MaryOos
Chirping
- Jun 1, 2015
- 50
- 27
- 81
Thanks to an ordinance change, I now have my first little flock. I started with 20 due to having to order bulk to get what I wanted. I eventually sold off 12 to 2 of my husbands co-workers once I picked my favorites. That left me with my favorite 8. 4 from the mail order, 2 silkies from a local show breeder, and a1 smooth and 1 frizzled polish from another local bantam lover.
First are Lucy and Lacy Waddlesworth (my Columbian Wyandottes)
This is Lucy at 9 weeks old. Small and sweet. Always easy to pick up unless she thinks you are about to put her in the pen. She likes adventure and is the one I can count on to get into something every time she is let out of the pen to free range. The columbians are easily the quietest in my flock.
Lacy at 7 weeks. Lacy has much prettier feathering than Lucy and is a little bigger. More lace around the neck, more black in the tail, and her feathers are fuller and whiter. Praying Lacy does not turn out to be a Lucas. I don't see any behavioral signs of a roo. She does not get involved in the chest bumping and squabbling. Both Columbians tend to be more adventurous wanderers than the rest. When she is picked up and stroked she immediately relaxes and goes to sleep. She is always the last one to come back to the pen. The rest of the flock is trained to come when they hear me shake a cup of meal worms but my Wyandottes won't touch them.
This is Rosie Fluffybottom. She is a Salmon Faverolle at 9 weeks old. She should have ben named Mimi Flaps-a-lot because every time I pick her up she screams and flaps like a looney bird. She doesn't want to be touched at all. But she does like to sit on my lap or beside me on the garden swing. She is like a crack addict when it comes to dried meal worms so she is the first back into the pen when I shake the cup. She is so much fun to watch run on her short, fluffy little legs. She is hoping to catch a circling moth in this pic.
I am perplexed by Rosies chin feathers. They are coming in black. I can't find any photo's of Salmon Faverolles with black chins.
She does a lot of chest bumping with my polish and my silkie roo. But she did not have the "roo" black stripe on her wings and shows no other sign of being a roo.
I started with 6 dominiques. They were definitely the most agile of the breeds. Roosting at 3 days, the first to fly, etc. But at a week & 1/2 they were already little meanies. Every time I reached in the brooder they came running with their beaks open to nip. It only got worse as they aged. Then one got a blocked crop from some grass and I spent the day on the couch nursing her, massaging the blockage and giving a special blend of warm water with a drop of acv and just a couple mashed in chick crumbles to flavor. She sweetened up, got very attached and followed me everywhere for a couple days. Then she went back to nipping and pecking. Just when I decided to rehome all the dominiques one separated herself from the crowd and got to stay. She is the smartest, sweetest, and most loyal of my birds. When I am weeding she is in my face ad between my feet and on the back of my hand, watching and waiting for a worm to pull up. Slows me down but makes the job so much more fun. I temporarily named the dominiques for the marks on their heads. Her mark was a X-mas Tree. The name has stuck because she started responding to the name. So she is now Tree Baby. My favorite bird! And she always has her eye on me!
Next is Rudy and Freckles Featherbee. I was expecting 2 white silkies. But one is quickly becoming a paint. They were the same size when I brought them home but one morning one was suddenly twice as big as the other. The bigger one (Rudy) is always facing off with and chest bumping the others. And now, with what appears to be the start of a walnut forming and the feathers on the head getting a bit stringier, I am almost certain my beautiful white silkie is a he. The day he crows to prove it I have a new home lined up in the country. Heart break!
Rudy Featherbee -
Sweet, tiny, Freckles Featherbee -
This is my smooth polish. She is closer to 11 weeks. She just got her waddle in. She has been a little looney but is coming around thanks to her big topper. The bigger it gets the easier she is to pick up since she can't see me coming from behind. Yesterday when I let her go she voluntarily stayed and laid down on my lap for the first time. She is the most talkative and peeps with every step she takes. I know when she is stressed by the volume and tone of the peep. She has been particularly loud this week since I had to send her polish rooster snuggle buddy away. She definitely my photogenic girl. I caught her having a good stretch here.
