fuzzi's Chicken Journal

[fuzzi]

Tuesday Afternoon

 

[fuzzi]

Checking out the big chick roost...

As I sat on my chair inside the run one of the smaller un-ringed chicks fluttered up into my lap and just sat there. I stroked her back and breast very gently. Later, two of the bigger chicks fluttered up onto my arm, one immediately after the other...and sat there for several minutes, like trained falcons. Now they just need jesses!

 

[fuzzi]

Tonight the temperature is 46°, supposed to drop to 40°. Two of the chicks are snuggled down together in the straw on TOP of the MHP. There's room under the pad, perhaps they're just feeling adventurous. Big chicks!

 

[3KillerBs]

Tonight the temperature is 46°, supposed to drop to 40°. Two of the chicks are snuggled down together in the straw on TOP of the MHP. There's room under the pad, perhaps they're just feeling adventurous. Big chicks!

I find it amazing how my chicks raised outdoors defy my ideas about how cozy they need to be.

 

[fuzzi]

I find it amazing how my chicks raised outdoors defy my ideas about how cozy they need to be.

I've never brooded outside before so I can't compare, but others have stated that chicks that are exposed to the colder temps feather out more quickly.

 

[3KillerBs]

I've never brooded outside before so I can't compare, but others have stated that chicks that are exposed to the colder temps feather out more quickly.

That's what I've heard.

When I see my little birds sleeping on the opposite end of the brooder from the heat plate I know it's time to move them into the integration pen.

 

[fuzzi]

The additional leg rings arrived today!

The three smaller chicks who lost their original leg rings each got new ones, but on their left legs.

Then they settled on the roost:

Power nap time!

 

[fuzzi]

While taking a break from digging up composted dirt & filling up my raised bed gardens I heard a blue jay screaming, looked up and saw either a Cooper's or Sharp-shinned hawk fly overhead...one reason for the Fort Knox coop!

 

[fuzzi]

Enjoying the roost.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hawks will land and work the fencing, trying to worry or herd chicks and birds to corners.
Huddling chicks pressed against wire, if the Hawk can get a hold of a chick with their beak, they will try to pull them through wire.

I like Hawks and birds in general, but I'm not a fan of how they act sometimes.