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Just for funsies, the coop cam's on again. So I watched the progression of the chicks attempting to roost for the night. Very happy we did not have to intervene tonight! Chicks headed up first and took the top roost. Then the adults began trickling in. Cuddlebug the EE is their biggest...

5/3 Roosting with the grown ups. Chicks are 38 and 45 days old. Taa-dah! Look what I found last evening. Hard to see but there's 3 chicks mashed in that space near the center (to the left of the Salmon Faverolles): I did end up interfering because not all the adults were in yet and the 4th...

Nice idea for handling introductions/see but no touch in a free ranging flock. And it's great that you've repurposed it as a sort of hang out so the birds are still getting use out of it.

I throw treats and scraps directly at the chickens rather than sprinkling it on the ground, so rather than run away they stare at the sky, mouths open, hoping food will smack them in the face. It'd probably make for a pretty funny slow-mo video haha. I do have an elderly hen that expects an...

Shy for sure. Probably not the most intelligent of the bunch either. 😅 She's the one most often wandering by herself, without the chick posse. The others will take food out of my hand but I pretty much have to throw it at her if I want her to get a treat. I did nab her this afternoon and...

5/2 Using the adult waterer. Chicks are 37 and 44 days old. Guess what I saw while I was mowing the lawn - Floof drinking from the nipple waterer! I looked over each time I did a lap to see if I could catch the other three drinking. Caught Flair and Florentine as well, with Flan following...

4/30 Post-first night in coop. Chicks are 35 and 42 days old. 56F and lightly drizzling. I was a bit concerned as it dipped down to about 39F late last night, but the chicks did just fine in the coop, sans heat, despite their earlier protests. So we'll continue to cage them nightly in the coop...

4/29 First night in coop. Chicks are 34 and 41 days old. Low of 40F and rainy. Chicks have now been at home for a full month! Well it was supposed to be a full day of rain today, but the rain didn't come so I pulled the trigger and booted the babies from the brooder... just in time for it to...

Flan is still a bit runty so definitely smallest of the four. Floof is close to catching up to Flair and yes, she has feathery little legs. :) I don't use medicated feed. I do have a bottle of Corid on hand, just in case. But I've not had to treat for coccidiosis ever since I began brooding...

4/22 Lowered temps, higher ground. Chicks are 27 and 34 days old. 62F and dry. A little under a week to go before they get booted from the brooder, though with the weather report showing multiple days with rainfall I might delay it by a few days. Regardless, I lowered the temperature of the...

Good point about the food, first thing I do is bring out food in the morning (and I now have fermented starter for their breakfast, which the adults enjoy) and then I let the chicks out in the run, so the adults have their heads in food bowls by the time the little ones are starting to zoom...

4/12 All's well for now. Mini update: Chicks had no issue being given access to the run from 9 AM to sundown, and put themselves to bed without a problem. Unless something comes up, this will be status quo for the next 2 weeks, roughly. I still have adults on fermented grower (plus dry all...

4/11 Names! And panic openings. Chicks are 15 and 22 days old. 54F and dry. Our tradition is to name chicks after 2 weeks, so the "F crew" now has names: Floof the Blue Marans, Flair the Crevecoeur, Florentine the Silver-Laced Wyandotte, Flan the Barnevelder. So, I lied about waiting an extra...

Right now I would not free range the littles - they're snack sized and the lack of recall is an issue for me. I know some folks just jump right into it but I don't trust them coming back without something to help reel them back in (i.e. once they trust the adults enough to follow them around...

4/10 Second outing. Chicks are 14 and 21 days old. 58F and dry. Chicks had 30 minutes to explore yesterday. Today I upped it to 1 hour, then tacked on an additional 4 hours of "outside" time by putting up a temporary (very janky) chicken wire surround around the brooder, so I could leave the...

"Now." The littles are getting to the age where they're almost too big to take advantage of their size, which is what allows me to get away with throwing them together so early. How many birds do you have in each age group (bigs and littles) and how much space are you working with in the run...

I just want a Columbian colored bird, so it doesn't have to be a Delaware but that's the one that usually comes to mind. Just means I'll aim for a Columbian colored bird the next time... that's how we do things around here. A Barnevelder was my must have this time around. :)

That's why I like EEs, you never know what color or pattern you'll get from them or what their eggs will look like. I think of them as my default chicken, if I need an extra chick to fill up the box. I honestly hadn't even heard of them until a few days before I went to the feed store. They...

That's Cuddlebug, an EE. Hubby immediately asked if she went after them, since she can go from being sugar sweet to a complete annoyance. But she was good, the chicks turned around once she got that close and she didn't pursue. Your "Blue" is a cutie! Names are still on hold for my group...

4/9 First brief outing. Chicks are 13 and 20 days old. 53F and damp (rain stopped around 10 AM). The downside of raising chicks around here in early spring is rain is a constant thing. So I would've let them out a little earlier, but the rain only let up this morning. Since I needed to do...