What's Up In The Chookery?

It's been awhile since I've done an update on my crazy chickens, and now that I have some new pictures of the "babies," it's amazing to see how much they've grown and changed.

   

 Remember when I hatched these little cuties?

That turned into ravens in just a few short weeks?

And then joined these "teenagers" that I rescued from their crowded tub at the feed store?

Would you believe me if I told you that three of my ravens are roosters, and all of the "babies" are now as big or bigger than my main flock? Do you need proof?

 How about this handsome bird? He is one of my three new roosters. You can see his "twin" behind him. They are mutts, crosses between an all-black Australorp daddy and mommas who were either Easter Eggers or Rhode Island Reds. Given the pattern on their wings and their rose combs, I suspect both of these boys had EE mommas. 

This is the "twin" of the one above, a slight bit bigger, and the first one to run up to me and jump on my shoulders when I go into their pen .

And pull my hair!

This is the third and smallest rooster. His name is Joey. Because he is a little roo.

They are still young enough to be very friendly and get along with me and each other. This won't always be true because they're roosters. One of them will become my flock roo, replacing my beautiful and sweet Argalus. I have no idea which one that will be yet, and I don't like to think of what that means for Argalus. I'm hoping for a better indication of who will be the most and least aggressive, who will be the quietest and loudest, etc. As of now, they're all mild-mannered and allow me to pick them up, and none of them is crowing yet, nor do they have spurs. Tough decisions ahead, for sure.

 This is one of the two raven females. I couldn't get a good picture of her sister who is completely black, including her comb and wattles. Both are very sweet and quiet.

Hey, what about me?

This is Augusta (Gussie) the Speckled Sussex. Say that five times fast. Go back to the picture at the beginning of this post and see if you can figure out which one of those she is. When you do, let me know, because I can't. Such a pretty chicken, though, isn't she, with her white and shiny iridescent peacock-green speckles.

Here is one of the three Welsummers (the ones who looks just like the Sussex as babies.) At least one of these will become part of the permanent laying flock because they're the ones who lay very dark brown eggs. Which they are old enough to start doing very soon! They like to get in the trees, and occasionally they will jump over into the main flock's pen. Twice now, I've gone out in the morning to find one of the Wellies had spent the night in the coop with the main flock. Everyone's come out unscathed so far, but they're so funny when they get in the "wrong" side -- they run back and forth along the fence line desperately wanting to go back to their own group. One day, I came out to find little Daphne in with the youngsters. They are all far bigger than she is now -- about 1/2 the size of those roosters --  but she was having a grand time bossing them all around while she tried to find the hole back to her side of the yard.

Hello, my name is Ruby. I am a Production Red, and I can lay up to 350 eggs a year. That's a good reason not to eat me, don't you think?

Hi there! I am Ruby's sister, Vera. My name is an old family name, but also a nod to the color "vermilion." Remember when I had no tail feathers because the other babies kept biting my butt? I look a lot better now, don't you agree? 

This chicken was sold to me as a Sicilian Buttercup. This chicken is not a Sicilian Buttercup. The first clue was the green legs. Actually, that's the only clue you need because Buttercups don't have green legs. We were calling this one Green Legs, but since that's a stupid name, she is now called Ivy. She is an Easter Egger, and as you know because you read and remember everything I post, EE's usually lay blue-green eggs. She is lucky to not be a Sicilian Buttercup because her blue-green eggs will save her from the ax. 

I would apologize for mentioning the ax, but I've been foreshadowing that all along, so if you're shocked, pay better attention! I'm not running a chicken rescue here. (Do I sound tough and hard-hearted? No? Crap. I may be running a chicken rescue here...)

Ivy and Roo #1 pretending to be pirate parrots by sitting on my shoulders.

Hey, what about me?

This is how they trick you into not eating them. And people think chickens are stupid.