Cackle hatchery's Hatchery Surprise- Anybody got this before?

[Leelanau]

@dealfinder500

Now that you have had a month and they are feathering out, what breeds did you end up with in the end? How are they overall health and size wise?

 

[jc12551]

See, I knew that silkies had black skin, but I wasn't sure if the rose combs also had black skin, or 5 toes.

It would be real handy to make a chart where you could list that this breed has 5 toes, these kinds have black skin, these kinds have this kind of comb, this kind has this kind of marking, etc. But of course, I don't know how many more surprises I'm going to be ordering

Also, how do you tell the comb when they are just chicks?

The rose comb and the Silkie's walnut comb look similar, they're just a flat little spot--in that regard it's easy to mistake them. Single combs look like a mini saw blade--so telling a black Silkie from a black Cochin would be simple (besides the 5 toes). I find some non-black-skinned chicks seem to have black combs and skin that will lighten up as they grow--for example those rose combs above.

If I were better at programing, I would create an app that would basically be a dichotomous key for chicks, that would end up giving you a list of potential breeds. Somebody wanna get on top of that?

I really, really wish someone would do this! Maybe I can set my biology students to do it next year

Half their lessons revolve around chickens anyway. They come at night and watch dung beetles roll up chicken poo in the fall, hatch eggs in the spring, keep chicken behavior journals all winter long!

Hello everyone. I'm new here but I couldn't help but joining in. I am going to order my very first surprise tomorrow and I am so ooooo excited. I just wanted to share that with you all. (My husband and kids are tired of hearing it already.)lol

Welcome! My surprise isn't coming until June but I am excited too!

 

[tookietoo]

Thank you@ jc12551

 

[PSULILKC]

Got my Cackle Surprise today... So excited. I got 53 birds. I believe two turkeys, one duck, two turkens, the rest various chickens.



Can only figure a few out... But so fun!

 

[tookietoo]

Got my Cackle Surprise today... So excited. I got 53 birds. I believe two turkeys, one duck, two turkens, the rest various chickens. Can only figure a few out... But so fun!

OMG! Absolutely awesome! Good luck with your babies!

 

[LooseyGoosey]

Got my Cackle Surprise today... So excited. I got 53 birds. I believe two turkeys, one duck, two turkens, the rest various chickens.



Can only figure a few out... But so fun!

I see a couple Egyptian Fayoumis for sure! They are the easiest to spot (besides turkens...lol)

 

[popsicle]

Got my Cackle Surprise today... So excited. I got 53 birds. I believe two turkeys, one duck, two turkens, the rest various chickens.

what kind of combs do the red-with-black-spot-on-heads have? If pea, Buckeye. Otherwise, in this photo I see: Egyptian Fayoumi, Silkie (white or buff), Easter Egger?, Lakenvelder, White Rock, Gold Laced Polish?, something that will be Columbian (Rock, Wyandotte or Brahma).
red-with-grey-blotches are probably Egyptian Fayoumi
Can only figure a few out... But so fun!

Those are my best guesses. Go to their website (or look in the catalog if you have one) and look at the pictures they have of the breeds I mentioned to get an idea of which chicks I'm referring to.

 

[PSULILKC]

the reds with a dot on their head, were marked by Cackle as rhode island reds or equivalent. I looked at their catalog and figured a couple were fayoumi's, i think a couple are black stars, and then there are a couple barred rock. The turkey's are Black Spanish turkeys. The duck is a white peckin I believe. There is great varierty. I had asked for brown egg layers mostly.

 

[popsicle]

I would lean Welsh Harlequin on the duckling

 

[PSULILKC]

Your prob right on the duck, now that I think about it cause there is brownish black tip on the beak. not all flesh toned. And the other thing with this order was they were all alive and spunky. No puny ones yet. But it prob helps that they were here within a day. They shipped on Wednesday and I got woke up by the post office at 515AM saying they had arrived. I was expecting them tomorrow.