Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Roll Call!

Gorgeous' chicks are just over 2 weeks old now, and they are such fun! Because there are so many chicks, it has taken us a while to get to know them individually. Of course, we are in the process of giving them all names. That's what we do. It is interesting that there are so many variations in coloring, marking, and size amongst the chicks. It doesn't show up well in these pictures, but the differences between them are remarkable in person. I assume this is because our chickens are all just "mutts," not chickens bred to have similar characteristics.

Here is the roll call of named (and a few unnamed) adorable chicks for you!


This is "Blondie," a name which refers to coloring, and is not meant as any sort of assessment of intelligence.


Here's "Chipmunk," who has especially defined striped markings. Notice how much more developed Chipmunk's wings are than some of the other chicks.


Fluffy


This is "Baldy's Baby." He (or she) hatched with that bald spot, exactly like the featherless spot on our other hen's neck. We've thought Baldy was bald because of the other chickens pecking at her . . . but now we wonder if this isn't something genetic.







Just so you know, it isn't easy to take portraits of individual chicks like this. You can't possibly do it with the chicks on the ground . . . they are fast! Kirstin and Bethany took a cardboard box, and cut a hole in one side, so that they could take these pictures from the right angle, and still keep the chicks contained. Even with this setup, you notice a lot of times the chicks had to be restrained in order to get the pictures.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your chickees are tooooo cute! I'm glad your girls found a way to corral them so we could see their cute faces! Do you know sexes yet or is it too soon? I could help you with hamsters, kittens or puppies but I've never even attempted to sex a chicken!!
Love Beth

Anonymous said...

Hi Mrs. Sowers. This is Megan. I came down with the team from Grace Church. I have a e-mail and I few pictures that I wanted to send to David if that's alright. I promised him that I would. But I'm not sure of your e-mail. If you could let me know that would be wonderful. My e-mail is soccerbum81191@hotmail.com. I hope that everyone is doing well. I really enjoyed looking at your pictures of the baby chicks!

La Gringa said...

Hey Trish, I was looking at some chicken links today and remember seeing a photo of a type of chicken with no neck feathers. I think it was called a Turken if one of the kids wants to look it up. I didn't pay much attention at the time or I would tell you more.

Cute babies. We have some about a month old now -- in the ugly duckling stage.