Chick roll call

I'm very pleased to say that all the chicks are doing well. There are eight chicks in all, currently being kept in two groups of four. Let's start off with the smallest (and youngest) chicks which are nearly 2 weeks old.

Nano was the last chick to hatch and was a very small chick, but has done very well after getting off to a slow start.Nano is darker than the other Rhode Island Red chicks and colour-wise is quite similar to Chirpy was like at that age.

Pinky and Perky look very similar and are almost impossible to tell apart. They are both strong healthy chicks, and I have a gut feeling that they could both be cockerels.

Coco is gorgeous, and a good strong chick. Her feathers are a beautiful dark brown colour and her down is like soft fur. Now let's move on to the older chicks, which are 5 weeks old.

Sooty is a lovely chick, but a right little sod! He is absolutely full of beans and at times can be quite aggressive. He looks very much like his Araucana father and is very flighty.

I would say that Sweep takes after her Light Sussex mother, although I can see the Araucana coming out in her too. She is a beautiful chick with the odd black feather and rather unusual grey legs.

Blondie is quite a timid little chick and is slightly smaller than Sooty and Sweep. She is a lovely chick with pure white feathers pretty much all over. She is very close to Sweep and does not like being separated from the other chicks.

Finally, here is Chirpy, now all grown up at the grand old age of 7 weeks. He is very tame and friendly and has not shown any aggression towards his smaller companions. He has a lovely temperament, which is just as well as I think he's going to be a big cockerel.

There you have it! Our lovely chicks that we have hatched this year so far. It has been a real joy watching them grow and develop from helpless little balls of fluff into fully fledged chickens and it is amazing how each one has his or her own little personality from the very beginning.

Our adult hens have suddenly moved into full egg production and we are getting on average about four eggs a day. This is a sure sign that the days are getting longer and that spring has arrived. The Quail eggs are still in the incubator and are due to hatch in about a week from now. I haven't candled the Quail eggs because it is difficult to see any detail inside the eggs because of their speckled shells. We'll just have to wait and see how many Quail chicks hatch, however I understand that it can be quite a lengthy process and the Quail eggs can continue to hatch for anything up to a week!