Chicken Math is real. 0 to 10 in 72 hrs.

[ATXInstantFlock]

(May 8 - Day 20) I caught the bug that my wife had, so I haven't been 100% and we've had rain for about a week straight so I've mostly been hunkering down indoors.
I noticed that the City of Austin regulations listed here were out of date, so I made a new post

Today, the sun came out, so run v1 got assembled.

The ground here isn't entirely level, but it seems like the best spot with a healthy amount of shade. Roof and lower parts are equivalent to 1" square welded wire, but the top half of the sides is alternating 1" x 4" and 1" x 2", so I'll probably try to source some 1/2" hardware cloth before I build a stand for their Snaplock coop (aka the Garage Mahal) and move the entire setup inside of the poultry pen.
Current plan is to eventually put a large roof over the entire pen and 1-2 walls as a wind break so that the entire pen becomes the "coop", and the Snap Lock will remain just for sleeping, huddling during inclement weather and nesting boxes.

I plan to do something like this from the Vaughn Homestead:

Chicks aren't fully feathered so no one has been allowed outside yet. I do plan to eventually build an expansion that goes over to the area to the right of my picture. The back right corner of the pen has a removable screen so that it's directly connected to the pen. I'll probably use ground contact PT lumber with a clear roof.

City regulations say I need at least 30' from all neighbor's residences, so I pulled a tape measure out to 20'6" and had about an inch to spare, just on my side of the fence. There should 10'+ on my neighbor's side of the fence, but I have ample time to confirm all measurements before anything becomes less temporary.

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

(May 13 - Day 25)
We did some minor tweaks to the Garage Mahal over the weekend:

• Did a full tray clean out, noting that a lot of the pine shavings were soaked and gross. Those gravity feeders are tricky to balance just right, and the chicks kept knocking into them or trying to stand on top of them which didn't help.
• Switched from 2x 0.75qt gravity water feeders that kept spilling everywhere to a 2 gallon bucket with 3 horizontal nipples. There was a mad rush of activity when we got setup, so I think everyone was pretty thirsty and took to the new setup very quickly.
• Added the top part of the Snaplock coop sans roof structure for a few more inches of height over most of the coop.
• Added the third roosting bar.
• Added a second set of bricks on top of pavers for all food/water.
• Turned off the second heat lamp.
• Stopped feeding fermented feed. Only the 4 biggest seemed to really like it, and I wasn't entirely sure it was even safe to do it with medicated feed. I got a little worried about possible coccidiosis since they are in tight quarters with no outside time yet, so figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

I also remembered to try and get some photos without the heat lamp this morning, so we have some pictures that don't look like they came out of night vision goggles.

• The two oldest "girls". Aquila is the rooster and Angela is the hen with a gray spot on her back. We're thinking both are Leghorns.
  
• The two girls advertised as barred rocks that we haven't identified. Any clues on breed? They've mostly lost that chipmunk look and now have gray/black bodies and speckled heads that are more silver/gray. Currently both unnamed, but the little one seems destined to be near the top of the pecking order. She has been seen multiple times pecking at the littles and chasing them around the coop when we dropped some small pieces of lettuce.
  
• The two golden sex links have changed from golden fur balls to a mottled brown/blonde mix. They are named He-he (after Moana) and Jigglebutt.
  
• The two sold to us as Rhode Island Reds are turning out to be the runts of the litter. The little one is Sweet Pea. They definitely look more brown in person. The big one remains unnamed for now.
  
• Last, but not least were the two sold to us as Black Sex Links, Spot(larger one) and Dot. Dot used to be neck and neck with Sweet Pea for being the runts of the litter, but they've had a massive growth spurt in the past week.
  

 

[TwoCrows]

(May 13 - Day 25)
We did some minor tweaks to the Garage Mahal over the weekend:

• Did a full tray clean out, noting that a lot of the pine shavings were soaked and gross. Those gravity feeders are tricky to balance just right, and the chicks keep knocking into them or trying to stand on top of them which didn't help.
• Switched from 2x 0.75qt gravity water feeders that kept spilling everywhere to a 2 gallon bucket with 3 horizontal nipples. There was a mad rush of activity when we got setup, so I think everyone was pretty thirsty and took to the new setup very quickly.
• Added the top part of the Snaplock coop sans roof structure for a few more inches of height over most of the coop.
• Added the third roosting bar.
• Added a second set of bricks on top of pavers for all food/water.
• Turned off the second heat lamp.
• Stopped feeding fermented feed. Only the 4 biggest seemed to really like it, and I wasn't entirely sure it was even safe to do it with medicated feed. I got a little worried about possible coccidiosis since they are in tight quarters with no outside time yet, so figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

View attachment 3830642


I also remembered to try and get some photos without the heat lamp this morning, so we have some pictures that don't look like they came out of night vision goggles.

