7 Week Old Chicks

The chicks are growing well and it appears that I have 12 cockerels and 14 pullets.  The lacing on some of the cockerels is looking good, however I am not as impressed with the pullets.  I hope that within the next month, their lacing will improve.  I am also disappointed in some of the coloration on the chicks, as it is not consistent.  I am looking for a mahogany red color, not golden red.  From what I have read, what their base color (the red and blue) is now is what it will be.  Some of the chicks have some brassiness beginning to develop in their hackles (neck feathers), which is undesirable as well. I will pick the best of what I have and build from there.  My little flock will be a work in progress. :)

These are a few of the pullets I plan to keep, and the cockerels I will be keeping an eye on for my breeding flock.

This Splash pullet, Pearl, I was not going to keep, however she continues to seek my company.  Today she flew up on my lap and made herself comfortable.  Since she is so sweet, I believe I will keep her and breed her to a Black Laced Red - a splash and black will produce 100% blue.

Side view of Pearl.

# 1, Splash cockerel

Blue Laced Red cockerel

Blue Laced Red pullet

Top view of the same pullet.

Another Blue Laced Red pullet.

My favorite Splash cockerel, left, and a Blue Laced Red cockerel.

A different view of the same Splash cockerel from above photo.

Silver Laced Chicks

Here are the Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks at 6 weeks of age.  It appears that out of 4 chicks, I only have 1 pullet and she is against the wall.

Silver Laced Wyandottes

Along with enjoying the beauty of the Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, I also discovered that I admired Silver Laced Wyandottes.  I decided to place an order for  6 Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks along with some of my Blue Laced Red Wyandotte chicks.  

These chicks are 3 to 4 days old in these pictures.

 

Here are some pictures of my 4 week old Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks.

Cockerel

Appears to be my only pullet.

Chicks at 4 and 5 weeks

Well, the chicks are getting big and are now looking like chickens instead of cute little chicks. 

 I contacted one of the breeders in a panic because I thought that I had eleven Blue Laced Red (remember that there are three different colors of Blue Laced Red Wyandottes - Blue, Black, and Splash)chicks and discovered that nine of them appeared to be cockerels! The other nine appeared to be Black Laced Red, which I didn't want.  He shared with me that it is difficult at this age to tell the sex of the chicks, and suggested that I wait till they are at least eight weeks of age.  However, some of them I had absolutely no doubt that they were cockerels as evidenced by their large pink combs and wattles.

He also informed me that the chicks that I think are blue are actually splash chicks, and the chicks that I think are black will probably be the blue that I desire on my chicks.  Upon further research, I discovered that he was correct.  The "black" chicks are actually a dark blue and can easily be mistaken as black when they start feathering out.

These chicks are 3 days old. The chicks on the ends appear to be black laced red chicks, but turned out to be Blue Laced Reds, and the chick in the middle that I thought would be a blue laced red, is actually a splash.

This is a 5 week old Splash cockerel, #1.

Another 5 week old Splash chick.

A 5 week old Blue Laced Red pullet that appeared would be a Black Laced Red a few weeks ago.

Another 5 week old Dark Blue Laced Red.

Blue Laced Red Wyandotte Chicks

Three day old Blue Laced Red Wyandotte chicks

This is my first batch of Blue Laced Red Wyandotte chicks! I purchased 15 one day old straight run (males and females) chicks from Blue Poultry (very nice and helpful people).  They were shipped out of Missouri on May 10 and arrived at my post office on May 12.  I had no losses during shipping, and the breeder had three small cups taped in the corners filled with a type of gelled food.  Some of the chicks appeared to have splayed legs, which was a result of the shipping because they straightened on their own within a day or two. 

 I want to share a little bit of information about the Wyandotte breed.  Wyandottes are an American breed that originated in the early 1870's with the Silver Laced variety being the first. This dual purpose breed lays good sized brown eggs, and come in a variety of colors and patterns.  Their rose combs and hardiness make them suitable for cold weather.  Wyandottes are a slow maturing breed, as they mature around 18 months, and begin laying eggs at 7-9 months.  Hens weigh around 5-6 lbs and roosters 7-9 lbs.

I am becoming educated about this breed by reading the forums from respected BLRW breeders on Backyard Chickens (at backyardchickens.com). Other sites that have been educational is the Wyandotte Breeders of America (wyandottebreedersofamerica.net), bluelacedred.com, and feathersite.com, which has excellent pictures of the different varieties.

