a long overdue update on Sunny and her grown-up babies

So Sunny's babies will be five months old soon. You may remember two out of three of them turned out to be roosters. Casanova turned out to be a HUGE, beautiful, gentle boy with a really loud voice. He tried unsuccessfully and persistently to win the affection of his "aunt" Marguerite. He even was busted a few times "mating" Sunny, except he was on her head instead of her back, fun to watch but disturbing to think about He got really good at crowing at all hours of the day, including before the sun came up. He would occasionally chase around the other big girls trying to mate them, but they would usually peck him really hard and scare him away. His presence really was stressing the girls out, the pecking order was weird. I noticed Daphne was not controlling the flock as much as usual. He never took much of a liking to me picking him up although I tried to convince him.
Here's a picture of him from a few weeks ago

Billie(Jean) is still too funny for words, he tries once in a while to mate the big girls, they generally kick the living crap out of him once they get him off their back, its funny as hell. He doesn't seem to show much interest in mating Farrah and she's fine with that. He's not very big on crowing and even when he does, his voice is miniature just like him.
Billie has a really bad habit of sleeping in one of the nest boxes, mostly because the big girls wont allow him to sleep on the roost with them.
Here he is a couple of weeks ago

I have no new pictures of Farrah, she is still extremely shy, she manages not to get picked on much. She waits until the big girl leave the feeders before she even tries, she minds her business.

Sunny has gone totally back to the flock, she's back near the top of the pecking order. She rules the roost again and decides where everyone sleeps. She even went back to laying several weeks ago. I can tell she recognizes that the "babies" are her's but she really doesn't treat them differently. If it were up to Cass, he'd STILL be sleeping under his mother

The biggest update of all is a little sad, after a lot of thought I decided to find a new home for Mr Casanova. I found a great guy with a healthy flock of 40 hens that are one month older than him about 10 minutes from my house!!! Their coop set-up is beautiful, new and predator proof and he's a crazy chicken person like me!
As soon as I put Cass down in his new run with his new ladies, they all came right up to him to check him out. They obviously thought he was handsome. His new owner is THRILLED to have him, he's the exact breed he wanted and he hopes Cass will help produce many new chickens for his flock.
Here's pics of him at his new place


I went to visit him a couple of times and he looks HAPPY, he's the man!

The surprise to the story is the adorable little bantam hen that looks like Farrah but brown that I got as a trade for Cass. Somehow the guy with the 40 hens got one bantam and she was always getting picked on so he said I could have her. I promise I'll take pics of her tomorrow, she's adorable & SO FRIENDLY! She loves to be held and hang out with me. So far my flock hasn't really accepted her and Billie is trying to mate her and I don't think she's ready, today she spent most of the day inside with me, Rich and Jack the dog watching movies
So I'll be back with pictures of her.
Overall the flock is doing well, a few of the girls are molting now so egg production is WAY down, and they are almost 4 years old so I don't expect them to lay much more and I worry about the winter being hard for them.
We are considering building a new tiny coop for the three little birds so the old ladies will have their space back

Re: a long overdue update on Sunny and her grown-up babies

what an awesome update love the pics! i'm so glad Cass found a good home, and i hope Billie finds his spot in the flock too

as for Farrah - if she never "fits in" but keeps to herself, is that okay for a chicken? i don't know much about them

Re: a long overdue update on Sunny and her grown-up babies

Thanks so much for the update!! This is really the first "insider" look i've ever had into chickens and how sophisticated they are! They are all beautiful and i'm happy Cass found a great home with plenty of ladies They are all beautiful!!

Re: a long overdue update on Sunny and her grown-up babies

I love hearing these updates.

Casanova is quite the handsome boy! I'm glad he's happy and it sounds like you have a lap chicken!

Message edited 11/8/2009 11:27:49 AM.

Re: a long overdue update on Sunny and her grown-up babies

ok, so our new little girl is such a doll!!!
DH named her "Bronzel" which he claims is a version of the word brown in French

She actually laid a little mini egg today and she layed it in the nest box!
I brought her and the egg inside so we could take pictures

here she is trying to cover her egg

Re: a long overdue update on Sunny and her grown-up babies

Thank you for the update! My, are they gorgeous. I'm really happy you found a great home for him and have a new addition to your flock!

Re: a long overdue update on Sunny and her grown-up babies

Thanks for the update! I find this all so interesting, its like a soap opera! LOL

Re: a long overdue update on Sunny and her grown-up babies

Wow!! What a GREAT Update!!! I love to hear stories about them!!! Thanks for posting pics!! They are all gorgeous!!

Re: a long overdue update on Sunny and her grown-up babies

They are SO BEAUTIFUL. I always think of you when I see my neighbors chickens

Re: a long overdue update on Sunny and her grown-up babies

Thanks for the update...I only recently found the original story and was wondering what happened to them! I'm sorry you had to send Cass elsewhere, but at least he is really close by!

Re: a long overdue update on Sunny and her grown-up babies

woooo-hoooo, i just saw Billie mate Bronzel!!!! So if she goes broody like Sunny next summer we could have more chicks!

Re: a long overdue update on Sunny and her grown-up babies

Love the update!! They're all so beautiful

Re: a long overdue update on Sunny and her grown-up babies

OMG! I love the updates!
Cass turned into quite a handsome fella.

Thanks for the updates!!!!

And congrats on Bronzel