Last year, sometime in mid March, upon entering our Trupointe Co-op with my Mom and seeing their tubs of chicks I told her "I really wish I didn't live in the city so I could raise some chickens". She answered that I could keep them on their small farm as long as I did the work and paid for everything they needed... A few weeks later after chicken books galore and hours reading BYC- April 14th (2013) I picked up 10 day old chicks from Mt Healthy Hatcheries.
I got 3 golden comets (rsl's) 2 barred rocks, 2 buff orp's and 3 Easter eggers.
I work at my parents business, a lot of my time is spent answering the phone in their old house turned shop. I kept the chicks in the back room so I got to spend a lot of time talking to them and handling them in my downtime
. As you can imagine, they were spoiled from the start!
Fast forward to now, I lost one of the rsl pullets last year but other than that still have 9 of the 10 originals and have recently added 2 black Ameraucanas to my flock. Here's some fairly recent pictures of them all
Hazel (rsl) the chatterbox. Seriously, she sure loooooves the sound of her own voice! Prim is the Easter egger, she's so sweet and soft spoken and has an almost a songbirdy voice when she chatters... The buff orp is Ethel. I just love the buff orp temperament- like calm lil old ladies right from the start.
Hazel again, how I have pictures with her beak closed I have no idea.
This Is Hella. She caught a mouse this winter and was quite thrilled to run around playing keep away from the others..
Hella is one of the queen bees of the group and is pretty spoiled... as you can see she thought I bought this whole bag of treats just for her. If I don't watch out, she will follow me into the old house and get into EVERYTHING.
Amelia one of the Easter eggers- she got her name bc she was the first to be able to fly up and out of their brooder when I had it opened. To this day she likes to fly up to my shoulder and hitch a ride around.
This is Beardie. I thought for sure she was going to be a he because for some reason from the start I always called her a him. Don't know why! I still mess up and do it even though I have seen her physically lay an egg many times... She's one of those hens who doesn't particularly like to be handled but she will allow me to hold her. Sometimes. For less than 3 seconds total.
Beardie's namesake beard. So much fluff. Come to think of it, everything about her is quite fluffy- she's loosely feathered like the buff orp's
Atilla (close up) and Darla, the barred rocks... Atilla would let me carry her around all day, and lays just barely less than my rsl... Almost a purplish egg. As you can see, she's also super photogenic, she just stares at the camera. Darla does not appreciate being held. She's smaller and rounder than Atilla and she lays a cute roundish egg to match.
Beardie and Hella striking a pose, quite fabulous, eh?
Nori and Poe my Ameraucana's. My older girls were none too thrilled when I introduced them after their quarantine... They are tolerating each other now. Poor Poe is sporting some bald spots on her head though... Both are still kinda flighty since I didn't raise them from chicks but they come running and devour any treats in my hands
*not pictured- Mabel, my other buff orp. Notorious for ducking the camera by always hiding behind me lol
EDIT: Finally got a good picture of Mabel. Excuse her ruffled appearance, she is going through a partial molt
My egg palette.
Thanks for looking!
ETA:
New chicks!
I ended up getting 2 week old Cream Legbar chicks from a BYC'er , and from Meyer I got 2 Welsummers, 1 Speckled Sussex, and a Blue Cochin (all are pullets, hopefully).
One of the Welsummers
Speckled Sussex
Blue Cochin
One of the Cream Legbars
At the last minute I added a little easter egger girl to my order to give to my broody Ameraucana hen, Poe. She had been broody for a few weeks but it was her first time so I decided to just give her one... She has turned out to be such a good mama so far. I just love watching them interact
My other girls are doing well, they are enjoying the warmer weather and grass and bugs that have come along with it.
I decided to built them a little plant bed filled with yummy things to munch on this summer......
They didnt get the memo! They think I made them a fancy chicken bath spa
I got 3 golden comets (rsl's) 2 barred rocks, 2 buff orp's and 3 Easter eggers.
I work at my parents business, a lot of my time is spent answering the phone in their old house turned shop. I kept the chicks in the back room so I got to spend a lot of time talking to them and handling them in my downtime
. As you can imagine, they were spoiled from the start!Fast forward to now, I lost one of the rsl pullets last year but other than that still have 9 of the 10 originals and have recently added 2 black Ameraucanas to my flock. Here's some fairly recent pictures of them all
Hazel (rsl) the chatterbox. Seriously, she sure loooooves the sound of her own voice! Prim is the Easter egger, she's so sweet and soft spoken and has an almost a songbirdy voice when she chatters... The buff orp is Ethel. I just love the buff orp temperament- like calm lil old ladies right from the start.
Hazel again, how I have pictures with her beak closed I have no idea.
This Is Hella. She caught a mouse this winter and was quite thrilled to run around playing keep away from the others..
Hella is one of the queen bees of the group and is pretty spoiled... as you can see she thought I bought this whole bag of treats just for her. If I don't watch out, she will follow me into the old house and get into EVERYTHING.
Amelia one of the Easter eggers- she got her name bc she was the first to be able to fly up and out of their brooder when I had it opened. To this day she likes to fly up to my shoulder and hitch a ride around.
This is Beardie. I thought for sure she was going to be a he because for some reason from the start I always called her a him. Don't know why! I still mess up and do it even though I have seen her physically lay an egg many times... She's one of those hens who doesn't particularly like to be handled but she will allow me to hold her. Sometimes. For less than 3 seconds total.
Beardie's namesake beard. So much fluff. Come to think of it, everything about her is quite fluffy- she's loosely feathered like the buff orp's
Atilla (close up) and Darla, the barred rocks... Atilla would let me carry her around all day, and lays just barely less than my rsl... Almost a purplish egg. As you can see, she's also super photogenic, she just stares at the camera. Darla does not appreciate being held. She's smaller and rounder than Atilla and she lays a cute roundish egg to match.
Beardie and Hella striking a pose, quite fabulous, eh?
Nori and Poe my Ameraucana's. My older girls were none too thrilled when I introduced them after their quarantine... They are tolerating each other now. Poor Poe is sporting some bald spots on her head though... Both are still kinda flighty since I didn't raise them from chicks but they come running and devour any treats in my hands
*not pictured- Mabel, my other buff orp. Notorious for ducking the camera by always hiding behind me lol
EDIT: Finally got a good picture of Mabel. Excuse her ruffled appearance, she is going through a partial molt
My egg palette.
Thanks for looking!
ETA:
New chicks!
I ended up getting 2 week old Cream Legbar chicks from a BYC'er , and from Meyer I got 2 Welsummers, 1 Speckled Sussex, and a Blue Cochin (all are pullets, hopefully).
One of the Welsummers
Speckled Sussex
Blue Cochin
One of the Cream Legbars
At the last minute I added a little easter egger girl to my order to give to my broody Ameraucana hen, Poe. She had been broody for a few weeks but it was her first time so I decided to just give her one... She has turned out to be such a good mama so far. I just love watching them interact
My other girls are doing well, they are enjoying the warmer weather and grass and bugs that have come along with it.
I decided to built them a little plant bed filled with yummy things to munch on this summer......
They didnt get the memo! They think I made them a fancy chicken bath spa