Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[TillyPeeps]

Hahaha - I totally see her grouchy face!

Sooo cute

As grouchy as your Avatar?

Thanks, she does have an attitude. I put my hand in front of her without food, I got pecked

; if there's food in my hand, she jump on and happily eat. No other chick acts like her.

 

[TillyPeeps]

Mostly lurk, but popping in to say "Hi" to all the other PA peeps! I can't believe how many of you are so close to the Chester County area. We need a chicken meet-up or something.

We have 8 layers from local breeders in the area, 11 in the basement brooder and hopefully a few eggs to incubate for a spring hatch. We grew out of the first coop shortly after we started keeping chickens. Made over the kids wooden playhouse structure and added that, now dh has a niggling in his ear about a new spring coop that I'm thinking we are needing for all of these chickens!

Chicken math is surely like no other!

Welcome from central county! Chicken math really gets you.

I can see the same thing will happen to us in the next year.

 

[ChickityChina]

As grouchy as your Avatar?

Thanks, she does have an attitude. I put my hand in front of her without food, I got pecked

; if there's food in my hand, she jump on and happily eat. No other chick acts like her.

That's awesome! I LOVE it when they have personality. Can't wait to see what mine do. (p.s. my avatar has kung foo style... or maybe it's kung pao style lmao)

 

[dheltzel]

Here are some pictures of my very first chicks:
fluffy butts and Dolly the Rees CCL(Note that she has a head spot. Is that normal for a pullet?)

CCL pullets often have a small head spot (remember, they do have 1 copy of the barring gene that makes the headspot). Almost all black barred pullet chicks have headspots also. The difference in size is pretty dramatic, and the very dark stripes she has really confirms her as a pullet.

I find Rhodebars and Welbars to be the easiest to "sight sex". Legbars, Bielefelders and Black Sexlinks sometimes need a closer look. For all of them, I like if they are about 5 days or older, then I can look at the developing feathers also as a secondary confirmation. The wing feather color differences are particularly dramatic in the black sexlinks because the females have no barring at all.

 

[TillyPeeps]

It seems being a slow day here, so I'll take the opportunity to talk about my new chicks.

I got 6 chicks from dheltzel on Tuesday and start to know them little better everyday:

Bear, who is named by my 2-year old toddler boy, is a Rhodefelder (Rhodebar x Bielefelder). She must gets her size from Bielefelder and is much bigger than the other chicks. She likes to wonder around the brooder and don't mind any human contact. She is gentle to all other chicks. Her upper beak is longer than the lower beak, I don't know if that means it needs to be trimmed in the future?

Ruff-Ruff, again named by the little boy, is a Rhodebar. She is Bear's best friend and always follow her around. She has lighter color than bear and not really shy. She like to jump like a puppy dog.

Dolly is a Rees line CCL. She has a large head spot, which make me a little bit nervous about her gender. But she really looks and acts like a girl, so I think she is actually a girl.

She is also brave and curious.

Molly is the other CCL, who is more shy. She does wonder around if I stay longer.

Penny is a Welbar and very shy. I didn't see her too much. I hope she'll warm up soon.

Last but not least: Brownie, the brown sexlink! She really has an attitude and is not afraid to show me. She is the first one chirping in the morning to wake everyone up and demand me to hand feed her. She has a fluffy face and pea comb, so I believe she will looks like an Ameraucana other than her color.
Thanks for listening to me rumbling.

I'm just a very excited first time chicken parent.

 

[TillyPeeps]

CCL pullets often have a small head spot (remember, they do have 1 copy of the barring gene that makes the headspot). Almost all black barred pullet chicks have headspots also. The difference in size is pretty dramatic, and the very dark stripes she has really confirms her as a pullet.

I find Rhodebars and Welbars to be the easiest to "sight sex". Legbars, Bielefelders and Black Sexlinks sometimes need a closer look. For all of them, I like if they are about 5 days or older, then I can look at the developing feathers also as a secondary confirmation. The wing feather color differences are particularly dramatic in the black sexlinks because the females have no barring at all.

Thanks for the info. Dolly does look like a pullet and has fast feather development, she is the only one having a head spot so I was a little nervous. The brown sexlink has no barring at all, all she has is an attitude.

I'm a little worry about Penny the Welbar. She is almost as small as Brownie and always hide under the heating pad. I checked her several times, she seems active and no pasty butt.

Boy, the Rhodefelder girl is huge! Are the pure bread Bielefelders much bigger than other chicks?

 

[chiques chicks]

I hope no one here was in the direct path of any of last night's storms.

Minor flooding here, Creek stayed away from my buildings, basement never got over 5 inches deep. (I consider that nothing major here)

 

[TillyPeeps]

I hope no one here was in the direct path of any of last night's storms.

Minor flooding here, Creek stayed away from my buildings, basement never got over 5 inches deep. (I consider that nothing major here)

Wow, that's lots of water! How you get rid of it? Luckily, we never had flooding problem here.

 

[fisherlady]

I hope no one here was in the direct path of any of last night's storms.

Minor flooding here, Creek stayed away from my buildings, basement never got over 5 inches deep. (I consider that nothing major here)

Glad you made out ok... we were missed here other than minor rains. I live on one of the highest ridges in the county, if my place ever floods then you need to call Noah and reserve a spot on the Ark!...now winds, that is a different story...

 

[chiques chicks]

Wow, that's lots of water! How you get rid of it? Luckily, we never had flooding problem here.

I live in a 170 yo house with a hand laid stone foundation. I am perhaps 10' above flood plain next to a Creek. Water seeps in, water seeps out. I do cycle a pump when it reaches 4 or 5 inches.

Groundwater level is very high here. There are surface springs on most of the properties at certain times of the year. We kind of get used to it. Country living!