~♪~♫~♪~Where oh where have my little chickies gone? Oh where oh where can they be? With feathers cut short and some cut long. Oh where oh where are they? Are they hiding just for fun or have they lost their way? Now the search has just begun, I hope I find them today! ~♪~♫~♪~
So, I don't quite have my chicks outside yet. It is still a bit chilly. Getting down to 40's at night. I keep them inside the my house at night, and let them run around for at least 4-5 hours or until it gets down to about 50 in the evening. The 12 chicks I have range from aprox 9 wks to 12 wks old. They 6 older have all their feathers, and the younger ones have just about all of them. Today was a cooler day, only got up to about 55-60 but they didnt get outside yesterday because it was cold and rainy. So they were out from about 12:30p. I went to collect them at 4p. I didn't see a trace of any of them. And it was quiet. They are hardly ever dead silent. I searched for about 45 min before finding one. A few mins later I found 5 more. So I found about half of my flock. I got them in the house and they fell back asleep all huddled up. I looked for another 45 min for the rest. I searched all of their normal hiding places but no luck. They never venture far from the house. Which has me worried that I can't find them. I had to give up the search because my 13month old got little rosy cheecks and nose from being out so long.
They have a coop outside, but they hardly ever go in it. I try to put them in it when they first go outside, put their food and water in it too, but they refuse to go in. They are happy with the bugs they find in the yard. So I left the coop open with food & water but I'm still worried. We live in a very wooded area with a lot of predators. The risks of free ranging. I just hope they can find their way back!! Until then, I still have my two roosters and four of the hens.
So, I don't quite have my chicks outside yet. It is still a bit chilly. Getting down to 40's at night. I keep them inside the my house at night, and let them run around for at least 4-5 hours or until it gets down to about 50 in the evening. The 12 chicks I have range from aprox 9 wks to 12 wks old. They 6 older have all their feathers, and the younger ones have just about all of them. Today was a cooler day, only got up to about 55-60 but they didnt get outside yesterday because it was cold and rainy. So they were out from about 12:30p. I went to collect them at 4p. I didn't see a trace of any of them. And it was quiet. They are hardly ever dead silent. I searched for about 45 min before finding one. A few mins later I found 5 more. So I found about half of my flock. I got them in the house and they fell back asleep all huddled up. I looked for another 45 min for the rest. I searched all of their normal hiding places but no luck. They never venture far from the house. Which has me worried that I can't find them. I had to give up the search because my 13month old got little rosy cheecks and nose from being out so long.
They have a coop outside, but they hardly ever go in it. I try to put them in it when they first go outside, put their food and water in it too, but they refuse to go in. They are happy with the bugs they find in the yard. So I left the coop open with food & water but I'm still worried. We live in a very wooded area with a lot of predators. The risks of free ranging. I just hope they can find their way back!! Until then, I still have my two roosters and four of the hens.
