Thursday afternoon was sunny and beautiful! The girls seemed so happy, I just had to get out there and take some shots while they hustled around, catching gnats and picking at the grass.
The ground is still completely soaked, in case you were wondering… *stares at muddy jeans*
We found a new home for our rooster yesterday. He’s very vocal and it was bothering our neighbors, and we’re not supposed to have a rooster anyway. He’s gone from being the king of our big, sunny yard to being at the bottom of the rooster pecking order now that he lives with an older, bigger, Barred Rock rooster. The two of them have a larger flock to split. I know he’ll be okay, but I still feel sad about it & I’m going to miss him.
About four weeks ago, one of our hens broke her foot. We were using a recycled fence board as the ramp into the coop, and it had a split in it. She got her foot caught at the top of the ramp and gravity did the rest. (The board has been patched!) We got her put into a splint and isolated her for three weeks. I’m thinking maybe that was a mistake — we should have splinted her and let her stay out with the flock, because now she’s getting picked on by the head hen. (I’ve started calling the head hen “Aunt March” in my mind.) Broken Claw has been out in her own little run in the yard now for about a week, and at night we put her into a medium sized dog crate & put her in the coop. She seems to like the crate at night, but we really want her to be mixed back in with the other hens now.
The chickens are 19 weeks old today.
Any closer and I will totally peck at your face.
Oh, hai! The girls have begun determining their pecking order in earnest, I believe. They have these ginormous beaks now, so, hey. They are very funny and cute, still, even though they’re getting all scraggly around the neck. When I come sit by their bin, they all stop and peer up at me and they’ll hop into my hand without hesitation.
Muwhahahahaha, peep peep peep, mwhahaha.
They’re scratching at their food and taking “dust baths” and they are still trying to fly, even though the netting is over the top of the bin. They FREAK OUT if we’re doing something over the bin, to which I call out… “the sky is falling, the sky is falling!”
Silly little bird-brains.
taking a drink
Well, we made it through week one. The chicks will be 7 days old on Tuesday. We found out they were a day old when we got them and they hadn’t been vaccinated, so we switched over to medicated food. They’re learning how to roost and scratch — and boy are they vigorous about the scratching. Food flung EVERYWHERE.
Their wings are getting longer and stronger and the markings are starting to show on the tips.
They practically fall asleep on their feet. In fact, the falling asleep is the funniest part of watching them. They go all floppy.
They’re a bit rude to each other, bumping and pushing and walking upon and running over to see what another is pecking at and having to peck at it too.
I’ll have another update next week!
Chicken butt!
Craftgawker
Etsy Mini
