Birds of a feather
Posted by Amateur Teacher on Monday, August 6, 2012
Under: chickens
You may remember me talking about our fiasco with our nine chickens... You know, the flock that ran away the first day we were gone on vacation. Yeah. I'm still getting over that one. It made me so mad! But with each little flock we have had we have learned things. Lots of valuable things. So, I have big hopes for these girls we have now. We ordered these girls in the middle of June when we got back from our trip. MyPetChicken had a sale on Golden Buff chicks (aka Red Stars). They were selling them for $50 plus free shipping and they were all female! WHAT! WHAT! Sweet! I was all over that like a chicken on a june-bug! And how many were in this $50 batch? 25. I joke and tell Mister that, yes, we started out with four on our first attempt, nine on the second, and now 25. And when/if these go? I'm bumping it up to 50. Strength in numbers, right?
It amazes me that they can ship a live animal through the mail and have them all arrive, in one piece, all alive. We ended up with 26 chickens since they gave us an extra. They must have been desperate to get rid of them! The first day four of the chicks died. MyPetChicken has a policy that if you let them know which and how many chicks die within the first 48 hours they will refund you. And they did. I sent an email and a couple of days later they added the money back to my checking account.
The other thing that amazes about sending and selling chicks is the ability to tell what gender they are. How on earth do they know?! My girls have been growing like crazy the last two months, but I started to notice something... take a look at this picture. Do you see it?
See anything that stands out? How about another...
See the chicken on the top? See the majority of the ones on the bottom? Come to find out, Red Stars are sex-linked. Meaning that the color of the chicken can tell you what gender it is. Want to guess what that one on the right is? It gets better...
There are two! HA! Out of 26 chickens, I'm pretty impressed that they only messed up two. And the truth? I have really, really, really, REALLY been wanting to get a rooster. Little did I know that I had two! The past three weeks as they have been losing and growing their feathers I kept scratching my head about WHY those two were a different color. I looked up the breed and that's when I found out what sex-linked meant! Eureka! You learn something new everyday!
Since I call my ladies the Dashwood's (that's all their names... I don't attempt to name them all, especially when they all pretty much look the same!) because of my love of all things Jane Austen, I plan on naming these Captain Wentworth and Colonel Brandon. I hope they grow to take of the Dashwood ladies and that this little flock is the last group of chickens I have to get for a while. Happy Monday, folks!
It amazes me that they can ship a live animal through the mail and have them all arrive, in one piece, all alive. We ended up with 26 chickens since they gave us an extra. They must have been desperate to get rid of them! The first day four of the chicks died. MyPetChicken has a policy that if you let them know which and how many chicks die within the first 48 hours they will refund you. And they did. I sent an email and a couple of days later they added the money back to my checking account.
The other thing that amazes about sending and selling chicks is the ability to tell what gender they are. How on earth do they know?! My girls have been growing like crazy the last two months, but I started to notice something... take a look at this picture. Do you see it?
See anything that stands out? How about another...
See the chicken on the top? See the majority of the ones on the bottom? Come to find out, Red Stars are sex-linked. Meaning that the color of the chicken can tell you what gender it is. Want to guess what that one on the right is? It gets better...
There are two! HA! Out of 26 chickens, I'm pretty impressed that they only messed up two. And the truth? I have really, really, really, REALLY been wanting to get a rooster. Little did I know that I had two! The past three weeks as they have been losing and growing their feathers I kept scratching my head about WHY those two were a different color. I looked up the breed and that's when I found out what sex-linked meant! Eureka! You learn something new everyday!
Since I call my ladies the Dashwood's (that's all their names... I don't attempt to name them all, especially when they all pretty much look the same!) because of my love of all things Jane Austen, I plan on naming these Captain Wentworth and Colonel Brandon. I hope they grow to take of the Dashwood ladies and that this little flock is the last group of chickens I have to get for a while. Happy Monday, folks!
In : chickens