I ordered 4 chicks from MyPetChicken.com and I loved the chicks I received. I bought four-1 day old chicks that I’ve wanted for awhile now: a SLWyandotte, BLRWyandotte, Speckled Sussex, and Barred Rock. Original plan was to sneak them under broody momma hen who’s chicks just hatched recently but it was already too late due to shipping-hatch day difference to momma hen’s chicks. They were the CUTEST little things and wasn’t startled with being held or eating out of my hand without much fear except the Speckled Sussex at the time. Sadly 1 night later after the chicks’ arrival, the SLWyandotte chickie passed due to possible stress or getting chilled. It’s sad cuz she was the most outgoing and loved eating from my hand, I was hoping to see her grow up with me... RIP Silvy. She was my favorite but it is what it is 
.
Since the plan failed I decided to raise them myself and so far that’s worked well, and now they aren’t as spooked around humans or dogs and love flying over to me for treats. Only troubling part is sometimes they get right next to my feet and I almost step on them sometimes. If the big chickens were messing with them too much I’d nudge them away with my feet.
They’ve been sleeping inside a big-enough brooder set up for almost 6 weeks now since the coop has lots of chicks and their momma’s are ruthless, I’ve decided to wait a little while before putting them in the coop. They’ve been outdoors during the day since 2-3 weeks of age since the weather was very nice and tolerable for them. The hens and rooster were most of the time very calm and never really pecked them unless trying to get food or treats. They’ve pretty much integrated just being together outside now, along with the other chicks, just gotta wait till they’re a little bigger to stand against adult hens in the coop.
All of the other chicks had momma’s just not mine. 3 broody hens and they managed to get their dreams to come true haha.. sadly we can’t keep this many chickens so they’ll be up for sale soon. One has 2, the white hen had 3, same age as my 3, and the most recent one has 4.
My chicks have gone through a lot, I feel like since they didn’t get to grow up with a momma they don’t know how to forage as well or dustbath as the other chicks but hopefully soon enough they’ll know what to look for and what to do. If they’ve managed to survive without the help of mama they can survive anything.
.. I don’t usually name chicks cuz that’s usually the kid’s wishes to name them, but these are mine so I will just name them to keep that to myself. They’re not pets, but they’re close enough to pets to have names. The funny thing is one time I was calling my dogs inside and then the 3 chickies came running instead of the dogs
. They still sleep at night in the brooder inside so they know to wait by the porch when the sun is setting.
So their names are:
(Hatch Day-6/14/21)
SLW-Silvy(RIP-6/16/21)
Barred Rock-Rocky
BLRW-Lacey
Speckled Sussex-Specks
I will continue to update their growth as the time flies.
Update January 9th, 2022:
Wow, they have grown SOOO much over the past 5 months. They will be 7 months on January 14th. They have grown into beautiful little ladies.
Rocky(BR) is a lot more timid than she used to be, not sure why but she is more reluctant to be held and eat from my hands now, still docile and friendly though.
Specks(SS), gonna call her Snowflake now cuz She has SOO many speckles, more than I’d seen in pullets. She is like a dog lol, very dependent and loves attention, extremely friendly, flies onto my hands or the food bowl, follows me if she knows I have food or treats, eats anything from my hand. Doesn’t mind being held, jumps around to high places then flies down, adventurous for sure and definitely my favorite.
Lacy(Splash Red Laced Wyandotte) is also friendly, protective and independent. Her temperament is in between Rocky and Snowflake. Not that desperate for attention but still loves eating food from my hand, independent and loves foraging on her own, will stand up to my food/treat snagging dogs. She will run up and stand her ground if she sees my food driven beagle(house dog) and her son(my dog) who also just loves sniffing and messing with them. She doesn’t mind being held either.
I’m happy how they’ve turned out. I work a lot and don’t spend much time with them anymore, also due to the cold weather I don’t stay in the coop as long since it’s been extremely cold, I usually just go in to give food, treats and change the water, so I’d thought they lose our bond together but they still love being near me.
They have turned out beautifully and their personalities are very different from the ones I’ve encountered so far, been a great Investment purchasing these gems. Never bought online chicks before until these ladies, but I think hands down I’d do it again if I have the chance in the future and be more careful with them in their first few days(RIP Silvy, still wish I got to see that one grow up.) Hopefully they grow up healthy and old, whether with me or without, depending on the chances I have to give them away.
This is them exactly 6 months old, December 14th, just keeping each other warm.
This was them at 4 months old, getting ready to sleep at their favorite spot with the autumn breeze.
They were about possibly 3 months here, still got their chick faces. Snowflake loved coming to me for food at this time. They definitely grew slower since they had no mother to show them where their natural foods were, and what to naturally eat and forage for, plus being free ranged they don’t just lie around and eat in a brooder box.
