My, How Time Flies

It has been almost 2 weeks since I had anything new to post. Sorry to leave you hanging. The chickens are doing well and are about 2 1/2 months old now. We will not start to look for eggs until the first part of July. The Rhode Island Red chicks are looking just like Rhode Island Reds look. I am very intrigued by the Americauna chicks. Out of 6 chicks, there are only 2 that look similar to each other. One chick is white, another chick has a black body with a brown head. One chick is a beautiful dove grey color (we are calling her Bluebell). The other three have a combination of black, brown, light brown, and almost yellow. It is this group that has 2 almost alike. They are almost hawk-like in their appearance and one looks like a golden eagle. Their beaks are different from the Rhode Island Red chicks. They look like they are longer and more hooked than other beaks. I do not look forward to a warning peck from these birds. Although we have no roosters, the hens will protect their nests when there are eggs in them. I guess it is a built in chicken thing. My husband has been learning what pecking order really means. It is not always the biggest chicken that has the most power over the other chickens. It is usually the chicken who has been there the longest. The others get in the pecking order when they arrive. The last arrivals will be at the bottom of the totem pole. It is funny to watch them when you put food in the pen. We give the chickens all the table scraps we have from vegetables and grains. The 2 chickens who were there first are given a wide berth by the others who are lower in the order. They know which birds they can crowd and which ones will give them a peck to put them back in line. I will try to get pictures today of all the chickens and post them tomorrow. Happy chick watching!

New World

I am sure you have heard the old expression "chickens wake up in a new world everyday". Well it is true. The little chicks never cease to amaze me. They are growing every day and some are starting to be the leaders. I am a little surprised that it is a couple of the Americauna chicks who are the boldest. They come right up to me when I get into their enclosure to help add feed to the feeder. They don't get close enough to touch, but I think they are defending their territory. I had one jump into the water dish while I was in there yesterday. Fortunately it was empty because I had washed it out and was getting ready to give them fresh water. It has been rainy here for a couple of days and the chicks don't seem to mind too much. Of course they are in a covered pen and don't get wet. It will be about 2 more months before we start getting eggs from these new chicks. I am still excited about seeing eggs with green or blue shells. I will definitely be posting pictures when that happens.

Moving Out!

This is the week when out little birdies will be heading outside. We have started getting their new home ready. It will be a space inside our chicken coop that is separate from the mature chickens. They will have their own separate feeder and water. If we put them directly in the coop with the big chickens, the big ones will pick at the little ones. If a chicken sees something different they will peck at it. This would be deadly for the younger birds. I will post a picture of them in their new surroundings as soon as we move them. Stay tuned.

Flying chicks!

I was out in the sunroom where the chicks are and I heard a racket. I looked over to where the chicks are and one had flown up to the top ring of the kiddie pool. Oh my, it is time to put the net over the pool. Otherwise we will have chicks all over the house. Chicks in the kitchen, chicks in the bathtub, chicks in the living room. Totally unacceptable! So, on goes the net. Now I have seen a couple of the eyeing the net, I wonder if they are planning their next move. Hmmmm. Tune in for the next adventure!

There has been an escape!

Hubby went to run and errand and forgot to close the gate to the yard. Oops. I discovered it when I took the little dogs out to go potty. After counting, I noticed some of our big chickens were missing. I went out and saw two escapees by the side of the fence. I chased them down and got them to come back into the yard. Hubby got back and we walked all around the yard to see if we had any more birds hiding in the trees or grass surrounding our place. We didn't see any, but went back inside to count again. Whew, we found all 16 of our big chickens. Just goes to show that you have to secure your yard.

Also, here is a new picture of the chicks inside.

Daily activities for the Chicks

All is well in the chicken pool. They are 3 weeks old now and have more than half their feathers. We cleaned out the old litter in the pool because they were starting to have an unpleasant fragrance. They were not happy with me when I got in the pool and started removing the old shavings, but they were very excited to have clean shavings to mess around in. I have included some pictures of them eating and drinking. They are really fun to watch.

Learning to perch

You will see in this photo that some of the chicks are starting to perch on the stool legs. How do they know to do that? Just a chicken thing I guess. The one in the front is one of the bolder chicks. She says "you lookin' at me?" I tell you this is a carnival.

Eggs and chicks

Not a lot of new stuff is happening in the chicken pool. Just growing and eating. They get silly and run around chasing each other. I took a picture of some eggs we have gotten from our bigger hens. Aren't they pretty? Also is a picture of the chicks. They are getting to the long legged stage. They have about half their feathers now. They look like awkward teenagers.

Another pic

I just wanted to let you see how big they have gotten.

2 weeks old

The chicks are 2 weeks old today. They have doubled in size and one hopped out of the pool. As you can see in the photo, we have added our mosquito net to keep them in. They are eating and drinking well. We have started adding apple cider vinegar to their water. You simply add 1 tsp. per quart of water. This is to keep them healthy and prevent parasites in their intestines. We also do this in our older chickens. This was another good tip we got out of the magazine Mother Earth News.

Settling in

Today all the little chicks seem to be doing quite well. They peep during the daytime, but I don't hear them too much at night. I think they are sleeping while it is dark and quiet. Zippy, our MinPin, likes to look over into the enclosure to see what they are doing. I am not sure if he is calculating how filling they would be. I am sure they are mostly just fuzz right now anyway.

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