Hopeful Hatch Grow-along

They are so cute, they might not all be cockerels the ones on your arms
From what I read the Buff Orp / SL Wyandotte crosses are sex linked which in theory means that the yellow/white are males and any that hatched reddish are female! But nothing is certain of course! I’d LOVE it if some of them were female!!! 😍 they are so spunky and fun. I’m preparing myself for the worst, that way anything else would be a wonderful surprise! 🤩🐣
 
We decided it’s probably a good idea to handle the suspected cockerels often and frequently so that when it comes time to rehome a couple of them, hopefully they are well-mannered and easy to handle if ever necessary for moving purposes or health reasons. Plus who needs an excuse to snuggle baby chicks?! Winchester is in the front! They’re getting little tail feathers! 😍
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These guys are so sweet. I cropped out my crossed eyes but I’m not the star of the photo anyway! How cute are they. And I got a good picture of their sister who roosted on my arm like that for a while, she was content to just sit with me. We’ve nicknamed her “Maybelline/Mabel” because of her eyeliner. My co-worker who watched her hatch with me called her that when she emerged and it just kind of stuck with me lol. I hope no one takes offense to us calling them something a little different. All the names you guys chose were awesome too! I hope that she keeps some of the black when she feathers out. I think there is potential for her to look mostly like a dark buff Orpington which would be beautiful, but it would be kinda cool if there was a little bit of lacing or black markings that came through!
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😍 Winchester!! :love
He's getting big in a hurry! They're all beautiful babies!
 
Hi peeps!! We are growing so much over here. It is fun to see them starting to feather out! What’s interesting is that the 3 suspected cockerels are so different in their markings. Winchester is developing the fastest and he has the most black markings of anyone so far. He has a lot of black on his wings and tail feathers. Here is a side by side of him and “Colonel Potter” as my husband has been calling him, he has mostly white wing feathers coming in with minimal black. I’m wondering if they will have any lacing on them when they are fully grown! Winchester is on the left and Potter is on the right. You can see how much bigger Winchester is too! Kind of amazing.
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“Potter‘s” wing feathers
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Winchester’s wings!
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I also included some cute pictures of Mabel- she’s the only 100% guaranteed female I have from the BO/SLW crossing and she looks like a tiny little hawk to me. She has quite a bit of black coming in as well. Potter has been the friendliest, jumping on our hands and wanting desperately just to perch on our shoulders. They all have good temperaments so far so I’m thankful for that! I know it all changes when the hormones start kicking in but I’m hoping they will stay as friendly as they are now.
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Her markings make her look like she has eyelashes 😍


The BO/Speckled Sussex twins I think will end up looking like a more auburn colored BO, they are not getting any markings as they are feathering out but they are cutie patooties. They were my baby Pepper’s babies, so we’ve kinda nick named them Cayenne and Chili for now. 🤣 they’re growing the slowest so far but beauty takes time!!! I’m not sure yet if they are both girls but I am definitely praying that they are!!

I’m going to TSC this week when they get chicks to adopt some more pullets (hoping they have speckled Sussex or Easter eggers!) that way we have some more guaranteed females (although we know how that can go) just in case. I’m prepared to keep them separated but I’m hoping they will be able to integrate with the babies with some additional feeders and waterers. We will see! I’ll post pictures with the newest additions once I have them.

Here they are climbing on me lol
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You guys I can’t express how much love I have for one of the little Roos… Colonel Potter literally just wants to hang out with us all day. I check on them every morning and he ALWAYS jumps on my arm and wants to go for a field trip roosting on my shoulder. He doesn’t cry when I take him away from the brooder and he just sits there and quietly peeps and chitters to me. I was holding another chick in the brooder and he literally flew out of the open lid to get on my arm too.

We don’t know which rooster we will be keeping yet obviously, but I’m thinking he really wants to stay. 😂

We already have a system worked out, he climbs up my arm and sits on my shoulder, we go make coffee together and say good morning to my husband, then I bring him back to the brooder and stick out my arm and he waddles down my arm and sits on my hand until I lower it back in.

Is it normal for them to be so clever so young? Am I personifying him too much? Probably. But I love him anyway.
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Hopefully I’ll have another update today as I’m heading to tractor supply to see if they have any chicks today!
 
You guys I can’t express how much love I have for one of the little Roos… Colonel Potter literally just wants to hang out with us all day. I check on them every morning and he ALWAYS jumps on my arm and wants to go for a field trip roosting on my shoulder. He doesn’t cry when I take him away from the brooder and he just sits there and quietly peeps and chitters to me. I was holding another chick in the brooder and he literally flew out of the open lid to get on my arm too.

We don’t know which rooster we will be keeping yet obviously, but I’m thinking he really wants to stay. 😂

We already have a system worked out, he climbs up my arm and sits on my shoulder, we go make coffee together and say good morning to my husband, then I bring him back to the brooder and stick out my arm and he waddles down my arm and sits on my hand until I lower it back in.

Is it normal for them to be so clever so young? Am I personifying him too much? Probably. But I love him anyway.
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Hopefully I’ll have another update today as I’m heading to tractor supply to see if they have any chicks today!
Which one was colonel potter? How is Charles doing?
It’s normal I think? Most of my chicks enjoy sitting on me, even now
Careful, once you get some chicks you’re never going to stop! 😄
 
Which one was colonel potter? How is Charles doing?
It’s normal I think? Most of my chicks enjoy sitting on me, even now
Careful, once you get some chicks you’re never going to stop! 😄
I THINK Charles is Potter, I think Charles was the one with the smallest dot on his head!

tractor supply only had Guinea fowl chicks and ducks today! The ducks were super cute but we can’t have any ducks (yet, anyway)!! Hoping they have some chicks tomorrow! They’ve been pretty delayed where I live I think because of the storms.
 
I THINK Charles is Potter, I think Charles was the one with the smallest dot on his head!

tractor supply only had Guinea fowl chicks and ducks today! The ducks were super cute but we can’t have any ducks (yet, anyway)!! Hoping they have some chicks tomorrow! They’ve been pretty delayed where I live I think because of the storms.
Oh that’s good, it’s nice to know he’s a good boy so far
What other chicks do you want to get?
 
Oh that’s good, it’s nice to know he’s a good boy so far
What other chicks do you want to get?
I’m hoping to get some more pullets, I’d like to get another speckled Sussex, Easter egger or Ameraucana, or olive eggers! It will depend what they have available. If I wait another week there’s another feed store in the area that actually knows the breeds they’re getting so I may wait one more week and go pick up those chicks! They’ll have Ancona pullets too! I may get one of those. They are so pretty!
 

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