Gideon's Got a Girlfriend! Gideon's Got a Girlfriend! She Isn't Pleased!

[sumi]

You have some stunning chickens there. Especially the roosters. What breeds have you got?

 

[speckledhen]

A large portion of my birds are Plymouth Rocks, in blue, black, splash and barreds. That is my favorite breed. Then, I have blue/black/splash Ameraucanas out of a breeder in Washington state, Cree Farms. Also, there are the Delawares, Blue and Buff Orps, some Easter Eggers, the Belgian D'Anvers in porcelain and mille fleur and some crosses like my Rita, who is 1/2 Blue Laced Red Wyandotte and 1/2 Ameraucana and looks like neither one, and of course, the Tiny Terrorist who came from a BBS Ameraucana blue egg, but looks and acts like a Sumatra and lays a brown egg. Oh, and can't forget my one bantam Cochin and my one Silver Phoenix hen.

 

[sumi]

You have a good collection there! I don't have a single pure breed chicken in my much smaller flock. The only proper breed I had was my Lohmans, but I won't bother with them again. I'll go for pretty chickens next time

I'm thinking Blue Orpingtons.

 

[speckledhen]

Snapped a pic of Gideon to show how much more red he's getting in his plumage now. He's really filling out, but he will never be as wide as his daddy. His body type definitely leans toward the Easter Egger side of the family.

 

[speckledhen]

Gideon is now 20 weeks old and still has to sneak up on the hens to mate them, then run for his life afterward. His mother, Maretta, seems to know somehow that she is his mother, or at least, acts like she knows, and follows him around to goose him, which sends him about 3 ft into the air, LOL.

Here are new pics from today. So far, no one has claimed him. He's still jumpy, but also, still not at all aggressive toward us.

 

[Cetawin]

He sure is a handsome dued. I hope Zilla looks as good at that age. I do love watching the changes in them as they grow up though. Curious to see how Zilla fills out in comparison to Gideon.

 

[sumi]

He's looking good! Wonder why he's so jumpy though. My rooster's in the dog box. We had our 3rd hawk visit today and for the 3rd time he completely missed it. He's usually good, watching out for any big birds, but not this one!

 

[speckledhen]

I don't know exactly why he's so jumpy, but it's irritating. I hold out my hand and he starts making these unsettled noises and looks for an escape route. It bugs the heck out of me. He will eat out of my hand if I have something for him, but let me pet him? No way.

 

[sumi]

One of my young roosters is like that. After his mom weaned them we raised them in the house for a while, so he should be quite tame. But lately he wouldn't let me pet him. Same as Gideon, he'll eat out of my hand, but grabs the food and runs off. He was quite tame until this recent nonsense.
DH discovered one of the chicks got minor injuries from the hawk trying to catch her. I'm so glad she got away! She looks a lot like Joy, so she's a bit special to me. Having her is a little like having Joy back.
How's the Terrorist? And Suede? Still hanging on?

 

[speckledhen]

The terrorist is the terrorist, never changes. Suede isn't doing well. He spends much of his time on the ground, turning very dark in the face and comb. This is sadly his last summer, I fear. I made him a special blueberry pancake breakfast a couple of days ago, something he really loves. I will never see a blueberry again without thinking of him. That is one thing he doesn't like to share with his women.