The two blondes and their tall raven-feathered sisters are into treats in a big way. This is the second day I've taken out some finely diced patty pan squash. Today they got a quarter of a red bell pepper that was too limp to cook with, along with it. The pan's going to take a beating. I have yet to name these kids. Unfortunately, the rhode island reds are camera shy. It's not easily visible, but they're tucked behind the black australorp to the right. They're definitely the runts of the lot, and at the bottom of the pecking order, but they're very lovable in their own dinosaur chick sort of way. It's a trip, because I was expecting the buff orpingtons to be the picked-on runts. That's what most of the chicken sites I perused opined on the topic of breeds and such.
Anyway, their coop is posh. The perch is a branch from a tree we trimmed in the yard, and I figured out how to install it so it can be removed easily for coop-cleaning, which is to say, so I don't knock my head on it constantly when I go in there to scrape poop off of surfaces.
Here's one where you can actually see the red girls. They slip behind that 2x4 when I open up the hatch to say 'hi' and chit-chat, and to check the level in their waterer. Which is hysterical because they charge me for attention when I open up the door on the left side for access to the water and the feeder.
Any thoughts on names? I was thinking to go with old-fashioned spinster aunt sort of names that I remember from my family's genealogy charts: Maude, Mabel, Myrtle, Edwardina, Theodora, Winifred... And then I got an itch to name them after folkies. Joan and Mimi. Mary and Holly. June and Maybelle. Hmmm.
Oh, and here's a gratuitous shot of Lucy spying and yawning at the same time, when she realized I was going to catch her on film. She probably thinks she looks ferocious.
I'll be watering baby plants on my work table and feel like I'm being watched. Sure enough, this kid's at the door looking out.
It's time for my nap. I'll try to get more pics post tomorrow. These feathered girls are a real adventure. Tomorrow we'll finish the outside enclosure so they'll get recess outside without having to worry about predators. More so I don't have to worry about them running off and being impossible to catch, actually. I saw a neighborhood cat fly like a bat out of hell after going up and sniffing the coop from the side this morning, and hearing a squawk in response :)
Those are much bigger than I was imagining. I was thinking of little fuzzballs. What great looking chickens!
ReplyDeletePossible names: Vaneeta, Norma, Hulda.
Because I'm a newbie at this, my friend who raises chickens offered to keep the kids under a heat lamp for the first 6 or so weeks, until they're feathered out and can withstand being outside. The australorps are two weeks older than the buffs and reds.
ReplyDeleteThe buffs look like plush toys, and the reds still look prehistoric :) The black ones are definitely impatient teenagers.
Aha, Norma and Hulda for the black ones?
Those black ones are beauties. I have always been partial to black chickens. And the checkered ones (Barred Rocks). Two weeks older--are they bigger chickens breed-wise? They look pretty grown up. That is cool your friend kept them while they were babies.
ReplyDeleteThese gals are all 'standard' breed, and they're known for being good egg-layers, and big. So, yep, two weeks does make a difference. They'll all be around the same size when they're adults.
ReplyDeleteI noticed yesterday afternoon that the buffs looked a little inflated and the reds were sort of where the buffs were a couple days ago.
I like the checkered ones, too, and the Wyandottes.