The luck of the draw... when it comes to roosters!

You would think with all the feathered beast around here, that I would have more baby chicks!! Last summer, we were fortunate enough to hatch out a total of 12 babies!! Chicken Ralla was our hen that got the deed done.. well, she did all the sitting at least! Ralla hatched out her first batch of six.. they were super cute and sadly only lasted 4 days. Ralla is not exactly a "responsible" mama! She decided to take them out of the coop before we could stop her. Phebe - our lover of fine, soft and fluffy chicks made sure they did not get far. One survived another 2 weeks, and then Phebe took care of that one as well.
In July, Ralla went back at it. This time she hatched out another six. Two died shortly after hatching... but four made it to the wean off period (4 weeks). One died of unknown causes (but I have an idea that an un-named black lab was involved) *sigh*
So now, we have our lucky three.. which are almost 6 months old. And of course at this age, you can figure out the boys from the girls! And of course.... one is a rooster!!

We have not official named him yet, but I call him Flighty Whitey... he is probably the lowest chicken on the pecking order - so he tends to get a little leery of anyone or anything near him! He is cute though, and I am excited to start hearing him crow!


This big beauty is Leaf. He was actually called Baby Leaf for about 6 months - until we realized it was a "he"! He is our largest rooster - and super gentle. He is the first chicken that we have actually hatched out here that has survived over a year (knock on wood!!).
Hopefully, this spring, our newer hens will decide to become Mama's! :)