Progeny from heroic rooster

[Mother of Chaos]

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The four JGs have been sleeping on the roosting bars with the adults. They are the second to come out of the coop after Ares (and sometimes another rooster), before any of the hens or pullets.

Speaking of "pullets", I noticed that Arthur's daughters are already bigger than their mothers. I'm not sure if that's a general Delaware thing or due to Arthur's size, or due to them being hybrids, or from all of these factors.

A note about the appearance of the pullets that resulted from DE rooster X Buff Orpington hen is that the black patterns around their necks were most visible before they reached full size. At their current age of 6 months, those patterns have faded into a somewhat less impressive gray, kind of like it was drawn with a pencil and lazily crossed over with an eraser once. For reference, here's a picture of a hen where it's barely possible to see what I mean:

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Hanging one of the waterers by the outside roosting bars lets hens drink when they want to avoid roosters. I won't say things have been perfect with 6 maturing cockerels, but by now they've all calmed down a lot. Some hens have lost feathers due to mating, they all appear to be growing back new ones now.

Ares has been and continues to be a perfect rooster. He's the one walking on the ground in the first image.

Love the elevated waterer! Even for those without cockerels and roosters, it's got to help keep the water cleaner and also simplify refills.