Red Partridge Orpington informational hatch thread

[K0k0shka]

Guys, I’m impressed. All it took was 4 nights, and on the 5th, my chicks went into the coop on their own AND went up onto their roost on their own, without me having to move them from the nesting box top anymore! They did it!

They are on the lower level of their roosting structure, but still. They did it.

And look at these two hugging, with the wing over the dark one’s shoulder and the heads together! I’m melting They spent quite some time like this.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Alert and aware they are, so they might do well free ranging (I don’t free range so I can’t speak to that). But they definitely notice and complain about anything new in their environment. The Orps can’t be bothered though. They are like immovable tanks and just don’t care I can picture a predator walking away with one and the rest would still be “meh” about it.

We do free range every afternoon and they do fine. We have two Shelties and that helps. Have not lost a bird in over a year. Losses are always minimal. Made me Lol with this post, you are so right on!

 

[K0k0shka]

9 week photo update!

Absolutely 100% all three are female. Wohoo!

Pooh:

The Baby:

The Pretty One:

They don't have official names yet...

Here are some top down views so you can see just how different their patterns are, even though they are the same breed from the same breeder:

All together:

Pooh is finally starting to develop some real lacing on her feathers (most of them still look more barred than laced):

Pretty is ahead of the game and has had nice double laces for a few weeks now, even though most of her is still black:

The Baby hasn't figured out how to do the lacing quite yet:

These three have gotten more attention than last year's batch did, because there are fewer of them and I'm not trying to split myself in 11 And as a result, they are even more cuddly and affectionate than them! They love snuggling in my lap and being held.

And taking naps on me! I usually have both of my arms all the way around them, for a big fluffy hug, but it's hard to take a picture like that, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the double-armed fluffy hug. But it's absolutely adorable.

 

[K0k0shka]

P.S. They have integrated wonderfully with the flock, and are living a full and proper chicken life now - going into the coop on their own and going up to the top of their roost for the night, and using every part of the run freely. It only took them 4 days to learn to go inside the coop and up on their roost on their own! Everything has been SO easy with these chickens, I just couldn't be happier!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Doing great!

 

[K0k0shka]

@aart how's your broody situation going? I decided to try a new broody breaking method that would be less stressful to the hen (my broody was so nice to me while sitting and raising her chicks, that I didn't want to break her trust by stuffing her in a cage). It was an experiment, but it actually worked! And only took one day. I have described my experience here, if anybody else wants to give it a try.

 

[aart]

@aart how's your broody situation going?

She's done, took 6 days total, due to the wrong bird being place in crate on day 3.
Plus we were in a heat wave, which prolongs breaking broody.

 

[K0k0shka]

Big milestones in the integration progress! Check this out. The ultimate sign of acceptance - sharing my lap!

Butt to butt Now, to be fair, that is the hen who raised chicks for me this past spring and has since remained friendly with the partridge chicks (even though she didn't raise them), but still - she's my lappiest lap chicken and has not tolerated intruders until now.

The dark chick that doesn't look like the breed is the bravest of them all. She routinely inserts herself next to the big girls in favorite but well guarded activities like eating treats out of my hand next to them, or lap sharing with them. She eventually gets chased away, but keeps trying and does manage to steal a few moments every time. She is also the only one to occasionally go sleep on the big girls' roost (wow she looks so big in this photo! she's the one on the lower roost):

The other two haven't tried that yet, but whenever she does, I go and move them next to her, so they'll learn and maybe soak up some courage from her.


The other Barnevelder is also more accepting of the chicks, even though she doesn't have the recent mom rationalization. Maybe it's because she's very low ranking. I caught them eating beak to beak with her, without getting chased away - something that never happens otherwise:

In other news, I have another broody hen... One of the Lemon Cuckoo Orps. Ugh At least now I have my luxury broody jail to put her in.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Wonderful! Great progress!

 

[K0k0shka]

Wonderful! Great progress!

Thanks! I still have to fight the knee jerk reaction whenever I see a hen peck my babies (they are my babies!), but it’s getting better every day and they seem happy, relaxed and at home