[The Shire] Our growing flock!

[newchickychick]

Chicken math has hit us hard. We ordered 20 of the "rare assortment" through TSC from Hoover's. Out of the 20 shipped, 19 have made it to officially 3 weeks old today - they're getting so big. So so big. We've got our outdoor coop at the ready but will be upgrading them to a custom built coop we're breaking ground on today. We've got a small team of helpers and are hoping to finish within a couple weeks tops (work schedules conflict a little) to be sure they have plenty of room to grow. I'm thinking we've got 11 girls and 8 boys, based on growing combs and patterning (I think they just sent us mostly barred rocks, but time will tell!). It's hard to get them to sit still long enough to really try to discern and count. These were our first ever chickens and I'm pleased as punch that 19 of the 20 made it and are still so very healthy. It's supposed to be very warm here next week, so we were thinking of beginning the coop introduction. Tomorrow will start their little field trips outside so as to ease them into wanting to get into their coop.

This was the photo I snapped right when they got here and all into the brooder. It didn't take long at all for them to start exploring and making mischief!

Fast forward to the past few days. They definitely got a brooder update. Only a kiddie pool could contain them, and they LOVE it. They are always getting the zoomies, and exploring their little world. But we are very excited to start getting them outside soon for trips in the warm sun since they always want to try to roam out and see new things.

I can't wait to find out what these little chickies are. These three have me stumped! Two seem that they *possibly* could be the same breed, but the third (dark gray with black fades on the face) REALLY has me puzzled on what it could be. I'm definitely assuming barred rock for all the others.

I am going to try to get better pics today of all of them as I'd love to confirm what all of them are. One of them though with the barring I swear has an itty bitty mohawk. Fashion statement or growing those feathers out sooner?

Pics were always taken pre-cleaning so forgive the mess! We're going to be taking good photos today but if anyone has any breed ideas for any of these little fuzzy butts, please let me know. There's so much for me to learn about chickens still. Excited to post pictures of them as they grow and of course pics of all our future little chickies here.

 

[HoneyBeeHomestead]

Congrats on the new chicks! It's odd that they sent you so many Barred Rocks in a rare assortment. I wonder if they could possibly be Dominiques or Cuckoo Marans... I'm not super familiar with either of these breeds, but I know the chicks look very similar to Barred Rocks. Either way, they're adorable!

 

[newchickychick]

Congrats on the new chicks! It's odd that they sent you so many Barred Rocks in a rare assortment. I wonder if they could possibly be Dominiques or Cuckoo Marans... I'm not super familiar with either of these breeds, but I know the chicks look very similar to Barred Rocks. Either way, they're adorable!

Thank you! I thought it was peculiar too, but maybe we got the 'leftovers'. It was so surprising to open the box and see all of the chicks black/white or black/white/yellow, and most have the barring! The little runt that didn't make it was like the big 'penguin face' looking one. So really seems to only potentially be 3 total different breeds in the batch if that, but I'm far from an expert I'm just really grateful so many lived and are absolutely thriving. Especially since this is our first experience with chickens ever. They play hard and sleep hard, and pasty butts were mostly so easy to clear up and stopped after week 1.

Now onto the chicken math of waiting on the batch for my birthday since these will be out of the brooder. We're building a 20' by 15' coop and a 50' by 20' run for them, so definitely room for them all to run around with. (No doubt each batch we'll have to rehome some roos, so we're hoping after all 3 batches to have around 30 hens out of a total of 55 ordered. 10 of these were sexed but the rest were straight run, and our current pending mystery rares (and one top hat special) from cackle are straight run as well. Time will tell! I'm thankful DH is supportive and loves the little guys, and our kiddo is enamored with helping out. He's been a rockstar with helping spot clean the brooder every morning and full clean it every week (or twice a week, if they're extra messy...)

 

[HoneyBeeHomestead]

They are going to love all that room in their coop and run! After chicken math takes over, your coop can never be too big!

 

[newchickychick]

They are going to love all that room in their coop and run! After chicken math takes over, your coop can never be too big!

Haha yes! We decided 50 is a good 'modest start'. We've got 30 acres to play with if we decide to expand. I have no doubt we will in the future once we've gotten in the groove with a large flock.

I'm still so amazed at how quickly they're growing. I'm keeping a collection of pictures of them all every week to look back at once they're fully grown.

 

[Iluveggers]

Found your other thread!

I definitely think the penguin ones are Australorps...they are a fun breed and will end up all black with some green sheen in the feathers!

Keep us posted if one of the barred chicks actually ends up with a Mohawk, that is a clear sign of a Hoovers Olive Egger (they cross with a blue egg gene Legbar which has a tiny mohawk to get green eggs).

I'm so excited for your growing flock! (Now I'm following both of your threads, lol).

 

[newchickychick]

Found your other thread!

I definitely think the penguin ones are Australorps...they are a fun breed and will end up all black with some green sheen in the feathers!

Keep us posted if one of the barred chicks actually ends up with a Mohawk, that is a clear sign of a Hoovers Olive Egger (they cross with a blue egg gene Legbar which has a tiny mohawk to get green eggs).

I'm so excited for your growing flock! (Now I'm following both of your threads, lol).

Yeah, Australorp is definitely on that list! The top 'penguin' is so, SO bold, but seems so far to have a lot less comb than any other chicks, so hoping it's a very bold hen to keep the others in line. It is the first to greet us when we go to the brooder and is always jumping on my hand.

Oh wow, I had no idea! It's still so small, I figured I was maybe just imagining it, but maybe it really is a bitty mohawk.

I'm so excited too, and tickled to have found this forum. I love going through the forums to see what flocks I've missed, and everyone's chicken adventures.
The order got rescheduled (thank you Cackle!) so it should arrive on my birthday now. My sweet husband is a chicken math enabler.

 

[Iluveggers]

I have a big order coming in mid-June! If you want to see a bunch of different-looking chicks, I'll be taking pics when they get here! Some of them I won't get to keep (split an order with a bunch of friends with a few extras sprinkled in), so it should be a good variety between what everyone wanted! I have to be careful on here, too, so easy to just browse everything and lose track of time!

 

[newchickychick]

I have a big order coming in mid-June! If you want to see a bunch of different-looking chicks, I'll be taking pics when they get here! Some of them I won't get to keep (split an order with a bunch of friends with a few extras sprinkled in), so it should be a good variety between what everyone wanted! I have to be careful on here, too, so easy to just browse everything and lose track of time!

I would love to see! That's a great idea. We've got one local friend looking to start a flock but he's got to get a coop/etc. set up before we can go halfsies on an order like that. But it's a great thing to keep in mind for the future.

It really is! I'm amazed at how much there is to some flocks, and so I go deep down the rabbit hole of seeing everyone's coops, flocks, etc. Not the worst hobby to have though ahaha.

 

[Iluveggers]

I would love to see! That's a great idea. We've got one local friend looking to start a flock but he's got to get a coop/etc. set up before we can go halfsies on an order like that. But it's a great thing to keep in mind for the future.

Heh heh. There are 5 of us splitting the order...once you find other chicken friends, it is a lot easier to "influence" someone into chicken math and see if they want to add a handful more each year...lol. Keeps shipping costs down, too!