New here and New Chick mommy

[TanaLee]

Hi all,

I have been pouring over this site for a month or so, in anticipation of getting my own chickens.

After going back and forth between getting chicks or full grown, I decided to order the chicks. The process of watching them develop will be a treat for my boys and myself. Plus, after reading this section...the cuteness factor won me over.

My little bunch include:
2 americauna pullets
2 cornish rocks - named 'lunch' and 'dinner'
2 RIR (ordered one and Ideal sent an extra)Pullets
1 Buff Cochin pullet
1 golden laced cochin pullet
1 black sex link pullet
1 barred rock pullet
1 dutch mille fleur bantam ??
1 dutch porcelain bantam ??

The gang is residing in a big dog crate in my living room and they are a treat to watch and hold.

Their personalities are soooo funny. The americaunas can't be bothered...very mellow and gorgeous!
The barred rock is at the front of the cage when I come near the door. She pushes her way out no matter what.
The bantams are interesting...the porcelain dutch got pecked on the head yesterday(shortly after arriving here) and still has red on his little noggin. The mille fleur spent his/her day pecking the beaks of all the other chickies...

I will try to post pics if I figure out how and I know I will be here asking questions.

Oh, first one...when do you start to see the pecking order establish itself? Do you see the personalities this early? (mellow, social, cuddlers, bullies and so on)

Thanks,

Tana

 

[4H kids and mom]

Hi there! Welcome to the forum!

My chicks are almost 3 weeks old (next Tuesday!) and pecking order is already in the works. I am raising 27 Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers, and one surprize Araucana. We are starting to know whos who in their little 'group'. We can see deffinate combs coming in on the half that are always battling, jumping at each other, and making all the noise. We're guessing these are the roos. The other half are mellow, friendly, love to be handled/snuggled/carried, are quieter, and the seem to roost more and sort of stay to themselves with their scratching and low 'purrs' and clucks. We're supposing these are our hens. I started to see pecking order battles and mock fights around a week old, but now they last longer and end in a head down stare down until one gives up and runs away. The 'winner' then struts around and finds someone else to pick a fight with. One out of the bunch is trying to be the Top Boss. He's also the prettiest, but if he can't calm down some, he'll find himself King of our dinner table!

All of our chicks look totally unique, and I am so glad we went with them as our first breed. We'll be ordering more pullets when we figure out what we're left with of this straight run bunch, and I plan to mix a few other breeds in. I want a few brown egg layers and a few white egg layers, so I can really have eggs of ALL colors! lol

 

[CarriBrown]

That sounds like a Barred Rock! They are very friendly to the point of being annoying... At least mine are!
I saw you had question marks after the two bantams... You almost got it! They are Belgian d'Uccles. That is the breed. The colors are Porcelain and Mille Fleur. So, you would call them Porcelain d'Uccle and Mille Fleur d'Uccle. People mistakenly call the one just Mille Fleur but there are other breeds that come out that color.
Congrats on your babies!

 

[TanaLee]

Hi Carri and anyone who can answer my ??

I had a question about the difference between dutch and d'uccle?

I ordered from Ideal and they list them as two different breeds. The d'uccle (how is that pronounced?) have the feathered legs and the dutch do not - mine don't have feathers on the legs, unlike the cochins.


Also, I ordered two ameraucanas but their bodies look different. One has a distinct tail and the other has a stubby looking hiney. Could one be an araucana? What signs would I look for at this age?(one week old)

Thanks

 

[CarriBrown]

Quote:
My bad! I didn't see "Dutch" anything on feathersite.com so I assumed you meant the d'uccle. It's pronounced dee-ooo-kle, or at least that's how I pronouce it. I've heard it another way, also, but I can't remember how they said it. It might have been dee-uk-le.