They didn’t have a mother besides me who looked after them, but they DID have our nice and friendly Reddish-orange production hen with blonde tail feathers(also for some reason extremely into human interaction compared to the other one who was brought with her). she, in a way, watched over them, always being near them so other hens didn’t bother coming near them as chicks. She never really taught them anything like a mother hen would since most production breeds don’t have as much of a motherly instinct and she didn’t set on these chicks and hatch them either, but she was a nice hen who just looked after and ate with them as the grew up. They felt safe enough to always be around her too.
And, the best quality photos here haha! This was them at 5 months, they looked great here. They just love waiting by the door for treats.
I don’t know how I did it but they grew up so well and beautifully. Since they grew slowly at first, I was afraid they’d be stunted sizes or something but they have grown very large overtime and just about as big as our biggest hen, the white one in one of the photos. Hopefully they will be laying soon and being active little chickens. As with the other pullets who grew up with them. I’ll update more overtime. Bye!
Update: 2/13/23
Well, sad news, I’ve given them away since mid July and it became boring so I bought more chicks again… I know my addiction is bad haha! Well anyways, the new chickens I got are a little over 7 months Old now and I also recently rescued two pullets from the slaughterhouse somewhere in MN. I encourage you to do the same, as it can save a life and help you realize that as much as we love eating chickens, you don’t see the dark side of it as much. It’s a place where people buy chickens to kill for consumption so it’s good and bad. The conditions can be traumatizing and I don’t like being there too long but I find it funny I go there to buy chickens to raise and not kill. Anyways I enjoy this process as, I can at least save some to give a good life. It’s only $10 per chicken. The place is called Concord Poultry. Bring shoes you don’t mind getting dirty haha. There’s also a livestock market called Long Cheng next to it. This is a way of living for some people so you can’t do anything about it, BUT you can still just buy the chickens and bring boxes or cages to purchase and bring some home to give a great life, or to fatten up and kill… whatever floats your boat. Its stinky but you’ll get used to it. The white mixed hen and the black sexlink pullet are the rescue hens. The Easter Egger, the blue laced and silver laced Wyandotte are my cackle hatchery order from August. I don’t regret it, the more the merrier heehee! Sadly I couldn’t get as much time to get close to these hens but they’re still fine eating out of my hand.
PS. Might get a farm or bigger plot of land this summer so I may ask for my hens back from the friend I gave them to. Might sound mean but I’ll make sure to pay them back for it and even offer more chickens if they’d like. They have a farm as well as many other chickens but I miss mine a lot haha, and hope they’re doing well! They were super friendly and docile, they might be 2 years old by that time but I just want to give my chickens a good life like pets should. Well, here’s the update
.
.Since the plan failed I decided to raise them myself and so far that’s worked well, and now they aren’t as spooked around humans or dogs and love flying over to me for treats. Only troubling part is sometimes they get right next to my feet and I almost step on them sometimes. If the big chickens were messing with them too much I’d nudge them away with my feet.
They’ve been sleeping inside a big-enough brooder set up for almost 6 weeks now since the coop has lots of chicks and their momma’s are ruthless, I’ve decided to wait a little while before putting them in the coop. They’ve been outdoors during the day since 2-3 weeks of age since the weather was very nice and tolerable for them. The hens and rooster were most of the time very calm and never really pecked them unless trying to get food or treats. They’ve pretty much integrated just being together outside now, along with the other chicks, just gotta wait till they’re a little bigger to stand against adult hens in the coop.
All of the other chicks had momma’s just not mine. 3 broody hens and they managed to get their dreams to come true haha.. sadly we can’t keep this many chickens so they’ll be up for sale soon. One has 2, the white hen had 3, same age as my 3, and the most recent one has 4.
My chicks have gone through a lot, I feel like since they didn’t get to grow up with a momma they don’t know how to forage as well or dustbath as the other chicks but hopefully soon enough they’ll know what to look for and what to do. If they’ve managed to survive without the help of mama they can survive anything.
.. I don’t usually name chicks cuz that’s usually the kid’s wishes to name them, but these are mine so I will just name them to keep that to myself. They’re not pets, but they’re close enough to pets to have names. The funny thing is one time I was calling my dogs inside and then the 3 chickies came running instead of the dogs
. They still sleep at night in the brooder inside so they know to wait by the porch when the sun is setting.So their names are:
(Hatch Day-6/14/21)
SLW-Silvy(RIP-6/16/21)
Barred Rock-Rocky
BLRW-Lacey
Speckled Sussex-Specks
I will continue to update their growth as the time flies.
Wow, they have grown SOOO much over the past 5 months. They will be 7 months on January 14th. They have grown into beautiful little ladies.
