The chicks are two months old and I am in AWE of how fast they grow! I’ve really enjoyed this whole process of having a broody hen and watching the babies grow. It’s been a great learning experience! Once the babies where a month old, I let them and mama hen out of their separate enclosure so they could begin to forage and integrate with the existing flock.
Within a couple of weeks of exploring the orchard with their mom, she decided it was time to kick her babies to the curb and officially began hanging out with her original flock. It literally happened overnight! She’s just as territorial as the other hens and will even peck at them to get out of her way when she wants to use the chicken feeder. It is like they were never babies…..so harsh!
Now that they’ve grown they move fast! It is almost impossible to catch them and since their wings are still much bigger than their bodies, they can fly! I’m sharing some progression photos so you can see just how fast they’ve grown. You’ll notice the biggest changes in coloring and wing size. Some photos are blurry, like I said they move fast and rarely stay still!
Mama and her flock drinking water, they were about 1 month old.
Before they split, mama and babies loved roosting on our old compost bin.
Now here’s some photos that show their major growth!
Three days old
One week old
Two weeks old
Same chicken that was in the prior three photos! This one is definitely a rooster, he’s about six weeks in this photo. My husband was stoked he actually caught him!
Yep, definitely a rooster!
Three days old
Two weeks old, notice how fast the wings grew!
Same chicken, two months old, I’m pretty sure it is also a rooster!
Two weeks old
One month old, also fairly certain this one is a rooster!
These next photos are of three different chicks at three days old that all looked very similar, one had much bigger wings, and as they’ve grown they still look a lot a like.
The next two pictures below are the same chick, you can see at two weeks (photo with the red background) how much bigger the wings grew and the face changed a bit.
The two brown and black chickens below are the same as in the photos above, I have a feeling one is a rooster and one is a hen. The black chicken is a for sure a hen!
The two photos below are of black chicken as a baby.
Three days old
Two weeks old
Next up is a video of two of the chicks fighting, these two are most likely roosters. Here’s some interesting facts about fighting from the University of Kentucky –
“By 16 days of age, fighting to determine the pecking order begins. Research has shown that with groups composed entirely of female chicks, the pecking order is established by the 10th week. In small groups, the order is typically established earlier, around eight weeks. With groups of males, the social order may remain unresolved for many weeks.”
We added a new roost to our run and the little ones like it!
Half the flock grubbin’ – the first, third and fourth ones are all roosters.
Here’s one last photo progression, this was one of my favorite babies and he’s growing into a handsome rooster. I’m super bummed my zoning doesn’t allow me to keep roosters because I’d love to keep this guy!
One day old
Two weeks old
Two months old, look at the beautiful colors!
And last but not least, what we do for fun around here 🙂 Enjoy the video of my husband being silly with this chicken!
Do you have chickens? What’s you’re favorite thing about them, besides the eggs? Do these photos make you want chickens?
Honeychick Homestead 