The Chicks Are in the Chicken Tractor

This past week, Herb reinforced the wire around the chicken tractor where it had broken during its previous two tenancies.  Then on Tuesday night after the chicks had settled down to sleep in the brooder house, we crept in and gently transferred them into a dog carrier.  (They settled so quickly each time we disturbed them by stealing a sibling, we realized how foxes and weasels manage to raid hen houses at night.)  Wednesday morning, the chicks woke up here!

They seem really happy outside in the grass, cheeping contentedly all day long.

Here's one of the Gray Brahma cockerels front and center with (hopefully) a pullet behind him.  The bird to his left is an Ameraucana pullet, and the black one is a Black Australorp pullet.

The bright red Welsumer in front could be either a cockerel or a pullet.  Since I've never had them before, and they both get big combs and wattles, I'm not sure yet whether we have three cockerels or three pullets.  You can compare the Gray Brahmas at left (cockerels) to the one at right (a pullet--note the near absence of a comb).

The center one here is an Ameraucana cockerel. He is DEFINITELY destined for the freezer after my previous experiences with Carmen and Wren!  So are the other two Ameraucana cockerels, no matter how pretty they are.

This Ameraucana pullet likes to play Queen of the Roost.  Her favorite perch is on top of the waterer where she goes through all kinds of acrobatics.

The other Ameraucana pullet has such interesting coloration.

I'm working on names for the pullets that all fit a theme.  As soon as I figure out whether any of the Welsumers are pullets, it will be christening day.

Research has led me to consider saving a cockerel, either a Welsumer or an Australorp.  Although the Gray Brahmas are very nice, they also get huge and can hurt the hens by their sheer weight.

Whether their future is the chicken coop or the freezer, you've gotta admit, this is a pretty nice place to grow up!