For those of you looking for an update on the baby chickens, this post is for you! It's long, but packed with adventure! Thank you for the requests you've sent to me for farm updates. It's a great thing knowing that you're interested in knowing what's going on around here. It makes our life here seem a little less crazy knowing people are interested.
So to satisfy the chicken update requests I've been getting, earlier this evening Alan and I went out to the barn to get some photos of the
little rascals. Talk about a challenge! Ever been to a chicken rodeo!?
It was a hoot! Three chickens got away from us, one even ran out of the barn
towards the goats. Thankfully it didn't go under the barn (we may not have been able to get it out!) and we were able to catch it! After the excitement, we went back to the slap-stick photo session. Alan held the babies while I took photos. And let me just say, I didn't get very many "good" photos. The chicks move FAST. I have a LOT of "action" shots (um, ok, just downright blurry!).
Every single chick from our Ideal Poultry order is thriving! We're pleased as can be with the little birds! They're growing, like weeds! I am amazed to see just how BIG they're getting! The day the chicks arrived as day-old birds, they were so very TINY! Every last one of them, as cute as could be! We ordered Buff Orpingtons, Red Frizzles, and Red Silkies, and they sent along seven free Araucana male chicks for extra warmth during the shipment. The photo above is one of the Red Frizzles. Aren't it's feathers a RIOT!! And these little birds have the MOST personality, too! They zip around the brooding trough as fast as can be. They're always first in line at the feed dish when it's refilled, first to try out new perches, and first to check out the fresh grass put in their brooder tank. They are very curious babies, every one of them. All but one of the Frizzle chicks we received have the typical "frizzled" feathers. One of the Frizzle chicks has feathers that lay down like normal chicken feathers. It's still a very pretty chicken, and I'm excited to see how she grows up.
The chicks from our McMurray Hatchery order are doing well too, though we did lose 10 of them within the first couple of days of them arriving. The box they were shipped in had a lot more ventilation holes than the order we received from Ideal Poultry, and I think they just got too cold during their shipment. We ordered a whole BUNCH of different varieties from McMurray Hatchery. The little pullet (female baby chicken) in the above photo is just one of the varieties we ordered. She is a Buff Laced Polish Bantam. Her feather-do looks pretty wild now, but just WAIT! The feathers on her head will continue to grow nice and long into a big ploom of feathers, kind of like a Vegas Show Girl's feather headdress! We have two Buff Laced Polish Bantams, two Golden Polish Bantams (which are brown, red, and gold spotted with crazy head feathers), and two Crevecoeurs (which are black with crazy head feathers). They'll be fun to have around with their wild feather-do's!
As for the baby Turken chicks that Brown Manetta hatched out, five of them went to live with our post office lady. Her and her husband have never raised Turken chicks before, so we gifted the babies to her and her husband. I'm certain they're being spoiled rotten, just as though they would be if they still lived here. We did keep one of the Turken babies. It's growing up nicely! We've named her (we hope it's a her) Fancy Manetta. She's our only black and white Turken chicken and she has feathers on each side of her neck like a little bow tie. Since all of our Turken chicks are named after my dear friend in Oregon named Manetta, and since she's dressed in black with a bow tie, it seemed only fitting to call her Fancy Manetta. This is also the FRIENDLIEST chick! She loves to sit on my lap while I'm out on the patio. She'll stand on my shoulder, or even hunker down like she's going to take a nap. Every now and then, if I'm standing close to Alan she'll jump from my shoulder to his, and then back again. Fancy Manetta is a cutie, that's for sure. Our luck, she'll turn out to be a rooster.....
I had to LAUGH and LAUGH while we were out taking photos. It wasn't enough for her to just sit on Alan's hand, arm, or shoulder while I took photos. She actually jumped up on his HEAD!! Hahahaa!!! Notice the lack of FOCUS in this photo -- because at this point I'm laughing hysterically! Clearly I'm not very good at holding a camera steady when I'm about to wet my pants in laughter! I was able to take just one photo, and then had to intervene before Fancy Manetta decided to poop on Alan's head! What a crack up!!
On June 19th we're expecting another order of chicks from Ideal Poultry. I ordered them at the same time as the first order, but due to limited availability we've had to wait a bit for them to hatch and be shipped to us. We've got 10 baby Guineas, 5 Welsummer pullets, and 10 Cuckoo Marans on the way! The Welcummer and Cuckoo Marans lay really dark brown shelled eggs. Most of our current hens lay light brown shelled eggs, not nearly as dark as the little hens we've got coming! It will be fun to have even more variety!
Life on the farm is as crazy as ever... thanks for enjoying it with us!
PS: Do I see a sneak peek of a Fall/Winter Whipper Snapper stamp on this post!? I do believe I do! *giggle*