On 04-28-97  10:01, As Birdman passed the soap to Liz Morris.....
HELLO!!
 Bi> (...)   The closest I come is that it *might be a Phoenix, one of the 
 Bi> Japanese variety in which the roosters grow very long tails.  With my 
 Bi> luck, however, it'll be a hen. 
 LM> Any luck yet in determining?  I have two chicks  who
 LM> I  THOUGHT were going to be Rhode Islands but i'm sorry to say, they've
 LM> turned out to be "butt-ugly" in my opinion... maybe they will look
 LM> better grown... They are yellowish bodied with varigated yellow and
 LM> brown wings and brown heads... interesting...
Now their heads are multi-colored.. mainly yellowish with brown speckles and
I notice their tail feathers are smaller then the White Leghorns.
 Bi> No luck yet, either determining variety or sex.  (One thing I
 Bi> *don't  know how to do is sex chicks.) 
I buy mine already sexed... they cost a tad more, then if i want HENS, I want
hens...
 Bi> As far as your chicks go, Rhodes are generally a light brown all
 Bi> over,  about the same shade, perhaps a little lighter, as the adult
 Bi> feathers.
I've had Rhodes Islands... these aren't Rhodes Islands for sure, or at least
full blooded ones...
Bi>   There  are a couple possibilities for what yours are, but I
 Bi> couldn't put my finger  on it.  Did the hatchery sell them to you as
 Bi> Rhodes?  Sounds like youve got  something more unusual than that.  If
 Bi> they turn out to be brown egg layers,   one possibility is the
 Bi> Speckeled Sussex.
I'll let you know what the eggs turn out to be.. one thing i know, the Rhodes
were always the first to start laying... but anyway, I can't remember exactly
what "Baba" at the feed store said... something like, "Theyz mixed with this
n that, prolly Rhodes..."... does THAT tell us anything? :-)
Bi>  As a white egg layer they may be  the Brown Leghorn.
 
I've never heard of Brown Leghorns.. i'm really interested now...
 Bi> of my Barred Rocks. The most fun right now is that I have an
 Bi> incubator with 14 Guinea eggs  sitting next to me here in our
 Bi> computer/bird room. (We also keep and breed  several varieties of pet
 Bi> birds.)
What do you do with the Guinea?  Eat the eggs?  Keep as pets?  EAT the 
Guineas?
I'm just curious as i just don't know any other people interested in poultry.
I'm rather new at this.. mainly i'm a rabbit person.
 Bi> chipping and peeping going on.  Looks like I'm going to be a Dad soon.
Any luck, DAD?
 Bi> We have ten Guinea Hens which we got because they have an exellant 
 Bi> reputation for eating wood ticks.
Ah-hah.  THIS i didn't know .. we
have problems with ticks here although i can't tell which is a wood one and
which isn't.. some are small and black/red, other's are HUGE gray little 
beasts ...  I'm starting to really get 
nterested
in the birds but alas, we have three dogs  two of which are a pain to keep disinterested in the
chickens... its actually funny to watch in fact... the chickens are the ones
who tease the dogs...
Well, gotta go.... nice chatting with you!
Liz
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