Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Meet the new kids

Missy's girl
When it was all said and done, thirteen chicks hatched and twelve survived.   Remember: we started out with 26 eggs.  Seven proved infurtile.  Five failed to hatch.  There are all sorts of reasons for why things happen but what I believe is that those that survived were the strongest of the lot. 

Boys
So I got an email from one of you asking to see pictures where I actually separated the boys from the girls.  Mind you, this is very unscientific and, no, I didn't peak under their skirts to actually sex them.  This is just a best guess.

Among Americanas and other Easter Egger chickens, I have been told that by observing how stripey the down is, one can guess that these may be our boys. Buster is the stripe-est of the boys.  He's also larger than the other although in this picture, he's down for a short nap.

Girls
Similarly, the girls are all dressed in a solid colored soft down.  In this picture on can clearly see how much lighter colored Missy's girl is.  I'm not quite experienced enough to glance at their colorations and tell what they will look like as adults.  What we strive for are productive hens that are calm and good natured.  A happy chickenland depends on everyone getting along with little squabbling.

For those that are counting, you're right.  That's not twelve.  I also have two little golden wheat chicks, that will be my surprise chicks.

Now all I need are names. Your suggestions are welcom




1 comment:

Sarah Lynn said...

Your little chickies are totally adorable.

You are looking for names? When I was little, I loved a book where the farm children raised three chickens. They named them Hecky, Pecky, and Becky. :-D