Love to hear Billy's adventgures, very very lucky Billy!!
Annie
Stowaways from the feed store
LOL... do you guys remember the plastic tote my perfect dh made for me so I could have the peeps in the living room and we watched them like a fishtank.. it was so cool I had him build a secon one a little smaller.. I will find the thread and rise it from the dead thread shop..
Frans funny you should mention that, I was looking at one of my first links where I used My Grandmothers quilt rack to hold the light, a tote for the babies and a camera tripod to hold the lid on... LOL now we have graduated to the fish tank... may need more too..
My husband told me yesterday our feed store is full of baby chicks. I promised to not go anywhere near! Stowaways.....hmmmm.....getting an idea.....
I was lucky to come home with only two.. but with the incubator full... a second incubator started yesterday with possibilities in it.. and wanting to get mom a few polish chicks for her bday. I restrained myself greatly. The boys were allowed their Easter chicks & that was it. BUT I picked out the 4 yo's bc he couldn't decide & wanted the whole box! Since these are from Ideal Poultry I will watch for a few Silkies in the box. They had Turkens a couple weeks back. I just need to brush up on what the babies look like so I don't end up with a roo or something i didn't want.
How are the babies doing? What cute little ones. That'll teach you not to go near baby chicks, lol. They really are addicting. I have to stay away from them as much as I have to stay away from Cheetoes. When I was a little kid, I would always " find " animals, including chickens that I would have to ride my my bike a couple miles to get, and I would bring them home , and say" Mom, look what I found!" She would always make room for them. But, she always knew what I was up to, and would made me work for it.
Uriah is currently flopped like a dead chick in the middle of the light source sleeping... Mork is currently flopped in the feed bowl... no wait.. there goes Uriah.. he's now dancing in the waterer.. nope... playing in the grass... oops just fell over the toilet paper roll tube to land on Mork.. who has just kept on sleeping.... another 2 minutes & Mork will be awake & running. Sleep (5 minutes) run 20 minutes... eat.. poo, swim/drink/dance on the marbles.. repeat.
What a nice, smart Mom, Elleisn!
Greykyttyn....the easiest to sex at the feed store, aside from Sex Links, are the Barred Rocks and the Rhode Island Reds.
With Barred Rocks, look for smaller birds with darker heads and a small, distinct head spot. Then check the feet. Pullets have much darker legs and feet.
With RIRs, there are two colour-phases. One is light-headed and evenly coloured. These could be males or females, but are more likely to be male. The other colour-phase is darker, with pronounced striping (like a chipmunk) on their backs and especially ,the head. There is a very high probability that these are pullets...something like 87% of chicks with dark marking on their heads are pullets.
I am making non-vent sexing chicks my life's work:0)
had both.. not a chicken I particularly want to have again.. Not sure which hatchery the feed store bought these from.. but i wasn't pleased with them or any of the sexlinks we got the following year. The RIR's laid well but they were not a friendly chicken. I'm looking for cochins, silkies, polish & marans currently at the feed store. I want to add Barnevelders & nankins sometime but realize they won't come from the feed store. The polish I will probably get at the Feed store an hour east of here on the 19th. Same local hatchery day that I got my welsummers from last year. Now.. do you know how to pick all girls with welsummers? might add another one to my flock. :) people sure do like those dark brown eggs.
Yes! Both Welsummer and Barnevelder pullets are generally darker, have darker heads and, especially, head striping! Also, with Barnevelders, the cockerels are very slow to feather out. So if you see a darker Barnevelder chick with pronounced head stripes and longer wing feathers...that's your pullet.
It seems with many breeds, the pullets get a double dose of the pigment genes, and so are relatively darker. It is true with barred, cuckoo and a lot of the brown, red and partridge coloured breeds.
I am feeling heady with power.....!
Remember the chest color on the Barnevelders! The gray or brown is female.. white chest is a male.
The place that sells Barnevelders close to you Cindy already sex their chicks.. so you get a sure bet.
White or CREAM is boy! I forgot about that, ZZ.
{{{spring fever indeed}}}
No, no, no Catsy, those in positions of ultimate power do not forget....you merely failed to mention....that is all.
OHHH I am thinking that I need to run to the feed store with Catscans adive printed off.. Oh the fun to play with all those chicks.. I mean to handle all of them looking for the girls... OOHHHHHH OHHHHHH OHHHHHJHJ
more come in here Friday.. but lack of money prevents me from buying them... BUT i'm going to a huge chick sale at a feed store an hour east of me next Saturday. Last year they had close to 500 chicks maybe more... all kinds. Local hatchery brings out trucks of them, all day sale. and you can handle them! O the fun! I wish i could record all the cheeping that's there.
more pictures...
This is Uriah...
This is Mork....
he refuses to look at me
What do you see? I see a chick. Do you?
Peek a boo!
OMG they are so cute! Look at those lil blue feet!! They are darling!
I threw two rolls in after I read this and they look at it like it is a foreign object coming to get them...
took mine a few days.. but then they'd walk on it, jump on it, run thru it.. and now.. they HIDE in it! big bad me turned off teh light so I could swap out bulbs bc they were too hot.. they didn't like it & went to hide in the tube.
I would be scared they would get stuck.. what if you aren't there to get them out?
Over protective mom here... ;-0
I'm always here.. they won't get stuck.. until a few weeks older. Unless they grow a whole lot this week.
ok so the feed store is evil... especially when you know the guy that runs the hatchery & you drive 1.5 hrs to the feed store in the freezing rain, ice & snow to collect these little...no.. giant day olds that make cheeping sounds.
3 polish, 1 white crested black, 1 white crested blue & 1 white crested silver
2 silkies, 1 black & 1 white (we'll just pray the hawks can't see her!)
1 blue dutch bantam
1 silver laced cochin..... the thing is huge! its 10 days old & makes my 14 day old ones look like
The silver laced cochin is currently called el largo bc hesheit is so big.
The blue dutch is called smidge bc it so tiny.
How Cool Grey..... so your house sounds like mine... Oh and I forgot to mention, the ducks just off the front porch... LOL
no ducks here.. mom says no ducks, no geese, no pigs, no guineas & no peacocks.
:) he said he'd meet me in the neighboring town & give me some blue Cochin next week... possibly a blue silkie.