Two of my 3 month old Welsummer chicks to the right, on the left is my Silver Spangled Hamburg pullet, she is a week older than the Wellies, but look how small she is. She is a really high-strung bird, very flighty, easily panicked and she squawks like none of the others do.

This is Whitney, she is a 'sister" to the Welsummers above, but due to the fact that she has diffiulty eating on her own, I have handfed her most of her food ever since she was 3 weeks old. She and her sisters do this thing where their feathers stand up when they are not sure of something. Whitney has just started to go outside more often since our temperatures have been cooler in the mornings so she is a bit anxious about stepping ouside in the picture above. She is funny as once outside she usually scampers along wherever I go.

The chicks are going through a molt right now, so look a little frazzled.

Here Whitney meets Callie who is a 5 month old California White pullet. Callie is territorial and wants to check out the stranger on the other side of the fence.

10 day old chicks in their enriched cage,



the chicks are now about 10 days old, this is one of the 2 Golden Laced Wyandotte chicks

they still have a lot of fuzz

I had to move the chicks into a large dog crate in the house because it was too hot in the garage during the day.

normally I put hay in their crates when they are in the garage, but that makes cleanup a lot harder, so since they are indoors I am just giving them clumps of fresh grass and weeds

this is one of the little Welsummer chicks, the grass seeds seen in front of this chick keep them rather busy as the expertly peck away at them. Don't know how much of it all they are eating

this is the little Silver Spangled Hamburg chick, she is already a week older than the others and this last week she really grew a lot

so cute

those pictures were taken in the morning before I cleaned out their area, so there is quite a bit of poop laying around. I take everything out twice a day, at this age, that keeps things pretty well under control and it helps to monitor closely for any problems like coccidiosis. The chicks are on medicated starter food, but it is still important to pay close attention to catch any problems early on. I am finding that old towels work best for me as they can be easily gathered and taken outside to get rid of all the debris, then they go into the washer and are washed with bleach.

what a funny looking chick, I hope it's a hen and not a rooster

3 of the 4 Welsummer chicks checking out the grass

I had to put out flat bowls for their food because one, or maybe even two of the chicks seemed to have trouble with the feeders I normally use, they could not figure out to eat the food out of the holes and instead kept pecking at the few crumbs collecting on the rims, thus they weren't getting enough food.

one week size difference

the Hamburg has much longer legs at this point, in a few weeks the age difference won't be noticable anymore

The Wyandottes are both larger than the Welsummers also, even when they are the same age

it always amazes me how quickly their feathers are growing

group picture, the 4 Welsummers on the right, the 2 Wyandottes on the left

I've purposely put in the towels in a crumpled up fashion so the ground is uneven to help the chicks' feet get proper exercise for their growing little feet. I think it's also good brain exercise to negotiate uneven terrain.

view of the corner of their "habitat" which at this point is a 2 x 4 foot large wire dog crate. I just used a large sheet and tied it up a foot from the ground to keep the chicks from squeezing through the wire of the crate. I think in another week they should be too big to fit through the openings and then I can remove the sheet so they can see the outside world at eye level. It's supposed to be in the 90s next weekend again, so I will put them outside during the day for more exercise and fresh air.

More new chicks and the 9 and 10 week old pullets,

nobody warned me when I got my first chicks 3 years ago that chickens are addictive, there are so many different breeds and color patterns, and I love to have many different breeds and colors when I go and spend time with my flock, most of my chickens have names, except for the ones I really can't keep apart like my 4 Black Jersey Giants.

So yesterday I got one more batch of baby chicks for this year, I had planned on getting 4 Welsummers which the feed story ordered for me, then I wanted to get one of the Silver Spangled Hamburg chicks because they look very special, but when I got to the feedstore with all the chicks still in the boxes they were shipped in, I found out they also had some Golden Laced Wyandotte chicks (silver too) so on impulse I got 2 of those, I would have really liked the silver variety too, but 7 was already more than I had planned on. So here are the newest additions:


3 little Welsummer chicks fresh out of the shipping box

A Welsummer chick, this is a breed that lays a fairly dark brown egg, we will know more what color these are laying in 5 months

One chick is missing in this picture, this is when I first set them down when I brought them back from the feedstore

they had no trouble figuring out how to drink water, they all immediately had a good drink, which was the first water they had in their lives, as the chicks that are shipped that way are packed up and shipped out soon after they hatch, they can survive 2 and up to 3 days without any food or water after they hatch, so that's when they are being shipped out. I have never ordered any myself as I would be really heartbroken if I would find dead ones in there, which can happen.

