Chickens I, II and III

I've managed to paint one chicken-pic a day (haven't posted over the weekend - too busy painting), going back to fiddle here and there - this one I've fiddled too much and made the apricoty coloured chook a bit smooth and bland. I'm struggling with painting from photo references only...
These three look slightly cartoonish - also from not having live models to observe, I've rather exaggerated their colours and features I think. They look out of focus, but I did blend the edges to try and get a bit of movement and fluff going. I think they're getting better here - I enjoyed the dappled light and trying to get that effect on the white chickens and the dark tyre and ground. I referred to my copy of 'Painting What you Want to See' by Charles Reid. His advice to keep the local values true - 'the lighted side of a black object is aways darker than the shadowed side of a white object' - helped.
A comment on my last post from prairieknitter01 mentioned she liked the #1 step white (ghost!) hens on the red ground, and I must agree that I'm sorry to have lost the fluency of those first brushstrokes. I will finish the fourth lot of chickens, then choose something I can work from directly for my next mini-series.