Just had to share

[montverdechick]

My 12 chicks are now five weeks old and all are doing well. We finished the pen on Easter and they have been outside 4 times so far. Love to watch them peck, chase bugs and "try" to fly. Lots of dominance displays as well. It's all very interesting...kind of soothing to sit and watch. Here are a few pictures...

The new run. It's 12'L x 10' W x 7' H. It has a door that closes automatically for safety and a little metal roof over the ladder to the coup. My husband built the coup into the corner of our shed and added a screened window for extra ventilation. He also designed their door to slide up/down when we pull/release a rope so we can let them in/out from outside the run. Finally, he buried extra chicken wire 20 inches underground to deter predators and my Catahoula dogs.

Here are the girls outside for the first time on Easter Sunday. They didn't want to do out at first, but loved it once they were out there. Last night was the first time that they started going back in on their own at dusk.

One of my Amerucanas. I am worried that she is a he. Long neck feathers and pretty dominent. Any thoughts? I can't have any roos in my town... :-(

The girls hanging out in the shade. My white and buff Amerucanas really stand out from the RIRs, RSLs and Dominiques. Wonder if the buff one will turn all buff or stay half white?

Two of my Dominiques trying to cool off (funny thing is it was hotter in the coup!). They are starting to get the beautiful feather patterns they are know for and their comb area is turning red.

This is my first time raisiing chicks and I love it. Hope you enjoy the pics.

 

[4H kids and mom]

I'm pretty sure the Ameraucana you think is a he, is a she! I have Ameraucanas a little older and the boys have BIG RED combs now. The comb in the chick you pictured is still yellow and small which indicates female. Even hens will show dominance. They have to establish a pecking order.

Just for comparison, here's one of my boys:

And one of my girls:

These were taken when the chicks had just turned 5 weeks old. Now they are almost a week older, and the bright red combs stand out even more.

 

[montverdechick]

That makes me feel a lot better. I knew that they have to set a "pecking order", but the way her feathers stand up (and the fact that they are longer than the others) made me wonder. Thanks.

Hey, your Amerucanas have yellow legs. I thought they all had blue legs...interesting! Love their coloration, none of mine are like that.

 

[4H kids and mom]

Its more likely that she just wants to be the Alpha hen! Some of my girls puff out their neck feathers and dance around and kick at the other hens too. Silly chickens

We call them our "Gender Confused" chickens....lol

The boy in the photo is actually an Easter Egger, which explains the yellow legs, but we love him anyway! Thats our ChickenDuck!

 

[mudhen]

I agree, nice coop!
Agree about pecking order establishment...
Anyway they all look happy!!

 

[montverdechick]

Thank you. And, yes, we spent about 14 hours working on it...had to make sure the door worked perfectly and that every corner was "square". My husband is very good at buliding things and said he didn't want to do this again! BTW, the chickens were his idea...I love him!!

Just for fun, here is a picture of one other thing he has built me. The dog kennel (12'x6') for my two Catahoulas. It's off the ground with composite flooring and cattle fencing...note the side dog house. My dogs are 65 lbs (that is Blue in the picture) and 55 lbs respectively, so that should help you see how large it is. He also recently built a passion vine arbor in my butterfly garden and a trellis for my grapes. I am so spoiled!! We've only been married for 1 year, so we'll see how much he does after 5 years!

Wow, can't beleive that Chicken duck is so big...time sure does fly. He's beautiful.