Early this morning, I moved the chicks from inside the house to the small coop on my back porch, for those of you who know my setup. I had cleaned it all out and put clean bedding in it. The food was put in to the feed hopper and everyone took to that immediately. I left the last of the medicated water in there so they could finish it off, too. I was going to refill it and run one more day of it, but instead, the chicks found the watering nipples and have taken a strong preference to those. I hadn't even shown them how to use them yet! So now, the regular waterer has sat completely untouched from the looks of it. It definitely makes my life easier, but that was quite unexpected.
I managed to finish plumbing in the nipple system for the new coop today. I didn't finish any of the other stuff, like center of the roof or the door, but it's functional for now. I'll have to make progress with that next week. The water was the most important part. I let them free-range this afternoon and had to put every last one of them back inside tonight. Batman laid an egg in the nesting box, but decided that wasn't the place to roost, I guess. The three Black Coppers and New Hampshires kept going up the ramp trying to fly through the door. Boy, I wish I had video of that! Maybe tomorrow...
MadBaggins: Those laser drops are gorgeous. I'm going to have to find out where to get some in town. Lady Kota is mighty lucky to be getting those from you, and I'm sure she'll put them to good use. I am anxious to see those photos now!
Oh, and day two of not losing any more chicks. Hopefully, we're done with that phase of the problems and everything gets better from here!