This is the little Silver Spangled Hamburg chick, she is already about a week old and she has the little poop balls on her toes which are very hard to get off, I have put some vaseline on them to soften them so I can get them off.

that's her again, this is a fairly small breed, this chick is a week old but the same size as the ones that were just hatched.

little Welsummer chick, they all look the same, so no names for them

little fluffball

here are Calli and Nicki the 10 week old California White pullets, they have moved outside now and enjoy their freedom, they are very beautiful with their slender bodies and long tails, they are good flyers too

such elegant little pullets

this is Barbie, she has beautiful markings and I still think she is a Delaware and she just has off colored legs,

she is the largest at 9 weeks of this batch, I am pretty sure at this point that she is a pullet and not a cockerel, I think by now she would have a larger comb if it was a he.

one of the Buckeye pullets, they are rather calm

Barbie in the foreground and the Buckeye in the back

here is the little group taking a drink, note the waterer, when they were little chicks they could barely reach over the rim, now I have it sitting up on a plastic box and actually this waterer is being moved to the new chicks now because this group can drink from the big chicken water bowls now. I still have them separated from the adult hens, but I am going to slowly start letting some of the big hens come and visit so they can get to know each other over the next week or two

Chicks 7 and 8 weeks old,

this group is ready to move out into the barn, I have oiled the perches, added fresh shavings and put up a heat lamp, just in case it gets cold, now I just need to barricade the door a bit so the goats can't get in when I open it. That way this group can have their own little area in the goat pen and can come in at night to their area without needing me to move them or the other chickens harrassing them. Then on May 12 I am going to get some Welsummer chicks from the feedstore and later this year some Marans, but they will already be older pullets if not already laying eggs.


Nicki and Calli are 8 weeks old now, the other 3 are 7 weeks old, there really isn't a noticable difference between any of them except that Barbie at 7 weeks old is bigger than the rest. But then I still don't know if she is a Delaware or not.

One of the Buckeye pullets

Here is Barbie with the green legs, she's got big legs too. I don't think she is a rooster. So if anybody knows what she is, I would like to hear it.

Barbie on the left and one of the California Whites to the right

Here is the other Buckeye, she still has a few downy fluff on her head

The Buckeyes are rather calm little girls, the have a nice chatter but not to the point of being annoying.

The California Whites have a nice slender body shape and very long tails, they are very pretty pullets, still waiting for them to get their black spots.

The combs and faces are starting to show a bit of red.

Chicks enjoying the outdoors,

my March 2010 batch of 5 chicks is now 5 and 6 weeks old, the California Whites are the older ones. We are having typical weather for this time of the year, the temps still drop to 34 to 38 degrees at night and then during the day with have 80s, not sure if it hit 90 today, the chickens sure act like they are hot. I have been doing test runs this weekend with the misters and filling up the wading pools which my older hens took advantage of to cool down. I have put fans in the chicken houses for better ventilation when the hens are in the nesting boxes.
This week I ordered some "Chillows" those are cooling mats, the same kind they sell for dogs, only the ones I ordered are actually for people, but I figured they will fit in the nest boxes and hopefully will prevent another tragedy like last summer when I lost my beloved Lucy who I had last seen in a nestbox, then I found her collapsed in the wading pool. The heat is really hard on the chickens.



The California White chicks are in the foreground, the mystery chick Barbie in the back.

One of my little Buckeye pullets, they have such pretty orange legs.

Both of my little Buckeye pullets

Being outside is a big adventure, they are in a pen that is secured with chicken wire so the older hens cannot hurt the little ones, but the older hens can walk around the chick pen, so by the time the chicks are a few months old they are all used to each other and it is fairly easy to integrate the new ones with the old ones.

This is Barbie, the mystery chick, I still think she looks like a Delaware, but she has green legs, so not sure about it. Unfortunately she is not a very gentle chickie, when I come near her with my hands she pecks at me and at times she will not only peck but hold on to my skin and pinch pretty hard.

showing off her wing

One of my Barred Rock hens checking out a little pullet

Still waiting for the California White pullets to get some black marks

The Buckeyes have a much different body shape than the California Whites

Barbie showing off her wing

Barbie on the right, her legs are green, but not slate green, hers is more a yellowish green

Barbie on the right

When I open the gate for the chickens to come out and roam the property they all come running as fast as they can

Running fast, two of my Barred Rock hens

2 of my Black Jersey Giants in the weeds

Buffy enjoying her outing, she is the hen who had hurt a leg and for a long time she couldn't run well, she would do a flying hop, but now she can run again and isn't limping

One of my Ameraucanas

My Ameraucanas are 2 years old now and went through their first molt this winter, they all have beautiful feathers and I get several green eggs every day.

And here is Miss Daisy, she didn't molt yet and she still has some rooster damage, I have rehomed Sir Oliver as his constant attacks really took away from enjoying my chickens, he also started to cause damage to the hen's feathers, like here on Daisy she has lost a lot of feathers on her neck and head and most of the feathers on her back are broken off. Otherwise she is a very pretty little hen laying a small green egg almost every day. My guess is that she is mixed with a game chicken, I really like her, she is very smart and agile.