 BLRW are a fairly new variety that have yet to be recognized by the APA (American Poultry Association) .  They come in three types of colors: black laced, blue laced, and splash.  The black laced can be mistaken for the Gold Laced Wyandotte, but it is not, it is a different variety.  The blue color comes in different shades of dark to medium blue and the splash is a light blue to white. 

The red in the feathers should be a mahogany bay color, not gold.  Some chickens may have good mahogany color on their body, but are brassy on their hackles (neck feathers).  This is undesirable.

Well, I hope this was informative.  Check out the sites above for further information.  :)

The Hen House

The Hen House in my garden

I am proud to say that after about two months, the chicken coop is ready and the chicks have moved in!  My husband did a wonderful job and spent most of his time off working on it.  My dad and his friend also helped by spending half a day putting up the siding. 

Chicken side of the house is on the left with extra storage above and my side on the right

My work area with storage for food below

The house itself is 8x8, and the run is 8x15.  The interior still needs roosts and nest boxes, but they aren't needed yet.  I had my husband divide the house up that way I would have some space for storing feed and a table for gardening or whatever.  My portion is 8x3, and the chicken portion is 8x5.  He built a ceiling above chicken side, which is less then 6 foot tall, allowing me to have more storage space above the chickens.  It's absolutely great!

Due to the fact that I am raising about 50 chicks next spring for replacements and meat, I will need a brooder/grow out pen to raise the chicks in.  So, I have asked my husband to build another pen which he agreed to.  This house will be 8x10 with a longer run.  Today he built the frame for the floor.  He's so good.

I will take pictures and share the progress.  :)

My Chickens

Week old Blue Laced Red Wyandotte chicks

I had never envisioned myself raising quality chickens, but as you read along, I will share with you how this journey evolved. 

My family had chickens for a few years when I was growing up, but that was a long time ago.  The chickens weren't anything spectacular, just ordinary chickens in my opinion, but we had them for eggs and meat. During that time, I decided that I wanted to raise some Anconas because I thought they were pretty (and I still think so), so I persuaded my dad into allowing me to raise a few.  I actually had four hens and two roosters, but none of them ever raised chicks. 

Now, back to present time. I have wanted to get back into raising chickens for some time now, but just wasn't able to until now.  My sister-in-law brought over a Murray McMurray catalog this past winter, and along with my aunt, we drooled over all the chicken pictures.  I then decided that I would wait and get chicks next year. Despite the fact that other family members were raising baby chicks, goslings, and ducklings this spring, I continued to tell myself that I would wait till next year.

 My plan was to get about eight to twelve laying hens, that was it.  I hadn't even thought of which breed I wanted to raise.  I can still recall looking at the catalog that winter day, and remembered how overwhelmed I felt looking at the different breeds and wondered how anyone could choose.

One afternoon in March, I walked into the feed store with my family, saw some chicks, and it was more then I could bare.  I purchased four Ameraucana pullets and four Gold Laced Wyandotte pullets, as well as all the extra stuff I needed to raise them.  That night, I planned and designed the chicken coop.  

The following day, my husband, kids, and myself headed to a different feed and supply store to pick up building supplies.  On the way to the store, I was looking over my sister-in-law's catalog, and studied the different breeds of chickens.  I came across some Blue Laced Red Wyandottes (BLRW) and thought they were pretty.  I vowed that if I were to ever raise some quality chickens, it would be this breed. 

When we arrived at the store, the first thing I did was look at the chicks.  The lady there was talking to me and shared with me what breeds of bantams they had that just arrived.  They actually had some BLRW bantams.  I excitedly purchased all seven of them!

As the chicks grew, the BLRW bantams were quite flighty despite being raised with my other calm chicks.  When they finally grew their feathers, I was quite disappointed in their color and  they were hardly laced.  I lost two along the way and later discovered that I have four roosters and one hen!  I will keep the hen, but the roosters will have to go.

A month into raising my chicks, I decided to get some standard BLRW and Silver Laced Wyandottes (SLW).  I researched and compared chicks from hatcheries and breeders. After a great deal of thought, I decide to purchase some nice chicks from some quality breeders.  I figured that if I am going to raise chickens for eggs and meat, I may as well raise something decent just in case I decided to show or my kids do when they get older. 

So this is my journey in raising quality Blue Laced Red Wyandottes and Silver Lace Wyandottes.  Hope you enjoy the adventure!