Cackle Hatchery - Rare Breed Special and Top Hat Special?

[newchickychick]

Updating in case anyone comes to this thread in the future.

The variety was phenomenal. Now, I'd been religiously following the stock on the website to see if it was reflected at all with what I received. By shipping date, there were only: Aseels, exhibition RIRs, and Saipans available. So I was curious to see if the mystery boxes were "what's available store front" or accounted for with extra babies from what's already been slated for individual purchases.

And it definitely is not reflected by current store stock. WOW. Ordered 15, 15 arrived healthy. And mad. Very mad. I was so happy to hear those cheeps!

We definitely got: 5 Polish, and 4 are different breeds. (2 Splash, 1 Tolbunt, 1 Gold Laced, and one White Crested Black or Blue).

We also got two cochins! One is very likely a buff! The other looks almost like a Partridge, but is quite light red with a delicate chipmunk-y pattern. So may just be a lighter one of those?

One (who keeps posing like Godzilla - looks like the little one is having the time of its life in the brooder ) seems very likely to be one of the Crazy Cackle Toppies. So fun!
(Pics of all of these are below!)

We definitely got a bunch of chipmunk-y ones. And I am SO hopeful they're yokohamas or phoenixes. I absolutely adore them.

The real puzzler is one that looks exactly like a french black marans. Which... I can't say I've found any breeds that look like that on their rare page. So it will be thoroughly interesting to see what it grows into. It is the runt of the bunch though, so I'm a little nervous as it's SO so tiny. But it seems to be eating/drinking just fine!

We also got two smallish reddish yellow ones. They're about the same size as the chipmunk-y ones. I'm thinking they're possibly some sort of Phoenix/Yokohama as well?

We also got a Lakenvelder! It had bad pasty butt. I've been able to keep the vent clear but didn't want to fight too hard to get it off as the rest is around its navel. I had another chick like this on our first batch and it ended up working out in time with daily very gentle maneuvering, so I'm going to keep working with it that way as I'd hate to risk hurting its skin or pulling on its navel.

All in all, I am so pleased with this order both that they all seemed to get bounced back super quick (the ones that were a little lethargic from shipping) AND that there's an incredible variety. Can't wait for my next order in June!

 

[Nicks_Chicks]

Updating in case anyone comes to this thread in the future.

The variety was phenomenal. Now, I'd been religiously following the stock on the website to see if it was reflected at all with what I received. By shipping date, there were only: Aseels, exhibition RIRs, and Saipans available. So I was curious to see if the mystery boxes were "what's available store front" or accounted for with extra babies from what's already been slated for individual purchases.

And it definitely is not reflected by current store stock. WOW. Ordered 15, 15 arrived healthy. And mad. Very mad. I was so happy to hear those cheeps!

We definitely got: 4 Polish, and 3 are different breeds. I know one is a gold laced Polish and I'm ecstatic! Then two are either white or splash, and there's another that's either white crested black or blue (running the colors off the top of my head - I could be mixing the chick pics up).

We also got two cochins! One is very likely a buff! The other looks almost like a Partridge, but is quite light red with a delicate chipmunk-y pattern. So may just be a lighter one of those?

One (who keeps posing like Godzilla - looks like the little one is having the time of its life in the brooder ) seems very likely to be one of the Crazy Cackle Toppies. So fun!

There's one that looks SUPER super fluffy and big, might even be a Polish that I didn't notice the poof standing up too high on? Almost looked like cheek fluffs and a mullet of fluff at one point - but I don't want to disturb them too much as they're all resting. Dark brown with lighter brown and darker brown 'accents.'

We definitely got a bunch of chipmunk-y ones. And I am SO hopeful they're yokohamas or phoenixes. I absolutely adore them.

The real puzzler is one that looks exactly like a french black marans. Which... I can't say I've found any breeds that look like that on their rare page. So it will be thoroughly interesting to see what it grows into. It is the runt of the bunch though, so I'm a little nervous as it's SO so tiny. But it seems to be eating/drinking just fine!

