Our flock has grown!

Aren't they gorgeous? This is our second flock, and it's grown since last you saw it. On the Memorial Day weekend we acquired 4 more chicks, Marans, a month old, bringing flock #2 to ten birds.

So now Things 1 & 2 (Tetra Tints) are 13 weeks old; Lucy, Edith & Marco Pollo (Sex Links) & Agnes (Buff Orpington) are 12 weeks old, and the newest four* (Marans) are 7 weeks old.

*I should have learned, this second year into chicken-keeping, not to name the chickens before they mature (I think it is akin to not counting them before they hatch) ... anyways, the three Black Copper Marans have been re-named, as they are not the pullets we hoped for, but cockerels ... that is ROOSTERS.

So, per the photo collage at the top,  Margot is now Gru the Roo, Henrietta is now Henry, and Abby is now Abbott. Thankfully Jazzie (a Blue Copper Maran) is pullet and we can't wait for her burgundy brown eggs. (Google Maran Eggs if you want to see!)

So the count is 6 pullets (aka girls) and 4 cockerels (boys). Maybe another 3 dozen eggs per week when the girls become hens. Maybe. I think I figured we'd need a flock of 50 layers to meet the interest expressed by our friends for organic eggs!! But this is where we start.

And this is where they live for the time being ... "Coop De Wheels" an 8'x10'x6' chicken tractor. Moved weekly for fresh pasture until they are all mature enough to free range.

pre-wheels, front side

post-wheels, backside