The fuzzy girls have quadrupled in size but they still have about four more weeks inside. They need extra time to get their adult feathers and for nighttime temperatures to rise before they can be outside. And they are not all girls. We even picked out names: Stuffy, Razzle, Beaker (our definite roo), and Petri (not sure yet). They like to be petted, sit in our hands, and the typical chicken activities of eating, scratching, and sleeping. Their feathers are missing a stiffening barb on the end which makes them fluffy downy soft. I think they look more like stuffed animals than chickens. This is likely the reason they all got fanciful character names.
Well (much to my sister's concern) here are the new little ones. We sadly were required to re-home both silky roos which made room for more. As luch would have it this was the same time that those elusive favorelles came in to the store along with a new very rare breed to the US called penedesenca which lay almost black eggs (we shall see . . .) So we got two each knowing we would sell half and we did to a very nice couple living on a farm. Then mike went to get more feed and found new arrivals of polish chickens and came home with a last chick. And that is how we came to have 9 chickens (including our original four adult hens). If you're keeping up with all this that means we have 1 black silkie, 1 white silkie, 1 ameraucana, 1 buff oprington, 1 welsummer, 1 australorp, 1 polish, 1 salmon favorelle, and 1 partidge penedesenca.
The new wee ones took quite well to the older silkies. As a general rule it is disastrous to blend chicks after 2-3 weeks of age. We were concerned despite being told that silkies are the most gentle and maternal of all breeds. Turns out, once again, we should listen- if you look closely your will spot a four day old polish chick sleeping soundly under the wing of our black silkie. Current names are: Lulu (polish), Tilla (favorelle), and Penelope (penedesenca).
