Eggscaping
Enjoying Life!
So here we are now, with 4 chicks at 5 weeks, 3 chicks at almost 4 weeks and 6 at nearly 3 weeks. Many of these, we incubated and hatched ourselves, and several of them I held in my hand and assisted them to come into the world, as they were shipped and some of the air-cells were wonky.
Now they're all hale and hearty, feathering out beautifully and growing UP!
The 7 that are the oldest, we expect to be pullets, because the place we got them told us that they rarely misjudged a chick's sex. And so far, no signs of maleness. But the other 6...that's a complete crap shoot.
We lost 2 along the way, and one of those was one of the prettiest...a SFH of a pale gold with the prettiest black mask markings on the face. We consoled ourselves by saying, well...that one would have been a rooster, probably. But now, we bite our nails and watch daily for signs. Dottie, the one in the first 2 pictures, is the prettiest of the babies. (We call the oldest ones "The Girls" and the others "The Babies"). So far there's no sign that any of The Girls, which are 2 Speckled Sussex and 2 Easter Eggers, are males. But Dottie has been, according to Boots, "standing up really straight". So we watch backs for pointy hackle feathers and heads/chins for coloring in combs or wattles.
It's really nerve-wracking!
How old do they have to be before they're "safe"? Before they WOULD have gotten hackle feathers if they're male? I know they're too young to sex so far, but...we are on pins and needles as to when we can feel safe about them.
Also, one of the oldest, Coraline, a Speckled Sussex, has weird tail feathers. She is the next pictures after Dottie. It's like she had grown-up feathers but now they are...falling out, to be replaced by...sturdier ones? Anyone know what's happening here?
Now they're all hale and hearty, feathering out beautifully and growing UP!
The 7 that are the oldest, we expect to be pullets, because the place we got them told us that they rarely misjudged a chick's sex. And so far, no signs of maleness. But the other 6...that's a complete crap shoot.
We lost 2 along the way, and one of those was one of the prettiest...a SFH of a pale gold with the prettiest black mask markings on the face. We consoled ourselves by saying, well...that one would have been a rooster, probably. But now, we bite our nails and watch daily for signs. Dottie, the one in the first 2 pictures, is the prettiest of the babies. (We call the oldest ones "The Girls" and the others "The Babies"). So far there's no sign that any of The Girls, which are 2 Speckled Sussex and 2 Easter Eggers, are males. But Dottie has been, according to Boots, "standing up really straight". So we watch backs for pointy hackle feathers and heads/chins for coloring in combs or wattles.
It's really nerve-wracking!
How old do they have to be before they're "safe"? Before they WOULD have gotten hackle feathers if they're male? I know they're too young to sex so far, but...we are on pins and needles as to when we can feel safe about them.
Also, one of the oldest, Coraline, a Speckled Sussex, has weird tail feathers. She is the next pictures after Dottie. It's like she had grown-up feathers but now they are...falling out, to be replaced by...sturdier ones? Anyone know what's happening here?
