I've been taking pictures yesterday and finally got them on my computer this morning.
Here is my tiny goat herd. A wether will be arriving in the next week or two once he heals from the dirty deed done to him ^_^ but aside from that this is my herd.
Millie is on the left. You can see she is far heavier than her sister Bonnie who is between the twins. By show standards Millie's weight is perfect.
MollyD
Another family shot with Bonnie in front
Aunt Millie and nephews
Hanzel and Gretel in the new waterfowl brooder
a shot of my homemade brooder from the outside
Members of the Chick Gang
A clue Sherlock!
I know there are ducks in there!!
Fight! Fight!
Hercule Poirot
I just know I can beat them with one wing tied behind my back!!
I've got wings!
Me too!
We can take them if you'll listen to my plan.
You go left........
Some of the hooligans #1
Hooligans #2
Some more of the gang. Can you tell I had fun sitting there with my camera? LOL
MollyD
LMBO! H&G better hide deep in the forest!
Oh Molly...
And who did you hire to do your chores while you were playing... lol
how much fun... you should print those out for a grown up version of a childrens book.. I would buy it!!
(pssssst... H&G.. the forest is in Illinois)
LOL well I was working, sort of. I sat in a chair in their house snapping away. They were a hoot to watch. I could see all sorts of schemes being hatched out. They're so fast as they run around which is hard to catch on camera.
H & G said they want to stay here where they get all the dandelion greens and lettuce brought to them! ^_^
MollyD
They are so cute, can't wait till I can let mine out to run .
I don't know about the horse before the cart, but i do know the pen comes before the chics and ducks now !
I took pictures yeserday of them but can't post them .Not even developed yet .
What kind of bedding do you use for the ducks and chics?
Right now I'm using pine bedding. I stay away from cedar since it has a reputation for causing deaths in animals.
Pretty soon I'll move them onto hay. We've got some older hay left from this past winter that they can have.
MollyD
I was told by the vet not to use hay for dogs house,[ they kept ear mites until we stopped using hay] , because it causes mites and fleas.
Yet i see most people do use hay for nest, so I don't know .
I guess being a different type of critter they react differently?
MollyD
Once when I went to the mill to get wheat straw, they started to load hay into my car. I asked them what they were doing and they told me "loading straw". When I told them that was hay, they didn't even know the difference. We use wheat straw for the animals with no problems, but I am thinking it is going to be better to use pine shavings for them, so I will be using that until I decide it is not as good as straw.
GG
Molly, I think Hercule might be a Delaware. His wing bars look just like Delphine's when she was a chick. They do have these odd bits of black here and there--mostly on the tips on their wings, tail and hackles--but the chicks have some black on their heads. They were developed from a sport cross of BPR and NH in1940 so the color might be a little unstable. Were you able to account for all the other Delawares? He looks more like one than the ones with the beige banding. Unless they have some sort of dilute gene?
Catscan Hercule now has a black spot on the back of his head. None of the others have this or his coloring. There were suppose to be 5 Delaware males! No body looks like him. It would really be a shame if they only sent me 1 Delaware male and 4 unknowns!!
MollyD
Yes, it looks like Hercule is a Delaware! When I first unpacked Delphine I thought they had marked her as my "extra chick" because she had this very faint black smudge on the top of her head like someone had grazed her with a Sharpie. It got darker over time, but disappeared when she feathered out.
I really can't imagine what the other ones are. The way the primaries are banded looks like a Delaware--but the color is wrong. It is almost like they got the color from the NH side of the cross....which should be impossible. I wonder what is going on....Can you see any faint buff color spots on their head? If they color out like a Delaware, maybe it is some sort of sport? Your could start silver and gold Delawares!
Well! How would you get 4 sports at one time? Wouldn't a sport occur in one egg? I'll have to snap more pictures of them. Some suggested I had a pastel form of the New Hampshires. I was suppose to have New Hampshires, Delawares and the Buffs.
MollyD
I was thinking one of the parents would be the sport. Which might mean Hercule came from a different cross. But really it is difficult to make any guess till the fledge and even then the adult coloring would be more informative. Do the numbers correspond to what you ordered? If you assume Hercule is a Delaware, would the beige banded ones add up to the right number of Delawares? What color are their legs? Shanks and toes in Delawares are yellow.
I think I would be very annoyed by Ideal not helping out....My Barnevelder hatching eggs are from them...hope they aren't blue with yellow stripes and a crest. Maybe someone else got your order and is wondering why their Silkies are so big and feathery.
I ordered 25 chicks and that's what I got so numbers match up. All have same kind of legs
I'm not sure what to call the color of their legs and feet but they're all like the ones in the picture below except that I've noticed some have larger feet than others.
I'm going to have to check and photograph each chick. They don't hold still for more than a few seconds!! These guys run like they have little jet packs on their backs.
I'm also trying to figure out why the New Hampshires are not growing into red or reddish brown birds! I think my order was messed up but good.
MollyD
what are you feeding thos elittle monsters???
;-)
tf
LOL The problem is keeping them from eating bad stuff. I caught a bunch of them trying to rip the foam insulation off the walls yesterday. They've gotten their feed, pasta, worms, dandelions, grass, lettuce. I'm going to buy some spinach for everyone this week. Wish I had some growing but by the time it got going they would be grown.
MollyD
Catscan I just sat in their with them trying to observe their traits to see if I could figure out who was who. They just won't hold still for a second! I did spot two different shades of legs and feet. One is a more golden shade than the other which is a paler flesh tone.
There are some 4 or 5 that have a pattern similar to Hercule but are brown where he is black. No spots on their heads yet . They're 15 days old today so I would think they would have started to show by now. I noticed that none of them have eyes like Hercule. His are very large and very dark. The others ranged from med to small eyes. Now looking at the down left on them Hercule's down matches some of the paler chicks that are feathering in a cream color. It was a pale yellow shade of down.
Does this help any?
MollyD
I want new pictures!!!
Waiting for him to wake up and get them off the camera. He worked till 5am and is dead tired out today.
MollyD
working on my camera too. it needs to be emptied and get a full charge before i go back hunting fo rthe missing chicks. i only hope i am not too late...
I hope you find yours tf!
Here are some pictures of my bunch. First the Quacker Brothers and Hanzel and Gretel.
MollyD
Here they are by the pool (4ft diameter) for some perspective
