Day: June 8, 2011

Turkey Tracks:  June 8, 2011

Chicken Update

The Freedom Ranger chickens are 7 weeks old now.  We’ll slaughter some of them in 3 weeks time–at 10-11 weeks.  They’re beautiful, healthy birds.  The color variations are so interesting.  I’ll have a hard time choosing one of them to keep as a layer.  We can’t tell the hens from the roosters yet, though some of the roos are starting to try to crow.

 HEre they are in the shade of their tractor.  Rose and Pete move them every day, so they always have fresh grass and a new set of bugs to catch.

Here are the batch of Copper Black Marans, Wheaten Americaunas, two Barbanters, and backyarders.   We’re starting to see which of the CBMs will be roosters as their wing feathers are turning orange.  They are loose in Rose and Pete’s yard.  Below them to the right is a planting field, and behind them are some protective shrubs.  They run from their tractor–you can see the edge propped up in the back right of the picture–to the shrub.  They’re already looking for and eating bugs from the yard.   I just happened to catch mostly marans in this picture.

Here are some of the others.  The little speckled chicks are the two Barbanters.  They are a week or so behind the marans.  Look at the topknot on the one at the right.  Probably a rooster in the making.  The Wheatens and backyarders (all from blue eggs) are about 6 weeks old now.   You can see a purebred wheaten–the blondie in the front.  And that bigger backyarder is quite striking in that s/he has coloring like an eagle–with a white head.  There are 3 of them like that.   The maran in front will be a roo–see the copper coming in on his wings?

Oh what fun we are having this spring!