Rocky(BR) is a lot more timid than she used to be, not sure why but she is more reluctant to be held and eat from my hands now, still docile and friendly though.
Specks(SS), gonna call her Snowflake now cuz She has SOO many speckles, more than I’d seen in pullets. She is like a dog lol, very dependent and loves attention, extremely friendly, flies onto my hands or the food bowl, follows me if she knows I have food or treats, eats anything from my hand. Doesn’t mind being held, jumps around to high places then flies down, adventurous for sure and definitely my favorite.
Lacy(Splash Red Laced Wyandotte) is also friendly, protective and independent. Her temperament is in between Rocky and Snowflake. Not that desperate for attention but still loves eating food from my hand, independent and loves foraging on her own, will stand up to my food/treat snagging dogs
. She will run up and stand her ground if she sees my food driven beagle(house dog) and her son(my dog) who also just loves sniffing and messing with them. She doesn’t mind being held either.I’m happy how they’ve turned out. I work a lot and don’t spend much time with them anymore, also due to the cold weather I don’t stay in the coop as long since it’s been extremely cold, I usually just go in to give food, treats and change the water, so I’d thought they lose our bond together but they still love being near me.
They have turned out beautifully and their personalities are very different from the ones I’ve encountered so far, been a great Investment purchasing these gems. Never bought online chicks before until these ladies, but I think hands down I’d do it again if I have the chance in the future and be more careful with them in their first few days(RIP Silvy, still wish I got to see that one grow up.) Hopefully they grow up healthy and old, whether with me or without, depending on the chances I have to give them away.
This is them exactly 6 months old, December 14th, just keeping each other warm.
This was them at 4 months old, getting ready to sleep at their favorite spot with the autumn breeze.
They were about possibly 3 months here, still got their chick faces. Snowflake loved coming to me for food at this time. They definitely grew slower since they had no mother to show them where their natural foods were, and what to naturally eat and forage for, plus being free ranged they don’t just lie around and eat in a brooder box.
They didn’t have a mother besides me who looked after them, but they DID have our nice and friendly Reddish-orange production hen with blonde tail feathers(also for some reason extremely into human interaction compared to the other one who was brought with her). she, in a way, watched over them, always being near them so other hens didn’t bother coming near them as chicks. She never really taught them anything like a mother hen would since most production breeds don’t have as much of a motherly instinct and she didn’t set on these chicks and hatch them either, but she was a nice hen who just looked after and ate with them as the grew up. They felt safe enough to always be around her too.
And, the best quality photos here haha! This was them at 5 months, they looked great here. They just love waiting by the door for treats.
I don’t know how I did it but they grew up so well and beautifully. Since they grew slowly at first, I was afraid they’d be stunted sizes or something but they have grown very large overtime and just about as big as our biggest hen, the white one in one of the photos. Hopefully they will be laying soon and being active little chickens. As with the other pullets who grew up with them. I’ll update more overtime. Bye!
Update: 2/13/23
Well, sad news, I’ve given them away since mid July and it became boring so I bought more chicks again… I know my addiction is bad haha! Well anyways, the new chickens I got are a little over 7 months Old now and I also recently rescued two pullets from the slaughterhouse somewhere in MN. I encourage you to do the same, as it can save a life and help you realize that as much as we love eating chickens, you don’t see the dark side of it as much. It’s a place where people buy chickens to kill for consumption so it’s good and bad. The conditions can be traumatizing and I don’t like being there too long but I find it funny I go there to buy chickens to raise and not kill. Anyways I enjoy this process as, I can at least save some to give a good life. It’s only $10 per chicken. The place is called Concord Poultry. Bring shoes you don’t mind getting dirty haha. There’s also a livestock market called Long Cheng next to it. This is a way of living for some people so you can’t do anything about it, BUT you can still just buy the chickens and bring boxes or cages to purchase and bring some home to give a great life, or to fatten up and kill… whatever floats your boat. Its stinky but you’ll get used to it. The white mixed hen and the black sexlink pullet are the rescue hens. The Easter Egger, the blue laced and silver laced Wyandotte are my cackle hatchery order from August. I don’t regret it, the more the merrier heehee! Sadly I couldn’t get as much time to get close to these hens but they’re still fine eating out of my hand.
PS. Might get a farm or bigger plot of land this summer so I may ask for my hens back from the friend I gave them to. Might sound mean but I’ll make sure to pay them back for it and even offer more chickens if they’d like. They have a farm as well as many other chickens but I miss mine a lot haha, and hope they’re doing well! They were super friendly and docile, they might be 2 years old by that time but I just want to give my chickens a good life like pets should. Well, here’s the update
.
