More Weather Coming!

Who needs the Farmer's Almanac when we got Ryan Snodden!!  Actually, he is off this week and someone else is delivering the bad news.  We are supposed to get snow tomorrow, then rain, and how about that wind yesterday!  My concrete house never rattled once, and we didn't lose power.  I fully expected a few of the chickens to be blown away though, but no, they came out of it unscathed as well.

A few weeks ago when we had the first snow, the henhouse door blew open, then blew shut with the chickens and roosters outside.  The next morning, I went out and a few of the hens were huddled in the corner of the fence OUTSIDE the compound, too stun'd to find their way back in.  Well, not stun'd.  In all fairness, I don't think their little feet are much like snowshoes, and they just didn't want to walk across the snow.

So there I was in my rubber boots rescuing them, two by two, bringing them up around the fence, in the snow, and into the henhouse.  I felt like Noah loading up the ark!  First the two Silkies, then the two brown ones, the two black ones, and then the two white ones.  I planked them on the roost near the heat lamp to dry off.  Poor things were frozen.  Now the roosters, let me tell you, I was tempted to leave them out.  They were flipping out when I tried to catch them anyway, and Dick just hid under a tree.  Rod, was in the neighbours yard up in a tree!  When Rod saw me collecting the other hens, it was like he was saying (in chicken language) "I'm over here!"  He said, "cock-a-doodle-do!"  I yelled to him, "Hang on b'y, I'm comin." But he wouldn't let up.  Then, when I finally climbed the fence to rescue him, he turned on me and wouldn't met me come near him.  I grabbed those gorgeous tail feathers when he waddled by and had no time for his nonsense.  Got a handful of plumage in the process, but it was do or die.

One even laid an egg in the snow!

Dick, taking off.  To stun'd or scared to know I was trying to rescue him!  Men!!

All hands back safe and sound!

Eventually, they all got back safe and sound, and the hens were fruitful and had eggs waiting for me the next morning.  Quite the adventure though.

So, tomorrow is another sloppy day.  Just have to check the henhouse door again before I go to bed.

My Hobby Farm

My house.

My friend, Chris, took this picture from an airplane!  Very cool, hey!  This is where all the hobby farming takes place!

Around the yard during Fall.

Silkie trying to hide from me.

As I mentioned earlier, Mitchell, my nephew, just showed me how to transfer photos from my camera to the computer!!!  Was doing it on the old laptop before, but that one is broken now.  Anyway, here are some photos I took a week ago when I was out farting around the yard.

The silkie tried to run away from me.  Not very photogenic at all--not like Rodney!

Below, they were hiding under a shrub next to the house.  They are like archeologists, the way they have the ground scratched up!

Let them out for a while, and they hide under the bushes.

Added some hay from the hen house, to the middle garden.

Rod is such a poser!

Just hanging out around the back yard.

Burning excess wood scraps (and secret documents).

Enjoying freedom.

Introducing.......for the second time........Rodney!

My beautiful cockerel, Rodney

This is Rodney, everyone.  Graham must be a chicken whisperer, because when we first got Rodney as a chick, we didn't know if he was a he, or a she! Graham would pick the chicks up, cuddle them, talk to them, and he took a liking to this one and called him Rodney.  I don't know much about roosters, but this one, to me, is a real show bird.  His colours are so vibrant and healthy looking.  His claws are very healthy-looking and perfect too.  He IS a rooster though, and wild with the women!

I just learned how to transfer photos from my camera to the Mac, thanks to my tech-savvy nephew, Mitchell! So, I will go mad now taking pictures and posting them.  Like the molting hens, I am through with my dry spell, grew some new feathers, and I am back in business, posting on my blog.

Yes! We have Eggs!!

I am happy to report that the hens are now laying.  Whew!  I was really getting worried. Started with two a day, then three, then four, and now, I get about six a day, out of 8 layers.  The young Ameraucana is laying because I sometimes get two blue eggs a day! The other Ameraucana, as you know, is a rooster, and what a gorgeous rooster he is.  He's a bit wild though!  He was "on" one of the hens today, as a matter of fact, and I thought he was just doing his rooster duties, but he started plucking feathers out of the hen!  I was horrified.

The Silkies, I am not sure are laying yet.  Their eggs were supposed to be beige, I thought, but I will have to do more research on that.  They are very timid birds.  I read that they were more cuddly and good pets to have, but my two, I can't look at them the wrong way and they are gone like a shot!  I suppose the two roosters in the pen have their nerves shot!

