Blue Andalusian 8 weeks

Blue Andalusian 8 weeks

Pretty little bugger isn’t he? Ahh, one of the hardest parts of the backyard flock - having to rehome a pretty little rooster without involving freezer camp. Our neighbor has had a rooster for six months or so. That one is pretty good though, I have never heard him crow while it is dark. This guy is not crowing yet. Hopefully I will be able to enjoy him for a bit longer.

Golden Campine 8 weeks

Golden Campine 8 weeks

This one has to be a pullet. She has virtually no comb and should have a fairly large one next year.

Chantacler 8 weeks

Chantacler 8 weeks

This one I have no idea. S/he has gotten bitchy in the last week and has started picking feathers off the other chickens. This bird needs a good hard peck to the head.

Delaware 8 weeks

Delaware 8 weeks

Pullet. Yea!

Easter Egger 8 weeks

Easter Egger 8 weeks

Yea! More green eggs.

Speckled Sussex 8 weeks

Speckled Sussex 8 weeks

This is the sweetest chicken. She is always jumping up on me. Once she even got onto my shoulder when I was standing up! Such a cutie. I am pretty sure that a cockerel would have a really large comb by now.

Welsummer 8 weeks

Welsummer 8 weeks

This  Welsummer has been the tallest from the first few days. She is still a really big chicken. The Delaware is fluffy big and Peanut (the Sussex) is so small.

Blue Andalusian 7 weeks

Blue Andalusian 7 weeks

Oh, boy - look at that comb.  Darn, I hate having to find a new home for these guys.

Chantacler 7 weeks

This one is growing on me. With a cushion comb, I guess that I will have to wait to see.

Golden Campine 7 weeks

Golden Campine 7 weeks

Pretty sure that this one is a girl.

Delaware 7 weeks

Delaware 7 weeks

Going with pullet on the Delaware also.

Easter Egger 7 weeks

Easter Egger 7 weeks

Pullet on the Easter Egger also.

Speckeld Sussex 7 weeks

Speckeld Sussex 7 weeks

The comb itself does  not have a pink tint in person. Along with the tail feathers I am voting pullet.

Welsummer 7 weeks

Welsummer 7 weeks

Brown chest = dark brown eggs.

Eggs

The Black Sex Link and the EE consistenly lay the largest eggs. The Barred Rock eggs are always darker than the others. It got a little washed out, but the Silver Laced Wyandotte eggs have little while specks all over them. Our Rhode Island Red gets the award for the smallest, lightest eggs.

Blue Andalusian 5 weeks

Hmmm, doesn’t she look pretty handsome? I would love to be surprised with this one, but this may be a roo. Which we cannot keep, unless he is really quiet (the EE cockeral that we had last year was not). There are not a lot of pictures of this breed at this young age. I found one in the BYC forum that allows me to be in denial and hold out hope that I still may have a blue pullet, so I’ll go with that for now.

Golden Campine 5 Weeks

Buff Chantacler, Blue Andalusian 5 weeks

Buff Chantacler 5 weeks

Delaware 5 weeks

Delaware, Golden Campine 5 weeks

Easter Egger 5 weeks

Speckled Sussex 5 weeks

Wellsummer 5 weeks

So right now I am thinking that the Andalusian is a cockeral and the others still look like pullets.

All of these (hopefully) girls are sexed pullets from Meyer Hatchery. I used their small order program with the totally expensive express shipping so that I could get the breeds that I wanted. so hopefully they will all be girls. All the chicks that I ordered made it - they got here about 40 hours after they were shipped (from Ohio to small town California). It was a little nerve wracking to have them shipped here. But they are all doing really well.

Blue Andalusian 4 weeks

Blue Andalusian 4 weeks

Blue Andalusian 4 weeks

Golden Campine 4 weeks

Golden Campine 4 weeks

Buff Chantecler 4 weeks

Buff Chantecler 4 weeks

Delaware 4 weeks

Delaware 4 weeks

Delaware 4 weeks

Easter Egger 4 weeks

Speckled Sussex 4 weeks

Speckled Sussex 4 weeks

Welsummer 4 weeks

4 week old Welsummer, Delaware, Golden Campine

Blue Andalusian, Easter Egger and friends - 3 weeks

Buff Chantecler - 3 weeks

Welsummer - 3 weeks

Delaware - 3 weeks

Golden Campine - 3 weeks

The gang - 3 weeks

I had forgotten how hard it is to get pictures when they are little and darting about everywhere. I was thinking that a nice piece of watermelon would keep them still and pretty much what I got was a bunch of pictures of chick butts.

Chicken Coop Round One

I went to this:

Chicken Coop plus the new addon

This is what I added on for the new chicks. The little house was made entirely out of scraps of plywood that we had left over from the original side of the coop. The roof on the new side was the old roofing material that had been on the old kid’s playhouse.

The new addon:

New coop addon

The old side is 8″x10″ and the new side is 8″x12″.

On the new side we had to dig down pretty far since the corner that is closest in this picture is lower than the rest of the area. The wire is buried all around and then I dug a trench and put cement blocks all the way around the coop. The back wall is on the hill and I used the blocks as a little retaining wall. In between the coop boards (painted white) on the bottom and the blocks I added treated lumber (ground contact) for a moisture resistent buffer. I liked the hanging automatic waterer (lil giant) so much that I added on this side also. On that waterer on the older side it had started to leak (the little valve that is in the stem).  The literature that comes with the waterer says not to use a regular tire valve because the valve in there is ’special’. But I thought that they cost too much (I could not find them locally and would have had to buy online) and found a valve stem tool and new valves (4 of them) at our local hardware store for under $4.00. It has been working fine for months with that tire valve so I recommend giving that a try if you need to fix yours.

1.5 week old chicks Easter Egger, Speckled Sussex, Welsummer, Buff Chantacler, Blue Andalusian

1.5 week old chicks Deleware, Golden Campine

1.5 week old chicks Speckled Sussex, Easter Egger, Blue Andalusian, Buff Chantecler

Black Sex Link Hen - 1 year

Barred Rock Hen - 1 Year

Easter Egger Hen - 1 Year

Rhode Island Red Hen - 1 Year

Silver Laced Wyandotte Hen - 1 Year