken he owned, and, as he and his wife were retiring, they asked if we would take her. She appears to be a cross of some sort; very sweet and docile. She has made a few friends already and is doing very well in her new flock.

We are in the process of constructing a new shelter for the Guineas, who are ready to move out of the brooder and into some bigger digs. I still need three more names beginning with the letter "G." I suppose it isn't a matter of any particular urgency, since I don't expect they'll care one way or the other, but the matter feels incomplete.

That's it for now - I need to get this blog in shape; it's too chaotic even for me. Hopefully I'll have time to do that soon; you know, after I muck stalls, clean out the coop, etc., etc. One thing about this life - the days spin past very quickly.

It's A Big World...

...for such small creatures.

The four chicks have been ranging all over the back yard with Mama Belle over the last few days. All four now know where the coop is and how to jump back into it - even if they're a little intimidated by the bigger chickens (a couple are a bit testy and likely to peck at the youngsters if they become annoying). Pictures of yesterday's Big Adventures:

So far the chicks have been thriving - I have seen no signs of illness and they are curious, lively and extremely quick. The chicks hatched by the Buff Orpington will be one month old on Wednesday, and the other two will be one month old this coming Sunday. I think at least one egg had been "donated" by a Barred Rock pullet - the others are a mystery - Australorp, maybe, I can't tell.

Anyway - they are adorable, and this has been a lot of fun. Onto other subjects. Hopefully.

Growing Up

The baby chicks are feathering out and growing up. Their lives are very different from those of the chicks I raised in a brooder last September; for one thing, the outdoor temperatures fluctuate wildly, the babies are often in the elements (wind and on one or two occasions, rain) - yet they seem to be doing fine, at least so far. Their mothers have taught them to eat their food from the ground, so while they have chick feeders, and age-appropriate food, they also spend a great deal of time scratching and foraging for food that hasn't been manufactured, bagged and sold in a store.

The babies hatched by Belle (the Buff Orpington) are now two weeks and two days old. The chicks belonging to Sarah (the Australorp) will be two weeks old on Sunday. They are all so similar. The black chicks have brown eyes and black legs, the "patchy" chicks have black legs and orange toes! I have never had to wait to find out if I have a cockerel in the bunch, so I'm kind of anxious and trying to guess which one(s), if any, may be baby boy chicks.

Because these little ones haven't been handled much, they are wild, and very quick! It is extremely difficult to even take photos of them now, but I managed to snap a few today.  Belle's babies:

Sarah's two babies, who will be two weeks old this coming Sunday:

We also have six new Guinea keets (Pearl Guineas, and they're a straight run, so I have no idea how many are females and how many are males):

Things are getting lively!

Our Broody Did It!

I thought I heard chirping and some slight movement under the Buff Orpington broody yesterday, but couldn't be certain. Today I KNEW I heard something, so I opened the cage, gently moved aside one protective wing (although she growled a little, she allowed me to take the liberty), and -- she did it! Nestled underneath her was a precious tiny baby! I saw the flattened, empty eggshell first and thought oh no, maybe she broke it, but she has been such a good and careful mama -- no way would she have simply stepped on her eggs.

Here is a really bad photo of the baby, a tiny black chick. She probably hatched an Australorp egg! I didn't want to disturb her; I'll try to get better pictures later.

She did great! Here she is, tucking her little one back under her. You can see the empty eggshell right in front of her.

More later!

Much better photo of the new addition (any guesses? Australorp cross? Wyandotte? Barred Rock?).

ETA: A second chick hatched sometime during the afternoon. This one has some buff coloring on her face and is extremely tiny - I hope she makes it. As of this evening, the broody was sitting tight on two babies and one unhatched egg.