This chick is one of the first hatches in the incubator, born May 19, do the math and it will be seen that she is just over 2 months old. Now there is a little weird story that goes along with her. All the eggs in the incubator were gathered from the regular chickens, no Banty eggs. When the chicks hatched she was so tiny, way smaller than the others by about at least half. She was picked on so I placed her in a little cage inside the cage with the others. Oh she sure did not want to be in there, but until she got larger, she had to be protected. They had picked at her neck and she lost her feathers and had quite a bulby thingy on her neck for awhile. She eventually grew and is about the same size as her nestmates. I still wonder why she was so small. The only thing that I can think of is that the Banty rooster mated with the Australorpe and maybe she is a Australorpe X Banty, time will tell that tale when she grows to a mature size. It should be interesting. She resembles the Australorpe mother in every way, even the grey legs. There are two other roosters here, Antonio, whom is the Rhode Island Red, and Roquefort, whom is the big white rooster. Whoever the daddy, well, the Australorpe genes certainly are shining through. Beautiful day in this great life we all live and share. Cindi
(http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/3900/chickaustralorpxbantycz5.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
And, oh don't the chickens love to bathe in the dust!!!
(http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/966/chicksdustbathinglv1.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)