Anyway, just glad I am getting eggs again.  I have been opening the pen gate and letting them free-range all over the yard so maybe they are repaying me!  When I go outside, they come running at me just like a bunch of velociraptors in the Jurassic Park movie!  You'd swear I never fed them ever! I think they are enjoying their bit of freedom though, before the winter comes and they are hen-house-bound.

Stay tuned. Going to winterize the henhouse a bit more before too long.

Video of Dick crowing!

file://localhost/Users/theveitches/Pictures/Photo%20Booth/Movie%20on%202011-10-24%20at%2012.33.mov

Still No Eggs!!

The hens are just not laying.  I fluffed up their nests, gave them lots of food, lots of scraps, and even gave them flax seed which is expensive! What do they want? Jam on it?  Wait, now there's a thought.  Dad always says that (what do you want, jam on it?). Maybe if I put jam on their bread!  I am actually going to try that tomorrow, to humour myself.  Going to have to go and buy my second dozen eggs in as many years.

Meanwhile, there are still a few carrots left in the ground which I will leave until I need them.  We shouldn't get any serious frost for a while yet.  I have some in my big shed that I picked a few weeks ago, along with the potatoes.  I am not sure if the environmental conditions are ideal but it's the closest thing I have to a root cellar.

Got my walkway on hold for now.  I will have to finish it in the spring.  My elbows are shot anyway, from the heavy lifting I did during the summer.  I will let them heal over the winter.

Photos of some of the harvest.

Beans

Not many beans on the go this year.  This is what I managed to pick a few days ago - enough for a meal for about 4 people.  The yellow ones are always good, but the green ones were very tough and woody.  Not bad tasting.  I think it was the variety I planted.  I will try a different variety next year.

Carrots (but you knew that, did you not!)

The carrots grew really well this year.  This was a few I harvested and I left the rest in the ground to pick as i need them.  Last year, I was plucking carrots on Christmas day.  At least dad was, with his yellow rain suit on.  Emily asked him to go and pick some. He did so reluctantly, after she made him put on a pair of rubber boots (that were too small and scrunching up his toes).  She made him put on that yellow duck-suit with the hood up.  He was out there digging carrots, when the chickens came running towards him thinking he had food for them. He tried to shoo them away but the specks of rain were fogging up his glasses and he could not see where he was digging, the chickens were annoying him, and Emily was coming at dad with the hose to clean the carrots.  She inadvertently filled the boots up with cold water, and dad was poisoned when he finally sought refuge inside the back porch again!  I thought the whole ordeal was funny, but I doubt dad did.

Dad picking carrots Christmas Day 2010

If only mom could see him now!

Next (below) is my biggest garlic plant.  I picked it too soon, I think, but it is very fragrant and I think potent.  I think I was supposed to fold down the stems in order for the bulb to enlarge. I was too anxious though and wanted to see how it grew.  I left four more smaller plants in the ground and will probably get them just before the next threat of frost.

Pumpkins! Tiny, tiny pumpkins.  This is the biggest one, and I have three about this size. I should have just plucked the plant and all out of the ground, but I will let it go for as long as possible to see how big it will be by Halloween.  This was a bad year for pumpkins.  Even Lesters Farm had to ship pumpkins in this year as their crop was so bad.

Getting back to the chickens..................................

Inroducing............Rod, the youngest cockerel!

This is the young Ameraucana rooster. Is he not gorgeous!  This is not a very good photo but Rod has beautiful auburn, green, and red feathers.  His legs and claws are really healthy looking and this guy could be a show bird, I think.  The old rooster is Dick, and Graham named this bird Rodney when he was only a tiny chick, before we knew he was a he.


Update on the chickens to come in a few days.  Stay tuned.

Finally! A new Post!!

Well, it's been over a week and I am only now tending to my blog!  Where do I start!  Well, I will start with the chickens!  They have not laid an egg since I left.  Did they miss me?  I don't know, maybe they did!  I would like to think they did, but really, I think they are molting.  I did not know what this was until I Googled a few websites.  Apparently, chickens regularly shed their old feathers and grow new ones.  The hen house is full of feathers, no doubt.  One of the white chickens looks like it was in a fight and had it's butt feathers picked at but I read that this is molting.  They stop laying during this period for 2 to 4 months! I have actually had to BUY a dozen of eggs, if you can believe that!  I haven't seen any signs of molting in the other chickens, but maybe it is just less noticeable because they are all darker.

