Chickens

Left to Right:  Jane, Kitty, Lydia, Elizabeth (with waterer)

About three weeks ago, four chickens came home with us from Southern States farm supply.  They were cute little fuzzballs when we first brought them home.  Now their real feathers are starting to grow in and they look rather scruffy.

Jane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Jane is a Buff Orpington.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth is a Speckled Sussex.   If Elizabeth Bennet's family kept chickens, they would probably have been this breed as it was quite common in England at that time.

Kitty

Kitty is an Easter Egger.  She and her sister Lydia should lay blue to greenish eggs.

Lydia

Even though Lydia has a different colored plumage from Kitty, she is also an Easter Egger.  The Easter Eggers have such cute tufted cheeks.

The Easter Eggers also have darker and greenish feet.  Jane and Elizabeth have pink toes.

I've been chick watching a lot and have discovered that chicken behavior consists mostly of eating, drinking, sleeping and pooping.  And whatever one is doing, the others want to do it too.  If one chick goes to the waterer, soon all four are there pecking at the nipple and getting a drink.

At the feeder

The feeder has spaces for eight chickens to eat, but they all want to eat out of the same space.  The top of the feeder was a favorite place to perch and poop, so Pop made a paper hat for the feeder to keep them from sitting on top.

Elizabeth on top of the heater (notice her pink feet)

 The brooder is an extra large cardboard box.  It has this heater in it to keep the chicks warm.  The heater gives off a gentle heat and the chickens go under it when they get cold.

Jane

Here is Jane preening her new feathers.

Lydia

True to her namesake, Lydia causes the most trouble.  Here she is perched on the top of the box, ready to make her escape.