Just in case, I brought a carrier. I came home with a new buck for the brokens. Remember (those of you who attended) the black in "You Be The Judge"? Yep, he's visiting Spring Creek for a while. Boy's got a bod! Thank you, Gary! I was willing to buy him, but Gary didn't want to sell him. He's never been shown because he's never in coat at the right time, but Gary feels he's the best black he's ever had. He's out of a multi-legged otter pedigree.
A new buck changes everything. I wasn't going to breed for a couple months, but now I'll be taking the broken does on the sale page off the market. He'll get himi does as well so I can restart the himi/self program. Stay tuned.
I took the camera with me when I went out to the barns so I could catch this.
That's a lot of chickens! Ok, not all chickens, and not even all of them. Some had already got their fill and left the feeding station. There's 9 guinea keets in there. Yeah, they're already as big as the older bantams. Can you spot them? Hint: 5 are the same color as the Blue OEs, and 4 are brown.
One of the Mottled Cochins hopped up for a close-up. Not sure yet, but I think one is a roo. There's still 3 Cochin chicks in the transition cage. 1 Silver-Laced and 2 Mottled. For some reason, they've been slower to grow so it will be a while before they can join the flock.
Spiffy again. Every now and then, I pick him up and set him on my arm which he seems to enjoy. How lucky I had the camera! He totally surprised me by flying up on his own! I wasn't even looking at him. Now I'm trying to train him to do it on command. I can tell he likes this high and mighty view of the flock, he crows when he's up here.
In other observations. I now believe the 3 Cochins that I thought might be Gold-Laced at first are Mottled Buff Columbians. Very pretty! One of the solid buffs has earned the name Pants. It's shaped differently with longer legs and incredibly fluffy "pantaloons" covering the entire length of the legs. I wasn't able to get a good shot of these birds, but I will try.
Another observation. It seems that like likes like. Even though they're the same age and were brooded together, the different breeds and colors tend to segregate. The 2 oldest Mottled Cochins are a pair, the 2 older reds (Rhode Island Reds?) are a pair, the 2 sets of buff-colored Cochins stick with their look-a-likes, the 3 Blue OEs are a trio. Then the singletons (1 buff unknown breed hen, 1 younger red, the white Japanese roo) just go their own way. Oh yeah, and then there's Spiffy. He's bonded to me, and I think because he's the only one crowing, he's the overlord.
I've talked before about how wild guineas are out of the egg compared to the calmness of chicks. The latest issue of Backyard Poultry had a couple good articles on guineas. I could have written one of them, the author talked about the things I've learned about them. One of the articles gave a tip for calmer guinea hatchlings. Time incubation so guineas and chicks hatch at the same time. It's a good week longer for guineas. Then brood them together. Apparently this makes for less insane keets. I'll remember that if ever I have both to hatch at the same time. I might even see if a broody hen (if I ever get one of those) can raise calmer keets.
As I said, it rained hard in NC, but here, I came home to just a 1/4" or so in the rain gauge. We can use a lot more. It hasn't rained since the tornadoes last month and it's been so hot.
tnt
