We got our second order from Ideal. We picked them up at the PO this morning. So far all are alive and well.
We have
4 Blue Cochin Bantams
2 Golden Phoenix pullets
1 Golden Phoenix roo
3 Americanas
And one little fluff ball that stands out in the crowd because it is yellow. It is an extra and we have no clue what it is. I'll post a picture below in another post.
Okay here is the little unknown fluff ball in the middle of the others. Does anyone have any idea what it is. My son said the comb on it looks to be a rose or pea comb. It is yellow with a bit darker stripes on its back (two) and a coiple of spots. The little buds of wing feathers appear to be white. Any clues?
That was the wrong picture. It is a bit blurry. This is the pic I wanted to post although it's not a lot better but it is clearer.
here is another picture
Your babies are sooo cute!
I looked on backyard chickens website and here is a Americanas pic: http://backyardchickens.com/breeds/ameraucanas.html
It states that they have peacombs. Hope this helps-I'm not sure about the breeds that you have but maybe this can give you an indication.
Sue☺
Adorable! Could be a Buckeye!
I spoke too soon on them being all well. One of the Golden Phoenix seems to not be well. It just sits with its eyes closed. It ate some at first but now the others are eating and drinking and peeping and it just sits off to the side. I tried giving it a little sugar water. It drank a little but not much. My daughter is upset because the Golden Phoenix are hers and she had names for all of them picked.
it may be OK. see if his yolk sac is still full. if he was the last to hatch, he may still need sleep as opposed to feed and water... be careful not to make it drink too much and aspirate it [you know that...]
Congratulations on your new arrivals, Smedge! Hope the
wee one gets better. Looks as if you can get a small
order, or did you co op? If it doesn't make it, perhaps
your little girl can learn from the experience, and she will
be ok with getting more. I hope she's not too upset. Positive
thoughts going out to Golden Phoenix!
I just love my ameraucanas. I posted a thread to ask for
pictures of tufts and muffs and beards. If later I find I can't
breed the ones I have, maybe we could do a trade of a
couple to diversify, since we're in state.
i saw you rthread, but am no hlep. did you try feathersite? they always have chick pics at the bottome of the breed pics...
The little one is still just standing with its eyes closed. My daughter gave it some sugar water and wiped its little beak. The others all seem to be doing well.
truest, we got a small order from Ideal. They packed them in a quarter box and packed one side with straw so they stayed in only half the box.
The ameraucanas are my sons. He has one that he got at our local feed store year before last and he wanted more. The grown one we have he named Eagle because she looked like an eagle when she was little. She is a beauty. The little ones are so cute. One is very fluffy and has an obvious beard. Her little face is so puffy. The other two are not quite as fluffy so she really stands out.
Aw. I just loved my lil amer's as babies. They had the
puffy faces, too. I think my Big Red is a roo, and he
looks like he'll have a beard. What am I saying? He IS a
roo- the biggest in the whole bunch. So in your face, but
has a nice attitude as well. He also looks like he has eye
tufts, too. I can understand completely why your son
would name it Eagle. I was thinking how much they remind
me of golden eagles. Really intense, intelligent eyes, and
the horn color in the beak. If I could sum my 3 breeds in
a word, the crested polish would be funny, the amer's I
would call bold, and the cochins are darlings. I do have my
fav BFF white crested black polish, and I'm her fav peep,
I named her marilyn monroe.
Well we lost the little Golden Phoenix. My daughter is in tears. It is not the first chick we have ever lost but it is the first one that was hers.
I emailed Ideal so we can get a credit for it.
At least she still has two. Hopefully the one that died was not the rooster. She wanted the long tail rooster for a long time. I'm hoping we have a hen and rooster left since we had ordered two hens and one roo.
I am so sorry!
;-(
sorry! hugs to your daughter!
Poor baby. Please tell her I hope she has a roo in there.
((hugs to your daughter))
Thanks!
So sad, she had names for them already. She was going to call the roo Runner, and the hens Pheo and Nixie. We will have to wait to see what we have. She is hoping her long tail to be roo is still there.
She is playing with the others this morning. It's hard to loose a baby chick.
Extra hard for the kiddos.
Here is a pretty good closeup of some of the chicks. One little Ameraucana really is puffy. I call her chubby chipmunk. My son is trying to figure out what he wants to name her. He doesn't want to call her chubby chipmunk.
How cute are the chicks...and I'm so sorry to hear about the baby roo. My kids always want to name them right away too, but this year I told them not until we moved them into the big coop. In years past, my daughter would name her 'favorite' and that one inevitably met some unpleasant fate early on...very upsetting for her....very hard to loose a baby animal!
