I think they said that sexing was 90% accurate last year. I've only ever had one mistake in all the years getting chicks from them if that's any indication, though several times I was sure they had gotten it wrong. 
)
Nice!Meyer's actually changed their sexing guarantee to 100% this year, not because their accuracy is 100%, but because they now refund for any sexing mistakes. It's hard to say.
(P.S. I'm cropping those photos now, will post them in a few minutes!
I assume vent sexing on these guys, maybe wing sexing.
Anyway, I brought the OEGB babies out as well and they were much better behaved, just a couple times where the boys decided they didn't want the babies near them. Must have been distracted by the excitement of being outside again after all that rain!
Of course, Winston wasn't going to let some young whippersnapper show him up. He looked like an umbrella! 
)--more poofy cuteness. 
But, unfortunately, Altair is still not exactly being gentle with the younger babies, so instead of just pulling the barrier entirely and having the girls stay with the babies, I adjusted the partition to divide the brooder right down the middle. Now there's plenty of room for the Easter-egger babies on their side, and hopefully everything is far enough away to slow down Brownie, Tank, and Poofy from launching off of things over the barrier and into the sharks' den! If not, then I guess the boys will just have to go to their other pen. 
They look great!No idea!
Pictures! Today was finally, finally a sunny day after what feels like a lifetime of rain! Since rain is in the forecast for this week, I figured it was now or never! They'd been exposed to soil a little more than a week ago, so they should be fine.
Anyway, finally, here are the pictures! They're all kinds of out of order, so I'm just going to wing it.
As is typical, their first reaction to the outside world was... refusing to come out to the outside world.
View attachment 1764999
After a bit, a few of them started getting brave...
View attachment 1765004 View attachment 1765002 View attachment 1765005
...Until I finally dumped them out and took the box away.
View attachment 1765000
Lots of scary new stuff out here! Of course, some of them adjusted faster and were head down pecking right away.
View attachment 1765007
Sybil, in the pen next door, seemed VERY interested in what the chicks were doing. After some reflection, I realized she was actually interested in the box I brought those babies out in--she needed to lay an egg right away!
View attachment 1765013
Altair and Vega were also interested in the box... Looks like Altair's wanting barbecue chips, while Vega's eying the Cheetos.
View attachment 1765015
Back to the babies, my poofy-faced peeper needed a bit of reassurance about all this scary new stuff around her.
View attachment 1765010
It's all too much to bear! Time to sleep it off!
View attachment 1765012
At some point, I looked up and Achernar was trying to fight with his father through the fence!
View attachment 1765006
Poofy discovers the perch in the pen. She is confused at why she's so tall now.
View attachment 1765008
...And then she decides to own it.
View attachment 1765003
Silvery, checking out the greenery:
View attachment 1765011
Vega, also checking out the greenery.
View attachment 1765016
These Silkie mixes never miss an opportunity for a dust bath! The ground is damp, how are you dust bathing?!
View attachment 1765014
Last picture (I think? Edit, yup it is!)--more poofy cuteness.
View attachment 1765009
I got fed up with the boys earlier and moved them to a new pen while I was letting the two baby flocks mingle. Miss Poofy had taken a flying leap over the barrier, spacey as she is sometimes, and then practically jammed herself half way through the fence trying to get away from Achernar and Toliman, who were being pretty brutal. Boy, I was sure I was going to leave them in that new pen, too, they had me so ticked!
In other news, the reason why I'm so late posting this is that I gave the big girl flock a check over and butt-trimming where necessary to clean up poopy feathers on some of them. I don't know that this is necessary information to share with the world, but I like to make note of little things like that so that I can gauge things like timing in between when trimmings are needed.
Not too busy, but trying to keep busy! Without classes every day, I feel like I have sooo much free time to kill, especially now that it's getting nice out! I don't know what the deal is, but every time I leave that box out there with them, they spend about half their time just pecking at the pictures of the potato chip bags. 
Weird little birds. 
Anyway, Tank figured out he (yes, definitely HE) is bigger than them and was bullying them, so he's had to be separated within the brooder so he can't bully the OEGB girls. Altair is still pretty snippy with the rest of the babies, but with all the room they have, they've got plenty of places to run away from her, so I think they're okay. Toli and Acher are tricky to distinguish without those bands, though, so they need them.
They are so sweet! When I sit in the brooder with the babies, they're always sitting on my lap pretty much the whole time, cuddling. 
