Do these feathers make my wings look big?

Day 9

The ladies graduated to a bigger Rubbermaid container on day 6. I added a cardboard box so anyone needing to get away would have somewhere to go. On top of the box I added a roost, although the chicks have yet to show any desire to roost. I remember from the last flock that it wasn't until the birds were a month or so old that they began fighting for roosting space.

Amy and River, the white chicks, are growing the most quickly. They have been the first to show flight feathers and the first to show tail feathers. Poor River needed have a bath as her bottom was caked with poop. It was probably more traumatic for me than it was for her. Mind you, a wet chick is the most pathetic sight I've ever seen. I had to segregate her from the others until she dried out as her sisters were laughing at her (pecking was an issue, actually).

My husband is knocking together a bigger box for them today. It will do until they can be moved outside when the weather warms up. Also, we can use it as a 'bad box' for any chickens who misbehave during the flock integration process.

Combs have begun to grow, the favourite toy in the brooder is a parrot toy I got at the pet food store, and the bell on the bottom of the budgie mirror. Rose likes to sit on the small wicker ball that's in with them, and Martha, though the smallest, is certainly the one most interested in what's going on in the kitchen.

I have been able to drop the temperature in the brooder a few degrees, but I keep an eye on them as when the weather is warm the kitchen gets very warm, too. Last night it went down to 2 degrees outside and the chicks looked cold so I dropped the heat lamp down a few centimeters and draped a towel over one side of the brooder. They settled down at last and looked cozy. My kids want to try giving them some meal worms for a treat (the big girls love them) but I want to wait a bit longer. As usual, it is more likely my issue than the chicks'.

Heh, I've just read this over and it's obvious to me how tired I am! Working at a garden centre in May is exhausting. However, I will still be heading out today, my day off, to do some digging in the garden. I bonsai'd two over-grown junipers and have revealed a whole new patch of dirt requiring planting up. More later.

I didn't mean to poop on your head.

The Culprit: Donna

The sweetest thing about the chicks was that my husband got up at 3am to check on them. Come to think on it, he was always the one who got up during the night for our human children, as well.

Day 2 saw a lot of napping, and the pecking that was the norm yesterday seems to have stopped (for now). I had applied peck stop to a couple of the chicks as soon as we got them into the brooder because they were a bit agitated. I didn't reapply it today... I forgot, but thankfully they have been so busy looking up they forgot to peck.

There's been a lot of preening today. Feathers are coming in, the flight feathers on the tips of the wings are first and I saw two rows well on their way in when I got home from work tonight.

They have a small mirror in the brooder and it's a favourite. They also like the dust bath I put in, but I have yet to see them playing with the ball....

What amazes me about chicks at this age is that, like human babies, they fall asleep whenever they're tired, wherever they are. This can make drinking water a dangerous thing, if you're a very small bird and thirsty.

I'd  like to be able to say I see more coordination today, but that would be a bald-faced lie.

For those of you wondering, I have not yet broken the news to Dalwhinne and Tulip, our 3 year old chickens, that company's coming. 

They wouldn't understand.

There's a Bin of Cute on my Kitchen Table!

The arrival of our new chicks has been cause for celebration, not least because they were born on Star Wars Day.

These are our second flock. For some reason, I only managed to do two journal entries with the first flock, so this time I promised myself I would keep on top of it. as I currently have no garden to speak of (more on that later) there's nothing stopping me from obsessing about the Companions.

The Companions: Day 1

We were amazed last time at how quickly they grew. This brooder won't last more than a few days. They still have their egg teeth (a small 'horn' on the tip of their beaks) that helps the new chick get out of its egg. These are sex-link chickens, so should all be female, but one of the white chicks has a black spot on its head, and I worry that means we have a rooster. We'll know soon enough.

And why the 'Companions'? We've named this lot after Dr. Who companions: Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, Clara and River.