Thursday, March 17, 2011

Update on breeds and health...

Well, four or five of the chicks have diarrhea.  We're taking our adult rooster to the vet Wednesday, and they will check out the diarrhea problem with the chicks while we're there.

A friend on facebook was trying to name some of the breeds, and I found they were right about one breed.  Jade and Ruby appear to be golden sebrights.  Sebright hens lay about 1 tiny egg that is cream or tinted in color, and have rose combs.  When I was looking at the combs they are slowly growing, I thought they looked like they would be rose or pea.  And Jade's comb is slightly bigger than Ruby's, although they are only just starting to grow them.  They were thinking that Aurora may be a silver sebright, but Aurora is growing his/her comb in, and it isn't shaped like that.  It is more of a single comb that sticks up. 

Aurora, Ruby, Angel, and one or two of the ameraucana chicks all have the diarrhea issue.  Hopefully they will get better soon.  I'm sure it will eventually spread to the rest of the group before it's over. 

One other thing I have noticed is that they seem to be somewhat attached to me already.  Some of them attempt to groom me, which I find interesting.  Diamond, one of the fuzzy footers has done something even more interestingly funny.  I was holding Diamond, and she/he decided to crawl down onto my leg.  (I was laying in bed.)  My husband reached over to pet Diamond, who decided to go running back to mommy for protection.  lol  And my husband says they are HIS babies.  HAH!  lol

As for the ameraucana chicks... they are both doing very well.  The "lazy" chick has finally perked up and is keeping up with the rest very well.  Crooked toe now has a permanent name... Eagle.  We're not sure, but we think Eagle is a male while the other is a female.  That one still needs a name.

We are working on backup names for the chicks who turn out to be males instead of females.

Aurora will be Ricky if male
Ruby will be Ruben
Eagle will still be Eagle
Jade will be Nemo
The rest... well... we're still working on the rest.  lol

I think some of these babies may very well be on their way to being show birds.  Jade, one of the golden sebrights, poses on its own.  Still working on getting Jade used to having his/her vent, wings, legs, feet, etc looked at.  (As with all of the others.)  Diamond... we're still trying to figure out what Diamond and Angel are.  They seem exactly the same, except for one thing...  Diamond has fluffy cheeks.  Diamond has the same comb type, coloration, and fuzzy feet as Angel.  Just fluffy cheeks... like an ameraucana.  It's weird.  I wonder if Diamond is a mutt?  A cross between whatever Angel is (possibly cochin or brahma) and an ameraucana?  Or, if Diamond just happens to have fluffy cheeks right now.  But I have to say that Diamond is proving to be somewhat show worthy as well.  Poses beautifully, takes excellent pictures... still working on the having wings, vent, legs, feet, etc examined. 

We'd like to tag all of our birds with leg bands.  My husband's idea is to put blue on the boys, and pink on the girls... though I don't like pink, so we agreed to use purple instead.  That's good and all, but I suppose we'd then have to continue to paint toe nails to tell the girls apart if we can't otherwise.  I mean... we're getting a shipment of chicks in May.  2 speckled sussex hens, and 10 silkies... of which only one is supposed to be a boy.  So how else can we tell the girls apart?  Nail polished toes.  =)  lol  We're going to wait until all of our birds are full grown to put leg bands on them though, so we don't have to worry about them outgrowing them.  I'm thinking of going with bandettes, or spiraled bands.  I don't really like the idea of not being able to easily get them on and off.

Differences in combs to determine genders?  Well, I mentioned a little above... but here we go....
Jade's comb is bigger than Ruby's
Aurora has the biggest comb, but no others that are the same breed to determine a real difference
Eagle seems to have a bigger comb than "the lazy chick"
And Angel appears to have a bigger comb than Diamond
So we could have 3 or 4 boys and/or 3 or 4 girls.  I'm hoping for more girls.

A friend of mine is letting me purchase some of her bantam cochin eggs.  The babies will be added to the group of bantams we have now.  I'm curious though whether the ameraucana's are bantam or large fowl.  They are a week older than the original 5, who are bantams, and are just about the same size... only a fraction of a bit bigger, which is hardly noticeable.  I guess time will tell.  OR... I could email the lady we got them from and ask her.  That would be smart.  lol  That is... if she left a way to email her on her ad.  My husband called her about purchasing the chicks, so if no email... maybe I can convince him to call her real quick to ask about their size.

Well... that's about all the update I have for now.  Sorry no pics this time.  I don't want to harass them while they're not feeling good.