My Flock (& breed guessing game)

I'm much overdue for an update!!!

So, a friend asked if I would split a small chick order with her, so I picked out 5 chicks for my part of the order. I chose 2 Exchequer Leghorns, 1 Black Australorp, and 2 Plymouth Barred Rock Bantams, all pullets. The strange part of this all being that I had an "intuition" that my oldest hen, Speckles, wouldn't live to see the new chicks, more on that later.

So, my little black OEGB, aptly named Little, is my go to broody mama. She started brooding just when I thought she would, and I put her in the maternity pen, setting on wooden eggs. The chicks were due in the 3rd week of May.

So, the chick order finally came and my friend picked them up at the post office. Unfortunately, during the course of that first day, all of the barred rock bantams died. I brought home the Leghorns and Australorp. When I got home (I picked them up in the evening) I found Speckles had died! No struggle, just laying there in the chicken coop, still slightly warm. I put the box with the babies by the maternity brooding box, so Little could hear them cheeping. It was raining of course!! Then I buried Speckles. I waited a little longer til it was almost dark then snuck the chicks under Little, replacing the wooden eggs with chicks.

All went well, no problems accepting the babies, though they were a little more independent than those newly hatched! Unfortunately, the Australorp died the next night I believe. I found her body the next morning, her crop was still full. Maybe internal damage from the shipping? Little certainly isn't big enough to squish a LF chick.

So, the babies are about 9 weeks old now, and I've named them Chess and Checkers. Chess had a wry beak at hatching, and after a couple weeks I noticed uneven wear beginning on her beak. So, I tried trimming her beak. I noticed that when she would get upset, her beak would cross again, but her muscles started relaxing over the next couple weeks til it was hard to tell which chick was which! Last week I filed a tiny bit more, and I'll keep a check on her, but I think its pretty much fixed.

So, Tiny, my crele OEGB pullet started going broody again, and I'd tried setting her on eggs before but she only lasted 2 days before breaking. The next time I just watched her and she was only broody a few days before quitting. So, this time I wasn't going to set her, but after she sat for a week, I gave her 4 of her own eggs. I hope they'll hatch, I had them in the fridge, then set them out for a day before putting them under her. I have the hatch day written down, but she's been sitting 6 days or so now.

I think that's it! Just need to post pics from my phone!
 

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