New chicks!!! *New pics on page 2*

[silverfern]

why does one of them have a red head?

 

[obaan1]

I think that is a reflection from her red heat light.

 

[PotterWatch]

One does have a red head. We had the EEs marked so that we could make sure to tell them apart from the other breeds since they can be so variable in appearance. We had a total order of about 35 chicks. There is supposedly a Delaware included in the order, but at this point, it looks so much like the meat chicks that we don't know which one it is. I don't think I brought it home but I will have to keep an eye on wing color as they get a little older.

 

[PotterWatch]

I managed to get a few more pictures today. I am planning to document the meat chicks pretty closely so that I can make a series of articles about it for the website my husband and I are putting together. This isn't our first batch of meat chicks, but I didn't bother taking pictures of the others.

First the meat chicks:

I put one of the EEs in this picture so that as they grow, there is a reference to show how large they get in a short time vs. an egg-layer.

The two EEs who we haven't named yet. I'm trying to decide if we want to reuse names from past chickens or come up with new ones. They will be named after something having to do with Harry Potter of course!

 

[Frankenshine]

Cute! We are also HP fans - I love your sig!! I'm curious about your meat bird plans - you guys are in suburbia, correct? Do you have any limits on chicken numbers? Will you just process in the backyard, and who does the dispatching?

 

[PotterWatch]

We are in the suburbs abd totally surrounded by other people. Our city allows us to have up to 14 hens but no roosters. We have had as many as 23 on our property at one time but 10 of them were meat birds. These will bring my total to 18, but since the meaties will only be around for a few months, I'm not concerned about it.

We have always done the processing in the backyard and will be doing so again with these birds. Since some friends also got meat birds in this order, I expect they will bring theirs to my house and we will all process them together. I do all the processing for my family as my husband doesn't want to see that part of it. My kids may help this time but I haven't asked them yet if they want to.