We were excited to buy a house a couple years ago that is fairly rural, and have been gradually increasing our self-sufficiency skills ever since. After a 3rd year now with a successful vegetable garden we decided to add chickens. Also Coturnix Quail, but that's not relevant to this thread.
After research (we are both often guilty or over-researching...) we decided we would try with RIR a/o Buff Orps a/o Barred Rocks. To our surprise RIRs and Barrs were at the last poultry auction in the same bin/owner so we got 5 of each, hoping to end up with 4-6 hens. We were under the impression they were 2 days old at the auction Saturday (30 June) but as we read more and see more photos, we're thinking that they may be as much as a week older? They have clear wing feathering coming in, and also seem to prefer the temp in the "brooder" (ie storage box) lower than 95°. Not sure how much it matters, but thought we'd ask anyhow, and doubling as an introduction.
All photos taken last evening, and we forgot to turn off the heat lamp (AGAIN!) for the pics, sorry.
▼ One of the reds - showing her wing feathers
▼ One of the Barrs showing off her wings - they currently can get enough lift to fall semi-gracefully.
▼Another good shot of the BR chicks' wing growth
▼ Awfully cute for dinosaurs!
Our plan is to have them as multi-use -- Eggs, meat, kitchen scrap disposal, compost creators, and bug hunters. We cannot have Roos here, so we're also hoping that they happen to be "big enough to eat" around the same time they "crow at bloody 4am". LOL If not, no worries, we can sell them back at the auction. We are neophytes with chickens (and C. Quail) but not with critters. We are so far having a lot of fun, as these guys are so much different than the animals we are used to! Very educational and fun. We are trying to tame them, not up to being pets, but just comfortable being picked up or moved around, and maybe occasionally coming to us for treats and such. So we handle each of them a couple times a day, call "chickchickchick" when we go in the room, and offer our hands with crumble in it. They sure learned HAND=FOOD quickly, and will come running over to eat from our hands. Even leaving the feeder to hand feed... and of course the feeder has exactly the same crumble in it.
So if there are age guesses or y'all need another view, let me know. We love the learning of this experiment!
Tracy & Jeni in Washington State
After research (we are both often guilty or over-researching...) we decided we would try with RIR a/o Buff Orps a/o Barred Rocks. To our surprise RIRs and Barrs were at the last poultry auction in the same bin/owner so we got 5 of each, hoping to end up with 4-6 hens. We were under the impression they were 2 days old at the auction Saturday (30 June) but as we read more and see more photos, we're thinking that they may be as much as a week older? They have clear wing feathering coming in, and also seem to prefer the temp in the "brooder" (ie storage box) lower than 95°. Not sure how much it matters, but thought we'd ask anyhow, and doubling as an introduction.
All photos taken last evening, and we forgot to turn off the heat lamp (AGAIN!) for the pics, sorry.
▼ One of the reds - showing her wing feathers
▼ One of the Barrs showing off her wings - they currently can get enough lift to fall semi-gracefully.
▼Another good shot of the BR chicks' wing growth
▼ Awfully cute for dinosaurs!
Our plan is to have them as multi-use -- Eggs, meat, kitchen scrap disposal, compost creators, and bug hunters. We cannot have Roos here, so we're also hoping that they happen to be "big enough to eat" around the same time they "crow at bloody 4am". LOL If not, no worries, we can sell them back at the auction. We are neophytes with chickens (and C. Quail) but not with critters. We are so far having a lot of fun, as these guys are so much different than the animals we are used to! Very educational and fun. We are trying to tame them, not up to being pets, but just comfortable being picked up or moved around, and maybe occasionally coming to us for treats and such. So we handle each of them a couple times a day, call "chickchickchick" when we go in the room, and offer our hands with crumble in it. They sure learned HAND=FOOD quickly, and will come running over to eat from our hands. Even leaving the feeder to hand feed... and of course the feeder has exactly the same crumble in it.
So if there are age guesses or y'all need another view, let me know. We love the learning of this experiment!
Tracy & Jeni in Washington State
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