Now this is cute!

[HRS]

I went up to my feed-n-seed a week ago, and I had my 4-year-old with me. So we came home with these. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[HRS]

Three total!

 

[monkeymonk]

What kind of chick is the red one?hybrid?

 

[HRS]

Just like the others, colored. I think they color the eggs before placing them in incubator and they hatch the color of the egg. They also had green, orange, and I think light blue. Two of the three are still with us, and they are now growing their real feathers. What little pets they have become.

 

[kossetx]

hope they don't do what my kids chicks did way back when. They turned into mean old ankle pecking roosters that started crowing at 4 am. They do clean out the bugs though.

 

[dsgsr]

Wouldn't dying the eggs be toxic? And is that why you only have two instead of three? We shouldn't be messing with mother nature.

David

 

[gordon21]

Come on you guys. No one really believes the egg shell color has anything to do with the feather color. If that were true, all white shell eggs would produce white chickens and brown shell eggs would produce only tan colored chickens. Do cardinals hatch from red eggs???

For those of you that may be squeamish, stop reading now. Think of a little chick and about 1/2 cup of diluted liquid dye (cost=$0.10). Insert chix in dye or spray with dye. Your choice. Blow dry chix. Sell dyed $0.29 chix for $1.59.
Repeat again with next chick. The 1/2 cup of dye probably does 20+ chicks.

 

[KentT]

Shhhh.... I was just getting ready to sell them some cows that give chocolate milk... /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[HRS]

As strange as it sounds, I was not trying to pull anyone's leg. I've always heard that their color was somehow administered while still in the egg. If you have ever dealt with chicks, you know that they die easily. Straying them with water and then blasting them with hot air would be catastrophic to just about any. Here is a quote I found in a paper. I've provided the link. Maybe it will work.

"Although brightly colored eggs are a tradition on Easter, brightly colored chicks and ducklings are popular with some families. The birds' feathers are colored by dye administered before they hatch. After a few weeks, their normal plumage will return, and they'll look like any other chicken or duck." The Brownsville Herald

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_more.php?id=70267_0_10_0_C

 

[AMP762]

Where's PITA,those biddies could have a complex /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[HRS]

Toxic dye? Maybe, but a bigger threat comes from the loving hands of the children who get them as pets. This is the first time in a long while that I've seen the colored to buy. Not that I have been looking in the past. They are usually out the week before Easter, so if you do not have a reason to go to that particular store, you will never see them. They sale quick. Two left out of three are not bad odds when dealing with chicks. They are as fragile as the egg shells they come from. The two left are feathering out nicely and are able to fly a little now. They are hilarious. Each evening they think that I should be their roosting pole. First they fly up into my lap, then up to my shoulder, and finally the red one will fly up to the top of my head. What a mess. At this point, they go in their pen until morning.

 

[monkeymonk]

It's P.E.T.A first off, and.....

I would Love a Chocolate Milk Cow, How much did you say? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[NIXON]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( It's P.E.T.A first off, and.....

)</font>
P.E.T.A.,or PITA It's all the same ! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[r0GuE]

People Eating Tasty Animals! I love animals, especially steak!

 

[KentT]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( As strange as it sounds, I was not trying to pull anyone's leg. I've always heard that their color was somehow administered while still in the egg. )</font>

You're actually quite correct -- I was the one trying to pull some chains... /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

The dye is injected in the embryo:

http://chickscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/resources/egg_to_chick/coloring.html