Chicks - Grow With Me - The 4.5 month

We only got to see the chicks for the first half of the month, so this goes up to about 4.5 months for them.

In this month we find Penguin "talking" a lot more:

They do like coming into the house. Both of them are still very attached to us and not showing that much interest in the other hens.

Penguin still loves his nap times on people's laps. He still spends a lot of time sleeping. If you pick him up and give him a cuddle, he'll be asleep within the minute. Buffy not wanting to miss out, will often join him.

Fast asleep on my lap

As they grow older, there is less space on my lap  ^^;

Penguin: "Do you mind? Your butt is in my face!"

You can see Buffy's hackle feathers in the above photo. Penguin's hackle feathers show up quite nicely. With his feathery head, it makes him look like he has a mullet!

Both have perfected their crow:

As hubby says: "Penguin goes for volume. Buffy goes for style" 

I just wish that they would crow later. 5:30-6am is their usual time to crow >.<

What do you think? They say every rooster has their own special crow.

Penguin's saddle feathers are showing through, so they are long and thin and seen at the base of the tail. Only males have long and thin saddle feathers. His sickle shaped tail feathers are starting to show, giving him a classical rooster shape.

Buffy on the other hand seems to be all feathers. Only a few saddle feathers are seen and he won't grow the sickle feathers, his breed doesn't have any, they just get a "bustle" with their tail. Which is actually very soft and squishy to play with :)

We had recruited the in-laws to stay and look after them, with specific instructions on how much cuddling time each rooster had to have and what food they got to eat. We trained the in-laws for a few days before we left to make sure they knew what to do. Penguin and Buffy did not seem to mind being picked up by strangers. I was still so worried though, would they be upset with the change in humans? Would they remember us when we got back?

This was our last photo of them before we left on our trip to Japan. I was in tears leaving them :(

Come back soon!