The Dilema: Could Alli be an Al?

The girls are just 3 days shy of being 2 months old. They are turning into real chickens now! Our Buff Orpington, Alli, is one of the two biggest, the other being Lisa's Dark Brahma (we call her Gandolf, but don't tell Lisa!). Alli was a big chick to begin with and she did mature faster than the others. Now she seems to be developing a bright red crown and biggish wattles. A couple of times now, we have heard some interesting noises coming from the chicken tractor at various hours of the AM. We are starting to wonder...is our Alli really an Al? What are we going to do if she is a he?! We cannot have a rooster in the city! How long does it take to determine the true sex of a chicken!? I have been surfing the web trying to get good pics of male vs. female Buffs and well, it makes me think she's a he. Maybe it's just b/c the other girls are not developing their crowns or wattles as quickly. Theirs are mostly little bump like crowns and barely any wattle.

Hmmm...the dilema.

Alli or Al?

Lisa's Auracanas, and Alli or Al

Lisa's Auracanas, love the bushy cheeks...maybe we'll keep her!

Lisa's Brahma

Sicilian Buttercup

They have the whole yard to free-range and they choose to huddle in the smallest cage in the yard! That's chickens for ya! That's our Brahma, Mary, nex to Lisa's.

Huge Chicken Tractor

We did Seattle Tilth's Coop Tour a few weeks back in hopes of getting ideas for a chicken tractor. To our dismay we didn't really see many tractors. We did however get some great ideas for a coop, and we will be ordering an automatic water dispenser that hooks up to the hose. That way we can go away and not worry about getting someone to water them.

Here are some pics of the tractor. It is heavy, but hopefully it will keep the racoons out!

1 Month Old

Sicilian Buttercup, Molly. Alli in the background, along with Lisa's Auracanas

Alli (Buff Orpington)...where's my peeps?

Lisa's Brahma is huge!

What's up....chicken butt!

Our Auracanas, Lucy

Lisa's Auracanas

Mary, our Brahma

Mary and Alli

how quickly they grow!

Retrofitted dog crate as a chicken tractor

Brahma and Sicilian Buttercup

Sicilian Buttercup

Araucanas

the arrival

Seven baby chicks arrive June 6, 2007!!

Pat and chicks

Me and a blanket full of chicks

Sicilian Buttercup and Brahma

Sicilian Buttercup (speckled head), and a Brahma, the other is an Auracanas

Tanner's paws and a Brahma, an Auracanas, and a Buff Orpington...an introduction to the dog.

First home...in which they could escape!

Free-range in the house!

We had to put mesh around the cage

Say, goodnight!

chickens, chickens, chickens

I purchased the chicks from the Issaquah Grange on June 6th, during my lunch break. They had about seven varieties, and I chose four of the seven. I know, I know, we're only supposed to have 3 in the city of Seattle...but if anyone asks, my neighbor has agreed that one is his.

We have 1-Buff Orpington named Alli, 1-Auracanas (Easter egg chicken) named Lucy, 1-Buff Brahma named Mary, and 1-Sicilian Buttercup named Molly. We are also raising three additional chicks for my friend while she coyote proofs her property up on Whidbey. So ya, that's 7 chicks!

We initially started out with them in the house, but soon realized that wasn't going to work...they do smell, even if you clean the cage each day. So we migrated them to the garage with the heat lamp.

They grow fast! We added another cage to the first cage and created a chicken duplex. That held us over for about a week! Last night we retrofitted my dog's metal frame crate into a chicken tractor! We still have one cage attached to the crate and they hop between the two. The crate has an exposed floor and they love to scratch in the grass!