Thursday, April 11, 2013

Just My Luck....


Here is the chick update.

I got 4 chicks that were "guaranteed" by the breeder to be pullets at the beginning of March.

A library friend, Mr O'Malley even gave me holy oil from St Josephs church in Montreal so I could anoint them in hopes they would stay pullets.  (female animals here tend to turn into males. Read all about the duck diaries starting March 2012)

I sprinkled all 4 with holy oil and then one of the black pullets turned into a rooster very quickly.


This very rare Blue French Copper Maran started trying to crow when he was just 3 weeks old.

The chicks were still in the brooder in my bathroom, when he started practicing his crowing at 5:30 am.

There was no mistaking that sound.


His black feathers started turning a smokey blue, feather by feather.

Incredible to watch.

A beautiful light blue.


The Blue Laced Red Wyandotte is staying a pullet, so far.


 However, I do not know what this chick is. I am grateful this chick has also remained a pullet.
She was suppose to also be a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte (BLRW) But she does not look like one.


Her feathers are a different color.

Also very beautiful, but I do not think she is a BLRW.

Got any ideas?

I am keeping her.

Will probably name her Mystery.


The chicks have been spending the days out in the Chicken Winnebago. Its 12 feet long and in the spring sunshine.  I have a tree limb and lots of hay and straw inside. they scratch for the food and fly around.
Sometimes the hens come to visit them. it is a perfect way to raise young chicks.  At night I put them in a wire dog crate in the coop.  They have their own roost and space, protected from the obnoxious, hormonal ducks.


Last weekend I put an ad on craigslist for the rooster. 

In an hour I had several responses.

The next day I saw the 2 black chicks fighting with each other and surmised I might have 2 roosters!
How can this be ?

Even though the other rooster hadn't developed a larger comb yet, he has the longer tail feathers of a male.  Will have to "wait and see" if the comb grows and he starts crowing. It should be soon, since they all hatched on the same day.


A nice family from my town came and picked up Rooster #1 on Sunday.

They have 30 guinea hens and a dozen hens. They want to breed and raise hens that will lay a darker brown egg and this rooster is part of their breeding plan.

I get visiting rights.

And ironically, I have been driving by their farm for several years and admiring their Irish Dexter cattle and soon I will be getting a tour and meeting their cows up close and personal!

Talk about LUCK!


I am thrilled that this rooster will avoid the stew pot and be a noble rooster on a nearby farm.

Of course I had to ask if they would be interested in being part of the Tour D'Coop that we are planning for our 250th celebration.   Since they have a very unusual kind of chicken coop, they happily agreed to be included in the big event.  (stay tuned for photos of that tour this summer)


Now I need to do TWO things:

Get ready to find a home for Blue Maran  #2 "if" it turns into a rooster (still praying its a pullet).

 and get some more real pullets!!

Here are photos of what the chicks looked like the day I picked them up.  Click here.
~

8 comments:

  1. I got a chuckle out of the "oil". Love your coop! Looks like it would have been fun to build.

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  2. That funny coloured one looks more like a bird of prey at the moment lol. With your luck I wouldn't dismiss it either lol.
    Glad one of your boys found a stewpot free home.

    Linda

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  3. I feel bad that you got stuck with at least 2 roosters out of the original 4 chicks and then one of the chick hens is not looking like the breed you were told she was. So much for guarantees. I don't think I would buy from that place again because there record so far pretty bad. Can't the 2nd rooster be traded in or returned where he was purchased or would he be killed? I guess I would want to know what the details of the guarantee are.
    At least some good thing came out of meeting the people who took the 1st rooster.
    I would add something to your to do list - Let Mr. Murphy know that his holy oil/water from Canada did not work like he thought it would. I was raised Catholic and have never heard of using holy water to insure proper sexing of chicken, but apparently Mr. Murphy did.

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  4. oh my gosh have they ever grown, aren't they pretty, I love them,

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  5. Oh I loved this story, and put my comments under the photos of the babies. They are so cute. you are a neighbor at Friendship Friday

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  6. I am glad your boy will have a good home. Maybe you could have swapped a couple pullets for him!

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  7. Your unusual looking blrw looks like mine. Think they might be more black laced red than blue, also markings look off like mine, have seen on backyardchicken.com people commented that one like that looked "double laced"?

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