All in all, I am so pleased with this order both that they all seemed to get bounced back super quick (the ones that were a little lethargic from shipping) AND that there's an incredible variety. Can't wait for my next order in June!

Splash are typically not bearded, whites are. If that helps.

 

[Nicks_Chicks]

Could the one that looks like a Marans be a black Cochin?

 

[newchickychick]

Could the one that looks like a Marans be a black Cochin?

It doesn't have any feathered feet which is the extra puzzler! It's got the white stripes on the ends of its wings and a small white mark under its eyes. I know some Marans are clean legged and some have the feathers like I believe was original. It's so, SO tiny! Near half the size of the others. I'm scratching my head over it. And its beak is black but its legs are half black that turn to a lighter yellow. I am indeed puzzled.

That does help! They don't have beards! Crazy! Splash ones are so pretty.

What's wilder is I somehow missed a Polish in my count. Oops! This one is Tolbunt! One of my absolute dream chickens. I never would've imagined. I'm very excited!

The Golden Laced Polish is proving to be a bit of a jerk already. Or well, exploring with his beak too much. I'm hoping it settles down after today so I don't have to put up a little divider and put some friends in there with it.

 

[Iluveggers]

Pics! We need pics! (Especially the “mystery Marans”)

Congratulations on a great delivery and successful order!

 

[newchickychick]

Pics! We need pics! (Especially the “mystery Marans”)

Congratulations on a great delivery and successful order!

Thank you so much! I'll definitely take pics later. <3 We've got one that's a little bit of a bully that I THINK is a Gold Laced Polish (dark brown all over, fluffy cheeks, big head puff) but I'm not 200% sure. What a little jerk! I'm hoping he learns quick picking on the others isn't acceptable. But it doesn't seem to be any one chick. It sees a face, it pecks. But we're ready and willing to separate if any blood is drawn, so hoping it won't come down to that.

We've got two decently small little reddish babies with a LOT of spice too. The Turken/Wyandottes seem to be a few days older based on size and are all so gentle with the little babies, but the little reds seem to posture up to them and scare them off.

I'm pretty confident we've got Silver Duckwing Yokohamas too, I think 3? There's a little silvery sheen to their yellows and they've got the chipmunk marks. I'll definitely be adding pics up asap! It's hard to get pics of them while they're running around but some are very curious about my hand so may make it easier to get them still long enough for pics.

 

[NatJ]

Hoo boy. Shipping says it'll arrive... Monday. The 5th. I've read a lot saying the tracking #s for USPS can be super mega off though (they weren't on my first order) so trying to keep calm about it.

Given what you posted today, I gather the tracking was wrong for your chicks too. Chicks on Friday is much better than chicks on Monday!

 

[newchickychick]

Given what you posted today, I gather the tracking was wrong for your chicks too. Chicks on Friday is much better than chicks on Monday!

SO very much! I'm very grateful. I kind of assumed it was wrong but man, sometimes I know USPS can be behind/messy. They're all here and chirping!

 

[newchickychick]

I apologize ahead for the thread spam, but wanted to separate out some chick pics I have questions on if anyone knows what they could be! All are from Cackle from the 'rare breed special' which I believe is supposedly an assortment from the 'rare chicken breeds' page. First is the "mystery marans". It is a fair little bit smaller than most of the other chicks! So thankful its crop is filling up and it seems to run around just fine! We've decided to name it M&M. The others we have all waited to be sure whether they're hens/roos (still waiting on some judgement calls on our 5 week olds so those are still unnamed) but this one's just so peculiar of a situation, we figured it deserved a name. It could be quite obvious and I missed some photos on the pages. That wouldn't surprise me either!

 

[newchickychick]

Little standalone pic of our Turken! We got two yesterday as well as two "these aren't Turkens but they were in the same bin." Every single one of the others were just light yellow but this one has a little chipmunk like pattern. Not sure if turkens have standard colorations or if it's just "naked neck mixed with anything" potential. I love it so much.

And I think this is one of our two Splash Polish. No beard! Sadly one of the two has reddish circles around its eyes - I think they were pecked. I gently applied some triple antibiotic cream. Really hoping it helps the baby!