Cock-a-doodle-doo!

Chirpy is now 4 weeks old and has lost most of his chick down. He continues to grow and will soon need larger accommodation. He can barely fit under the Ecoglow heating pad, even on its highest setting! His comb is already quite pronounced, which would suggest that he is indeed a rooster.

The other chicks will be two weeks old tomorrow and have made amazing progress in the last week. As you'll see in the following photo, Sweep's wings and tail have feathered up really quickly and he has some black feathers on his right wing.

Blondie's feathers are growing much more slowly, and although you can't really see it from the following photo she is now just starting to grow some tail feathers. She did not like being separated from the other chicks when I took the photo and was really keen to get back to Sooty and Sweep.

Sooty is a real beauty. I still can't decide if Sooty is male or female, but for now I'll assume that she is female (wishful thinking I reckon!). When Sooty flaps her wings I've noticed that she has some white flight feathers, and as you can see from the following photo her tail is already well developed.

It's really nice having a selection of chicks, and it's been interesting to watch them as they grow and develop because being cross bred I'm really not sure how they will turn out.

I've not disturbed the prue Rhode Island Red eggs that are in the incubator at all, and have not even candled them to see if they are fertile, but I intend to check them some time within the next week. Fingers crossed that they will all contain healthy chicks!