4 Chicken breeds - some observations

Forage dish in the brooder, day 2

When deciding which type of chickens to get, I asked for a recommendation from someone in the area and I went online as well.

Here are the characteristics I was looking for to start with:

heat tolerance
good forager
egg layers
not too broody

The first chicken breed that was
recommended was: Buff Catalana, however,  they were already sold out till July from the place I was going to get them, so I started with assorted light chickens, Mediterranean if possible, which I originally thought to get as the second batch mostly for fun and variety with at least some of the desired characteristics.

I got 4 different kinds of chicks, 25 in a straight run (they sent 2 extra), and I am still discovering which is male or female. They are currently 4 weeks old:

11 Blue Andalusians (4 black, 4 splash, 3 blue)
6 Sicilian Buttercups
5 Egyptian Fayoumis (1 died at day 4, after pasting)
4 Golden Polish

I wanted the chicks not to be freaked out every time they saw me - so I spent a lot of time in the coop, where the brooder was and hand-fed them treats.

Buttercup  chick

Buttercups -  from day 1, they wanted to be close to me and did
not hesitate to jump on me and climb further. Yhey loved, from the beginning, to sit on me.

All the others seemed ok, not scared, curious, but not immediately running to me - but all very interested in treats. I made sure to not make sudden movements - think: chicken tai chi walk :)

2 Blue Andalusians and a buttercup

After about a week, the Blue Andalusians started coming closer and hopping=flying onto my lap and shoulders and head and sitting on my legs..

After 4 weeks - there is still only the occasional Fayoumi or Golden Polish chick that flies on top of me, but sometimes they surprise me. I can't decide, as a breed, which one of mine is more reserved. They all eat from my hand though.

The Golden Polish are funny to look at - not pushy, not that shy but not as trusting as the other 2 breeds. So far no issues. I like having them in the bunch so far.

ALL the chicks will come running when I sound the pot or call them with the chicky chicky call when I open the door...and look at me expectantly :) So if I call them, I make sure I actually do have treats. otherwise I enter the run saying: "it's ok chickies". At this point, they actually recognize the sound and relax.

I make a point to visit them at least 3 times a day, and spent an hour or 2 with them in the first few days, trying conditioning them to me coming into the run and the coop without getting scared, and keeping an eye on them. 2 chicks had pasting up in the first 3 days -  and each seemed to recover - but the runt Fayoumi, while trying to keep up, nevertheless got weaker and weaker the next day and died despite my trying to dropper feed it. I cleaned a couple more chicks butts just to prevent this.

Hand-feeding treats as well as tossing some

HANDLING: at 4 weeks, the buttercups are easily the most comfortable in being picked up from me and put down. They don't complain any more. I can pet them, scratch them behind their head and they love to sit on my shoulder.
Some Blue Andalusians are the same way. Mind you, this is with 26 chicks, so I could not spend THAT much individual  time with each of them.

Smart ? The Blue Andalusians figured out the best where the food is, whether it is on the plate, in a cup or in the clumps of earth I would bring and open up for possible worms. They will fly up onto the plate, or stand on my hand and help scratch the earth - funny.

The Fayoumis are a little smaller, seem to love foraging. The male does have spirit and zest and held his own for a while when they were figuring something out, though in this batch it was the male buttercup who is the boss. One of the Fayoumis started crowing at 4 weeks, not too often or too loud, but he's the first.

Small compost pile in the run

In my observation, it is crucial to give them a big enough area to "play" in to reduce pecking and aggression - nipping that in the butt. Observation is the key. I noticed that in the areas available to them, they prefer the messy part - to get out of sight,  or the one with the higher grasses to settle in - it was over 104 degrees F already and they loved to sit on cool earth and be in the shade, once that was available to them. They made it fine without fan or mister in the shaded coop, but I took the opportunity to get them used to taking extra water from a dropper :). If you have a covered run - and you know when your chicks are coming - you can start a compost pile for them to play in too.They are so happy being able to do what chickens to and the contented noises are delightful.

At 4 weeks, sitting in the coop entrance

They seem to feel safer with cover - duh ...

Buttercup chick - 4 weeks