What a Mess! We have 10 Russian Orloffs, six weeks of age, who can't go outside yet due to the weather conditions. The temps are still dropping into the 40s some evenings, and most of the days are barely getting above 60.
This week was the chicks' first week to go without a warmer in their brooder, in preparation for them going outside. They are heavier, stinkier, stronger, more feathered and if it would just warm up, they would be living in their coop out in the back yard.
You might notice that Peep One in these photos is stockier, heavier, taller, and generally looks older than the remaining nine peeps. We suspect Peep One is a cockerel. What we are not seeing yet are saddle feathers or the upright tail feathers. From the back side, Peep One looks similar to the others with the exception of a small bump forming on the back of the shanks (legs). The feet on Peep One are quite large in comparison to the other peeps. Also, the crop (extra skin on forehead between the eyes) is pink and starting to form a crop. The other peeps have very little crop exposed and those that do have some crop development do not have pink skin, but instead have yellow tissue there. Either Peep One is a masculine looking pullet, or a cockerel in development. (We had a masculine-looking pullet last year and she turned out to be the most dominant of the hens.)
The peeps are getting more independent and more suspicious of the "hand" that sweeps in to pick them up. Due to their size and speed, it is harder to get them into my hand without using both hands.
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| Peep 1 |
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| Peep 2 |
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| Peep 3 |
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| Peep 4 |
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