This flock arrived in early October as two day old chicks and they are already eager to get outside. Unfortunately they will have to wait a week or so. They need to be a little bigger or else they will become hawk snacks. We love the hawks on the farm, the control gophers and look impressive soaring on the thermals. But they do have this nasty habit of swooping down and taking very young chicks. Once the chickens are four to five months old they are too big for the hawks and they leave them alone. The result is that we have to keep the girls inside until they are big enough. Their last two flocks we raised were let out at two and a half months but only into a very confined fenced area around the house. This seemed to work as the hawks could get inside with their long dive and get out again. We hope to set this up with these girls before the holiday break.
These chickens do look different to our regular breeds and they are. They are California Whites and Buff Orpingtons. The California girls will lay white eggs. We use different breeds so that we can identify the flocks easily.