The first batch of spring chicks are almost two weeks old, now. There are 10 True Green chicks, which should eventually lay green eggs, 7 Pearl White Leghorns, which should lay white eggs, one surprise chick, and 30 Big Red broiler chicks. Because we purchased a batch of layer chicks in the early winter, we only ordered half of our usual number of layer chicks for the spring.
The surprise chick is the clearly unique one seen in the main picture. It will take some time before we can make any informed guesses as to its breed.
Compared to the usual mystery and intrigue of receiving chicks by mail, this order followed a truly uninspiring, efficient procedure. It was sent and received with no excitement whatsoever – which was greatly appreciated! The hatchery sent us word of the shipment and the tracking code correctly showed the progress of the box all the way to Fairbanks. How wonderfully dull! We have a followup order of an additional 30 Big Red broiler chicks in June and we dearly hope it will be an equally unremarkable process.
The main difference from past orders is seen, or, rather, not seen, in the chicks, themselves. Contrary to what their names might suggest, the True Green and Big Red chicks are, so far, indistinguishable from each other. The Leghorns can be recognized for their solid, light yellow color and clearly smaller size, but the other two types of chicks are too similar to tell apart at this age.
Unfortunately, the True Green breed has red or chestnut feathers, which will make it a challenge to separate them from the Big Red broilers, who have light red and bright red feathers. We shall hope that their size difference becomes obvious before it is time to harvest the broilers, or we might have a problem at the end of the summer.
Wish us luck!
I am so glad our human babies are more easily identified immediately. There is usually a more present familial resemblance.
Won’t the color of their eggs be the clue you’ll need for sorting the True Greens from the Big Reds – eventually, at least?
The True Green chicks are egg laying birds.
The Big Red Broiler chicks are meat birds.
They won’t reach egg laying age, unless we misidentify some, thinking they are True Greens.
That would mean that we have harvested some True Greens for meat.
It would be a waste of money because they are more expensive birds.