I wasn't too sure if the lack of eggs was actually molting though, because the seasons are changing now, days are shorter, well, daylight is less (days are still the same length), it is getting colder, and I rearranged the hen house.  The fact that there are now two roosters bothering the chickens made me think the hens were a little stressed too.  Anyway, I laid a dummy egg in a nest there, trying to encourage them to lay.  AND NO, I did not actually "lay" the egg, I "placed" it in the nest! I can do a lot of things, but lay an egg? I cannot.  At least not in that sense of the word.  As I was saying, the dummy egg was to encourage them to lay but to no avail.  I guess I will just have to wait until the molting process is over.

In the meantime, they tell me I just have to keep the hen house clean, make sure their water is fresh and clean, and keep them well fed.  I think I can handle that.

More to come.........plus photos!

Viva Las Vegas!

I'm going to Vegas, with my sister-in-law.  The boys have strict instructions to make sure the chickens have water and food.  I topped them up today so if they forget, the hens just might survive, but I don't want to come back to another dead chicken.

Incidentally, one of the chicks I got in June is a rooster.  One of the Ameraucana's is a rooster, so now only one of the new ones will be a blue-egg-layer!  On the up side, it is a gorgeous looking rooster, rich dark colours and beautiful shiny tail feathers.  Photos to come when I get back from the trip.

Getting things ready to go.  Lots of commotion here tonight and as mom would say, "It's like a Chinese laundromat here."  People popping in to see dad and me, comings and goings, all hands talking at once!

As soon as I get back, gotta get the potatoes out of the ground. The stalks are dying back already.  We did have a feed of beans, carrots and potatoes already though and boy are the carrots sweet!

Be back in a week!

Picking Berries

Well, it's that time of year again, berry-picking time, although it's a job to get a chance to get some.  I did manage to go with my father's friend, Emily, last week.  We went down by the cliffs in Logy Bay and there were lots of blueberries.  I spotted some unripe cranberries growing there too, so I know where to get them in a month. Picking berries is so relaxing--you have the soothing sounds of the ocean crashing in the distance, wind blowing, the smell of the greenery, and the day we were there, it was sunny with NO FLIES!!!!  It was a perfect berry-picking day.

The blueberries, by the way, were pretty plentiful, but many seemed dried up.  I think if I go this week, I may get a few more but it's cutting it close now.

I did see lots of partridgeberries too but they aren't ripe yet either.  Usually, I get cranberries along the east coast trail above Marine Lab.  One just has to veer off the trail toward the edge to find the bushes.  

Now it's time to make jam and berry stuff.

Scarecrow!

What's scarier than a scarecrow?  A scarecrow at night with the moon shining!  Very Halloweenish, isn't it?  My photographer captures amazing shots of the simplest things.  Thanks Chris.

I was out in my garden one day weeding near the scarecrow, crouched down, when the wind blew one of hte legs of its overalls and frightened the daylights out of me!  It wasn't meant to frighten ME!

Silkie, again.

The silkies are running free having a grand time now.  People ask me how they keep their feathers so white! I do not know!  I guess they groom themselves like any other animal. They are very soft, and white, and clean-looking though.  Making their pen a little bigger now so they will be tickled pink (well, maybe not), witih more space to roam around in.

Butt out!

This is not what it looks like, I swear! Never did much gardening this weekend at all, Labour Day weekend, and I feel like I goofed off completely, but last night, we had a nice fire in the back yard. It was a lovely starry night but a bit of a chill in the air with the fog lurking around the edges and sun gone down. Sitting around the fire, my front became quite warm, so I crouched by the fire, back on, to warm up my bum and back!  That's what this photo is all about! Ya can't get away with nuttin around here!

Cool Fire!

Chris's hot hoe!!

Playing with Fire, and Photography

Contemplating life while looking into the fire.

A picture tells a thousand words....or none at all!

