California - Northern

[Audio51]

I got 2 videos of the ducklings with the mama hen. Not great quality since my home wifi is slow.
You can't see it here, but they are really responding to the mom quite well. When she's go food , they're running faster than I can see those little legs move

And here they are for a small swim. They really can't do a lot of that at this age but so darn cute!

How cute! She is doing great with them...

 

[chrissyr]

How cute!  She is doing great with them...

Thank you. I am happy how she is with them. Was a little hesitant they wouldn't follow her. But they're one big happy family

 

[SpringPeeper]

My two Golden Cots are growing fast. Opinions on the plumage? I'm thinking the one losing its chest spots is male. The other still has spots but also looks like it's getting the rusty wash color, so I'm not sure. Edited to add: Their heads look weird because they are wet.

The Texas A&Ms are little fatties! This one likes to peck the hand that feeds it.

Random pic I was uploading for the TJ eggs thread, but I love this pullets feathers. Something about how muted and diffused her spots and the bleed throughs are reminds me of an oil painting. She's my calmest of the Trader Joe's batch as well.

 

[ronott1]

My two Golden Cots are growing fast. Opinions on the plumage? I'm thinking the one losing its chest spots is male. The other still has spots but also looks like it's getting the rusty wash color, so I'm not sure. Edited to add: Their heads look weird because they are wet.

The Texas A&Ms are little fatties! This one likes to peck the hand that feeds it.

Random pic I was uploading for the TJ eggs thread, but I love this pullets feathers. Something about how muted and diffused her spots and the bleed throughs are reminds me of an oil painting. She's my calmest of the Trader Joe's batch as well.

She should be calm--she is likely and austra white, so the australorp will make her calmer

 

[SpringPeeper]

She should be calm--she is likely and austra white, so the australorp will make her calmer

I figured she was an Austra White or similar mix. When the grow outs are shuffled into regular runs, I plan on sending the TJ pullets to my tiny Australorp flock (the cockerel only has three pullets right now). The TJ boys will have to be dinner, though it bums me out a little. Not enough space to keep every rooster I find novel, endearing or pitiable.

 

[Audio51]

My two Golden Cots are growing fast. Opinions on the plumage? I'm thinking the one losing its chest spots is male. The other still has spots but also looks like it's getting the rusty wash color, so I'm not sure. Edited to add: Their heads look weird because they are wet.

The Texas A&Ms are little fatties! This one likes to peck the hand that feeds it.

Random pic I was uploading for the TJ eggs thread, but I love this pullets feathers. Something about how muted and diffused her spots and the bleed throughs are reminds me of an oil painting. She's my calmest of the Trader Joe's batch as well.

They are feathering up nicely! The Goldens look like and male and female but I am also new at this and could be wrong. The one with the red chest and no spots definitley looks male. There other has too many spots to be male I think. My A&Ms are pigs too. Some of them are pretty tame and will come up to me when I am refreshing their feeder.. I am hoping they will start revealing their sex soon so I can decide who I am keeping for breeding and who is going in the freezer. I will keep the biggest females.

 

[SpringPeeper]

They are feathering up nicely! The Goldens look like and male and female but I am also new at this and could be wrong. The one with the red chest and no spots definitley looks male. There other has too many spots to be male I think. My A&Ms are pigs too. Some of them are pretty tame and will come up to me when I am refreshing their feeder.. I am hoping they will start revealing their sex soon so I can decide who I am keeping for breeding and who is going in the freezer. I will keep the biggest females.

The other three A&Ms are pretty chill, this one has just decided it is protector of the realm.

I should have been more careful about telling my family I was trying out quail. I'm already getting sent all kinds of recipes on Pinterest with hints that they'd be good to try out for Thanksgiving.

I've told them I only got a few to try some out as egg layers and a couple as meat, but they've apparently got a craving. I knew a lot of them loved game birds, so I guess I have no one but myself to blame.

Edit: Thanks for the opinions on the sexes. I won't count my hens before they lay, but I was thinking it might be a pair.

 

[ronott1]

The other three A&Ms are pretty chill, this one has just decided it is protector of the realm.

I should have been more careful about telling my family I was trying out quail. I'm already getting sent all kinds of recipes on Pinterest with hints that they'd be good to try out for Thanksgiving.

I've told them I only got a few to try some out as egg layers and a couple as meat, but they've apparently got a craving. I knew a lot of them loved game birds, so I guess I have no one but myself to blame.

Edit: Thanks for the opinions on the sexes. I won't count my hens before they lay, but I was thinking it might be a pair.

That is so funny!

There is a BYCr on a different thread that can't get her family to even eat the eggs let alone the meat. They are very turned off by the whole idea.

Crazy!

 

[SpringPeeper]

That is so funny!

There is a BYCr on a different thread that can't get her family to even eat the eggs let alone the meat. They are very turned off by the whole idea.

Crazy!

I'm not too surprised, I know people who look ill at the thought of eating duck eggs, or killing a chicken yourself. I'm very grateful my parents raised me to be knowledgeable about where meat comes from, and not squeamish about growing and processing it myself. Same with eggs. I want to teach my kids the same.

 

[ronott1]

I'm not too surprised, I know people who look ill at the thought of eating duck eggs, or killing a chicken yourself. I'm very grateful my parents raised me to be knowledgeable about where meat comes from, and not squeamish about growing and processing it myself. Same with eggs. I want to teach my kids the same.

My Family is very in to it. My 26 year old told me she misses having a heritage chicken to eat.

I killed my first chicken with my Dad when I was about 10. Mom raised rabbits and we usually had a pig and a steer growing out. We always had chickens but gave them up when we sold the orchard and moved to Corning. Hunting Quail on the property was my relaxation while in High School.

Quail is very tasty and I like it much more than Dove.