Mama Hen is still the safest place in the yard.

At 6 weeks old the chicks are fairly independent.  But when something scares them--say, the human with the little camera who follows them around--they will still look for Mom. I think she tells them they are being silly and that human is where the good treats come from.

They'll learn.... one day.

It's a.... BOY?

Some chicks are easy to sex, in that they have a marking of some kind to indicate whether they are male or female. Most are not that easy.  Barred Rocks, when they hatch, will have a white spot on the top of their heads and their feet and legs will be black if they are female chicks. (This has about a 93% accuracy rate).  But when you throw in another breed and mix them up, anything goes.  When these two chicks hatched they had the white spots and the dark legs but they are barred rock/silver laced wyandotte mix so I had to just keep my fingers crossed.  

I don't think I had enough of my fingers crossed...

I cannot continue to ignore the fact that one has a little more red on it's head.  Ok-- a LOT more red.

 There, I said it.

A cockerel will begin to redden on the head long before a pullet. One of mine started showing red at 4 weeks. But again, with mixed breeds, anything can happen.  

6 weeks old

Note the difference in their combs and the redder one is developing waddles

As of right now they are just over 6 weeks old.  They hang with the adult birds all day and I'm hoping against hope that if he really is a "he" that he will get along fine with PeeWee. We have a much better chance at that happening by letting them live together now and having them grow up with the established birds.  I've had roosters in the past who wouldn't stand for another rooster in the yard. I have a feeling PeeWee won't be one of those boys.  This time I'm crossing all appendages! 

Uh, yeah--looking more like Captain and Tenille than Cagney and Lacey.

A chick pictorial... enjoy!

At two weeks old, the chicks are venturing out every morning.  They stay close to the coop and to Mama hen, who purposely wanders a little further from them and for a little longer, each time. They still sleep in the nest though, with Mama Hen, but they can jump onto the roosts as seen in the picture above.

Mama Hen taking the chicks to the garden--an important part of their job.

3/17 --15 days old

The chicks find some night crawlers in the garden.  It was a little more than they should handle but it didn't seem to bother them at all.

At 4 weeks old they are getting big and getting to be very camera shy! I can't get very close to them with the camera and you would think they would be used to it.  Mama Hen leaves them alone more and more and they stay close to the coop and a few of the big bushes surrounding the coop.  They now sleep on the roosts with the other hens, but close to Mom.

 At 4 weeks we are also still trying to remain positive about having two females.  However, A.J. noticed the red head even before I did on one of them. We'll keep watching but we may have one of each...

4 weeks

A rare shot of the family of four. PeeWee and his brood.

4 weeks