Chickens!

This year, we decided to get a mix of breeds of laying chickens. Something very misfortunate happened with the first delivery which arrived a few days (!) late. Only one of the chicks from that shipment survived. Fortunately, the hatchery was great and sent another shipment out the next week. Twenty-six chicks of all different colors arrived unscathed. One particularly caught everyone's eye. This chick seem to have a 'puff' of down on it's head. (In the top photo it's the grey chick just to the left of the blue bowl right in front of a golden chick.) The 'survivor chick' we believe is a black Minorca. She's bigger than all the rest... but won't be for long! As they always do, the chicks grew quickly. Before they could go out to the coop, the chicken yard was in dire need of repair. The winter snows were very hard on the roof.

The chickens are now nearly grown. We've had fun trying to identify the breeds of each of the different kind. If we're right, we should be looking forward to brown, white and blue/green eggs!

It appears as if the 'puffle head' (aka likely a golden crested) chicken will not be staying with us for the long haul. She, er, he has let out a big 'old "cock-a-doodle-doo" a time or two. The 'no rooster' rule presides. We think that we've found him a home. It's probably a very good thing. It looks like the hens are beating him up. He's bald on top and doesn't have a single tail feather.

Now... we're just waiting for eggs...