Too soft for My good.

[Stapfam]

Wife went shopping today and these followed her home

Bantam hen and 6 chicks. Chicks seem to have two different marking patterns and 3 of each. Both colours are in the pic.

She went to see a friend at a nursery and these were "FreeRange" on the nursery. The owner offered them to the wife and she is too soft hearted.

So what are they? Pekin was mentioned in the name and mum has Feathers on the legs. Difficult to get pics as I want to let them settle into my Quarantine run before annoying them.

 

[chrismahon]

Aren't they lovely! Would have followed my wife home as well Stapfam. Hen looks bit like a brown leghorn.

 

[foxy]

If she is tiny with feathered feet then a guess would be partridge pekin? Very pretty and the chicks look to have partridge markings but can't tell what breed they are.

 

[dinosaw]

Hmm, hard to see from the photo, she does look a bit like a Gold Partridge Pekin, but seems quite lightly feathered on the feet and the feather pattern slightly different, maybe a hybrid of the above breed?. Here is a link to a photo of a GP Pekin so you can better decide, or do a google image search.

http://www.irish-poultry.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=143879602

The chicks don't seem to have any foot feathering from what I can see on the photo which would say they aren't pekins as they are born with feathered feet. Of course she may have been a broody and is not their natural mother. I'm just guessing mind you.

 

[Stapfam]

They are in my quarantine run which is next to the main run. Bantam chicks can escape through 1" mesh and two got into the main run with the other 8 Chickens and survived. At first the adults thought the chicks were dinner but after one squawk from Bantam mum and the chicks were left alone.

Now got a problem for tonight as They will have to be put in the Coop for the night.(A small separate coop in their run) We have a Fox in the area and I don't want to take a chance. It will be bad enough keeping the Mother in the coop while I catch the chicks- But catching the chicks may be a problem.

 

[tygrysek75]

Why do you need catch chick?They will folow their mother.

 

[Stapfam]

Exactly as I thought--Coop is raised off the ground by 1 foot and I caught mum and put her in. I then had to keep her in by closing the hatch and How do the chicks get into the coop through a closed door and up a ramp? Easy enough to catch the chicks and once I had all 6- put them in with mum. May have to do this for a few night till they get used to bedtime.

They have been Free Range before I got them without a coop and just a Ground shelter that they did not use.

The wire mesh now has the lower 6" planked up so hopefully they cannot hop that high and escape again.

And looks like I will be extending the run to double the enclosed area. More of the lawn gone- but less mowing.

And a better pic of Mum

 

[Chuck]

Looks like a Dutch bantam to me but the feathered feet say no !

 

[foxy]

Looks like a Dutch bantam to me but the feathered feet say no !

My thoughts too Chuck...maybe Dutch/pekin cross? she really is a lovely looking hen! 17

 

[Stapfam]

First time with a brood but I am surprised at how Mum is training the youngsters. She is very attentive and went to the Chick Crumb Feeder and pecked around- No interest so she held a crumb in her mouth- put her head down and let the chicks eat from her beak. Not long before the chicks were eating from the feeder. She scratches around and is finding grubs and worms. She puts a worm in front of a chick and pecks at it till the chick starts pecking and finally eating.

Considering as how my only experience was with bought day old chicks in a home made incubator with no parental training- this is surprising.

 

[foxy]

Mother nature is incredible isn't she? Lovely to watch mum and her chicks. I have used good broodies to hatch ducks as well, now there was sight!!! 07

 

[chrismahon]

What I was surprised about was the lack of social skills in broody reared chicks when they are integrated with artificially reared chicks. Mummy used to sort out all the squabbles so when confronted by another chick they run off! Introduced 12 week olds to an 8 week old flock and they hid in the coop for three days until I separated them again.

 

[karminski]

i would say for now that those chicks look a bit like cream legbars only as they look similar to the ones i hatched a few years ago and if they were pekin bantams then by now they would have feathered legs and the start of feathered feet { still learning though mine are coming up to 2 weeks old and already showing all signs} i would say she was a partridge pekin bantam she has all the markings ,both mine are broody as hell but only one is hatching more pekin eggs at the mo .

 

[BabyBantam]

She looks like a pekin, but the tail feathers are all wrong, not 'victorian bustle' enough and definately too few feathers on her feet. I'd say a cross but a lovely one I've stared longingly enough through bantam cages at little lovelies to know she's not pure, but no idea of the cross?
I'm having severe chick envy at the moment looking at all the sweet little chicks everyone has. Reverted to taming all the birds in the garden to eat out of my hands and turning the flowerbeds so they can find tasty worms for their chicks to compensate

 

[Chuck]

It's great to watch the behaviour of chicks and hens. It will change as they get older and she will allow them to be further away from her & they become more independant.