Learning to Fly

In tub #1 we have a runt, well now she has a name. My husband has claimed her to be Gilda. She is named after Gilda Radner from Saturday Night Live, he wanted to name her Clark but since she is a girl, well it really did not fit. Gilda is small but feisty. I don't know if you can tell by the picture here but she is literally half the size of the others.

The girls are all really starting to get their wing feathers and they know it. They spend hours trying to fly. They fly at each other's head, they run-fly and they even try jumping on top of the water while flapping their wings. None of this is successful yet but it won't be long.

Hey look, it is the Charlie's Angels pose. They are a force to be reckoned with.

Can you see how many feathers they have in this picture?

It is easier to see on Saria, although she is a little ahead of everyone else.

Tub #2 is full of characters. They are almost a week behind tub #1 but they too are starting to get some wing feathers.

Here is Boo and Nelly posing for the camera. They are so sweet, even though they are rough on each other.

We still have 25, 15 from the original batch and all 10 replacements. This is the last day of antibiotics for the first tub and everyone seems to be really thriving. Now if we can just finish their new home so they have some space.

A Good Day

We made it through our first day without losing a baby chick. Yea! Everyone appears healthy and full of spunk, even the runt is doing well. Last night we introduced Tub #2 to a feeder. Oh my how everyone was scared of the metal monster. They were pushing each other into it, hesitating and then running across it as fast as their little legs would take them, but not eating from it. After a while of walking around it, over it and looking from afar, someone got brave and took a chance. Once one was eating from it they all took to it, monkey see, monkey do.

They no sooner got over the trauma of the feeder before we were uprooting them again. We introduced pine litter into both tubs to replace the paper and paper towels they were using. This time there was no trauma, they were having a ball. There was lots of playing going on last night, it was like kids in the first snow of winter.

Update From the Weekend

On Friday I thought that maybe putting Nelly in with Ducky would be a good idea. Nelly could show Ducky how to be a fighter, not that she wasn't already giving it all she had. It was a bad idea. Nelly trampled Ducky to get to the food and Ducky did not respond to having a box mate. I quickly put Nelly back with her sisters.


It seems Ducky was perfectly content with her horse friend. Saturday morning she took a turn for the worse. I was holding her and talking to her as she passed and letting her know how proud we were of her for trying as hard as she did. We will miss Ducky very much.


The girls in tub one also lost a sister on Saturday morning. She too was a fighter. After I had changed the water over to antibiotics she seemed to be responding. We made sure she ate every couple of hours and got drinks and she was eating much better. I guess we just did not get the medicine in there early enough. The other 15 seem to be doing great and getting wing feathers. There is a runt but she is tough and hangs right with the rest of them. Hopefully the 25 we have left will all do well and thrive now.

Saria is doing great. She is developing her feathers faster than every one else and seems to have that aloof attitude that Zelda continues to have. Her favorite place to be is perched up on the feeder. We must get them a little roosting stick in the tub very soon.

Speaking of Zelda, here she is. She is our biggest, fullest, healthiest bird. Not much seems to phase her really. During the winter months when they were all getting a bit aggrivated by the wet weather she started a bad habit in the group. She started eating feathers and taught everyone else how to pick them out. Now I think we are getting it under control but while everyone else looks worse for wear, Zelda has every feather perfectly in place.

The big girls like to gossip around the feeder. I am sure half of the conversations are about Zelda.

I did get all the posts up for the new chicken run. Woo Hoo.

Hubby got some mowing done on Saturday before the rain. It was a good thing.

We rake up a lot of the cut grass and clover to throw into the run with the big girls. They have so much fun digging through it, keeps them out of trouble.

Miss Sarah had a game on Saturday morning. Ninja boy was there to catch it on film.

Spring was being so wonderful to us. The neighbor's pear tree is all leafed out.

Bushes and flowers are blooming and bringing color to us almost every where you look.

Inside we have Tomato plants preparing for their debut to the garden.

The Artichokes are doing well.

The lettuce is wondering why it is not in the ground yet but it has been so very wet.

On Sunday we caught a glimpse of a Towhee in the yard.

And since it was raining Sarah thought it a good idea to enjoy the rain with some bubbles.

Meet the New Babies

We received 10 new replacement babies. These girls are healthy, energetic and a bit on the nosey side. Actually, one of the girls I handpicked because she was so Nosey and we named her Nelly. Nelly happens to be the loudest chick I have ever heard and she is always looking to start the fun.

Here is a picture of the new girls. We are keeping them seperated from the first chicks just to be safe.



There was no need to teach them about how to find the food. These girls were hungry and went after it straight away.


Nothing like a hen party around the waterer. We put a tray under the water to make sure they are not dragging it out and making the whole tub wet. They like to play chase around the water so someone always ends up going for a swim.



This looks like a serious conversation. What do you think they are saying to one another?

This is Boo. Her full name is Duck-Booey but we call her Boo. She is Sarah's hen.

And here is Boo with her sisters.

There are two red heads in this batch and Boo is one, the other is Boo-Boo. Well, that is her name until Taylor gives her a proper name that she chooses.

This batch has been wonderful from day one. We put them on starter feed and water with vitamins and Electrolytes for the first day and then went to straight water the next day. Every one has a hardy appetite and they love to play. This group needs a mama though because they can get a little rough with one another. Yea for healthy babies.