New Chicks in the Flock (pic heavy!)

[aoxa]

Oooo I love the blue splash

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Holy cow, I just typed the entire post and my screen twitched and erased the whole thing.


Well... Long story short, the babies are 3 months old!

We are no longer peeping! I hear the babies honking, making a raspy sound, and making adorable little high-pitched clucks!

As far as other news, starting this weekend, we will no longer be separated by a fence from the big girls. That means that starting this weekend--GASP--we get to free range!!


So... Pictures! Here we have Frou-frou with a lovely pose:

Frou-frou is a love-bug! She waits at my ankles until I pick her up, after which she snuggles her head up next to my neck and honks until she dozes off.

This butt isn’t getting any less fuzzy!

Fancy, the little diva:

Fancy is now styling without a leg band—after all, who could mistake her?

Fancy dropped her tail feathers a while back. I’m wondering if she’s ever going to grow them back... At any rate, she’s still so pretty!

She Who Sleeps Standing Up, the shy one:

SWSSU is the first to get some major wattle growth! She also has some shiny feathers!

Oh, SWSSU is so pretty! I love her penciled feathers!

Pogonip, the growth-spurt bird!

One day, I went out to find one stretched out Pogonip. I swear, over night, she got legs! Suddenly, she’s taller than Frou-frou and even some of the older girls! ...She also has some stunning speckled feathers coming in!

But she’s still in that awkward teen stage...

Iddy Biddy the genius! “Who’re you lookin’ at?”

Biddy’s still quite small. With Pogonip’s growth spurt, Biddy suddenly seems smaller again. All her brood mates seem to tower over her! She’s still a cutie, though!

Biddy can also be quite photogenic...

And finally...

We know how to get to our new home now!

Checking out the digs (Don't mind Vespa's head at the bottom here.)... That's a 20 inch box fan they're next to for size comparison.

Trying to blend in...

Phew... Okay, so I should probably go to bed now because I have school in the morning.

 

[Chickenfan4life]

Oh, I love your chickens... and this story is amazing... I miss them when they were babies...

 

[Fluffballs]

Oh my goodness! They've grown!

They're so big and pretty now!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Here we go again--it's the 4-month hatch day photo op!!

Since the last update, we've fully integrated into the flock without too much difficulty and, of course, we've begun to free-range! I still catch these naughty pullets down the driveway about once a day, but we're getting the hang of it and starting to understand our boundaries (I hope). I've even seen them hanging out with the big girls without being pecked at--and Pogonip's been challenging some of the older ladies for dominance!

So, without further ado, here are or pictures!


Hello!

Frou-frou has been growing--she's at least as tall as most of the big girls! She's still a big baby, though, and is very upset when she's chased or pecked at.

Fuzzy-butt! I love the little splash in the middle of her bum.

Guess who!

Fancy! This girl just keeps getting prettier!

Fancy's still a bit more bold than her sister, SWSSU. Fancy's always running around with the two Sussex, usually having to be herded back down the driveway along with them.

Hi there...

It's shy little SWSSU! This girl is so meek. She was the hardest to get pictures of, that's for sure!

SWSSU is such a looker, though, isn't she?

Here I am!

Pogonip the perpetual motion bird! I caught Poggy fluffing her neck out at one of the 7-year-old Easter-eggers. Needless to say, she was put in her place!

Poggy's usually the leader of any expeditions far beyond the chicken run. She's so adventurous and energetic--I couldn't get her to sit still very long for pictures!





What's that?

That's a Biddy-bird! Biddy's still on the small size, but boy has she gotten fat! Fortunately, lots of running around has helped her keep her weight at an acceptable level.

A little bit of rest between walks won't hurt...

And that's all for now! See you next time!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It's been a long month, but here we are again! My babies have turned 5 months old!

Ah, and they're growing up so fast. We've already had our first squat of the group from none other than little Iddy Biddy bird! I have begun to retrain myself to refer to them as the pullets instead of the babies (except for Frou-frou--she's my big baby!), which is not easy, I might add.

These darlings are doing really well for free-ranging, no longer heading down the driveway but once in a long while. Their standing in the flock is coming up, too, for there are several Easter-eggers that won't mess with Poggy or Biddy. Others, though, won't even look the big girls in the eye (*cough-Frouf'-cough*).

And that's about it for news, so on to the pictures!



Frou-frou, my big baby girl!

If love was a chicken, Frou-frou would be its image. This girl comes running whenever she sees me. She would live in my arms if I let her, I suspect.

Frouf' likes to think she's tough, too. Any time the pullets are playing around, she runs in with her neck feathers out to break it up! Then, if an adult bird gives her a cross look, she comes running for me to save her. See why I call her my big baby?




The pretty Partridge Rocks, Fancy and SWSSU!

Fancy, my little diva. She did not want her picture taken and made me work for it. At last, I caught her posing by the water.

By golly, though, I was not to get another good picture of her. I wanted to show how pretty and shapely she's gotten, but she just hunched there and, well, showed me what she thought of this whole deal.

Anyway, Fancy has the sweetest little voice now! She sounds like a flute when she talks to me, just a-whistling away. She and SWSSU will go running across the chicken yard, and whoever reaches their destination first will turn around for a moment of playful chest-bumping (at which point, Frouf' darts in to break 'em up).




SWSSU, on the other hand, has blossomed into a beauty!

Sweet SWSSU, I always call her. She's so meek and shy, and talks to me nervously when I walk with her. She's feisty enough to take a swing at me if I dare try to pet her, but skittish enough not to let me hold her without some wing-flapping.

This girl has just the right shape, to me. I love how her tail is and the nice way her neck angles... And her feathers are just so soft--when she lets me pet her, that is!




The beautifully brave Speckled Sussex, Poggy and Biddy!



Dear Poggy, the accident prone!

Poggy is the one that goes out of her way to make sure she's dominant in the flock. Thus far, she has been the reason for a handful of the Easter-eggers allowing the pullets to be higher-ranking.

Poggy's managed to hurt her foot somehow (because she's so graceful when it comes to these things), so don't mind how she's standing. She's normally quite tall, the tallest of the pullets.




And finally, Biddy the brave! Conqueror of such scary beasts as the dumpcart!

Biddy, the smallest of the bunch, doesn't stand down to anyone or anything. As a matter of fact, she can be quite the pain in the rear when you're trying to do something in the chicken yard, because she's always there and always into whatever you're doing.

Biddy, as stated above, was the first of the pullets to squat. Here she is on November 1st, the day of her first squat:

(She's always super happy when I take pictures of her. )


...And that is all for this month's photo op!

 

[Snooglerat]

Wow! They have grown into such beautiful chickens! not that they weren't cute go begin with