)
Luckily, I'm still up finishing my mom's Mother's Day gift (no-bake orange cream cheesecake 
) and since I have some time (waiting on the topping to set), I quickly cropped their pictures to post. Okay, it's after midnight here, but it's still the 11th somewhere, right? I have some tentative guesses on most of them as far as their sex. I'll include those with their pictures where applicable. As for names... I had decided last week that at least the pullets would be named by today, but, well, long story short it didn't happen. I keep sitting with them and scrolling through names, 'test-driving' them, and then deciding against them. I have some strong contenders for the girls' names that I grabbed while at my computer, which I'll be testing on them tomorrow during their socialization time. We'll see, huh? A large part of the rest of them not being named is, well, my current gender guesses. You'll see, here: ), but the rest of them! 
I was chasing them around the room, holding them in place, taking picture after picture of them moving juuust out of frame or out of focus... It was a total disaster! The following (other than Poofy) is the best I could do with them! Yeah, based on her feather coloration, I'm pretty sure she's all pullet. Check out those GREEN legs!! Oh, gender guess, I have no reason to think she's anything but a pullet, either. No doubts in my mind that this one's a fella.
Good night, y'all, and feel free to disagree on my assessment of these babies!
EEs are very cute!Oh my word, I forgot to post the EE babies' pictures, too!
These babies are 3 weeks old, there around.
Starting with the home-hatchers in hatch order, here is B2, nickname 'Bluie'. She's much smaller than the other two, but man, that comb has been huge since she emerged from the shell! Still, it has remained pretty flat despite how wide it is... Guess: unsure.
View attachment 1772345 View attachment 1772346
G1, Tank, the Cochin mix. His comb has taken on a lovely hint of pink and is already starting to grow. Also, he's HUGE and those feet could probably hold up a tank, big as they are in person! Guess: Cockerel, and I'm pretty sure of that.
View attachment 1772350 View attachment 1772349
G2, nickname Greenie, who is about the size of Tank now. No comb development, but that can be written off as her Silkie half in action. There is a hint of reddishness coming in on those shoulders, though... Guess: unsure.
View attachment 1772352 View attachment 1772351
The Meyer Easter-eggers. LET ME TELL Y'ALL, I will NEVER complain about the OEGB babies not cooperating for their pictures anymore!! Poofy was a perfect angel, of course, other than her need to cuddle and smush her beard against me (goodness, she's cute!
Poofy Face! What a doll!!
View attachment 1772354 View attachment 1772353
Brownie-Bite. I didn't get a SINGLE picture of her that turned out any good without me having to hold her in place! I spent about 20 minutes fighting with her just to get these!
View attachment 1772347 View attachment 1772348
SIGH... This is where I'm sort of displeased, though it's nothing I didn't expect with straight run bantams...
Poofy Twin. Black chest, plus red coming in in the shoulder... Classic cockerel coloration.
View attachment 1772356 View attachment 1772355
Silvery. Feather pattern doesn't totally scream cockerel, but that tint of pink in the comb kind of does... I'd call myself maybe 70% sure on this one being a cockerel, too.
View attachment 1772358 View attachment 1772357
So... Let's just say it's a good thing I went for some sexed pullets in this batch. And also that I'm REEEEALLY hoping that Bluie or Greenie turns out to be a pullet.
Anyway... I hope I don't wake up and regret my sleep-deprived rambles here.
Still holding out hope on those Silkie mixes, though. Statistically, one of them has to be a pullet, right? Anyway, I had hesitated to use this name because of how many of Uranus's moons I'd already inadvertently named birds after, but... After a lot of agonizing, I've just had to accept that this name 'clicked' with her in my mind and I don't think there's any changing it.
It is a lot of fun figuring out names!Yeah, that's part of the fun with Easter-eggers... And add some Silkie genetics to the mix and you have the most impossible to sex birds ever. Yaaaay.
I think I may have one of the Easter-egger pullets named as of today. Going with the theme of the OEGBs, who are named after stars, my plan is to name the EEs after moons, as I mentioned. Well, as I found out when looking up the names of natural satellites, I'd already used a lot of names from Uranus's moons because part of them are named after Shakespearean characters and I guess I like those types of names in general.
So, the honorable Miss Poofy Face shall hereby be known as... Ophelia!
Still working on Brownie-Bite's 'real' name, but I'm sure it'll come to me eventually.
