Up and coming...

[ManOverBoard]

We're working to expand our flock and we've hatched out 11 chicks and purchased 6 more. The chicks we hatched consist of black Australorps, and buff Orpington/black Australorp crosses. Some of which are roosters. The buff Orpington x black Australorp crosses turned out so beautiful, however we worry that two out of three might be roosters. They'll look stunning and they come from a sweet papa, but we live near the middle of town with no sound barrier and sound travels really far over water. ( We're island dwellers) so we're going to need to find new homes. We'll keep everyone posted on their progress and hopefully some of you might be interested in some unique looking roos.(gold black brown and teal all on one bird)
On a different note, we purchased some Americaunas to add some color to our flock, one of which is a super blonde pom pom of a chick... The woman at the store mistook it for a buff Orpington chick, but I saw the grey splash on it's head and all that fluff! We took it home for variety amongst our Americaunas, but it's an odd ball. It's got so much cheek fluff its like it can't see! We wet it's fluff down a few times a day because it pokes it in the eyes all day long. The poor thing acts like such a funny duck, as if its blind fumbling around slowly looking like a little mini puffy barn owl. Once we shmoosh it's check fluff down it opens it's eyes so wide like "woah! So that's what the other chicks were so excited about!" And then it gets itself right in there and starts making a name for itself amongst the rest of the chicks. But it's such a softy both feel and attitude its so funny to watch it, try to squeeze in with all of the others. Anyone else ever end up with one chick that just leaves you scratching your head?

p.s. we've never had Americauna chicks before and oh my goodness are we smitten! They're so silky and fall asleep in your hand within seconds of picking them up.

 

[Sally PB]

The buff Orpington x black Australorp crosses turned out so beautiful, however we worry that two out of three might be roosters. They'll look stunning and they come from a sweet papa, but we live near the middle of town with no sound barrier and sound travels really far over water. ( We're island dwellers) so we're going to need to find new homes. We'll keep everyone posted on their progress and hopefully some of you might be interested in some unique looking roos.(gold black brown and teal all on one bird)

Please post pictures! They sound gorgeous!

 

[ManOverBoard]

Please post pictures! They sound gorgeous!

Will do, they're still young yet, but if you look around on BYC others have had the same crosses. Ours are all dark brown/black chicks with warm chipmunk stripped faces. No blonde babies. I'll see if I can link some of the pictures I've seen, and absolutely will post some of our when they get older

 

[ManOverBoard]

Will do, they're still young yet, but if you look around on BYC others have had the same crosses. Ours are all dark brown/black chicks with warm chipmunk stripped faces. No blonde babies. I'll see if I can link some of the pictures I've seen, and absolutely will post some of our when they get older

Okay! finally got a minute to post some pictures of our black Australorp x Buff Orpington cross chicks! They're still young yet only a few weeks, and now it's looking like all three are Roos! we're going to attempt another small batch to see if we can get at least a couple crossed hens we can keep while our Buff mamma's eggs are still fertile (sweet Slick Jagger our Black Australorp Rooster has moved to a new home) But without further delay, our pictures some are from a week or so ago and some are from just yesterday. We've got some side-by-side comparisons too; one of the chicks next to one of our Ameraucana pullets. We hope you guys like them as much as we do, they're so sweet!

those sweet eyes get me so bad!

with australorps

 

[ManOverBoard]

An updated picture of our Australorp buff Orpington crossed rooster Chicks. They're getting chunky now, and beginning to exhibit that gorgeous teal sheen their Australorp Dad had on their tails. Much bigger than our straight Australorp rooster Chicks. They're 5 or 6 weeks old now. Getting rowdy with their frisky Australorp brothers.

If anyone in the CT, New England area is interested in one of these boys, we'd love to find them homes as their so handsome, and so sweet.we've got straight Australorp boys too.

 

[ManOverBoard]

now 9 weeks old...very much gentle commanding giants compared the rest of their siblings.