The Legbar Chicks Go Into The Great Wide World

One of the Teenage Legbars stands on the threshold of the pop door leading to the world

Courtney laid an egg last Saturday.  Normally, the news that a chicken laid an egg would not be news at all. But in this case, the last time Courtney laid an egg was way back before she became broody and long before she became the mom for this brood of Legbar chicks.  Laying an egg is her way of saying that she's getting ready to be done with this "mom" stuff and is all set for the old chickless routines.  And this all happened, ironically,  the day before Mother's Day.  I fully expected her to give the kids the cold shoulder from that point forward, but that really hasn't happened.  The first few days after that first egg, there were times when the chicks would be in the coop but I would see Courtney out pecking around in the chicken run.

The Egg!

But then yesterday morning Courtney was in the run and had managed to bring all the babies outside with her.  They were a bit tentative about leaving the coop at first but by this morning, they were all outside and all having a blast!

Paulette managed to scratch a worm out of the ground at one point, and by the time she got it in her beak, the other three were after her and a crazy game of tag ensued.  First one chick then another grabbed the worm and would take off at a run with the others in fast pursuit.  Bonnie, the smallest of the brood was the last one I saw with it as she zipped into the coop and out of sight with the others right behind.  I don't know who got the worm.  For all I know the worm got away!

Mama Courtney with Marissa in front and Nicky behind

Courtney & three of her kids - Bonnie leads the way with Paulette in the middle and Marissa bringing up the rear

Here's a great picture of all four chicks with Bonnie in the foreground, Paulette in the middle, and Marissa in the back on the left and Nicky on the right.  With Bonnie standing right in the front it's probably time to talk about her lack of a tail.  Araucanas are one of the breeds British geneticists used when they developed the Legbar.  Araucanas lay blue eggs and that's the trait they were after.  Auracanas also are missing the last vertebrae, tail feathers, and a tail, for that matter.  The missing tail genes were supposedly bread out of Legbars.  Bonnie would say, "I beg to differ."

Bonnie, because of her missing tail and her small stature would not win any ribbons at the State Fair.  For that matter, Marissa would fall short because her neck hackles have too much gold.  Nicky would miss out becasue her breast plumage and hackles are too dark.  Of the four, Paulette is probably closest to the breed Standard of Perfection.  But nevertheless, every one of them are top notch Hipster Hens.  I don't plan on using these girls for breeding stock nor do I ever plan to show them.  And if they all met the Standard of Perfection, they would all look identical, so how would I ever tell them apart?