I walked right into this one! Just so happened my friend had his good camera with him, and has a good eye for photography.  I always loved the image of clothes hanging on the line blowing in the wind.  Stirs up all kinds of........things in me, but mostly, clothes on the line remind me of my mother. She'd hang clothes out ALL the time, no matter what the temperature, time of year, whether Rose's cows were out or not, except when it was absolutely pouring out! When it rained, the clothes were hung on the line, or wherever, in the kitchen by the stove.  There were many times all of us ungrateful kids complained about the clothes smelling like manure, or being hard from the frost, or bleached from the sun, or full of spiders because mom had hung clothes out on the line. Never gave much thought to the trouble she went through to do just even laundry for 14 kids, using a wringer washer at that!  Now, my own kids give me the same grief! It was bound to happen! I do use my own clotheseline as much as I can now, but am cautious about which way the wind is blowing (from the dairy farm or not), whether it is very dry outside, and if it is warm.  I admit the dryer is very, very convenient and fast and I haven't got the stamina my mother had.  We have all the luxuries now and have no room to complain about doing household chores! (but we still do).

Anyway, seeing clothes on the line is very calming and peaceful and just thought I would share this awesome picture with everyone.

Scent of a Woman!

I was at work last week, getting an odd smell, and I knew I had showered and was clean, but the odour kept following me.  Later on in the morning, when my tea had made its way to my bladder, I went to the bathroom and as I looked down, there it was--pooh on my shoe!  Well, it wasn't really pooh, it was what looked like a nest stuck right at the arch of my good sandals!  It was like a handful of hay from the henhouse that had gotten glued together by hens' poop, and I must have walked into it when I was checking on the birds in the morning.  Guess I shouldn't wear my good shoes to the barn!

A similar incident happened years ago when I worked at the Workers' Compensation Commission.  I went home for lunch one winter with my long, high-heel white boots (how are ya) on.  I used to be pretty stylish in my day, or so I thought!  We had a cat in our apartment then, and unfortunately, when I removed my boots, I placed them close to the cat's litter box.  The cat had done her business, then flicked the litter over it, but must have flicked some of her fresh poop towards my boots and it splattered all over the side of them, unbeknownst to me!  Shortly afterwards, I was back at work, in the elevator WITH 4-5 people, and the stench obviously was coming from ME.  I looked down, and was mortified to see that my boot was covered in pooh!  Talk about embarrassing!  I am none the worse for wear though.

The joys of having animals!

Iceberg Farm

St. Anthony, NL Iceberg

Iceberg in St. Anthony, NL

Iceberg in St. Anthony, NL

The beans and garlic may not be doing very well this year's growing season, but have you seen the icebergs off St. Anthony!  Amazing!  There are hundreds, including the Petermann Ice Island. My friend, who is an amateur photographer, has allowed me to use some of his awesome images that he captured over the last few weeks.  While the photos do give the viewer a good idea of how may and how big some of the bergs are, I am sure it doesn't compare to being there in person to see them, feel the coolness from them, hear them crack and break, and smell them.  My friend told me that people in St. Carol's have been kept awake at night with the crashing and banging of the breaking ice.  It must be unbelievable to be there.

What a great summer for tourism at the Northern Peninsula.  Funnily enough, in the news last week, a woman from the United States was on the radio complaining of not seeing a single icebergs in the Twillingate area when she visited there this past month.  Why wasn't she directed to St. Anthony?  Not only were there tons of icebergs up around St. Anthony, but there were killer whales swimming about, and lot of seals on the floating ice too!  In fact, there were so many tourists in the St. Anthony area the past few weeks, the gas station had run out of fuel, restaurants in the area recorded best year yet in sales, and there were absolutely no vacancies for accommodations in the area. Maybe the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador should look into promoting that area of the Province a bit more aggressively in their tourism ads.  Never been there, myself, but I think that is about to change.

Thanks Chris Patey, for your awesome photographs. If anyone would like to view his work, especially the icebergs around of late, check out his Facebook page (www.facebook.com) as he has allowed access to it for a limited time so that he can share a piece of St. Anthony with everyone. I have posted a few here to give you a taste.

Jacob Two-Two!

Jacob Two-Two is a pre-teen boy character created by Mordecai Richler, and who my boys watched as a cartoon when they were little.  He always said things twice, hence the name Jacob Two-Two.  Gonna start calling myself Jacob Two-Two, because I can't seem to mow the lawn once; always have to do it twice because the fine days are so few and far between, the grass is too long to get it all in one mowing.

After 8 hours of gardening.

