Happy chickies 2 weeks old.

At one week, they seemed to me like 1-2 year old humans. They were curious about their environment but remained close to mom. They tried new things with caution but relied on mom for the majority of food finding.

Here is a video of them at about 10 days old foraging. It is almost 3 minutes long but has some closeup and slow motion flight. Please forgive my focus as I was using manual because the auto is loud!

At 2 weeks they are far more independent. They wander away from mom, ignore her calls sometimes, pick fights with each-other  Far more independent on getting food and water without mom (like a 3-4 year old?). They are starting to develop chickenalities (these I will describe with the photos).

Physically, the rest of the wings are feathering out and the tails are getting longer. The combs are starting to grow too.

It is gonna be difficult to just choose 4 to keep.

So... google is being strange and not connecting with youtube (also a google product) or uploading picasa photos wrong (also a google product). Sooooo... if you click on the photo below to see it large -  it will come up normal looking.

Most sleep around mom instead of under her. Red still tries to call them up to the nest-box.
One made it up to the roost and one got up to the box but the rest are still too little.


Sunny will chase bugs all day and is already a pro at a mid-air catch. She seems to "like" my silverlaced wyandotte "Nutmeg" as she will wander towards her and want to go eat or drink with her much to her mother's disapproval. This gets Nutmeg a great deal of abuse from Red.

Rusty prefers to hang back and catch a nap in the sun - she already likes the outdoor roost for a rest.
She is not to afraid of me and will eat out of my hand. Her legs seem to be turning green.

Bear seems to be the bravest when it comes to food from my hand. He takes huge bites and fills his crop to it's limit. He doesn't like to be pet or held at first but gets used to it after a while. He is the largest of the group and his legs are thick and orange.

Dusty loves to ride on moms back. She is not afraid of me. She will come up to my hand and jump in and allow me to pick her up without too much fuss but, she has no problem when I hold her.

Lucky - nothing outstanding. She will eat out of my hand with caution.

Ned - absolutely goes bonkers for greens. Loves everything I poke through the mesh for him. "Sticky weed" (galium aparine) is the favorite so far. He is the smallest of the Young group and is the most timid and really fast.

BB - tends to keep away from the crowd, is the most "flighty" of them so far. Thinking she may be a marans mix. She is the tiniest of the dozen.

Brindle seems to be the most "aggressive". The one to instigate a challenge with the other chicks. Timid towards me.

Trinity and Splotch - sweeties and brave (or stupid) as they will charge the older hens, sometimes resulting in a return peck aimed at the head. Splotch is the most brave towards me. She will approach and eat out of my hand. She even crawled up to my lap (all for a treat of course - much like my late Zeebra). She doesn't mind me picking her up or holding her.

X and HiLite - nothing outstanding so far.
HiLite is somewhat timid and EX is somewhat timid but will calm in my hand.