Update on the Buie's Brood

I thought I'd do a little update on our crew. Back in the Spring, B & I took the big leap and bought chickens and two cute babies ducks just happened to hop in our cart too. I mean, I figured what's two more, right? (story of our lives) I seriously cannot believe how fast they all grew! Their cute little baby phase only lasted a few weeks. They went from this...

to this in just a few short months. 

One of the baby chicks was growing faster than all the others. The people at the feed store told us all 5 chicks were hens but one was a week older than the other 4. We instantly noticed that this one became the boss of the other four. We named her Big Red. If you watch Orange Is The New Black then you'll know why. Big Red ran the roost, bossed the other hens around, fought for her food... and could sometimes be a bully.

I snapped this pic with my iPhone on May 27. Our two Rhode Island Reds look almost exactly alike in this picture. One is slightly bigger but since I was told one was a week older, I just assumed that was why one was bigger than the other.

Fast forward about 2 months and this is what Big Red looks like now.

Big Red is quite clearly not a hen at all. Crazy what two months can do, huh? I vividly remember hearing Big Red crow for the first time. I actually got it on video but unfortunately I didn't save it (since it was on InstaStories). {Follow me on Instagram @cbbuie for all kinds of shenanigans.} I thought we had 5 hens until I heard that crow and knew I had never heard a hen sound like that.

Now that I KNOW what a Rhode Island red looks like, it is so obvious. And now I'll know what to look for in the future. 

These are the two Rhode Island Reds now. They clearly look so different. I'm pretty sure this hen is broody now but that's a whole other lesson! I love learning about these creatures. They are so fascinating! 

 And here are our baby ducks! All grown up! We grabbed two babies at the feed store on the day we went to get our chicks. They told us they didn't know if they were male or female and that we would have to wait until their feathers came in. We took a chance. I love duck eggs so we were really hoping for at least one female but of course, they were both male.

They went from cute little fuzzy baby ducks...

 To this - two beautiful male ducks with the most awesome green feathers on their heads. They really are good natured and so fun to have around, even if they will never provide us with eggs. We called them Ruffles and Ringo.

Our hens just started laying eggs! yay! It was a happy day! Well, actually only one is laying that I know of right now - our other Rhode Island Red, Sweetie. She gets up in the rabbit hutch usually mid morning and has been laying one a day for the past few weeks. I grabbed my camera and snagged a pic of her in her nesting box.

We are having fun with this new adventure! I feel like we are learning something new every day. Most days I find myself googling things about chickens or looking it up in our big book about chickens. There is so much to know and learn! They really are fascinating creatures! And bonus, we get free breakfast every day! Hopefully the other hens will start laying soon too!