Friday, April 24, 2009

37. A Week Later = Even Bigger!

Today was an amazingly fantastic sunny day for April and I put out the new chicks again... They love it outside! I am amazed at how big they grew since last week.
We put them in a new cage since they rapidly filled up all the space in the rigged up baby-crib. Above are some of the cuties -their colors are amazing!
This guy is so nice looking with his blue-laced feathers. On the branch in the background is a pullet (female) a little lighter and no lacing, but we get to keep her for sure!


Here are the chicks outgrowing the brooder.
Pretty soon they will have to move out to an enclosure in the coop!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

36. New Chicks: First Day Out!

Last weekend the weather was outstanding and we put the new little chickies outside for some fun in the sun...
The colors are gorgeous! Because of the Blue-Laced-Red Wyandotte daddy, most of the chicks have some blue lacing on their feathers. Three are all blue!
The little guy above is one of the two roosters of the all-blues. We have some decisions to make later on in the season as to which roos we keep - it will be a tough choice!
And how are the big birds taking to the new chicks?
Here is Buttercup, an Ameraucana (and potential momma!) checking out the new birds.

Monday, April 6, 2009

35. growing, Growing, GROWING!

Yes, the chicks are getting bigger - the fluff they were born with is working its way out while new feathers (the first set of two) are coming in...
These two are a week old and hatched out of the blue Ameraucana eggs. They are now oficially EE's (Easter-Eggers) and will most likely lay green eggs (I've read that a cross between a brown layer and a blue will end up with green eggs). They are still unnamed, as all the chicks are. Since we had a roo named Dottie we don't want to make the same mistake again!
This photo shows almost two week old chicks - the brown sitting one is an EE and the black one is either an Australorp cross or a Black Star (both brown egg layers).

Still no clue for certain about pullets (female) to cockerels (male), but we've guessed at least 4 potential future crowers based on behavior!
This little one shows signs of being a rooster, but we really won't know for sure for a few more weeks... He/She is a cross of the Blue Laced Red Wyandotte and a brown egg laying hen, but we are not sure which. This is very similar to what Dottie, the daddy, looked like as a chick!
So cute!