The chicks are now 7 weeks old. They are not chicks any more, they are small chickens. Some of them are obviously boys, some are obviously girls, and some are anybody's guess.
We added a Grandpa's Feeder to their run a couple of weeks ago, in the open position. They were very happy using it. About a week ago, we changed it to the partially open position..... then I raised it up so it clanged more..... then we added a second Grandpa's Feeder two days ago, and removed their Omlet Grubs completely. All going well so far, and I'm going to try changing the setting to fully closed in a couple of days.
Every day I go in and offer treats (actually Garvo Alfamix chicken feed) to any of the birds that let me pick them up. The same gang are always "me, me, me, pick me", and these are the ones that we are likely to keep.... as long as only one of them turns out to be a boy. YellowRight is definitely a boy, and he's the boldest, most eager chick, so he's likely to be our keeper. GreenRing is a Girl, she likes sitting on my shoulder, and she will probably come and live in the garden assuming that the second Exchequer Leghorn turns out to be a Girl as well. The first is definitely a boy, a really lovely chap called Spike.
The other MeMeMees are GreyRing and PurpleRing, who could be girls or boys, we aren't yet sure.
The hopefully-female Exchequer doesn't like me to pick her up, but she does like to fly up and land on my hand or arm, so I guess she'll get it with practice.
They are due to go to the Allotment in a week. Another decision needed: dowe let them all go and then bring back 2 Girls later, if hopefully-Female-Exchequer turns out to be a girl; or whether to keep the hopefully-female-Exchequer and GreenRing here to grow on and to be integrated with our Big Girls when old enough. Part of me would like to keep them here so I can continue with the taming, but it might be better to keep them with everyone else until we are sure of the genders.
