Stories from the Farm

Our baby chicks are now 4 months old. 

They don’t look like babies anymore!

We bought a variety of breeds – Lakenvelders, Silver Spangled Hamburgs, Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, and Cukoo Marans.  We decided to keep the Blue Laced Red Wyandottes (BLRW) and the Cukoo Marans, mainly because of temperment.  The Hamburgs and Lakenvelders were very flighty.  The BLRW and Marans fit in nicely with our little banty and Rhode Island Red.

I LOVE the BLRW!

The pattern on their feathers is so pretty.  They are docile and laid-back….

unfortunately, 3 of the 4 looked like this – yep roosters.  I knew there was a good chance I would get a couple roosters because they are only sold as straight run (not sexed).  I was really disappointed to see that 3 of them were roosters.  I decided to keep one of the roosters and my brother took the other two.  I should have had crowing try outs before I decided which one to keep – this guy sounds terrible!!!  I hope he gets better with practice 🙂

Too bad he can’t crow as good as he can dance.

The baby ducks are also growing up and starting to fly everywhere. 

They were all supposed to be mallards, but as you can see in this picture, they are not all the same size.  We have 3 GIANTS!  They are the same color, but have to be a cross between a mallard and a much bigger duck. 

They have the run of the property and since the pond has dried up, they have made themselves at home going wherever they choose.  If we are late bringing dinner, they come looking for us and almost came in the garage one night.  Ducks are so entertaining 🙂

This is one of my favorite summertime sights – little covey of quail and their babies.  This picture was taken from the floor of our garage – the door was open a couple inches and it was the perfect place to get close.  They are very flighty.

Dad was watching closely for any danger.