New Chicks in the Flock (pic heavy!) - Page 9

We had another playtime outside today! Frou-frou was unhappy about being subjected to the outside world again. She made that quite clear in the looks she kept shooting me.




We were visited by one of the oldest hens in the flock, Easter-egger Cub.




Cub showed us some preening techniques. SWSSU, Iddy Biddy, and Pip watched closely as she demonstrated. (The chicks aren't small, either--Cubby's just that big!)




Frou-frou stayed in the same general spot the entire time she was out. The others, though, were busy with chickeny things like scratching.




Fancy found a particularly good spot to scratch and worked on it a long while.




After some time, Frou-frou did rotate in place.




She then rotated back, noticing that she had been caught.




The Guinea fowl started to scream, causing Fancy, Iddy Biddy, and Pip to freeze and listen.




Meanwhile, Frou-frou stayed put, stretching...




...And preening...




...Until I encouraged her to walk around. At that point, she spotted the feeder and began to eat as if she never thought she would see chick crumbles again in her life!




Finally, the heat got to be too much for me, and so I boxed up the babies to come back in. Fancy wasn't ready to go inside...



...But there wasn't any way I was going to trust that flimsy structure to keep them safe on their own.

I brought in a stick and added it to their brooder to perch on. Here is Pip, my reluctant model:




It's supposed to be rainy and stormy tomorrow (which is a good thing!), so I probably won't take the little ones out. Instead, I'll just have to find something else for them to do...

Yesterday:

The chicks were outside again for a little longer than the last two times. I cleaned up and moved a bigger, sturdier, 4x8 foot pen to a nice grassy spot, and the chicks quite enjoyed all the space.

With some moral support, Frou-frou seemed to be coping with the great outdoors better.




She even found her way to the feeder and waterer on her own! (The feeder and waterer were sitting on a 2x4 at the center of the pen, which divided it into two 4x4 sections. Though both 4x4 sections were open to the chicks, Frou-frou was the only one who didn't explore past the 2x4 at the center.)




Meanwhile, the other four had a blast with all the grass to peck through.




(Partridge Rock Butts!!)




Natalie, one of my year-old barred rocks, had a long chat with Pip about manners after Pip ran over to play.




We were briefly alarmed by the Guinea fowl screaming again. (Fancy and SWSSU blend perfectly with their surroundings, don't they? )




But soon, we were back at it again!




Iddy Biddy, Fancy, SWSSU, and Pip began to conspire at the back corner of the pen.




Apparently, they were conspiring about flying around like little maniacs.




Debra Jo showed up to teach the chicks who's boss! Iddy Biddy looked quite impressed!




SWSSU showed her prowess in speck hunting.




She then claimed my leg as her perch--I had clearly put it there for her, after all!




I looked back to Frou-frou for an instant, only to receive quite an evil look. "Trying to preen here!"




And finally, Pip, Biddy, and Fancy went out to scratch one last time before I decided it was time to go back in.





Biddy's toes are not improving, but haven't gotten much worse either.



Even so, we've decided to redesign the perches in the coop to better accommodate her.


There are only a few pictures from today, but they're coming right up!

Today:


We're 5 weeks old today!

...Unfortunately, it was close to 100 outside and I didn't think I could stand to take them out today, so I only have a few pictures today.


Fancy had her leg band changed today. She REALLY didn't want to give up her orange one, and so she was flipping out the whole time. Afterward, I sat with her on my lap to calm her down, and we had a nice long chat.

Fancy at 5 weeks old:




(Err... Don't mind the feather coming off the top of her head. She dropped it while she was flipping out, so I was playing with it. Fancy, Queen of Fashion!)





Frou-frou was the only other chick willing to sit on my lap for a picture.




Unfortunately, the others were sitting, so there isn't much to see.

Pip at 5 weeks:




Iddy Biddy at 5 weeks:




And we've kind of decided on a name for another chick--okay, we *kind of* decided on this name because she's already been called it for the first 5 weeks of her life. Meet She Who Sleeps Standing Up!




I decided I liked the name, and so I wanted to keep it. I (obviously) call her SWSSU for short (pronounced like Swiss-oo).

Sorry for lack of updates the past few days! We finally got rain (and lots of it in a short amount of time!), so I have a ton of clean up to do outside--mucky enclosures, spilled feed molding, mud splashed up onto things... On top of that, we have a Guinea enclosure to finish and some curly-toe-friendly perches to design (which I am darned determined to finish before school starts up next month!), so things are beginning to get out of hand.


