Our introduction to keeping chickens, the high's, the lows and pics of our journey.

[lindz8504]

My first 3 eggs from my Golden Comet girls! Got these Sunday, Monday and today! There was also 2 soft-shelled ones on Tuesday (at least I think that is what that was?).... They were smooshed and rubbery, so I figure they ate the insides, and all I found was the membrane?



AND... the one from this morning was in a nest!

 

[Bens-Hens]

Yay, congrats!

Isn't it cool when they hit the target zone! We had a few soft ones last week as I think the last Wynadotte is getting around to laying, but they seem to be hit and miss with their breaks. of 9 we have had a high of 8, but recently 6-7 seems normal for our flock.

I have seen some soft eggs break and the contents be among their night droppings. Only found one in the actual nest.

Both kids at school today, so I plan to finish my chores, clean the brooder (and get the chicks onto some grass) take some breed pics in the noce sunshine and then continue on with the mega brooder project.

Hopefully later, I have a heap of fresh pics to share.

Just have to finish my coffee and internet catch up first hahahaha

 

[Bens-Hens]

Brooder is nearly done, it's a bit of a Frankenbrooder but is plenty big and should see our needs this time around. Just going to give it a good clean out, some fresh shavings and they can move in, then the de-dusting of my office can begin! 1800mm x 800mm x 500mm deep.





Came FREE with the tribal sticker lol

Now, on with the chick pics. I think there is a mistake in there as the missing Fav that I assumed was a Black Australorp may be something else, as today when I went to separate the breeds, one just did not quite fit, perhaps it's another black breed that got mixed in there.

The chicks got some lawn time in the little tractor today while I cleaned out the brooder.



The three little ARA's, one suspect roo on the left (based on comb width at this point.)


The Australorps, although I feel there is an imposter in there, rear right has a funny comb. The chick in the front right also has a fair amount of white down. I will need to go through the black ones again and count them more closely. I think there is a fairly large amount of males in this lot. Still confident we have two blues (left and rear left)


The BA x Ara's again some wide pea combs in there!




The Marans, am now pretty confident to think we have 3 males and three females, just hit two weeks old.

Male


Female




"He's pointing that thing at us a gain! Huddle so he can't tell who's who!"


BV x Ara's, pea combs and some red leakage.




Fav's, one is clearly a girls, the other should be a boy by comparison, but I am still hoping hahahaha




Wellies, I am leaning towards 4 out of 4 males, that way I will be prepared for the worst! Waiting for chest feathers as the eye liner and head v seem inaccurate with this lot. Gut feeling on the combs alone, two males two females.






thats about it for now, have to look more closely at the black chicks and try find the odd one out over the next week.

 

[CB and CG]

Lovely chicks.
I see the 'Australorp' with the unusual comb. Definitely not an Australorp lol.
I agree in having two blues and three blacks though. Completely normal for Australorps to have a lot of white down. These pics show chicks from my line. Lots of white down on these lol. Believe it or not but this shows a pic of 4 blacks.


Here is a blue for good measure. Still demonstrates the large amount of white down though.

 

[Bens-Hens]

Your blue is much lighter than what we have, that's the colour of our Lav's hahaha Do you have a pic of it feathered out or is that a recent hatch?

What I think I did was put a chick with a lot of white in the BA x mix, as I think I can just see a single comb in there, so I probably have one of each in the wrong pic. I want to go back through them again when I get a chance and make sure.

 

[CB and CG]

She was from a Blue x Splash mating. This is her grown up.


I personally prefer blues from black x blue matings. Here are some blues and blacks from the latest black x blue mating. There are 4 blues and 5 blacks in this pic.

These chicks are now 8 weeks old. The two blue pullets are the perfect shade of blue IMO and they already have crisp lacing against a recognisably lighter ground colour. I really need to get some pics. They will be in the breeding pen next year with another 2 black pullets from this batch.

 

[CB and CG]

The other thing I need to mention is an Australorps crazy desire to be a mother. I currently have 3 Australorps on the brood. The even more unfortunate thing is that they are my 3 best lol. I think that Australorps are sometimes horribly under rated in the brooding department.

 

[Bens-Hens]

I would be happy with that shade of blue! I think ours will be darker though, not sure what the mixes came from, assuming a heap of black was in there though.

Thanks for the pics, gives us an idea of what to expect.

 

[CB and CG]

The chick in the middle was from a blue x black mating. This is her all grown up. I suspect that this will be the approximate colour of your blues.

 

[Bens-Hens]

Sweet, now we just need one to be a pullet!