//www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/24064_p3010035.jpg[/img]picked up 7 black australorp chix 14 days ago from meyer hatchery and was told cockerel had a black mark placed on his foot. never found black mark but one of the chix seems different now(15 days old) with larger pinker comb and it stands around like a future roo. if these pix even come up, sorry about blurriness-they were quite wiggly. OK- I have tried several times to get the pullets pic to come up to no avail so here is the pic of potential roo at least. just blah blahing.
I pick them up because I like the roadtrip and don't like the poor chicks to have to go thru mailing process(cheaper also!). picked up a couple of "leftovers" while there, 2 delawares(unsexed) so THAT is a problem occassionally when going there to get chicks. the delawares will be allowed to remain, if pullets, and we wil probably eat them eventually if cockerels.
they seem very nice everytime I have gone. the owner ,as you probably know, lives there so chickens are taken care of even in bad weather. when I went a couple of weeks ago I was down to an ancient car that didn't want to drive up hills and it had snowed tons but the roads, fortunately, were good. I think I probably would greatly expand my egg laying/meatie production if closer to them but am 1 1/2 hours away. we have just gotten to the point where we can process "un-needed" chickens and it would help to be closer so I could experiment more with different breeds. spring peepers(the frog kind) will be here in couple of weeks and hope to have nicer weather to put the babies out in grass.