Blue Tamago

4 months old! And they grow so fast but at least they are still best friends! They spend all day outside now and they return to their cage every night. They still stay away from the other hens and the hens stay away from them, so that's probably why they stick together so much. Penguin's hackle feathers are starting to show the characteristic long and thin feather shape that roosters only have. No sign of saddle feathers yet. Buffy's feathers are a bit harder to see, but he's also showing signs of hackle feathers. Buffy isn't too interested in crowing much, Penguin is the one trying to perfect his crow. I think this crow is absolutely adorable. It now sounds like this: The muffling around Penguin's head has grown quite a bit. I was a bit worried that he couldn't see properly, as he has missed pecking things on the ground before, but I think he has compensated for this feather obstruction and he's pecking away find now. Buffy - &

Penguin and Buffy playing "peek-a-boo" At the start of their third month, the chicks were still sounding like chicks, chirping away. We felt a bit relieved when we posted up photo's of Buffy up and everyone commented that Buffy was a girl (including breeders >.<). I was still a bit suspicious as Buffy's comb was getting bigger and a bit more pink with every passing day. Buffy at 9 weeks, comb is larger and pinker than at 7 weeks Penguin on the other hand still has the smallish comb, although that is getting quite pink. The chirps are sometimes interspersed with a cluck-like sound. They are growing up very fast. At this age, we can't pick them up with one hand easily any longer (they wriggle a bit) so two hands are needed. We've noticed that both of them like having "chest bump" games and we thought that meant that they were roosters, but then we were told that all chicks like to play those games.I was still skeptical, they look like

The chicks are now one month old an into their teenage years. All I can say is that Araucana's are not as pretty as Pekins during this growth stage! See what I mean? Here's Penguin, with feathers sprouting out from everywhere. Pin feathers are visible on the head, back and neck. Just an overall scruffy appearance. Buffy on the other hand, looks less scruffy and the fluffy bob of a tail is too cute! I believe at this stage that they like their dust baths to help the emerging feathers lose their wax casings. Don't hold me to this, but it is what I strongly believe as they dust bath as often as they can (nearly every day that we took them out).  Close ups of the scruffy one. See the dark pin feathers emerging? I found the best outdoor free ranging spot for the chicks. Our raised vegetable patch has netting around the sides (to stop the hens entering and eating it), we had sown some pumpkin seeds and the vines were growing everywhere. Benea

At 2 weeks you can see their wing feathers starting to develop. Excuse the bucket, but chicks in the house means lots of little messes! It was easier to keep the bucket out all the time :) It was also at this stage we introduced some sand into their brooder. The first thing Buffy did? Have a dust bath. At first Penguin just watched, but then both were rolling around in the sand. Their feeder got changed to a plastic trough, they eat a lot more that you think! We filled the trough with dry crumble and a smaller dish with wet crumble. The heat mat was covered with a small towel so the chicks would not get into direct contact with it. They still slept under the heat mat every night. Penguin at 2.5 weeks old. They grow really fast, every day they are a bit bigger! Wing feathers a bit bigger and the legs....well...they look to be quite thick...an indicator that Penguin may be a "he"! Buffy at roughly the same age. See the feathering on the feet, characterist

At the end of the last post, the little one looked lonely and we decided that a companion was needed. We looked on the Gumtree site and noticed someone up near Mount Barker selling newly hatched Pekins. On Australia Day, we drove for an hour and half before arriving at Damien's place where hubby picked out a buff chick. We also got a tour of their setup and all the different breed that they have (but mainly Pekins). They also have a rooster return business, where if your chick turns into a rooster, they will take it back, in return though, you are expected to buy a hen.   Check out their Facebook site - Pekin Pantry - South Australia. It is a closed group and you will need to send a request to join. Here's the buff chick that we picked out. We named it Buffy, in the hope that it would turn into a girl :) Drove all the way back on a very hot summer's day and introduced little Buffy to the chick. There is a noticable size difference. Buffy was only 1-2 days old

Days 1-4 One of the Araucana hens that we bought was laying fertile eggs. Little Pippy must have been charmed by the rooster at her last home.  So we decided to set three of her eggs and hope for the best. We cobbled together a home made incubator, made out of a hotplate with a styrofoam box with the base cut out to fit the hotplate, a saucer of water and some thermometers.  Getting the temperature to stay at 37.5 degrees celsius was a bit of a challenge as you have to rotate the eggs 3 times a day to prevent the yolk from sticking to one side. We ended up turning the egg once before bed, once when we got up in the morning and once when we got back from work. Candling was exciting, not helped by the fact that we didn't have a good torch, but once we did get one, excitement reigns when you see a shadow moving within the egg! We really didn't expect any of the eggs to hatch in our home made incubator, but to our surprise, on day 22 (yes a day late) we were greeted