We have chicks, people! The first bundles of cuteness arrived early yesterday morning and there is a long train of them. I could never get over how cute chicks are. So small. So soft. So many colours. The Little Fulla is loving them too. So far, we have 13:
- 5 Lorelai-Mr Bingley jnrs
- 3 Sookie-Mr Bingley jnrs
- 5 Waikato purebred Australorps
There are three eggs that haven’t hatched yet and I’m starting to wonder if they will as Frodo is not always sitting tight on them: 1 more Waikato Australorp and the two posted Northland Australorps. This is the biggest brood I’ve set to hatch and I can see that it’s tricky for Frodo to juggle a bunch of needy chicks while still keeping the remaining eggs warm. I have been helping as much as I can and Frodo stopped pecking me pretty soon after she realised I was helping; making sure they’re all ok and warm and helping to show the older ones how to eat chick crumbs.
The colour business is most fascinating. I thought that both the Sookie and Lorelai chicks would be black or blue laced, but the three Sookie chicks are gingery/brown patterned. They are very cute and easy to tell apart! This just goes to show the unknown genetic influences of Mr Bingley’s father. I will delve more into that later because I am most curious about it. I can’t photograph all the chicks at the moment since I don’t want to disturb the incubating of the last few eggs, but the other chicks are a combination of black, blue and I think one splash Australorp. This is going to be a long journey of colour exploration!
Wild Hope Homestead 
I absolutely love tbr name Mr Bingley. Made me chuckle. What a amazing book.
The chicks are adorable.
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Hehe thanks!
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Babies!!! Yay! They are so cute! If anyone can handle 13 babies, it’s Frodo. She is a good mom.
It’s the beginning of winter here and all my older girls are molting. They look awful and pathetic. Abby did not even try to go broody this year. I am slightly disappointed by that but at the same time not because we had a lot of chicks this summer and the last is still tiny.
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Yeah, Frodo is doing well so far and is a LOT less protective of her chicks towards me than when she had just two, so they’re getting more handling time.
You did have a lot of chicks! Hope they’re all doing well. Maybe next season for Abby.
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All of my babies are doing well. It’s almost time to decide the fate of the roosters though. I have 6 definite roosters (Dots, Luke,Philip, Cutie, Grumpy and Sylvester) and of Claire/Eugenie’s I think there are 2 more… and Pavelle’s last one, AJ (he is Abby’s bio baby) who is also a rooster. But they are too young/small to send to freezer camp. So they winter over.
I’ve been given permission to keep Dots and two other roosters. Cutie (a silver penciled Rock) is handsome and I love his looks. Sylvester is the buff Brahma I was hoping was a hen earlier. But he’s not. And Philip is Pavelle’s bio-son. He is almost too small to freezer camp.
I hate making the decision. I tried to sell them online but everyone has roosters so now I have to decide. I want to keep Philip because he is so unique. The other is a toss up between Sylvester and Cutie. I like them both. Sylvester is more friendly. I hate making the decision.
I need to post pictures of them.
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I have a hen setting on 10 right now, still a week and a half left till we have the cuteness arrival. Yours are adorable!
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Thanks! I just love raising chicks. Hope all goes well with your hatching. đŸ™‚
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