New lessons

The chicks are now 10 weeks old. Daniel and Sarah have been learning the importance of keeping fresh cool water available for the chicks due to the warm weather. We have now started them on the grower/finisher and they all seem to be doing well. We must have done a good job of bonding with them because everytime we go out there they all run to the fence to see us. Sometimes when I go in with them there are always a couple of them that want to jump up to sit on my arm or shoulder. It is funny to watch them when we first let them out in the mornings. They run and jump and fly, doing the morning stretching exercises. Over all they seem very happy.
Paul built them a new roost but we left the others in there as well. I love the new one because it is hinged and can be lifted and hooked when I need to clean. He is now working on the nesting boxes. The thing is, while they love to roost during the day, they did not so much at night. They would all cuddle in the corner of the house to sleep. There were a couple of things wrong with that. Besides the fact that it is not the natural way of doing things, they would scratch all the litter out of the corner and lay directly on the wood. The corner would get pretty dirty and that is not healthy. The other problem is that the way they would get in such a tight bundle, someone was bound to get suffocated or hurt. So we took on the task of teaching them to roost at night.

At first we put a couple of them on the roost and when we put the light out they cried to each other until the two found their way back to the pile. Then we started trying to show them all to the roosts but would only end up with about four that would stay. Now when we put them all on the roost they stay. When we first go in to the house there is gradually a greater number of them already on the roost. It takes a bit of time but eventually they will all learn to just go to the roost at bedtime. It is hilarious to watch them choose their places. It is like first grade, they have to sit next to their best friends. If you put them in the wrong place they will get down and go find where they want to be. If someone is already in their spot they will fly up and sit on top of her until she falls. Chickens are nuts!

When I shut the chick door so I can clean inside the house, they get a bit upset with me. They know it is their house and they should be able to come in. In the end they seem to appreciate the clean, fresh new litter and get over being mad pretty quickly.

While the girls like to chase a butterfly or really anything that flies, this guy they did not go near. I think they were a bit disturbed by him because he was HUGE. He is a Royal Moth and he is about four inches long. He sat there on the side of the pen for a couple of hours and the whole time the girls stayed away from that part of the coop. He wouldn't hurt them but I guess they were not going to risk it.

Chicken Run

When making the run we wanted to be proactive. I think what we ended up with is a fortress of sorts. =) So here are some of the things we did.



We dug a trench on the outside. The run itself is made of welded wire but we cut chicken wire so that it could go under with half inside and half out.

We clipped the inside half up to the welded wire.
The outside half we buried in the trench. This should keep anything from being able to dig in.
We did the same thing in front of the coop to keep anything from coming from under the chicken house into the pen.
We stapled the top half to the boards, just under the chicken door.
We buried the bottom half to keep any sharp edges from hurting the chickens and to strengthen the wire wall we created.

Under the gate we couldn't really use the same technique so we just buried the chicken wire.
Then we covered the whole pen with chicken wire, using stakes down the middle to give it support. This is the view from the end.
I don't know how many of these clips we used but I guarantee this wire is not coming apart.
Sarah gives you an idea of how high the ceiling of the run is. This is a picture of the stakes down the middle. I bet this grass won't last long.

We have temporarily put up tarps for shade until we figure out where the shelter needs to be. When it came time to allow the girls into their new playroom they needed a little coaxing.
They were curious but just not sure.
They eventually started pushing each other out and the ones that held back, well, I helped them out a bit.
When out, they weren't sure what to do.

Soon they realized that there was things to be discovered, like bugs and worms and grass. Yum!
Oh, and dust baths under the board walk are pretty awesome too.
Then the kids went in to socialize with the girls.
Daniel loves all the chickens and likes how soft they are.

They pick them up one by one to check them over and reassure them that it is all good.
Then it is time to get down on their level.
Lots of petting and bonding.
Slowly the girls felt comfortable enough to venture out and explore.
That is until one of them decided she wanted to go back inside.

So Miss Sarah obliged by clipping the door open for her.
Others followed. But quickly learned they could come and go at will.
Sarah and Zelda take a moment to pose for the camera.
Then it was time to introduce the dogs to the chickens. This friendship may take a while. Sunshine is on her choke chain as Sarah puts one chicken on the roost in front of the dogs.

Dixie thought the chick was cool, Sunny only saw a snack.

Sarah comforted the test chick and made sure she knew she was safe.

In the end, the chicks knew who ruled the roost.

Friday without the Fotos.

This is normally Foto Friday but because I posted so many pictures on Monday I thought today we would just talk about what is going on in Chick-land.

End of school year activities, the assortment of projects we have going on and the weather have made this a difficult week to work on the run. Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful and with all of the rain the soil should be easy to work. Sarah's ballgame is early so after that we should be able to all pitch in and get it erected so the girls can be outside and play in their own yard.

The chick we call Neked Girl is no longer neked. =) She is growing in all of her feathers and is looking quite beautiful these days. I am thinking we should change her name to Cinderella or Cindy for short. She is a sweetie and is always one of the first to greet you at the door.

The first big no-no happened yesterday. The girls got their eat on and ran out of food in their feeder. When we went to check on them in the afternoon they were not happy birds. Once they had food it was a riot of sorts, they were all over each other trying to get to it. We had to put some of the feed in another area just for a bit so that they could all eat without killing each other. After they had their fill, they seemed to feel better and be happy. They started spreading out and coming to socialize with us and play.

There is one chick that is a mess! Unlike the others that peck at you in a curious way or in a sense to say hello, this one pinches you. She grabs your skin and twists. She bobs around like a boxer when you try to pet her, she bows up her chest at you and if you gently push her away she will run back at you like she is going to take you down. It is too funny to watch her but the funniest part is when I pick her up to love on her she immediately calms down and starts making those sweet little cooing noises. Once I put her down and start talking to another chick, she gets jealous and puts herself between us.

They all have such great personalities. I am so pleased that Zelda is calm and easy going. She and Daniel really seem to click. He has a lot of sensory issues, but Zelda is soft and doesn't peck or flap around when he holds her. It is almost like she understands him and was meant to be his girl.

We have been researching some plants and bushes that we can plant in and/or around the run to give the girls treats and shade. There are some definite issues here, such as, we can't have anything that will be toxic to the girls and doing things in a way that they will not kill it. We have found some great ideas and will do a post on this a little later.

Last but not least, now that the girls are six weeks old, we have changed them from starter feed to a starter/grower. When they are about 10 weeks we will change over to a grower/finisher until they are about 20 weeks and then move on to a layer feed. They are growing and looking great so I guess we are somewhere on the right track.

Have a great weekend and maybe I will have pictures of the new run up soon.