Courtneys Chicks

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Hello, and welcome to my little chicken page. ​

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My adventure begins on July 7, 2012. I picked up three little four week old chicks from Chicken Creek in Grimsley Tennessee. This is Amelia-Stripe the little barred rock with my niece. We also have Adelaide-Butterfly the gold laced wyandotte and Annabel-Jacket the little easter egger, on the left.

After a long car ride home back to Knoxville they checked out their new digs and munched on chick starter. They seemed to have a good night.

July 8, 2012: It is so HOT here! It's got to be 100 degrees out there. I've tempted the girls with frozen raspberries and cool cottage cheese, but they aren't having it. I relocated their tractor, but it's still very hot. I've decided to let them out under the porch in the cool dirt. Amelia and Annabel are all about it, but crazy little Adelaide keeps running around like always.

I can already see their little personalities developing. Amelia the barred rock is such a sweet heart. She will run up to me and stand in my shadow. She is also the largest and the leader. Annabel the easter egger is aloof and seems to be a little behind the others. Adelaide is nuts! She is the smallest and fastest. She also keeps things interesting by gently pecking at her other sisters when they aren't up playing with her. She can also fly pretty well!

July 10, 2012: The little ones did so well on my first day back to work The weather has cooled at bit and they were definitely more content. I froze two water bottles and left them in the run and coop with them, I also left their little fan on all day. Last night we had a bit of rain and thunderstorms. The littles just didn't want to get into their coop, they chose to stay in the run so I had to cover the roof of the run with a black trash bag to keep the rain off of them. Silly little birds. I haven't been closing them up in the coop. It has just been so hot and I don't want to stress them any more than they already are. When they are a bit bigger, I will put a light in their coop and scoot them in every night and lock them up safe and sound.

I think we will enclose the area under our back porch with some fencing and a gate so they can chill under there safely on hot days. I just can't stand to see them panting.

July 11, 2012: A little about me. I am an under 30, college graduate. I'm a wife, aunt, momma of a spoiled fat cat and now, three chickie babies! I love to cook and garden. I work full time for an environmental testing company. My husband is a pharmacist so he works ALL the time. I have a lot of spare time to spend dreaming up crazy projects like chicken coops and potato towers. I am intrigued by genetics and chemistry. I never thought I'd be so excited about my very own chickens and my very own gardens, but I am. Isn't it funny how things change?

July 14, 2012: One week later. This chicken journey has been much easier than I expected. I suppose it's because I got my chicks when they were a little older. They are pretty much self-sufficient. All I have to do is give them clean water and fresh food and they are happy little girls. This morning my husband and I let them play outside for a bit while we snapped a few photos. They had so much fun scratching and pecking. Three happy little chicks.

July 17, 2012: And then there were two. Today I lost my little gold laced wyandotte. Last night, I found her in the run, on her side, with her neck limp. Her legs were flailing and she was making little circles on the ground. She even tried to flap her wings. She was unable to stand. By this morning, she was barely moving at all. Later in the day, she passed. Could it have been wry neck? I hear of people nursing their chickens back to health, but I just don't see that being possible given her condition. I think she probably broke her neck. She was always flapping around the run like a crazy bird, I wouldn't doubt if she flew into a wall. It's so sad. I'm starting to wonder if I was ready for this. I've tried to do everything to make them happy. I've tried to keep them clean and dry. I've tried to protect them. All I can do is hope that the other two make it.

July 31, 2012: After a brief period of mourning, I'm back. Here are the girls. Aren't they growing into lovely ladies? I've had someone tell me that my barred rock was a boy, but I don't think so. She surely acts very girly. I guess we will see what happens in a few weeks. As you can see Miss Annabel is as sassy as they come and Miss Amelia is always the watchful momma bird. I can't wait until I get my first eggs.




August 9, 2012: The girls are really growing! I went to Tractor Supply and got them a big girl waterer and feeder. They were very excited. While I was cleaning up the coop and changing out the feeders and waterers I let them play outside with big brother Morti. They started following the white spot the end of his tail. He just ignored them. Then, they got up the courage to try to fly at him. He didn't much care for that, but he didn't swat at them. He just ran up to the porch and tried to get back into the house. He is a pretty good big brother. I know that when they get even bigger, I won't have to worry about him at all because I'm sure he will be terrified.