Spitzhaubens

[Faraday40]

Chick update--6 weeks old--almost as big as Mom now:
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Any guesses on the Spitzes? I'd say the orphan is male, as is the one on far right w the hen. The 2 others looking like little pullets?
And the Nankin...comb getting more color, I am suspecting Rusty may be a cockerel as well! Integration could be a 3 ring circus! There's a big poultry swap on Aug 3, I may take orphans there. We'll see......
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I agree that Rusty could be male. With many of my uni-colored birds, the females have a very even, uniform color, but the males get darker patches of feathers - usually on their shoulders. This happens before saddle & hackle feathers show, so it's only a hint or guess until you can confirm gender with some other signs.

Spitzes on the other hand are very, very difficult to sex before 8-10 weeks - especially from photos. I often guess my own birds by looking at overall size, head shape, face flushing, foot size comparisons, behavior, & body feel (females are boney & males has more solid muscle). It's pretty much all guessing until you see those red wattles drop down.

 

[Faraday40]

Been pretty busy this week. The Fair just opened and both kids did very, very well this year.

Although we do not show our birds, some of you may recognize these chickens.
DS's PoofPoof and DD's Teddy:

They were entered in photography.

Our chickens were also used for animal sci projects and egg production.

 

[SueT]

Been pretty busy this week. The Fair just opened and both kids did very, very well this year.

Although we do not show our birds, some of you may recognize these chickens.
DS's PoofPoof and DD's Teddy:
View attachment 1855807 View attachment 1855808
They were entered in photography.

Our chickens were also used for animal sci projects and egg production.

oh congrats! I love going to our local fairs and seeing what the kids are entering in all the categories. We go to several, in adjoining counties. The one in our county is boring, no poultry!

 

[SueT]

Today was integration day for Moonshine and her 3 Spitz youngsters. 6+ weeks.
It went really well. First I opened a small pop door sized portal into the big main run which is full of bushy weeds and a small tree. Moonshine challenged the Sussex top hen and got reprimanded sternly. But top hen did not threaten the chicks in any way. The Leghorns were sweethearts, never showing any aggression whatsoever, even having to run from Moonshine (same age, raised together) while she let them all know they weren't to molest her children.
So I removed all partitions in the run and in the coop. The hens were interested in eating the Spitzes food, but everyone was mellow. I did NOT let the orphans out yet. They are watching all this from behind bars.

Moonshine checked out a nest box and the kids gathered round...Mom, what are you doing? I think she's close to weaning them, and thus wanted integration before that happened. She left
them alone several times and they just settled in with their aunties, who seemed pleased to get to know them.

 

[SueT]

I let the orphans out, removed the dividers. It was uneventful, no one went after them, not even Moonshine. They all basically ignored each other, hens, chicks, etc.
Meanwhile, Rusty is suddenly getting a LOT of color in that comb, and wattles are showing. Moonshine's biggest chick, Beldar is also showing wattles. He and Rusty got in a little play fight.....then Rusty challenged Moonshine! Poor quality photos, but anyway.....I've got at least 2 cockerels.

 

[Alaskan]

Bummer that the nankin is male.

Cute chicks though, and nice uneventful integration.

 

[Faraday40]

The kids got to have their eggs auctioned off this evening. Both are very happy to have won Best in Show.

DS's winning white eggs came from his hens Tillie & PoofPoof (well a little more from Tillie since she's a leghorn.)

DD's winning "other than white" eggs came from Wendy the Welsummer.

DS also entered our Orpington eggs. They won a blue ribbon & class champion. Right now, all our best eggs are at the fair, some were used for baking entries, and the bantams are broody, ..... we don't have many eggs left to eat at home. LOL (Don't worry, we'll have plenty in a couple days.) And of course the kids are very excited about the price they earned.

 

[SueT]

The kids got to have their eggs auctioned off this evening. Both are very happy to have won Best in Show.

DS's winning white eggs came from his hens Tillie & PoofPoof (well a little more from Tillie since she's a leghorn.)

DD's winning "other than white" eggs came from Wendy the Welsummer.

DS also entered our Orpington eggs. They won a blue ribbon & class champion. Right now, all our best eggs are at the fair, some were used for baking entries, and the bantams are broody, ..... we don't have many eggs left to eat at home. LOL (Don't worry, we'll have plenty in a couple days.) And of course the kids are very excited about the price they earned.

So nice to see!!!!!!
Speaking of eggs, Moonshine laid her first egg since raising the chicks!

 

[SueT]

In the 4 days since integration, the 3 broody raised youngsters have gone from being spoiled royalty to being lowest in the pecking order. Even mama Moonshine has turned on them, acting like she can't stand them. They now keep to themselves and don't even try to follow her. They seem to be pretty resilient and taking it in stride.
I'm calling them Beldar, Trixie, and Pixie, but the girls are hard to tell apart, so it's usually just Beldar and the Pixies....at least I think they are both pullets. They are 7 weeks. He has obvious wattles, they do not.

On a sad note, the orphans, both cockerels, were killed in a raccoon attack which also took 2 of our hens. The raccoon was trapped and killed, and there have been no more signs of attempted entry, so hopefully it was a lone nuisance animal. I was not optimistic for finding a 'good' home for those boys and didn't want to keep them. So anyway, this is where we are today.

 

[homeschoolin momma]

Oh no!! So sorry.Always hard to lose one much less than 4.