Chicks, Chicks and more Chicks!

Well you can say I’ve gone of the deep end in the chick department.. Right now we have 15 with 36 on the way. Who would have known a tiny flock of four would have grown to this obsession (as Susan would call it). Our first 10 chicks are now 8 weeks old, and the other 5 are now 3 weeks old. Oh how time flies..

Olive is a perfect mother. She protects her babies with a vengence. Even going so far as to attack our house dogs when they walk by.

If barred rocks are indeed sexable by the wash on their legs and the colour of their down, we have 3 girls and 2 boys. This one pictured above has the nicest barring of all five, and it’s one of the girls. This one is my favourite, and I have only named her.

I introduce you to Louanne!

As you can see, the other girls have much more blotchy barring. I hope they grow out of this. Either way, I would bet anything that Louanne will be the closest to the SOP.

She’s inquisitive and adorable ❤

While we are talking barred rock, Marge is very grown up. She is plump and robust *coughfatcough*…

Jagger is a stud! He took over head rooster spot! Steve is in the outs right now. Poor guy.. Jagger feels very good about himself. Not a single ounce of aggression towards humans yet. He does chase Steve around a lot now.

My sweet Honey got Picture of the Week on Backyard Chickens! I am very excited about that! I was also nominated by someone unknown to be a BYC Friend. 🙂 Thank you to whoever nominated me. It  means a lot.

Ida is the only grown chicken that has not started to lay. Will she ever? I’ve come to the conclusion that silkies take their sweet time before coming into lay. Ida is now pushing 33 weeks old today. She has not started squatting and Steve does not show any interest in mating her.

Patience is a virtue….

On to the 8 week old chicks.. Oh God they are cute.. Look at those beards! How can you not smile and squint your eyes in cuteness overload?

I am very happy that I can tell Fern and Willow apart now by beard alone. Fern has the grey beard and Willow’s beard is mostly strawberry blond.

Stay tuned to hear about the hatch due this Friday! I hope we have at least 30 new little fluffy butts to post pictures of. ❤

The Search for Coloured Eggs

I don’t have a whole lot to update on this week. Everyone is healthy and happy. Ruby is driving us nuts by laying in the box, nesting and still not laying an egg.. No one has started laying this week..

I have spent the past few days searching EVERYWHERE for coloured egg layers to add to my flock. So far I’ve come up with a few choices.

Naked Neck Turkens that lay deep green eggs. This breeder is the head of the Moncton Fur and Feather Club, so he is well known and trustworthy. He used to raise Araucanas, but got out of that a few years back. He bred the egg colour gene into his naked neck turkens, and has three hens that lay green eggs, and a rooster who is from a different line (without the egg colour gene). Therefore we COULD get some that lay green eggs, and some that don’t. He has barred NNs, and other colours.

We found someone that bought from Ideal Poultry in the states – they have EE’s. All lay blue/green eggs. I have pictures from her.

These are what her girls look like. I think they are adorable.

I have an option for PURE Ameraucana from a breeder. She only has ONE hen and ONE rooster, and her girl has not started laying yet from the winter break.

I have also placed an order for five barred rock chicks from a line that is known in the Maritimes for their beautiful birds.

This is what the roosters look like.

and the hens.

We have also spoke with someone about getting Frizzles. Soon we will have lots of chicks. Any extras, we will sell at the poultry show in June. Thought I’d post something, since it’s been a while.