Finches, Chickens, and a Turkey too

The zebra finches in the sunroom surprised us with babies. We didn't know they had hatched until they were flying - or rather fluttering around on the floor begging their mom to feed them.

This is how they looked a week ago, spending most of their time huddled together.

And today they are much more independent. They can drink by themselves and have started to peck at food, though still depend on the mom zebra for most of their food. As far as I can tell, the father zebra has nothing to do with feeding the chicks.

The baby chickens now look like miniature adults and are enthusiastic dust bathers.  Though we have had about 3 inches of rain in the last few days so it will be a day or so before there is any dust to bathe in.

We are trying Dark Brahmas this year - mostly because we were so pleased with the Light Brahmas. The Light ones are calm and lay well.  Hope the Darks are the same.

The hatchery always sends a free exotic chick - almost always a rooster and never identified as to what kind it is. Our mystery chick may actually be a hen, and I've no idea what kind it is.  Her (?) legs are a light green, she is developing side whiskers and she is just barely off white. My best guess is that she (?) is a Blue Andalusian . They are only Blue about half the time and the rest come out white or mottled. ButI think their legs are supposed to be leaden gray, not greenish. I don't see anything in the McMurray catalog that looks quite like her(?).  Maybe a white Phoenix , but the leg color is again wrong. The leg color and feather color is right for a White Giant , but the chick started out all buff colored and not mottled. OK, I've about talked myself into this being a White Jersey Giant .

And, since it is spring, the feral turkeys come to visit. This gobbler had a flock of 6 or 8 in tow. One of the hens has stuck around and may be thinking of nesting in the area.

The chickens find the turkeys fascinating to watch, though the roosters look a little worried.

In non-poultry news, our friends Judy and Mariko sent an armful of flowers. They know how much we enjoy them and how much I like arranging them. Here are the 3 vases that came out of the armload.