After a full day in the hot sun of mowing, it is finally done, front and back.  7 p.m. last night, I was able to sit on the step with satisfaction knowing I don't have to mow the lawn anymore for a few days!  I just hate to see grass left on the lawn and love the look of it trimmed nice and neat.  Maybe it's a psychological condition I have that I need to have neatness and order however I can get it in my chaotic life.  Whatever!  I saw a man on Newfoundland Drive, in the spring, vaccuuming the road sand off his lawn!  No one knows how many times I contemplated doing that in the spring but people would think I had more than psychological problems if I did that!  I would love to do it though.

Great weather! Now I can relax for a bit today, and maybe take in some of the bands at the Festival of Friends.

Warning!

Never check the oil in the lawnmower while it is running!  I found out the hard way!  Had a thought that it may be low on oil because it sounded sluggish, so, I unscrewed the oil cap and got splattered with specks of black oil.  I just rubbed it in and used it as sun tan lotion, which also gave me a bit of colour too!

Goats!

Billy (God rest his soul) as a kid!

Mario (God rest his soul), Billys dad.

Daisy (God love her), Billys mom.

Let me tell you the story of the goats, and not the Mobile goats either! Melanie, my niece, and her boyfriend, Mark, live on Colonial Street, how are ya!  If you can picture this, they had two goats there as pets.  They were Mario and Daisy.  They kept them in the back yard of Colonial Street!  I know, I know. How on earth did they manage that.  Well, they did but they asked if we would take them because I think the goats were making noise and the neighbours were complaining.  Never mind the smell! Anyway, it was pretty exciting when we got them. The grazed all the time and had such a good life here in Logy Bay.  They would go on the lawn and in the compost, and cars would almost crash coming down the road with drivers doing double-takes as they realized there were goats on my lawn.  They always stayed around the yard though,and at night, headed for the barn.

Mario and Daisy gave birth to two kids while I had them.  The first one was Billy, and almost a year later, Maisie came along.

We built an enclosed pen for them eventually, and they seemed happy enough. However, circumstances change and the were beginning to be a lot of work for me, so Melanie and Mark, having moved away to Nova Scotia, made arrangements for Lesters to take all the goats to their hobby farm until Melanie and Mark returned in a couple of years. 


So there I was, bringing the goats to Lesters farm, on a sunny Saturday, with four goats in the back of my SUV.  We lured them into the back with food, and they stood very quietly as we drove through downtown. I got many strange looks when people realized I had four goats in the back seat.  We managed to get them to Lesters and they have been there ever since.

Daisy is still alive, but Billy and Mario are dead. Mario and Daisy went on to have another kid when I had them.  It was a female which we named Maisie.  She is also alive and well and living at Lesters (Maybe that is where Elvis is too).  Mario and Daisy got pregnant yet again (I think they are Catholic goats) and had twins while living at Lesters, a black one and white one, males. They were so cute as kids.  We named them (at least I did) Bobby and Teddy.  Bobby died too, so now there are Daisy, Masie, and Teddy left at Lesters.  They may be moving to Logy Bay, but I still havent decided yet.

More Blue Eggs! Yay!!

Blue egg amongst the brown ones.

 What a nice surprise to find a blue egg in the nest every day.  The blue ones are slightly smaller than the rest, and pointier!  Weird!  They look so pretty.  I am saving them up so I will have a full dozen of blue ones.

Today, I put the culprit, I think, in the cage I have in the hen house, and I will leave that chicken there for a few days to see if she is the one laying the blue eggs.  I am just very curious.  Again, that odd chicken has a very small comb and no wattles so because it is different from the rest of the chickens, I think it is the one laying the blue eggs.  We will see.

Hmmmm. Where am I gonna put the goats!

 Yes, thats right, I said GOATS!  Melanie and Mark are home now and have three of their pygmy goats at Lesters on Pearltown Road.  They have been, I guess, fostering them while Mark and Melanie are away at school.  I am contemplating taking them back, as I had them a few years ago for a couple of years before we got the chickens.  They are more work than the chickens, but I am thinking, maybe they will keep each other warm and entertained over the winter.  BUT, I am also thinking, if they get out of the pen once, my plants are history.  All my hard work gone to goat feed.  They are quite entertaining to have as pets though.  I think if I can get the hen house (barn) straightened up, I am leaning towards taking them.  Gotta see if I can wrangle me a carpenter first.

This is my Silkie. Getting fairly big now.

