4 Weeks Old!

Today the chicks are 4 weeks old! They are getting so big and feathered! 4 weeks is when you can begin to differentiate the genders by appearance... and it looks to me like I might have two little roos! But we'll see. Until I hear a crow they are all little hens. 

 June's is the second most feathered to Nellie. I think that she is becoming quite a looker with her gray and brown wings and back and her golden head and chest. She is calming down a little now that I have handled her (against her will on occasion) more.

 Nellie is shaping up to be a lovely little lady. Her feathers are extremely soft and she too is becoming less nervous around people. Once you are actually holding her and she is comfortable she enjoys being stroked. Nellie reminds me of a little blond princess with her golden feathers and blue eyes. She is almost entirely chick fuzz free and has the most adult feathers in the flock.

 The two little suspects... they better not be roosters! I have started thinking of where they will go if that is the case. I am hoping I can find them a home where they won't be in danger of making their way to somebody's dinner plate.

All gender issues aside, Edith is turning out to be a very striking chick. Her black and red are bright and eye catching, and she has stripey brown patches mixed in. And really, Edith isn't that bad of a chick. These days June can be plenty nastier, but it could be that is just because nobody ever questions Edith's dominance. Edith is a great flock leader and isn't mean to people. She likes to be completely in control of her location, which means holding her so that she can't fly away when she wants to makes her want to fly away that very moment. When it comes to handling, Edith prefers to wander in the bushes.

 Betsy appears to be sweet and innocent. But underneath her adorable tininess, she is a vicious and proud rooster. Betsy attacks approaching fingers with a fierce bite and marches around with tail held his and head held higher. She refuses to be at the bottom of the flock just because of her size and is very willing to fight for her position. Betsy's tail feathers are becoming increasingly suspicious; they are growing upright and long. At least Edith's seem to have stopped growing temporarily, even if they stand straight up. Hopefully, if I do end up needing to find Betsy a home, her cuteness factor will make her easy to relocate. Because her personality doesn't appear like it will be winning over any hearts.

 Shirley is looking good - her feathers are coming in evenly and well patterned, and there isn't any patchy chick fuzz sticking out every which-way. Shirley seems to be a girl. She has shown no signs of being a rooster in her attitude and as for her formerly suspicious comb we have decided to credit that to growth spurt and her breed's naturally large comb.

 Shirley is a good forager. She finds slugs and worms and tasty little bugs with ease and is generally able to keep them away from thieves (everyone else). Shirley is fun to watch in the yard as she digs and scratches and runs screaming victory with her tasty morsels.

 Dot seems to be thoroughly confused. Her breed is supposed to develop slowly, but she is not only developing at the pace of a snail she is doing a poor job at it! Dot's feather patterns don't match - her wing feathers are an entirely different pattern than her absurdly long chest feathers.

 

Dot still has missed the memo on tail feathers and her shoulders are going to be naked before her feathers grow in. She already two bald spots! Everyone thinks she looks pathetic - and with good reason. I hope she will turn out all right, but at this pace it will be winter before she has enough feathers to live outside!