The Ladies of Cluckton Abbey will be leaving their brooder this week and moving into the manor. Woo hoo! No more Chickens in the garage!!!!! It can go back to just being that extra room that doesn’t house our vehicles.
(seriously, is there a secret to being the kind of adults who actually park their cars in their garage???)
Now at 6-7 weeks of age, they have nearly all of their Big Girl Feathers and their little peeps have turned into clucks and quiet squawks.
The down is nearly completely gone and very little remains of their baby chick cuteness, and … they are kind of scary now. Yes, I said it. I’m a little intimidated by feathered creatures. Probably something to do with that Spring when a bird attacked my head every afternoon as I left school. Either my hair looked like a nest or it looked like a scary big predator. Either way, that bird hated my hair. Not good and kinda left me scarred for life.
I digress…
So, The Easter Eggers and the Salmon Faverolle have started growing their muffs and beards, and the other Ladies have their fluffy chicken butts coming in. Muffs, beards, and butts … this is what I get excited about, folks. (sigh)
While they are starting to become beautiful, it’s a little frustrating to realize our “Hatchery Birds” aren’t perfect examples of their breeds. My Salmon Faverolle is more muddy and has a lot of black feathers instead of creamy white and creamy salmon-brown coloring. And my Silver Laced Wyandotte — our Lady Sybil — is hardly laced at all. She has black speckles instead of laced feathers. I still think she’s gorgeous, but I do wish she looked like a standard Silver Laced. It’s be nice to get what you paid for, you know?
That is … if SHE is even a SHE! Yeah, I’m a little afraid Lady Sybil and the Countess are going to be boys. Roosters. And if that’s the case, they’ll be leaving Cluckton Abbey. Of course, since chickens aren’t the easiest when it comes to gender-identification, I have to wait till either we hear a crow or an egg is laid to know for sure. Lovely.
The Ladies have started a “pecking order.” Well, the Bossy Ones started it. And by Bossy, I mean, head poppin’, fingers snappin’, eyes glarin’ … BOSSYYYYYY! Oh. My. Word. A couple of these girls are down-right bullies. Hopefully, once they have a little room to move and spread out, some of the fussing and fighting will stop.
I hope.
On, the plus side, all of their noise and attitude has provided Barney Kneeknuckles with quite the education and he can now “Bawk Bawk” with the best of them.
And, so can I.
We’re so proud.
