Lavender Orpington genders - 8 weeks old

[catchthewind]

Weird about the age. She did have some younger Orps with her too (2 weeks at the time); maybe I misunderstood and these two were actually younger after all? It doesn't matter either way to me. We chose these two because of colouring, not age, and she didn't charge me more/less. But they are WAY bigger than any of the others. Here are a couple more pictures with my better camera, to show how much bigger than the others they are:





Regardless of their age, should I be more careful about bringing them outside when it's a bit chilly? When I posted pictures of them a couple of weeks ago I was told they looked mostly feathered out.

 

[scbatz33]

Just out of curiosity, what level of protein are they being fed?

Ok, these lavs are right at 1 month old.

See how the blacks have more feathering?

 

[scbatz33]

Here's another....sorry I don't have closer shots

The females do seem to feather faster......

 

[catchthewind]

They were on a feed from the store that was 19 or 20% I think, I can't remember. I just in the last week or so switched them to one that's milled locally and non-GMO and has better ingredients that is 25%, and we also give them bugs, crickets, worms, and some grains and greens. (Not more than 10% I don't think though.) They seem happy and healthy, though to be completely honest I am so new to this I'm not sure I would recognize a not healthy and happy chicken. They eat well and when they are outside they love to roam around and scratch in the dirt. They are really calm though. They will sit on my three year old's lap and watch TV with her lol.

 

[catchthewind]

Oh, and are all three of the Lavender Orpingtons just a month old? To me mine look way more feathered out than any of them, but one of yours isn't too far off from mine. But again, I'm new so I don't really know what I'm talking about.

The 8 week old ones that someone else posted definitely look older than mine. The breeder does hatches exactly every 4 weeks though and she just had some hatch this last weekend, so they can only be either 4 weeks or 8 weeks. The others in the brooder with them are 4 weeks.

 

[scbatz33]

The higher protein will make a TON of difference. I keep mine on a min of 24% until 6 weeks then they go to a 20% until laying age. Then they are on about a 18%. They are bigger, heavier birds. They do better on higher levels of protein.

Same birds at 2 1/2 months

Note the combs...female, female, male, male

 

[scbatz33]

Quote:
Yes, the birds in the pics are from the same hatch...They were hatched July 16, 2010. The first two pics are taken on Aug 13, 2010. The last pic was taken on 9/26/2010.

I'd guess you have more like 4 to 6 week old babies. The only way they would be that bad in feathering is if they were fed really horrible feed. If that were the case, you will see a very quick turn around. But I'd venture to say they are younger.

 

[catchthewind]

Quote:
Yes, the birds in the pics are from the same hatch...They were hatched July 16, 2010. The first two pics are taken on Aug 13, 2010. The last pic was taken on 9/26/2010.

I'd guess you have more like 4 to 6 week old babies. The only way they would be that bad in feathering is if they were fed really horrible feed. If that were the case, you will see a very quick turn around. But I'd venture to say they are younger.

Thank you, your birds are so pretty. It is possible the feed store feed I had them on just isn't very good. They don't have an ingredient list for it. That's why I switched them to this new one when I found it. Also, we got a couple more chicks from the breeder (not Orpingtons, a different breed) but her chicks are smaller than ours and it had only been 1 1/2 weeks since we got them, and she feeds them the same feed store feed we started with.

This thread has the same two the day (or maybe day after) we got them. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=458611 I thought they were 6 weeks at the time, is it possible they're only 2 weeks? If it's the feed, I hope the new one we got will help. It has really awesome ingredients and we can see bits of oat, corn, etc. in it, unlike the other one which just reminds me of dog kibble. (We don't feed our dog or cats kibble either, they get raw food. We try to stick close to natural diets here.)

 

[scbatz33]

the dorking and ee probably are 2 weeks or there abouts, but the orps in the post are older.

As for your feed, protein is very important. Freshness of feed is important too. I used to live close to a mill and I got feed fresh. Now I have to make do with mass produced feed. I feed a chick starter of 24% or better. It's a crumble so easy for them to eat. I'd be careful if you are feeding anything to young chicks that has actual grain in it. you will have to provide some form of grit in order for them to digest the feed properly.

Chick starter is good because it's made for little baby stomachs. You can buy chick sized grit. Some people also use play sand or grind up regular sized grit.

At 6 to 8 weeks you can shift to a starter/grower range feed. Again, if it has solid pieces of grain, you should be supplying grit. If your chicks are free ranging they will pick up bits of rock to grind their feed with. But if they are in a brooder 24/7 you should be giving them something to help with digestion. I feed Flock Raiser and at roughly 12 weeks will add in Game Cock Conditioner. It has seeds and whole grains. So at that point I also start providing grit.

 

[catchthewind]

Quote:
Thank you so much for all the help. I really really appreciate it.

I don't want to do anything to harm the chicks. We already lost one because of a stupid mistake of mine and I still feel so guilty. Hoping not to have any repeats.

The new feed is a chick starter/grower crumble that says on the label to feed until I switch to the layer food. The bits are small, not whole pieces of grain, but I do provide some grit for them too. They gobble the grit up like it's candy, so I've started just sprinkling a bit in with their food. Once they're out of the brooder they'll be free range, but we have to get the darn coop built first which involves the weather cooperating with us for one weekend.

The only other thing I can think of is I bought parakeet grit from Walmart and found out here that it has calcium added and can damage their kidneys. I only gave that one to them for less than a week before finding out about the calcium, and gave them about a tablespoon a day between five chicks. Would that cause permanent damage or slower feathering out or anything like that? The grit they're on now is chick grit from the feed store.