Well, after years of convincing my family I finally did it. I got my own flock! I hatched my chicks and built my coop (run is still a work in progress) this spring. Of course now I am thrilled to show them off, so welcome to my flock’s thread.
Anyone and everyone is welcome to follow along as I tell you guys some of the ‘Eggventures’ of my flock.
Anyways enough talk, now I’ll introduce you to my flock, and tell you the stories of them.
Flashback to March 8th, 2023, I ordered 8 black Australorp hatching eggs off of eBay. Sketchy I know, but I couldn’t find any local to me, and that’s the breed I was set on. I started incubating and 6/8 started developing. Not too horrible, right? On day 14 one quit. Then another on day 20. And on day 21, another chick pipped into the wrong side and couldn’t break through. And on April 6th after a sleepless night and one assisted hatch I ended up with three chicks, whom I named Bean, Poppy, and Rosie.
Poppy was my personal favorite. He was so sweet and docile and he loved to perch on my shoulder. But I can’t keep the boys where I live, so he went to a nice farm.
Bean is a sweetheart too, sweet and shy.“Beanie” is the nickname she developed.
And then there’s Rosie, the more naughty of the three. I was convinced she was a cockerel for a good three weeks just based on how crazy she was.
I always find her in places she’s not supposed to be
After I had such a bad hatch rate, I knew I was going to need more chicks. And lucky for me, my dad found a friend with Australorps. He gave us 6 eggs and I had a 100% hatch rate. But he couldn’t guarantee that they were purebred Australorps, because he had RIR’s too. So I got two Australorps, and four RIR x Australorp mixes.
On May 2nd, 2023, 5/6 hatched while I was at work, and the last one needed a little assistance when I got home.
Mae
He was a cockerel so he had a name change to Rusty and he went to a nice farm.
June/Juniper
I call her Junie now. She’s 100% one of my favorites. She has the cutest little random white patch on her head. She’s just the sweetest little thing.
Meadow/Chunky
Funny story with Meadow. Meadow was the fluffiest out of the chicks, so my sister started calling her Chunky, and it just kind of stuck. She is now significantly smaller than all the others, but she still holds her name. She’s also the naughtiest. She’s gone under the gate of our fenced in yard about 10 times now, and she’s also flown over the gate once. Now thankfully she’s big enough that she can’t fit.
Cricket
I don’t have much to say about her, except she doesn’t like people that much lol.
Olive
Olive was also a cockerel, so his name changed to Randy and he went to the same farm as Rusty
Penny
My prettiest little girl! She’s a sweetheart, and has been one of my favorites since she hatched
A few random pictures
They even have their own guard dog!
And now since I am the only one in my family that can tell the chickens apart my mom agreed to let me hatch a few more mystery eggs to have diversity in the flock. I got them from my aunt and took them home on an 8 1/2 hour drive.
It’s day 8 today and so far it looks like all have started developing! I think we have one or two quitters though. The dark and speckled eggs are very hard to see in, so I’m not positive that those are alive.
The last thing I have to say is Rosie and Bean are now almost 14 weeks old. I’m impatiently waiting for them to start laying, I bet we’ll see our first egg in the next month or two.
Anyways thanks for reading! I hope you follow along for more pictures & stories of my Eggventures!
Anyone and everyone is welcome to follow along as I tell you guys some of the ‘Eggventures’ of my flock.
Anyways enough talk, now I’ll introduce you to my flock, and tell you the stories of them.
Flashback to March 8th, 2023, I ordered 8 black Australorp hatching eggs off of eBay. Sketchy I know, but I couldn’t find any local to me, and that’s the breed I was set on. I started incubating and 6/8 started developing. Not too horrible, right? On day 14 one quit. Then another on day 20. And on day 21, another chick pipped into the wrong side and couldn’t break through. And on April 6th after a sleepless night and one assisted hatch I ended up with three chicks, whom I named Bean, Poppy, and Rosie.
Poppy was my personal favorite. He was so sweet and docile and he loved to perch on my shoulder. But I can’t keep the boys where I live, so he went to a nice farm.
Bean is a sweetheart too, sweet and shy.“Beanie” is the nickname she developed.
And then there’s Rosie, the more naughty of the three. I was convinced she was a cockerel for a good three weeks just based on how crazy she was.
I always find her in places she’s not supposed to be
After I had such a bad hatch rate, I knew I was going to need more chicks. And lucky for me, my dad found a friend with Australorps. He gave us 6 eggs and I had a 100% hatch rate. But he couldn’t guarantee that they were purebred Australorps, because he had RIR’s too. So I got two Australorps, and four RIR x Australorp mixes.
On May 2nd, 2023, 5/6 hatched while I was at work, and the last one needed a little assistance when I got home.
Mae
He was a cockerel so he had a name change to Rusty and he went to a nice farm.
June/Juniper
I call her Junie now. She’s 100% one of my favorites. She has the cutest little random white patch on her head. She’s just the sweetest little thing.
Meadow/Chunky
Funny story with Meadow. Meadow was the fluffiest out of the chicks, so my sister started calling her Chunky, and it just kind of stuck. She is now significantly smaller than all the others, but she still holds her name. She’s also the naughtiest. She’s gone under the gate of our fenced in yard about 10 times now, and she’s also flown over the gate once. Now thankfully she’s big enough that she can’t fit.
Cricket
I don’t have much to say about her, except she doesn’t like people that much lol.
Olive
Olive was also a cockerel, so his name changed to Randy and he went to the same farm as Rusty
Penny
My prettiest little girl! She’s a sweetheart, and has been one of my favorites since she hatched
A few random pictures
They even have their own guard dog!
And now since I am the only one in my family that can tell the chickens apart my mom agreed to let me hatch a few more mystery eggs to have diversity in the flock. I got them from my aunt and took them home on an 8 1/2 hour drive.
It’s day 8 today and so far it looks like all have started developing! I think we have one or two quitters though. The dark and speckled eggs are very hard to see in, so I’m not positive that those are alive.
The last thing I have to say is Rosie and Bean are now almost 14 weeks old. I’m impatiently waiting for them to start laying, I bet we’ll see our first egg in the next month or two.
Anyways thanks for reading! I hope you follow along for more pictures & stories of my Eggventures!
Australorps are my all time favorite breed!
