New Chicks

Our hens are getting old and it's time for some new blood.  Up until now we've only Rhode Island Reds and we've been very happy with them.  But, I couldn't find the chicken man that I bought our first batch from at the flea market.  I decided to go the craigslist route and found a local woman that had several different kinds of chicks.  She only had two RRRs left, so I got those and two other breeds.

I got some Ameracaunas, which lay blue eggs, so that should be fun.  I also got some Black Astralorp.  I think they lay brown eggs that look pretty much like the RRRs.  The seller also had some Black Copper Marans.  She said the way you tell the difference between those and the Astralorps was that the Marans had feathers on their legs.  So, I don't know enough about chickens to know the difference, but some of the chicks have feathers on their legs.  Either she made a mistake and gave me some Marans, or she was wrong about the leg feathers.  I guess I'll have to wait til they grow up to see what they actually are.  Marans lay deep chocolate colored eggs, but really, some of my RRR eggs are a chocolate color, so I'm not sure I'd know the difference.  

I'm hoping that most of them are females, but that is also something that I won't know until they grow up.