We had a funeral for the little baby. We have a chicken graveyard. Yes, a chicken graveyard. My son even has it fenced off with an opening to enter it. We made the trek down the trail to it this morning with a shovel, a gun and a bandaid box with the chick in it (it was tiny). Okay you are probably wondering why a gun. Well the snakes are out and about and we didn't want to run across one without protection since yesterday when we were out looking for berry vines we ran across one. By the way, does anyone know what a black snake with an orange underside and blunt tail is?
We have lost, I think, 10 chickens so far since we started raising chickens. Some of them were grown and met with a bad fate, some were chicks. This little one was the second one my daughter lost but the first baby. Her other one was a grown Black Australorp names Sweetie. My son lost several of his and last summer we lost 3 bantams to fowl pox.
I hope we don't have to visit the graveyard under these circumstances again anytime soon.
So sorry for you and your daughter. That is nice for the kids to be able to say goodbye and have a funeral. I think it helps them have compassion and the understanding that even the littlest are important. We have always showed our kids that even if an animal is meant for the freezer it is a living thing that needs the best care and love that you can give it.
Not sure about the type of snake that is but the gun is a good idea!
Smedge- could the snake have been a legless lizard?
The blount tail is very telling, I'll see if I can find out what
color they are.
I found a legless lizard of Australia that is silver on top and yellow
on the bottom, with a blount tail. Yeah, I know you're not in Aussie
land, but it's the only site I found that had a legless with a blount tail.
Orange and black also says gila monster to me, but they are about
a foot long, very fat, and you can see their legs. But- has a blount
tail.
This message was edited Apr 8, 2008 2:06 PM
smedgekles is your daughter very young? You might share this page with her http://www.petloss.com/poems/maingrp/rainbowb.htm
MollyD
Molly, that is very sweet. Thank you.
You're welcome. It helped us when we had to put down one of our dogs last year.
MollyD
truest, not sure what the slithery thing was but it looked and slithered like a snake. It was near the pond.
MollyD, my daughter is 10 (going on 16) Thanks for the link!!
My kids are so attached to their chickens and chicks. She has a full grown Barred Rock hen that I hope nothing ever happens to because she would be sooo devestated. That hen will roll the eggs out from under herself to my daughter if she is in the pen when the hen lays an egg. Sort of like...o.k. I'm done you can take it.
LOL that hen really is attached to your daughter!
MollyD
:) no kidding.
I had a tiel that use to lay her eggs in my lap ^_^ . It was funny (as in odd) the first time she did that. She was severely handicapped and took a long time finding a mate. Ended up being second hen in a trio.
MollyD
We had a hen lay an egg in my sons lap. Took him by surprise as he was sitting with knees bent and feet under his rump. So when she layed the egg he felt something and though she did a dirty at first and split his legs and the egg fell between them and broke.
Our chickens are so spoiled that when we had a hen sit on eggs last summer the kids sat and lifted her wing and watched the eggs hatch. She never complained.
That is even more spoiled than mine are...LOL
OMGosh, Smedge! That is so cool about DD's hen!
I love it when animals trust us so much. It's special.
Poor henny and the broken egg- guess she thought
"Well! i'll never lay an egg there again!" LOL
Crazy isn't it. Our chickens are definately part of the family. I've never seen such a spoiled bunch. All my kids have to do is walk out the door and say "All Chick Hens" and the whole brood will come running. They started that when they were little chicks and the kids brought goodies out to them. They would call them that way, Now all they really need to do is call ALL and they already come running. So when we let them out in the yard and they wonder too far the kids will call them and they come running back.
I've just started letting the chicks out for a couple
hours in the morning and evening. I was worried
they would go too far or not be able to find their
way back to the pen for water. Not! 2 did get themselves
sandwiched between some wire fence, but no harm.
I have begun training them to come for treats in the pen,
in case I want them there pronto. I am still so nervous
about letting them out for too long.
Davey is very watchful, but also will try and grab a
couple feathers. He likes all the new ladies I brought
home for him. But- they are not all for him! He likes to
think so.
What beauties.
I like to watch our rooster when the hens are out. It's funny, the hens are busy scratching and pecking and our rooster is standing gaurd. He watches like a hawk. He might peck every now nad then but he is usually standing straight and watching and listening. And if one of the young roosters goes after one of his hens they better watch out. He keeps to his hens and doesn't mess with the young ones. But the young roosters think its open season on anything with feathers.
Davey is doing a good job so far. Not picking on my
'little girls' too much. Just hanging out with them, talking
a lot, and keeping them grouped somewhat together. I
know at least one must be a roo, but at almost 9 weeks,
no one has crowed yet.
Nope you probably won't hear any crowing till they are about 5 or 6 months.
Wonder what he is talking about?
Our rooster went after one of the young ones once when it was after one of "his" hens. He led her back to his group of women and was "talking" the whole time. I was joking how he was probably telling her to stay close to him and stay away from the young boys.
Haha. "I thought I told you not to go way over there,
it's just not safe!" or "I promise to be the best roo
ever, just give me a chance".
