We were picking up feed at TSC and my daughter saw these babies in the chick pen. I was expecting some very specific rare breeds from a hatchery and so picked these up thinking "Ok, they'll lay decent eggs and round out our color palette in the yard." I honestly wasnt expecting much personality...OH BOY was I WRONG! These babies now 5 weeks old are a delight! At 4 days old they wanted to be held and trilled with pleasure anytime they were picked up. They started flying to my hand or arm at only 3 weeks. Changing the water, adding food, anything near the brooder and they wanted to sit on my arm/hand/shoulder. They are total sweethearts and my kids and I adore them! They were also amazing with the hatchery chicks that arrived after them! I was blown away. I was worried about them picking on the new chicks in the brooder being a day old and 1/3 to 1/4 the now older chicks size. The splashes acted like Mothers!! They showed the babies where the food was, trilled and peeped at bedtime to call the new babies under the heat plate; I even caught them dropping their wings and letting the little splash Ameraucana chick stand under them like she was their baby! (At 4 wks old! And hand raised! I love these birds!) They practically adopted the splash Ameraucana and she spends all her time with them still, it is hilarious that she immediately picked the other splash colors in the brooder as "mommies" and they just took her right in even more so then the other breeds/colors. They have been a joy, their splash coloring is now really starting to develope across their wings and tail feathers. They cannot be sexed by feather or tail growth. But my obvious male (now) has a larger comb that is turning darker pink at 4 weeks. So if you buy straight run as I did right at 4 weeks you can definitely see the difference. Much faster then some breeds, which is also nice! I will update when they start laying. They are lovely birds and I definitely recommend them for a backyard family flock.

I ordered 10 Sapphire Splash chicks on a Saturday. They were shipped the following Wednesday and arrived on Friday. Unfortunately when we picked them up at our local post office at 8am only one chick out of ten was standing and appeared alive. Once we got home we realized another chick was barely alive. We gave them Sav a chick electrolytes and probiotics and food, but sadly the weak chick did not make it. I contacted TSC and Hoover's and they were very kind and offered to resend more chicks or issue a refund. The one remaining chick is very healthly and energetic.