Earlier this week we brought home the new baby chickens. I mentioned we weren’t sure we got exactly what we had ordered. We ordered 2 Black Australorps, 1 Barred Rock, 1 Silver Laced Wyandotte, 1 Speckled Sussex, 1 Dominique, 1 Rhode Island Red and a Golden Polish. We only got 7 of the 8 because I believe they forgot to send one. We are a bit confused about the australorps and barred rock and I’ve been thinking we only got 1 Black Australorp and maybe 2 Barred Rocks. Or 1 Black Australorp, 1 Barred Rock and 1 mystery bird. Or perhaps it is the Dominique after all.
I have no idea. What I do know is that we needed 2 Black Australorps. Yes needed. That pair we had named. And the name wouldn’t work if there was only one. So I did what any self-respecting crazy chicken lady would do. I got 1 more. Just in case. I went back to the Portage Bay Grange and got us another Black Australorp. She is about 2 weeks older, so a lot larger and at that awkward teenager phase (a tad greasy and not so cute). She isn’t picking on the young’uns though so that is good!
Wanna meet the girls? I can’t tell you names yet as they aren’t decided yet. But I will tell you that we will be following the theme set with last years chicken naming.
Introducing:
The Speckled Sussex
The Rhode Island Red.
Ah, the sweet golden polish. Her name is Lady Guitar II. We had one last year that was a rooster. Our favorite rooster. So we are keeping the name till we get a pullet!
The Silver Laced Wyandotte
We think this is our Barred Rock. Anyone concur? Doubts?
We think this *might* be a Barred Rock also. However she is so much smaller than all of the other chicks. And her feet are darker than the other Barred Rock. Hmmm....mystery chicken!
The 1 Black Australorp we got. At least we think she is a BA. Anyone know for sure?
The about 4 week old Black Australorp. They sure do get awkward . Greasy teenager.
If you think I have identified any of them incorrectly let me know! And, if you think any of them might be roosters also let me know. We got them sexed this time but I know it isn’t fool-proof!
great pics! jd’s lookin’ good.
fingers crossed for your all-girl band
To my novice eye, your mystery chicken looks a lot like my barred rocks did when we brought them home. We did have one that looked different from the others and was a faster runner, and it turned out to be a rooster.
Cute chicks!
Good! It was the only kind I could think of- as she looked so much like the other one just significantly smaller!
They are sooo cute! Congrats! I wanna cuddle them. Is that weird?
Not weird at all. Hell, I want to take my full grown chickens on walks. Carrying them of course. Not on leashes. That would be weird =)
Oh my goodness, Lady Guitar II is hilariously cute! Love them all and can’t wait to hear the names now! Especially the ones that had to be Black Australorps…
So here is the ultimate question, as far as the kitchen is concerned, which variety of chicken lays the best eggs? Maybe you should have a Lay Off? Or perhaps they all taste the same??? I personally haven’t found HUGE difference in the eggs I buy, but it might be a different story with the ones you get right from the hen house…
Hmm, they all taste the same to me from the variety we have. But are night & day different from store eggs. Very rich and dark yolks. Yummy!
The size does vary- the Polish hens lay a bit smaller egg than the others.
They taste richer and have darker yolks/harder shells the more they are out free-ranging.
Lay Off!
I think that both of your Barred rocks are indeed barred rocks. I think that the first one is a roo and the second one a pullet. Male BR’s tend to appear lighter in color because the barring on their feathers is wider. The females tend to appear darker and to have darker coloring on their legs. Also, when they are very young, the white spot on the top of their heads tend to be larger in males. But, I am sure you know, that is all guesswork and you never know until they crow.
The polish is a hoot!
I’m jealous, of course, because my 1930′s California lot is too narrow to have chickens (according to our zoning laws in San Jose there has to be at least 30 feet of distance between the chicken coop, your house and the neighbor’s house, and of course no roosters… ). But my friend Colleen has them in her older part of the city. She’s nice and lets me buy eggs every week, so I still get the best of the deal.
That said, they are such characters. I really enjoy going over there and watching them. Personally, I think that the Sussex are the nicest of the lot. They sort of want to cuddle with me when I go over.
She had a few that were specifically raised for food (I wish I could remember the breed) and they were the Godzilla chickens. They became huge really quickly and Colleen and her family did the deed and ate them. I know I couldn’t do this, so maybe it is a good thing that my lot is too small for the chicken setback.
Regards,
Tengrain
robbingpeter- I was wondering that too. Hmm. You never know, huh? I was convinced our current easter egger was a rooster and she is laying like a champ. So who knows! They’ll make themselves known soon enough =)
Tengrain- We used to be able to have roosters, but only a total of 3 chickens. (Roosters were under noise ordinance) But they just changed it to a total of 8 chickens and roosters outlawed. I think our setback is only 10ft. At any rate, we’ll have 12 if they end up being hens. But, since I lived next to an all-but-abandoned shit shack with large holes in the roof and entire families of raccoons/possums & no one in the city seems to care, I feel I’m kind of justified in doing what I please in the backyard chicken department =)
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A good we sex the (Babys) are to look at their wings. a hens wings will have 1 long (mt.)and have a tail more then a roo.