And 14 = 15 week old Frizzy. This is Frizzy and Polly Peepers having a last snuggle before dah Frizz went to be the only rooster with a flock of 28 hens in the country where crowing is accepted
Frizz was an awesome bird. So much fun to watch strut and flap and twitch his tail. I miss him tons.
First are Lucy and Lacy Waddlesworth (my Columbian Wyandottes)
This is Lucy at 9 weeks old. Small and sweet. Always easy to pick up unless she thinks you are about to put her in the pen. She likes adventure and is the one I can count on to get into something every time she is let out of the pen to free range. The columbians are easily the quietest in my flock.
Lacy at 7 weeks. Lacy has much prettier feathering than Lucy and is a little bigger. More lace around the neck, more black in the tail, and her feathers are fuller and whiter. Praying Lacy does not turn out to be a Lucas. I don't see any behavioral signs of a roo. She does not get involved in the chest bumping and squabbling. Both Columbians tend to be more adventurous wanderers than the rest. When she is picked up and stroked she immediately relaxes and goes to sleep. She is always the last one to come back to the pen. The rest of the flock is trained to come when they hear me shake a cup of meal worms but my Wyandottes won't touch them.
This is Rosie Fluffybottom. She is a Salmon Faverolle at 9 weeks old. She should have ben named Mimi Flaps-a-lot because every time I pick her up she screams and flaps like a looney bird. She doesn't want to be touched at all. But she does like to sit on my lap or beside me on the garden swing. She is like a crack addict when it comes to dried meal worms so she is the first back into the pen when I shake the cup. She is so much fun to watch run on her short, fluffy little legs. She is hoping to catch a circling moth in this pic.
I am perplexed by Rosies chin feathers. They are coming in black. I can't find any photo's of Salmon Faverolles with black chins.
I started with 6 dominiques. They were definitely the most agile of the breeds. Roosting at 3 days, the first to fly, etc. But at a week & 1/2 they were already little meanies. Every time I reached in the brooder they came running with their beaks open to nip. It only got worse as they aged. Then one got a blocked crop from some grass and I spent the day on the couch nursing her, massaging the blockage and giving a special blend of warm water with a drop of acv and just a couple mashed in chick crumbles to flavor. She sweetened up, got very attached and followed me everywhere for a couple days. Then she went back to nipping and pecking. Just when I decided to rehome all the dominiques one separated herself from the crowd and got to stay. She is the smartest, sweetest, and most loyal of my birds. When I am weeding she is in my face ad between my feet and on the back of my hand, watching and waiting for a worm to pull up. Slows me down but makes the job so much more fun. I temporarily named the dominiques for the marks on their heads. Her mark was a X-mas Tree. The name has stuck because she started responding to the name. So she is now Tree Baby. My favorite bird! And she always has her eye on me!
Next is Rudy and Freckles Featherbee. I was expecting 2 white silkies. But one is quickly becoming a paint. They were the same size when I brought them home but one morning one was suddenly twice as big as the other. The bigger one (Rudy) is always facing off with and chest bumping the others. And now, with what appears to be the start of a walnut forming and the feathers on the head getting a bit stringier, I am almost certain my beautiful white silkie is a he. The day he crows to prove it I have a new home lined up in the country. Heart break!
Rudy Featherbee -
Sweet, tiny, Freckles Featherbee -
This is my smooth polish. She is closer to 11 weeks. She just got her waddle in. She has been a little looney but is coming around thanks to her big topper. The bigger it gets the easier she is to pick up since she can't see me coming from behind. Yesterday when I let her go she voluntarily stayed and laid down on my lap for the first time. She is the most talkative and peeps with every step she takes. I know when she is stressed by the volume and tone of the peep. She has been particularly loud this week since I had to send her polish rooster snuggle buddy away. She definitely my photogenic girl. I caught her having a good stretch here.
And 14 = 15 week old Frizzy. This is Frizzy and Polly Peepers having a last snuggle before dah Frizz went to be the only rooster with a flock of 28 hens in the country where crowing is accepted
Frizz was an awesome bird. So much fun to watch strut and flap and twitch his tail. I miss him tons.
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