They almost never come out all 3 at one time.
There is still an egg under Abigail, but I'm not holding out much hope for it. At some point over the weekend it got pushed out from under her, and by the time I found it, it wasn't warm any longer. I'll give it a chance, and a couple more days, though. :(
I think this is absolutely the cutest thing they do - pop their head up from behind Mom's wing like, "hey, what's going on out there?"
One chick (on the left here) has a slightly darker gold head, and a tiny-tiny brown spot. As quickly as they change, that probably won't last long. The other two are identical to me.
I tried feather-sexing from photos I found on-line, but I don't know what I was seeing. Maybe if they weren't bantams, and SO tiny.....
It amazes me that from Day 1 they scratch and peck the ground for food, and when they drink, they tip their heads all the way back to swallow.
Can you tell how I spent most of my weekend? Chick watching! Fiona and Yoshi have completely ignored them. Mishu watched for a little while, but Ciaran was glued outside their coop most of the time. I'm not trusting him at all. He may be doing his Nanny-kitty thing, or thinking "yum, chicken for lunch." The coop is a baby-proof as I can make it, with 6-inch solid edging all the way around, so they can't get caught in the wire, and so kitty paws can't get them!
Chickens are what's called "precocial", as in precocious, meaning they hit the ground running. Unlike sparrows, etc., who are hatched as ugly little runty things that mom and dad have to feed!! I love having chicks - and when they get big, chickens are better than TV!
ReplyDeleteThe second photo down is adorable. THe mother is a beautiful color.
ReplyDeleteOh Deb, what great photos! Isn't it fascinating to watch them? I put a shovelful of sand in the pen with ours, and at only a couple days old they're already taking dust baths! It's so interesting that they are so independent on the one hand, but stick with mama and watch everything she does so closely.
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