Chickam Round Two Chicks!

Well, we only got three out of the eggs we set this time--but I'm super happy with the chicks we got this year. Hatching at our higher altitude is problematic and takes a great deal of fussing--getting great quality eggs, watching the incubator like a hawk, setting all of the equipment exactly just so, etc. Highly fussy.

And the last two years, the chicks we did get were low quality and WAY too many died.

So even though not all of the eggs developed or hatched, this year we got really healthy, active chicks. I'm calling this a big win!

First to hatch was #10, a smaller greenish egg, Cao Cao (pronounced 'Tsao Tsao'). Cao clearly has a LOT of bantam Cochin in her, daddy might be Milton, our bantam d'Uccle/Cochin mix roo.

Here, Cao demonstrates how to properly brace yourself for an earthquake.

Cao pranked my husband by lying on her side, sticking both legs out and playing 'cartoon dead'...

...then she turned over and did the other side.

Next was #16, named Deliciousaurus. Another bantam Cochin derivative, she may have Carrie, our bantam d'Uccle/Cochin mix roo (and son of Milton) for a daddy.

Delicious posed for the 1972 Sears 'Action Slacks' catalog.

Lastly is #17, Spam. Spam is basically Delicious (but they each came from very different light brown eggs, so different moms) but MORE bantam Cochin with shorter shanks than the other two chicks. She got a blue lag band until she and Delicious bust out in more distinctive feathering.

Not to be showed up by Cao, when Spam hatched, she did a...freaky leg thing. Just kind stuck it out there...and left it for a few moments.

Lastly, somebody in chat mentioned that they'd lined up like an Oreo cookie, so...

Their new album drops in 6 weeks.

But somebody had to get their grump on...

They all three have that braced, bantam Cochin 'I'm a cube made of chicken meat' pose down pat.