Peek-a-boo! I cannot look at the hens sideways, and they squawk their heads off.  Especially the rooster.  Today, when I put the odd chicken in the cage as part of my experiment, I had to grab it by the tail feathers and do a bit of wrestling before I got a good grip on it. Well the rooster flipped out! He was clucking and crowing like there was no tomorrow.  I felt like saying to him, go lie down!  I think I did say that to him, but he just would not listen.

Blue Egg!

Blue egg I discovered today.

Same blue egg, but it is difficult to see the colour in that light.

Same blue egg. Experimenting with camera settings.

Blue egg again!

And finally, that same blue egg with its siblings!

I could not capture the colour very well with my little, old digital camera! I was very surprised to see a blue egg this morning, and excited for the ones to come when the Ameraucanas begin to lay in the fall.  I still am not sure exactly which hen laid that, so I will begin my experiment tomorrow.  I am going to cage one chicken for a few days in the dog kennel until I see it lay a blue egg.  I feel like Rumplestilskin waiting for the poor girl to spin straw into gold!

Hey, did you see that sun today!  The pavement was actually dry in spots! When it dries up a little more, it will be time to mow the lawns again! No rest for the wicked!

SNOW!

This actually looks inviting!

I figured if I showed images of snow, I wouldn't be too bummed out about this rain, drizzle, and fog!  My God, have you seen the like! The chickens are even going stir crazy!  Woke up this morning and looked out my patio door and there were 5 chickens looking me in the face through the glass!  The wind must have blown the hen house door open last night and there they all were, large as life, free-ranging all over the place!  I would have left them be for a while but I am only now getting  a few berries on the plants and those critters would have destroyed them in no time.

So there I was, barely awake, in my bathrobe, rubber boots on, trudging through the long, wet grass, chasing chickens trying to cajole them back into the hen house!  They were all soaking wet, nervous as cats, and squawking every time I looked at them!  I tricked some of them into the hen house with a handful of rolled oats and they followed like I was the pied piper.  The babies were not biting though, and they stayed out around the yard, all four of them fretting all at once, together.  I got the adults in and closed the door, then chased the little ones around until I managed to get them over the fence.  Wet feathers stuck all over my hands and bathrobe! They aren't quicker than me........yet though.

Anyway, they are all back in their quarters now, safe and sound, and me too, with a hot cup of tea listening to Cool Jazz on the Coast.  The only thing missing now is that cabin in the snow up there, with a fire crackling inside!  I'll have to plug in my little fake wood stove,  turn on the electric flames, close my eyes, and use my imagination!

Strawberries!

Just picked - ready for a salad.

Well, my strawberries are small but they are very sweet and tasty, I must say.  There seems to be about this much as in the picture, ripe every day and what I have been doing is just stopping between mowing the lawn and picking at the walkway, to snack on the ripe ones.  I am going to try to collect a few, freeze them, then save them for jam or some other dessert.  This year, the strawberries are growing a lot better than last year. I hear John Lester is having a good crop too!  He said they are having a longer growing season with the lack of sun.  Anyway, I can barely keep my little patch under control; I cannot imagine managing the fields of strawberries he has!

The raspberry bushes I have look like there are a lot of berries on them, but the plants are kinda frail-looking. We will have to see in a week or so.

I am looking forward to picking berries later on in the summer and early fall.  I like to go for the cranberries that grow along the cliffs just up from Marine Lab. Lots of blueberries and partridge berries down that way too.

Apronful of berries!

The Chicks are Growing!

Chicks are starting to scratch around outside the henhouse.

 The Silkies are very fluffy now. They are funny to watch. In the evening, they all jump up to roost on a wall in the hen house, and the white Silkies sneak in between the two Ameraucanas to get the warm spot.  They do not like being on the outside.  Reminds me of when I was younger and there were a dozen of us sleeping in the one bed. No one wanted the outside then either.

The two Ameraucanas. I think the one on the left might be a rooster!

 I was at the Farmers Coop yesterday to get more hay and feed, and asked the experts there if I could tell whether the chicks were male or female at this point.  They told me that if the comb is really red, it is probably a rooster.  The one on the left above has the beginnings of a red comb! I ignorantly asked if I should be able to tell if they were male by turning them over and looking at their anatomy!  They laughed at me and said all the organs are internal!!! I had been doing that and indeed, they all look the same. I noticed the older rooster I have mating with the hens and I cannot figure it out!

The brown colours in these chicks are very pretty.

Chicks braving the big outside world.

The four young ones stick together.