Six Little Chicks

[flawedglitch]

Thought I’d formally introduce my modest flock of 6. 3 Speckled Sussex, 3 California Grays.

Expecting all 6 pullets but one of the SS is looking suspiciously like a cockerel!

We’re hand raising them to be as friendly as possible and exposing them (slowly) to the various hustle and bustle of our humble property to get them acclimated.

My Grays started off very skittish but quickly became purely focused on perching on my arms and shoulders (and anything else they can fly to)! But my sweetest chick is Frank(ie), a suspected cockerel, who never minds being handled and picked up. It’s also quite the photogenic one- even in its awkward stages!

They’re about 3-4 weeks now and growing so fast. Starting to feather out quick!

It’s been a struggle with the Texan heat, but we’re making do with tons of deep shade, misting, fans, dust baths and ice blocks.

 

[Tookie]

Cute little chicks! The last chick pic is a cockerel.

 

[flawedglitch]

Cute little chicks! The last chick pic is a cockerel.

Thank you! They’re all such funny little things. Can’t wait until their feathers fully come in so I can better identify them by names!

I thought so! That comb is suspiciously large for a young chick his age and he’s developing slower than the other SS.

 

[flawedglitch]

Update for my little chicks. They’re growing like weeds- every day I notice new feathers among the flock.

Recently moved them out of the garage. They’re allowed to roam the fully chicken wired run, and are locked up in their hardware cloth run/coop before night.

We have more hardware cloth to install around the bottom of their large run (~2’ high and 1’ skirt at the bottom to protect against predators) soon.

 

[flawedglitch]

It has been staying 100°+ the past week or so and will continue to be over the next week. Yikes!

The girls (and boy!) are handling it fairly well with daily ice enrichment treats and fresh water. Frankie, our cockerel, continues to show off his male growth.

I have them pretty well trained to come to the run door when I call them. They’re such sweet little things!

Their personalities are really starting to show at almost 6 weeks; I can confidently pick out our individual hens from the CGs and Melon & Lightning are distinct by their neck feather coloring. For now.

All 6 of them finally have their names! We have: Frankie (SS cockerel), Lightning (SS pullet), Melon (SS pullet), Butch (CG pullet), Willow (CG pullet), & Skittles (CG pullet).

Also finally installed 2’ of hardware cloth to cover the chicken wire last week and 1’ skirt around the bottom to prevent any digging. I jokingly call our setup the “chicken fortress”!

 

[flawedglitch]

At almost 8 weeks, Frankie has finally picked up on our neighbors’ roosters crowing and decided to give a few crows of his own. (Personally, very proud of his first attempts!)

We also finally introduced 2 new pullets to our flock, a pair of 3-4 month old Appenzeller Spitzhauben x Easter Egger crosses. The two flocks took quickly to one-another after Frankie defended one of the girls from some minor pecking order assault from Licorice, one of the new girls.

No major spats and they slept well together in their coop, which is certainly going to need some expansion due to our “chicken math”!

 

[flawedglitch]

Our lovely flock is continuing to grow up! Frankie, our roo, is still finding his crow and uses it proudly in the mornings.

Both of our eldest hens, Licorice & Dotty, have been laying eggs. Licorice’s being ~45g average and Dotty still gaining weight on hers (42g most recently).

We made the big switch from pine shavings to construction grade sand. With a kitty litter scoop and a bucket, we’ve found keeping our (relatively small) coop clean is much easier. The gals & guy don’t seem to mind much either!

Frankie has also started wing dancing for the two oldest girls, and despite hormones likely raging in his tiny body, he’s a very sweet boy still.

Don’t want to jinx ourselves but we think we have a gentleman rooster on our hands!