• The two oldest "girls". Aquila is the rooster and Angela is the hen with a gray spot on her back. We're thinking both are Leghorns.View attachment 3830645
• The two girls advertised as barred rocks that we haven't identified. Any clues on breed? They've mostly lost that chipmunk look and are now have gray/black bodies and speckled heads that are more silver/gray. Currently both unnamed, but the little one seems destined to be near the top of the pecking order. She has been seen multiple times pecking at the littles and chasing them around the coop when we dropped some small pieces of lettuce.View attachment 3830647
• The two golden sex links have changed from golden fur balls to a mottled brown/blonde mix. They are named He-he (after Moana) and Jigglebutt.View attachment 3830648
• The two sold to us as Rhode Island Reds are turning out to be the runts of the litter. The little one is Sweet Pea. They definitely look more brown in person. The big one remains unnamed for now. View attachment 3830649
• Last, but not least were the two sold to us as Black Sex Links, Spot(larger one) and Dot. Dot used to be neck and neck with Sweet Pea for being the runts of the litter, but they've had a massive growth spurt in the past week.View attachment 3830650

Not sure of the breeds, but pretty birds just the same!

 

[NatJ]

• The two oldest "girls". Aquila is the rooster and Angela is the hen with a gray spot on her back. We're thinking both are Leghorns.

I think you might be right about them being Leghorns, and I am pretty sure you are right about having one male and one female.

The two girls advertised as barred rocks that we haven't identified. Any clues on breed? They've mostly lost that chipmunk look and now have gray/black bodies and speckled heads that are more silver/gray. Currently both unnamed, but the little one seems destined to be near the top of the pecking order. She has been seen multiple times pecking at the littles and chasing them around the coop when we dropped some small pieces of lettuce.

I can't see the combs clearly. If they have pea combs, most likely Easter Eggers.

If they have single combs, they could still be Easter Eggers, or maybe Silver Leghorn.
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/silver_leghorns.html

The leg color is wrong for Silver Phoenix:
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/phoenix.html

The feather color is also about right for Silver Dorkings:
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/silver_gray_dorkings.html
But the foot color, leg length, and number of toes are wrong for that breed.

I'm pretty sure they have a Silver Duckwing color pattern, which is fairly common in Easter Eggers and fairly rare among other breeds. They definitely appear to have the female version of that color pattern, not the male version. Some females get the salmon-colored breast (like in the hatchery pictures of Silver Leghorns) and some do not (like in the hatchery pictures of Silver Dorkings.)

There are almost certainly other breeds they could be, but I'm not having much luck thinking of them right now. If they grow up to lay blue or green eggs, then definitely Easter Eggers. If they grow up to lay white eggs, probably Silver Leghorns. If they grow up to lay brown eggs, um, I'll have to think about that

The two golden sex links have changed from golden fur balls to a mottled brown/blonde mix. They are named He-he (after Moana) and Jigglebutt.

Those look right: Golden Sexlink females, coloring and pattern seem to be within the normal range for them.

The two sold to us as Rhode Island Reds are turning out to be the runts of the litter. The little one is Sweet Pea. They definitely look more brown in person. The big one remains unnamed for now.

They are determined about sitting in a shadow here, but they look about right to me.

Last, but not least were the two sold to us as Black Sex Links, Spot(larger one) and Dot. Dot used to be neck and neck with Sweet Pea for being the runts of the litter, but they've had a massive growth spurt in the past week.

I think they look right as well.

So it looks like most of your breeds were labeled correctly, and as best I can tell they are indeed all females (not counting Aquila, but he wasn't sold as a female.)

There is still a small chance of a slow-developing male being incognito, waiting to surprise you later, but I think by this age that is pretty unlikely.

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

I can't see the combs clearly. If they have pea combs, most likely Easter Eggers.
...
There are almost certainly other breeds they could be, but I'm not having much luck thinking of them right now. If they grow up to lay blue or green eggs, then definitely Easter Eggers. If they grow up to lay white eggs, probably Silver Leghorns. If they grow up to lay brown eggs, um, I'll have to think about that

Thanks for all the great info! We're still learning, so plenty of fun new things to read up on.
Here's a better picture zoomed in on their faces. Now to read up on what it even means to have a pea comb.

 

[NatJ]

Thanks for all the great info! We're still learning, so plenty of fun new things to read up on.
Here's a better picture zoomed in on their faces. Now to read up on what it even means to have a pea comb.
View attachment 3830745

Those look like single combs.

Pea comb can sometimes look like three rows of little peas (round green vegetable) lined up along the chicken's head, which is probably how it got its name. Sometimes it is just a little blob instead of the tidy rows of peas, and sometimes it is a big weird-looking blob, and sometimes it looks almost like an extra-thick single comb but usually does not have the skinny points on top. It is caused by a gene called the pea comb gene (yes, that is obvious as soon as you hear it.)

The pure breeds Araucana and Ameraucana have pea combs and lay blue eggs. Many Easter Eggers have pea combs as well, because many of them are descended from Araucanas or Ameraucanas, and the pea comb gene and blue eggshell gene are often inherited together. But some Easter Eggers do have single combs, especially if they inherited the blue egg gene from a Cream Legbar ancestor (because Cream Legbars have single combs and lay blue eggs.)

Pea combs can also be found in breeds that lay eggs of other colors (Examples: Brahma, Buckeye, and Sumatra), but I had other reasons for being sure your chicks do not belong to any of those breeds. (Feather color is wrong for all of them, plus Brahmas would have feathered feet.)