Growing up Cochin!

Black mottled Cochin chick and blue Cochin chick

One of the fun things when hatching chicks is that
 sometimes you can look at the parents and know
exactly what to expect.  For instance, the blue Cochin chick on the right is a perfect copy of it's mother just like we hoped for.  But the mottled on the left, was a surprise!!  We LOVE surprises!!

Blue mottled Cochin chick on left, partridge mix on right

Add to that surprise a blue mottled chick too!  None of the parents are mottled, and though I had seen hints it was in the genetics somewhere, I hadn't expected to have any mottled ourselves.  These two are definitely keepers for the future!






We also ended up with some Wyandotte X Brahma crosses.  Although, I have to admit some of them are showing some interesting coloring and  feather patterns themselves.

 This one and the one to the right are the same and  has already been dubbed the moniker
"Pretty Boy Floyd"    We are pretty sure it's a future rooster, but he is our #1 favorite for color  and patterns at this time out of our crosses.
Though he looks headless from this angle, it's a better picture to see the barring in his feathers.  We can't wait to see what he looks like once his adult plumage comes in!

This little partridge colored one also has some interesting barring on it's feathers as well.

Some of the others

Turn on the heat!

Despite the chilly temperatures that appeared out of nowhere, the chickens have determined it is time to lay eggs, and indeed they have been.  All this Egg-citement has caused incubators to be pulled out of the closet and cleaned in anticipation of many new chicks being added this spring.  I also spent some time cleaning out the brooders and making sure we have a place to put them once they arrive.  Safely tucked out of the way in the front bedroom,  are the two incubators with a small  brooder in between.  The brooder will make a great place for the eggs to hatch and chicks to dry before being moved to the bigger brooder and will allow me to quickly start new batches of eggs.

Middle: brooder without heated top installed at the moment

Now that the first incubator is full, the heat is on and we have 21 days of patiently waiting to see what will arrive.  There should be chicks for everyone in the family to enjoy as there are eggs from different varieties of Cochins- Blue, black, splash, and gold laced.  We also have eggs from our light Brahma and Silver laced wyandotte.

Grow babies, Grow!

Then and Now Bo Blue

It is that time of year for us.  Time to decide who gets to stay and raise the next generation of Chicken Super Stars and who gets to stay...for dinner.   We will be processing our roosters in the next couple of weeks and getting the pens ready for this coming spring breeding season.   Funny enough, my first instinct when they were little is still who I am going with now that they have begun to get some size to them.   

Here is Bo Blue at 2 months.  Hard to believe he started out completely blue, but soon he started to show some buff feathers on his chest, then wings then it just kept going....

Here is Bo blue at 6 months.  Amazing what a change in only 4 months makes!  He has the  most amazing feathering on his legs and feet and I can't wait to see what kind of babies we get from him.