Monday, February 23, 2009

The Golden Girls

I like having a flock of chickens that looks like a handful of trail mix. The Black Sex Links are the raisins; the Rhode Island Reds are spanish peanuts. The black and white speckles of the Barred Rocks can be toasted coconut, and the the varied browns of the Brown Leghorn/Amerucana crosses and our Golden Wyandotte are the chocolates, seeds, and oats. We've got Coach, the little bantam Buff Cochin rooster, as a little golden raisin, but I've been thinking we needed some more golden girls.

Running errands today, we stopped in at the Feed Store for bags of scratch and laying crumbles. Guess what - it's chick time already! They had three stock tanks full of cheeping little babies. The white leghorns were already fully feathered out - almost big enough to be outside. Only the tiny, little balls-of-fluff bantams were straight-run (meaning who knows how many roosters you'll get). All the rest were hens. So I picked out two Buff Orpingtons and two Red Sex Links, then spent the afternoon setting up chick-central in the dog crate in the spare room.

They are the quietest bunch I've ever had! They've already got their wing feathers, and I think they'll be warm enough without a light. Right now, they're snuggled together in a little chickpile, and not making a peep. What sweet, mellow little girls!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have wondered, do you have a special "growing area" for the hatched chicks in the way of temps etc that they might especially need (as distinct from the adults)?

Anonymous said...

chick pile, tee hee. =) so cute and fuzzy!

Annodear said...

Awww! They're adorable!

Sadge said...

Hi Local Zone!
Yes, baby chicks do need some special care, especially additional warmth. I'll put together a whole "How-to" post about raising a small flock of laying hens from day-old chicks without specialized equipment.
~Sadge

Nancy M. said...

What cuties! I love my buff orps! I just went to our store and no fluffy bottoms were there. Oh, well, I will have to wait a while.

Chili said...

I want some! Man I'd like some chickens as pets -- the eggs would be a bonus! Thanks for the pic.

just me said...

Great blog!