And he knows it.
His lacy edges usually look shades of grey, but in the right light are a lovely baby blue to dark aquamarine
His iridescent fire engine red wings glow like red hot glass and his bright blond mane makes his comb and waddles seem eye searing deep geranium red.
But don't let his good look and charms fool you...
Chuck is a big dork.
He crows like a(n adorable) wee dork.
He reacts to new treats like a dork (pick it up, freak out! Drop it)
And he is in love with the ducks (like a dork?) yes, that includes poor Stevie.
He's also a big jerk.
It's kinda hard to find examples of young cockerel behavior online. BEFORE they figure out the proper way to court a lady hen... He is very much still at the 'push them out of the way for food, remind them who is boss on the roost and sneak up behind them for mounting, then act like it *must* have been someone else when they get upset' phase. There is no pretty wing dance or cooing that he has found his girlfriends a tasty treat and the hens aren't laying yet so he feels no need to inspect nests for them, although I understand this is rooster behavior, not cockerel behavior.
Chuck is only almost 22 weeks old and still a spring chicken.
Sooo... Chuck the CHicken dUCK? does the name have anything to do with his deep and desperate desire to make chicken/duck hybrids?
Nope! he got the name as a little baby chicken who had aspirations of becoming king of the ducks.
There was for a while always one tiny chicken parked in the pile of ducklings
whether sleeping
or while they attacked their reflections.
To be honest no one was sure it was the same chicken every time,
those 6 like chipmunk striped chickies looked so similar ... except the smallest little one, the others all had wings that stretched down their bodies, but tiny chick had little nubby wings, a curious little thing he was the first baby to earn a name
Chuck (the chicken duck)
Chuck loved the mirror too, if you heard endless non stop tapping, chances are good he was wondering who the handsome chick looking back at him was. While the other chicks would nestle in your hands (before they figured out how to fly) chuck would demand to perch on your shoulder... with his tiny fluffy butt in your face.
His friends all got puffy tails and shoulder feathers, but Chuck managed to get pretty lacey wing tips and a bigger pink comb (well, Roo boy got his too...) it was apparent pretty early that we had a slow feathering little roo!
Roo boy on the left, Lizzy to his right Lacey far right and little Chuck at the front
sunbathing
It's probably worth mentioning again that we hadn't originally planned to keep any boys, Chuck managed to get around this by being beautiful and cheeky. As brooder babies, the ducks ruled (still do... so far) with Chuck's nemesis Roo Boy being head of the chickens. Where Roo was serious, bossy and standoffish, Chuck was chatty, friendly and a baby jerk. When he figured out his brooder sister Blue would be offered meal worm treats if she perched on top of the brooder to greet us, he would immediately jump up beside her, stealing treats from her mouth, crawling all over your arm to get at them and your freckles and even standing on the meal worms so she couldn't get to them. It meant he could no longer find them either, but oh well!
Out in the coop we sit with the birds so they get used to us being around, as littlies the chicks loved to climb on you if you sat still, Roo wasn't interested, but Chuck would happily perch on your leg to poop on your clean pants.
Pretty 6 week old chuck on the first day in the coop
During Roo's illness and after he passed, Chuck happily took top spot. His waddles and comb grew bigger and at about 13 weeks old he started jumping on to the water tanks every morning to crow his majestic baby cockerel song.
It has become a bit deeper, a bit louder and slightly more frequent than 4 times in the morning
but to be honest, what I though would be awful, obnoxious, constant rooster crows are (at present) adorable and kinda funny. Sometimes we go out to watch him announce his manly presence.
These days Chuck has three things on his mind, making babies, sleeping in a big puffy chicken ball and food.
When he hears a house door open he perks up incase T is coming for a visit, Chuck loves T, T often has grapes for him.
If you have treats for him you could be Chuck's favourite person too
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