Well, I'm trying chickens again, so today, I picked up 4 Buff Orpingtons. They're soooo cute! 1 is way adventurous, so I couldn't get a picture of her. But here they are for now.

On the way home.


Checking each baby out... one jumped out of the crate just as I snapped the picture.


Got tired of chasing the one around so just took pictures of the other 3. One liked to play dead!


I'll be picking some silkies next month when they come in. No one has white silkies right now.

Toni, those are pretty cute chicks, love the one playing dead.

I have raised chickens most of my life. The last I had were Black Rose Comb Bantams. I would enjoy some now but don't want to deal with frozen water in the winter. I'd love some hens that lay brown eggs. I think the Orpingtons do.

Paul, what about one of the heaters that you put in birdbaths, would that work?

How cute Can't wait til next year when I can get some Please
keep the pic's coming

Well, the babies are doing good. This morning, sometime, their heatlamp got unplugged! They were all huddled together, and they were a bit chilly, but as soon as I plugged it in, they perked right back up. Poor things! They're in a room right next to my bedroom, and unfortunately that room *does* get a bit chilly. But they were eating & scratching at the sawdust within about 30-45 seconds of having the heatlamp back on. One of the chicks is VERY dominant. She's bigger than the others, and will stand right in the middle of the food dish (http://www.coopsnmore.com/imag...) and everyone else has to eat around her.

I trust that you are building a suitable fortress to house this group in away from the neighborhood predators?

And perhaps "she" is a he if that dominant? Pullets and roosters feather out a little differently: early tail feathers and pointy wings for pullets. Later tails and rounder wings for roosters. You can only see the difference at about 3-4 days old.

25+ years ago my son and I ordered standard buff Cochin chicks from a man in California. When fall came we decided we wanted to show them at the state fair. I bathed them and dried them with a hair dryer. It was a very cold January so I'd didn't dare put them back outside so I put them in some large boxes in our basement which was unfinished at the time. About 3 in the morning I woke up to the most awful sound...the young roosters starting to crow. Next day we took them to the show and on the way home we stopped for some Chinese food. First course was a bowl of chicken rice soup. It smelled like those wet feathers from when I groomed the Cochins. I couldn't eat it. My son won several prizes at the show including Reserve Champion which was 2nd best in a show of about 300 chickens.

PPal - Well, they're supposed to be pullets. That's what I purchased, that's what they were advertised as. But you know, I noticed that the biggest one has a teeny little comb starting. I'll have to watch that baby... don't need a orpington roo. He'll become dinner faster than not.

Was doing some research & figure I'll pick up some hybrid cornish broilers along with the silkies.

Roosters also have noticeably longer legs.

All of my chickens were bought as pullets, but chicken sexers are not infallible. I have three accidental roosters. A few are good here as the hens free range and the roosters are very alert to hawk-attack and warn their ladies who are mainly alert to searching the ground for food.

PPal - I personally wouldn't mind, but I live in-city, and there's ordinances against roo's. And if what you say about pin feathers is true, then I have 3 roos & 1 hen. Bleh. 3 have pin feathers on their wings & the smallest doesn't. I'll see about taking pix tonight. They should be a hair under a week old (hatched, in theory, on Wed).

The one that the comb is starting to show is probably a rooster they start to show before the hens

grr... that's definitely not what I wanted to hear. I'm going to have to call up the store & ask them their return policy.. I know they have a no-return policy on chicks, but I bought pullets, not roo's

The pin feathers show first in the hens, so that makes it sound like you have three hens and maybe one rooster. However I have had chickens that I was quite sure were roosters turn out to be precocious hens, so don't give up hope.

Well, I didn't get them for egg production.. I got them for meat birds / resell. And I love orpingtons.. they're nice birds compared to my New Hampshires I had last year.. they were assholes.

I have another month or so before they can even think about going outside, so I have plenty of time to be making their encagement. I still have the setup I had last year, and know how to prevent the same problem that happened last year. At least I hope I can prevent that same problem!

Got some pictures of the chicks. They're about a week old today.. ish.. not 100% sure! I've had them less than a week and I think they were hatched a week ago today. They're supposed to be all pullets.

Biggest of the babies. You can see her wings nicely.


The smallest of the babies. I love her look on her face!


The middle baby.. nothing too special about her.


My "dead" chick. Every time I hold her, this is what she does.


You can see her little bitty comb. I hope she's not a roo!


And a video of everyone "starving" to death... they just never get fed... http://youtu.be/JxFAmdgJOoc

I can't tell anything from the wings in that position, the comb, however, looks normal for a pullet. From the video, it seems their tail feathers are equally developed so they are probably all pullets as claimed. Since you don't want them for eggs, it may not matter if you have a rooster or two.

I think the one that plays dead is a hoot. perhaps she had a traumatic experience before you got her.

What cute babies!!!

Ok, had the chickens about a month now, so time to update. I've moved them from the spare room next to my bedroom to upstairs so they get a lot more interaction. They're staying inside as it's still too cold/snowy for them to go outside. Boy have they GROWN! They seem to be OK w/o a heat lamp right now and they're eating me outta house & home, so I have a big 7lb feeder for them now (http://www.harrisfarmsllc.com/...) and a 1gal waterer (http://www.harrisfarmsllc.com/...). This way I don't have to water them twice a day! I picked up a couple of rabbit hutches off of Craigslist last year for free ( ) and one of them is where they're living now. I'm hoping this weekend to get some more chicks.. they'll be put down in the basement (that'll be the "grow out" area) as I can lock the cats out of that room & make it more warmer for them.

Here's their hutch in the "craft room" in my house.


Can't really tell who's who any more except for Dead Chicken. She still does the dead move when I pick her up. 4th & 5th pictures (1st & 2nd pic, 2nd row)




Just put my name down for some silkies that are coming in on 3/29 and some Cornish Hybrids that are coming in next month.