The coop is finished! The coop is finished!

Okay, so it's finished enough. And the hens (really hoping they're all hens) are sleeping outside.

Richard and Da Coop

Da Coop

Ramp that should have been my shelf. It's okay. Really.

Four

Speckled Hen

The ladies checking our their new digs

roost?

roost

No, Four, I'm telling you - it's all ours.

Balancing act

Chicks 1 May

Today we finished up the initial screening in of the run (Durham ordinance calls for 2 layers for part of the pen/run), so I let the girls run around in there while I worked on other coop/run related stuff. They had a blast in their new digs. After several hours in there, they did not want to get back in the brooder to go back in side. After seeing Speckled Hen and Four put back in the brooder, Monty and Stripey Stripe bolted through the screen. Note: 2 1/2 week old chicks can fit through a 2"x4" hole! I was able to fairly quickly catch Stripey Stripe, but Monty had me chasing her around the yard for 15 minutes.

Checking out the new digs

Checking out the new digs #2

Team scratching. They really got into this today.

Chicks 29 April

If anyone else is reading this, you might be thankful that there's no picture for today's post. New chick owners learn that something to watch out for is Pasty Butt. Yes, it's just like it sounds. Poo. Pasty poo. On a chick's vent (that's what you call a chicken butt). And if it goes unnoticed or unattended, the little chick can get sick and even die from constipation. Well, Four had it yesterday. And by it I mean a large, hardened piece of poo that was stuck all over the place. What a treat it was to remove it! A warm washcloth wouldn't do it, so I soaked her little bottom in some lukewarm water. She was a bit angry with me at first, but when her bottom hit that water, it was as though I'd given her a tranquilizer. Her Pasty Butt is gone, but I still have to check it everyday.

We've been taking the chicks outside each day for a while, and they love it! Hoping to fence in the pen this weekend so that they have a safer place to run around. Zoe Mae has started calling Stripey-Stripe,  Feather Feather, so we may have some name changes. I guess that's to be expected when you have a 3-year-old name chicks!

Chicks Day Twelve: First Trip Outside

The chicks are getting huge! They have gotten most of their feathers, including tail feathers. Today was a warm day (mid 80s) so we took the chicks out to the yard. We made a little pen from chicken wire and let them get used to being outside. We even dug up some worms from the compost bin. They plan is to take them out as much as possible from now until they move into the coop, which is ALMOST ready. We'll probably wire in the run this weekend so they can start playing there.

Worms

Getting acclimated

Speckled Hen with a worm

Four finds a worm

Speckled Hen looking around

Stripey-Stripe looking around

Everyone looking around

Zoe Mae getting the brooder ready

Monty looking around

Hunting

Four with a worm

Exploring as a flock

Four looking around

Chicks Day Six

More feathers. It's hard to believe how quickly they change. While cleaning the brooder this evening, Monty (the Rhode Island Red) flew up and landed on the edge. More than a foot in the air! Yee-haw!

Chicks Day Four

They have more and more feathers on those tiny wings! So amazing to watch it all happen. And they're starting to fly a little bit. So much fun! No pics today.

Furture Home...

coop 16 April

Richard started building this a couple of months ago. We need to give him some real time to finish it up, but it's on the way...we're even putting in an old window that we found. Zoe Mae has been playing in it pretty constantly, and I think she's going to be a bit disappointed when the chicks actually move in in a few weeks. But now we know what Richard's next project will be - a house, a house, for Zoe Mae!

Chicks Day Two

Wow, pasty butt is exactly what it sounds like. Sorry I don't have the pic to go with this. But that's really the only thing I don't like about the chicks. And I wouldn't even say I don't like it; I tolerate it.
Zoe Mae has fun petting the chicks today. She wanted to kiss them, but we had to explain that it's probably not the best idea. Both Richard and I started noticing feathers on the tips of their wings. We're not sure if they are just coming out, or if they've been there and we haven't noticed. Amazing how little they are but how fast they change. We're trying to keep them warm enough and seem to be doing an okay job with this - I just wish I had a Mama Chicken who could keep them warm! Maybe next time around we will?
Here are a few pics from this evening:

Zoe Mae and Four

Four

Monty

Speckle/Stripey Stripey

food

Speckle/Stripey Stripey and Speckled Hen

Speckle/Stripey Stripey, Monty, and Four

Chicks are home!

We brought the chicks home yesterday! I somehow managed to convince Richard that we needed four instead of three...so here we are. Thanks to our friend Elliot, we found out that the Southern States in Creedmoor was selling chicks. Zoe Mae has named them:
Rhode Island Red: Monty
Araucana: Speckle/Stripey Stripey
Buff Orpington: Speckled Hen
Barred Plymouth Rock: Four
They're much cuter than I thought they would be. 

Day One - Chicks Warming Up