It was sunny most of today and is supposed to be sunny tomorrow, which will hopefully dry things up. I will take the chicks out tomorrow! And I'll kick my own butt if I don't, because they really need it! But I was still cautious about taking the chicks out after the rain, so I threw together this little area for them to play in:




...And I wonder why Frou-frou doesn't want to go outside...

We got outside today, and guess what?

Frou-frou is really for real a chicken!

Today, I decided to let them have a good long time outside, but I had things to do, so it was their first time outside without me. Frou-frou had her usual panic attack as I removed her from the box, so I tipped it on its side and put her back in it so that she could decide if she wanted out or not. By the next time I checked on the chicks, Frou-frou was out and about, and I even caught her trying to fly around. (Of course, not being used to actually using her wings, she barely traveled half a foot through the air and face-planted into the grass.)

That's my girl.





Meanwhile, the others did just as well as they usually do. Fancy was just as fabulous.





SWSSU was just as graceful.





Pip was just as speedy.





And Iddy Biddy was just as impossible to catch a decent picture of.






Right now, we're experiencing our first night without the brooder lamp on.



It's pitch dark in here and, in order to type this up without disturbing the chicks, I had to huddle under my blanket with the laptop and make sure no light was getting out into the room. If any light gets out, or if I say anything aloud, Frou-frou starts peeping for me and the others get stirred up and hop down from their perch. ...It's gonna be a long night...

(Ha! Naw, she seemed more like a budgie (or maybe a Guinea fowl) in chicken's clothing! She's so scared of everything new!)


We are 6 WEEKS OLD today!! We've gotten outside the past few days in a row, and we've had our second night in the dark last night! We're seeming more and more like real, grown-up chickens now!! Our 6 week photo-op was naturally shot outside, where we've been doing all sorts of grown-up chicken things like scratching and pecking and flying around. Everyone (but the obvious) is now just a little bigger than the adult Sebright hens of the big-girl flock!

And without further ado, here are the 'birthday' girls posing for their 6-week-old pictures!


Fancy is such a doll!



Today, when I checked on the chicks just before taking them outside, Fancy came right over to me, rested her belly in my hand, and began to preen my thumb! Silly girl! I moved my hand over to where Frou-frou was standing, and Fancy quickly raced over and started preening Frou-frou instead!



Frou-frou, my big scaredy-chick.



Frou-frou is quite clearly afraid of the dark. The past two nights, which have been the first two in darkness for the chicks, Frou-frou has started screaming as soon as the light goes off, and continues to for about 15 minutes. If I make any sound after she's gone silent, she picks up with it again, stirring up the other chicks and causing everyone to fly down off the perch. Ah, but I cannot stay mad, for she is also the chick that comes running just to be with me whenever she can be.

Frou-frou has lovely eyes. I wish they would stay like this, but I unfortunately know that her eyes will change color as she grows. Oh, well.






Iddy Biddy is such a little ball of energy!



Biddy goes charging around the outside pen like a maniac. She has so much energy these days, it's become incredibly difficult to get a good picture of her! Biddy, I noticed not too long ago, has just the tiniest twist in her face causing her beak to be slightly tilted in comparison to the rest of her face. I am still trying to get a picture of this!

By little ball of energy, I definitely mean little. Here she is next to Fancy as a comparison.





SWSSU, a quiet and contemplative chick.



SWSSU hardly makes a sound unless I try to pet her or pick her up. I often catch her hanging back from the crowd and just doing her own tricks. Where the other chicks get bored and lose interest, SWSSU keeps stubbornly trying things until she's figured them out. I am so disappointed that she's become a little hand-shy, but I figure things will work themselves out.




Pip, my little explorer!



Pip is frequently the first to travel to the far end of the outside pen. She was the first (and only) chick to get stuck between the brooder and the fence around it. She was also the first (and only) chick to actually fly out of the brooder when I had the fence away while setting up their little play-corral.

Just because she's an explorer doesn't mean she can't look good, either. Here's the Pipster trying out one of Fancy's fabulous poses.





I have a malfunctioning mouse right now, so please excuse my lack of updates. It's rather hard to use this computer without a functioning mouse.