These are the pictures of my day old Buff Orpington chicks. These are my last set of chicks. I've also got 5 month old bantams assorted, 3 month old bantams assorted, 2 month old bantams assorted, 3 week old bantams assorted, 3 week old Welsummers, 3 week old Araucana's, 3 week old Polish chick, & these last Buffs. I'm just starting back so any info thrown my way would be very much appreciated considering last time I had chickens I had no clue what I was doing. thanks!
Here is another picture up close.
here is a pic of what they said was a rare chick that they used to fill my order since it was short a chick... well I'm assuming this is the rare chick bc its half a size smaller than all the other chicks. Only one I can tell anything different about.
Oh Gosh.. those pics are adorable!! You've been busy I'm sure! LOL Congrats on the darling shipment.
They are beautiful! Have you had Orpingtons before?
Cute chicks! I love the Buff Orpingtons - so gentle and friendly AND they lay great eggs.
Gosh Greykyttyn: those babies are soooooo cute! How did you get that little one to sit so still in your hand? They never sit still for me. The touch of a woman I guess. I love that buff color, they just look so soft and cuddly. Haystack
Catscan - no I have not had Orpingtions before. I just took what the hatchery offered for sale, researched the colors, temperament & whether they were foragers or not. My original order was to be 5 each of Welsummers, Araucana's & Buff Orpington's because they were supposedly the quietest, wouldn't dig so badly in the flower beds & were very friendly. plus they are just beautiful birds. The Hatchery had run out of everything but the Orpingtons so thats what I got from them. I took a chance on a local small hatchery which only deals in straight runs & ordered my others.. We'll see what I end up with. I'm not sure how many Roo's I've got yet.
Haystack - :) it just does. I pick them up, snuggle them for a minute or two then tell them to sit still, snap a quick pic & go on the the next baby. I've got tons of pictures of all of the chicks. I take baby pics the first day, then one week pics, two week pics.. u get the idea. Most of my chickens I can pick up & carry around. I make sure they like being handled because I babysit several small children & I can't risk a Roo attacking any of them. All my chickens are free range so they will at some point be around the kids, besides it makes it so much easier to catch them when the tornado sirens blow (which right now go off a lot around here) so I can put them all in the coop to stay safe. Here you might like this pic of the bantams. These two were always "hugging". It was so cute.
ZZsBabiez - thank you, yes I have been busy. they were a day early so I had to rush to get the box set up. I am thankful that I didn't have to ship them thru the mail, a rep from the hatchery comes to the feed store a couple days a week & he brought them down for me.
That lil dark snuggler is a roo. :)
Yes Ginger started crowing.. if you can call it that at about 3 weeks. I still haven't changed his name but he needs a new one. I now have a 3 week old one that is making a loud single pip sound, started at 2 weeks old.. so I'm afraid "she's" a roo too.
The reddish one in front of this pic is Ginger, taken on Easter.
Gin Rummy.
:) can u tell if this one is a Roo or not? Its the one I think is making the pip noise. Someone told me that lite colored Welsummers are Roo's but i didn't know this till after i got my chicks. So I'm afraid I got like 3 Roo's. BUT i know nothing about Polish chickens either & my mom bought one that day.. so it could be it making the pip noise bc Matilda is pretty obnoxious at this point.
It is true that the lighter colored Welsummer chicks tend to be roos. The same is true for Barnevelders which are related to Welsummer--although with Barnevelders there are other ways to tell. The darker color in Welsummers makes the "V" shape more prominent on the pullet chicks head. I have a lovely Welsummer, Louisa. She lays enormous dark brown eggs--but she also goes broody a lot, which Welsummers are not suppose to do.
I love Orpingtons! Mine have all been extremely friendly and good layers.
I was warned by my neighbor that Welsummers had a tendency to go broody at the worst times, never had a hen that would do that so I'm almost as interested in seeing that as the eggs. I can't wait for my first dark chocolate egg! how old was your hen before she started laying eggs?
Looks like a roo to me.. I am not familiar with the breed, but the first thing that came to mind was roo... Sure is cute! If you put it in the brooder.. tap your finger on the ground.. and see who comes to investigate first... a lot of times, it's the roo..
