3 1/2 months old - still growing and crowing

Below is a group picture of all 10 "chicks", getting a taste of "free-ranging". In the mornings and evenings I let them out of their coop and let them use the open area and one of the dog runs, this gives them an approximate area of 80 x 30 to range on. Out of my 5 dogs only the terrier will still go after the chickens, the rest is only mildly interested in them, but not wanting to hurt them. So I am hoping that when fall comes and the chickens are pretty much fully grown they will be able to use at least half of our property at a time.

In the back the two white Delaware pullets, then the two Barred Leghorns (black and white), then there are the two Buff Orpingtons (peach colored), also on the right the gold and black rooster with the golden neck and the same colored hen between the Buffs in the front and the Barred Leghorns in the back, behind the black and gold rooster is Lucy, the Ameraucana pullet and then to the far left is Sophie, the Ameraucana rooster.

Sophie my Ameraucana rooster, so far so good, he is really sweet

Lucy my Ameraucana pullet, she is on the bottom of the pecking order it seems, but she is very smart, and just goes about her business and since I always put plenty of food out, she never misses out on any of the treats either.

Goldie the Golden Campine rooster, he is extremely standoffish, really interesting as he wasn't like that as a chick. He is the more assertive one of the two roosters, crows a lot more and stares down Sophie who is almost twice his size.

The Delawares Pearl and Bianca

Corn on the cob is a favorite treat

12 weeks old - chickens and their guardian in training

Ayla is an Anatolian Shepherd, a livestock guardian breed from Turkey. She is almost two years old. Since we only had the chickens for 3 months, I have been gradually letting her spend more time with the chickens under my supervision. I am hoping that eventually I will be able to let the chickens free range and that my livestock guardian dogs will keep them safe. Ayla seems to be very promising and my other Anatolian is also doing great with them.
For more information about my Anatolian Shepherd Dogs see:
http://www.anatolians-of-zaltana.com/


My Anatolian Shepherd Ayla trying to figure out what they chickens are finding in the pool with all the hay in it. Lucy is watching the "big chicken" scratch around in the hay.
Group photo left to right, Pearl, Tippi, Bella and Goldie

Sophie my Ameraucana cockerel and Mira

Lucy guzzling some water. She just absolutely loves to guzzle, if she hears water running anywhere she comes running and starts drinking, out of the hose, out of a bottle if I pour something, and when I have the drip system running she runs from emitter to emitter to drink. None of the other chickens drink near as much as she does. Lucy comes over to check out Ayla's toes

When she started pecking at the toes Ayla very appropriately turns her head away, in doggie language she is trying to keep the peace

She looks at Lucy again as she turns her back on Ayla.

Doesn't she look like a happy flock guardian?

Group phote, Tippi, Buffy and Tobi

Ayla getting a taste of the chicks' breakfast as they look on

Bianca and Pearl

11 weeks - 2 crowing Roosters

The Boys, look at the size difference, Sophie's feet are green, Goldie's are slate-blue

The rooster named Sophie. He started crowing last Thursday, so there is no more guessing, Sophie is officially a boy. I thought about changing his name, but I think I will stick with Sophie, he seems to like his name. So far he is a sweet, but clumsy boy, he is huge and he often sits on my lap and lets me pet him.

Goldie

Lucy, she is a very sweet girl, always was.

Tippi is taking a nap in the "pool". She and Mira are the only ones who will lay down in the water to cool off and take a nap.

Cute little Mira. She really likes to be close to me when I am in their coop - and, she always wants to sit next to Sophie, one of the roosters.

Mira and Pearl, don't they look like two girls chit-chatting while walking along?

Pearl (right) and Bianca (left) enjoying a cantalope

10 weeks old and still growing

Bella, my pretty girl on the left. What elegant chickens these Golden Campines are, gold and black, golden neck and slate-blue feet.

Sophie, who will be re-named Omar if she is a he.

What a face.

Goldie my little eleganat cockerel.

Mira, she is a such a feisty little chick, but she is also very sweet and likes to hang out with me. She is still the smallest of the bunch.

Bella again.

Lucy to the right and Bianca on the left.

Bianca

Tobi is so far the only one of the chicks that comes to her name and will fly up on my arm when I call her.

Here Tippi grabbed the carton that came with the crickets, she ran with the piece of carton in her beak, but had to turn her head left and right to be able to see where she was going, it was really funny to watch her.

Bianca looking for more crickets. The box was the center of attention for two days, at which time the chicks destroyed it.

This picture shows how much bigger Sophie is compared to the rest of the chicks.

Pearl with a piece of tomato. One always knows when one of them has something special in their beak, they make quite some noise about it. It's really fascinating to listen to chickens and all the different sounds they make. It changes as they are getting more grown up too.

Tippi and Tobi, my Barred Leghorns.

9 weeks old

Chicks will be 9 weeks old on June 4th. They are getting pretty big now and Goldie the little rooster continues to practice crowing, I can't notice any improvement in his skills yet. Sophie's tail feathers are starting to grow down and the comb is growing as well, so looks like she is a boy as well and I need to find another name for him.
Bella taking a break on one of the branches I put up for the chicks
Lucy standing on the rim of the sand box. Our sand got all wet and muddy when I left the mister on for a while and it watered the sand, it should look nice again as soon as it dries out.

Tippi standing in the water. She actually will lie down in it and go to sleep, smart chickie.

this picture shows part of the chicken yard with some of the items I have put in there, a branch for roosting, an old broom stick in the corner that they love to use as a perch, underneath I have put some wood shavings and some hay for them so scratch around in, they also like to take naps there. I added this shallow plastic pan that we had originally bought to go under the washer. For some reason I have 3 of them, so now one is in with the chicks, so they have some water to cool down. The little table I made myself and I have a waterbowl up there so the water won't get so dirty with all the dirt the chicks tend to kick up. the table also serves as a resting spot for the chicks, they love to pile up under it for a nap.

Tippi loves the water.

Bianca on the go.

Taking a nap under the little table. Note the difference in sizes, Sophie in the middle is huge compared to Mira on the left. Mira is a feisty little one. Today I brought out a plate with some treats and everybody piled around it to eat. Mira
wasn't big enough to push in, so she just jumped right into the middle of the plate to claim her share.

Chicks make great pillows.

Pearl posing on the rock.

Tippi kicking out her legs, and Tobi next to her

Goldie and Sophie.

Mira and Buffy checking out a piece of apple