Kuikentje's little chickens

[Kuikentje]

SUNDAY 2nd JUNE

Well, they are here. I fetched them this afternoon, I have had them four and a half hours and have already been on the forum asking for advice!

They started off huddled in a corner and I was worried that they wouldn't eat or drink tonight; I have put the food and water in the coop for now and will remove it at dusk. They didn't really pay any attention to it till I physically picked a couple of them up and put them right by the food. You could see the moment they realised there was food there! They are pecking away happily now so I know they won't die before morning - not of hunger anyway.

I am looking forward to being able to tell which is which - they haven't been visible enough yet. One is nine weeks old, two ten weeks, and two eleven weeks, according to the breeder, although one of them is bigger than any of the others so I wonder if she got that the wrong way round. One of them is a lighter brown than the others. They are all so pretty with the most beautiful markings on the individual feathers. Once I know who's who, I can give them their names.

[Linda S]

Yay your a chicken mummy now, and your kids have given you your first worry bless them Lindaxx

[Kuikentje]

)c( Yay your a chicken mummy now, and your kids have given you your first worry bless them Lindaxx

Oh no, do I have another lifetime of worry ahead?

They are now all outside and scratching around happily as though they've never done anything else!

[Linda S]

Of course they are cause thats what the little darlings do, i would expect nothing less Lindaxx

[Kuikentje]

And now for the first pictures:













As you can see, our dog is very, very curious about them!

[Linda S]

Aw they are so cute, has one of them got blue on her face like Delphine, Aces gorgeous little banty girl
How old is your dog he/she looks very grey round the muzzle or is it the dogs colouring Lindaxx

[tamk23]

New girls

They are beautiful

[Kuikentje]

Aw they are so cute, has one of them got blue on her face like Delphine, Aces gorgeous little banty girl
How old is your dog he/she looks very grey round the muzzle or is it the dogs colouring Lindaxx

Hi Linda, the dog has been that colour since she was 3, she started off black and tan and then developed this white mask around her eyes and ears, very odd - we think she has some Australian Cattle Dog in her. But yes, she is grey around the muzzle too. She is fifteen and won't be with us for ever - one of the reasons I wanted my girlies now, because I couldn't bear the thought of coming home to a house with no little friends in it.

[LisaB]

Your girls are beautiful, what long tails they have!

Just thought, have you got any dried mealworms? They're a great treat for making them tamer x

[Kuikentje]

Today my husband has ordered some proper netting for the top of the run and has devised a way of getting it on an off easily - much better than the Heath Robinson affair I have been using. He's bought the wood for the moveable run, too.

I went and sat in the run with them tonight. It was a bit damp underfoot - well, underbottom - but it was lovely to sit there with them while they came up to me and pecked gently at my hands and feet. The smallest one seems to be the boldest - I am struggling to tell the middle three apart so I can give them their names. I've decided which is Lottie and which is Sarah (Lottie Large and Sarah Small). Sarah always seems to be the first to do anything new. She is also the hardest to catch. I'm still not confident that they will take themselves off to bed, so I caught them tonight - the first two were easy enough, for the next two I had to resort to my son's landing net rather than grabbing and frightening them, then I had to wait for Sarah to make a tactical error and run into a corner.

Since then I have come and read a few other people's experiences of putting their hens to bed and I am going to try and be more relaxed about it. I should have stopped sitting up waiting for my children to get in by now.

[aceface]

they re adorable little hens lucky you enjoy the many hours of chicken watching you will participate in

[Kuikentje]

People are asking me when they will start laying eggs.



I had completely forgotten about eggs. Quite honestly, I hadn't given them a thought. The girls are so delightful and charming that eggs, when they arrive, will just be a bonus.


Does that make me a true chicken-lover?

[aishakali]

Does that make me a true chicken-lover?

Certainly does

[Kuikentje]

Today they have settled in enough to start deciding who's going to be boss. My husband says they have been 'fighting' each other. The only instance I've seen is when Sarah (who else) squared up to one of the bigger ones and jumped at her. The bigger one just looked a bit bewildered and ignored Sarah.

I must try and learn to tell them apart before they are fully grown because I think they will probably all end up the same size - they are different ages, remember, and a couple of weeks probably makes a big difference at 9, 11 and 12 weeks.

[LisaB]

Hopefully the pecking order wont take too long to sort out.

Just keep and eye on your girls and wait until their combs grow - some will have bigger, some redder, some will have more pointy bits
And as Linda pointed out, one of them has very blue lobes so should be easy to tell apart (or is that just the picture?)

After a few weeks you'll know who is who