What cute pictures!!! They are so cute. I love the orpingtons! They are so...ROUND! hehehe
Ginger is beautiful. ;)
yes they are very.. round. :) reminds me of little balls of butter right now. I can't wait to see what the rare chick is because it looks just like the others only half the size. I've got my fingers crossed that its a buff orpington bantam. They are sooo cute with they are half sized!
Ginger is a doll. He follows me around the yard a half step behind me. He's so tiny. Doesn't look like he's going to grow much more. Cotton Candy (Ginger's hen) is twice his size, its so adorable bc he's so tiny & yet he stands up to anything to protect her.
Oh they are so adorable. I'm thinking about buff orpingtons next, since I seem to have 3 or 4 roos out of 5 chicks. None of them have crowed as yet, but someone is making a deeper sound than the regular cheeping. I love the color of that Ginger. What kind is he? or just one of the assorted bantams?
Idk what Ginger is beyond a bantam. I just picked the prettiest chicks out of the box at the farm store. Praying I didn't get more than one Roo per the 4 chicks i bought. He kinda reminds me of a small RIR but idk if they can be bantams or not.
When they are chicks, the roos are the ones that steal your heart.. they are friendly, curious and loveable. Don't let them fool you!
None of my chicks are like that.. I wonder what I'm doing wrong.. Its hard for me bc my cats & my dog are all loveable & spoiled.. but my chicks.. are stubborn & paranoid! I keep reading where you guys take yours outside for short outings in teh grass.. but i wouldn't dare.. bc as soon as their feet hit the ground.. it would be dark be4 i could catch them. Especially my roos. Curious yes..overly curious.as in very very nosy.. friendly & lovable.. lets go for less than hostile at this point... i'm seriously considering clipping wings.. but then they can't get away from whatever 4 footed animal sneaks into my yard during the day & might attack them so I haven't. besides.. idk that it will help catch them.. bc these "babies" could run in the Olympics.
Give em some meal worms or wax worms.. Wax worms you have to tear in half.. but make em get them out of your hand.. might take a few tries, but make the same sound every time they eat from you..... boiled egg yolk works too... I tell em.. Chick Chick Chick every time... even if it's not from my hand.. and in no time.. they will flock to you when they hear that... even my grown hens will come running from the end of the field if they see me with something in my hand and hear that..
When my babiez go outside.. they go to an outside pen where I can catch them... I take a little dog carrier or bird cage to transport them in.. I leave it open in the pen with them.. it's a pain for the first few days to gather them up to go inside.. but before you know it.. when it's time to go in.. they will all be in the cage waiting.. (even my wild turkeys)
I never thought of a dog carrier... I keep an cardboard box that quarts of oil came in to transport them from the house to the lil pen i made. But the dog carrier would work much better. Thanks for the tip on meal worms. We feed them to our birds but I'd never heard of giving them to chickens. I sometimes go dig up fishing worms for my bigger chicks to give them as treats but never meal worms. Suppose to be nice today... i think i'll go buy a new carton of meal worms & sit with the babies. :) Nice lazy afternoon.
ZZsBabiez- thank you so much for the idea of meal worms. I went & bought a new carton of them then promptly went to sit with my babies. I had so much fun. Even the ones that wouldn't let me touch them without being chased all over the yard were coming up to sit in my lap. Not letting me pet them yet but thats a great improvement. The Roo just looked at me from a distance.. not real sure of why his girls left him but not wanting to come participate either. So I'll work on him some. Maybe next time he'll come up & eat. Probably gave them too many but i figured I could spoil them the first time. They ate nearly 2/3rd's of a carton. Thank you! thank you! thank you!
Well Greykyttyn: Sounds like you are having a great time with your new friends. I'm so happy for you. Won't be long before you won't be able to get rid of them. ZZ's as usual is right. Use the same words when feeding and calling them and before you know it they will answer to your beaconing call. Have fun. Haystack
Greykyttyn, that little partridge is adorable. Congrats on your babies!! I am send ing happy hen thoughts your way. I always give them girl names in hope that I dont have to change them. :) The others are getting soooo big.
Greykyttyn, love all your chicks!
update on Ginger... sheheit stopped crowing.. totally. has started "mothering" the other babies I've got.. & Cotton Candy has started crowing whole heartedly. So until i see eggs in the nest I'm not discounting Ginger as a hen. :) I need to get more pictures.. the Buffs are huge now.
