Survivors

Here they are, a little closer up, the three chick survivors of the snake attack.  We had eight new chicks, bought in September.... two Golden Comet pullets, two Buff Orpington pullets, and two Americauna pullets who were two days older than the others.  Lastly, there were two straight-run Porcelain D'Uccles, tiny bantam chicks of a breed that is a true bantam, and not a miniature of another larger breed.  After a week in our nursing cage in the big henhouse, I went out one morning to find a big black snake in there, one dead Americauana that could not be swallowed, and three survivors pressed into the corner, in fear.  They spent the next three weeks in a two-story ferret cage in the workshop, necessitating walking across the yard several times a day to feed and water, getting stronger and bigger.  Then I moved them back into the nursing cage so they could get used to the sounds of the other birds, and see them safely from the cage.  There they have been for three weeks, gradually getting bigger and bigger.  Yesterday I put them in a 4 x 4 dog pen in the henyard with tarps on top to prevent their flying out.  Despite their initial panic, they settled into scratching the ground as chickens do.  I caught them at dusk and back into the nursing cage they went for the night.  Today I put them out again, as I will tomorrow.  Thursday, however, we are expecting rain, and I don't want to chill them.  I am hoping the Porcelain is a pullet.. it looks like it.  The other two have become handsome birds, and I hope will give us good eggs in the spring. 

Here is the Porcelain D'Uccle

Here the Golden Comet

and here, the Americauana

She is kind of a fierce-looking bird, but really a very beautiful chick.  Her eggs will most likely be blue or green.

I cannot tell a lie... I really REALLY want to breed Porcelains in the spring.... meaning I need to get a cock and another hen... KEITH ARE YOU LISTENING????