Chicks @ 1 month

The chicks are now 1 month old. We're getting a better sense of what their adult feathering will be, and we're checking for comb development, size, and fancy feathering/large tails. Bigger and fancier usually means they're roosters. We have nine chicks altogether, but some are pretty camera shy. 

Not camera shy:  I think this chick was posing for the picture! 

This one is at least part Barred Rock, but the pattern doesn't look 100% Barred Rock to me.

I'm hoping the smallish comb means this is a hen instead of a rooster.

Here's a great example of the awkward teenage phase.  This chicken's wing feathers are developing, but the chick still has lots of the lighter down, giving a scruffy appearance as the new feathers poke through.  This one is at least part New Hampshire Red.

A NH Red rooster breeding with a Barred Rock hen should produce males with the Barred Rock pattern, and black females with some red neck feathers. I think that's what we've got going on here, but I can't be sure. And I'm not a chicken breed expert (yet).

This white one is part Delaware, and has black feathers at the wing tips, which is a Delaware characteristic.