My Buff Bantam Cochin has decided her chicks are big enough to be on their own and they don’t need her to be a mama hen anymore.  I know this because as of Monday, last week, she has been pecking at them when they go near her and she is hanging out with the big girls again.  Plus, two days ago she started laying again.

Where did the time go?  It was just Feb. 1st that they hatched.  They grew so fast.  They are mostly feathered out with juvenile feathers, minus a few bare shoulders on some of the boys.  They aren’t cute little fuzz balls anymore, and are at the awkward gangly stage when they look like tiny dinosaurs.  I am glad the weather has been so warm since the Buff Cochin is no longer covering them at night.  I do have a heat lamp on in the coop, but they aren’t hanging out under it.

B’s science project will soon come to an end since we are now pretty sure on the genders of the majority of the chicks.  From the previous set of chick photos, we sold the Mottled Cockerel and the Self Blue/ Lavendar Cockerel.  It was pretty obvious what their gender was early on.   Another chick we thought was going to be a white frizzle, turned out to be a red frizzle.  It was quite a surprise.

We will likely keep a few…the Silver Laced pullet, the Partridge, and one of the Blacks.  Bantam Black Cochins are still my favorite because the ones I have raised beyond 8 weeks have been very productive and super friendly, including the one boy I kept until he was about 4 months old.

All photos below were taken Sunday.  I tried to include 1 or 2 pictures of each of the chicks.  The chicks are 6 weeks old today.  There were a whole lot of cockerels this time around.