New Chicks in the Flock (pic heavy!)

[Fluffballs]

Oh my goodness! Fancy is beautiful! She looks like a mini-hen. I love that she tried to preen your thumb!!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Last night, when the chicks were brought in for bed, I set up their little roost and I was about to leave when I noticed Pip giving 'the look'. I could tell she was not going to stay in the brooder for long after I left, so I hung around a bit and waited for her to make her move. She flew for it, apparently aiming for the fence and missing, landing on the floor outside the brooder.

So figuring that the chicks were finally getting the perching-urge and wanting a higher perch, I got a garden post that had been used to hang the food and water for a short while and I put it up on the fence, where their little butts would still be over the brooder and I wouldn't have a mess by morning. Pip quickly flew up and sat on the new perch, apparently content.

Frou-frou next flew up. I was flat out shocked that she managed to fly her big butt all the way up there, since the last time she tried, she only got up about a foot and crash landed. SWSSU hopped onto the lower 'beginner's perch' and used it to fly to the new perch. I waited for the other two, all the while trying to keep Pip from flying further as she was still giving me 'the look'. Pip ended up taking a (VERY) brief visit to the top of my head, after which she settled down on the higher perch.

It became clear to me that Biddy and Fancy were not going to get the idea. I looked for them in the brooder to find, to my surprise, that Fancy had forced her way underneath little Iddy Biddy, and the two were settling in there. They moved before I could grab the camera, darn it!

You can kind of see Fancy and Biddy in the background of this picture:

So I climbed into the brooder and helped Fancy and Biddy to the perch(with just a small distraction, as I guess Biddy wanted to take a tour of my room while she was at it), and they, too, settled in for the night with little complaint.

Last night, I had no trouble sleeping. I could roll around and talk and be as loud as I wanted. The chicks were clearly happy with their new perch. I awoke to find someone missing, though.

To my relief, Frou-frou had just flown down into the brooder. Such a good girl!


Today, the chicks were outside through their first rainstorm. I covered the back end of their outside pen with tarps for a nice shelter and, wouldn't ya know it, they stood at the opposite end where the rain was blowing in. Fortunately, not much got in, and so they were only misted by rain splashing off the walls and ground.

We are now in the process of getting used to night air, after which we will be spending our first nights outside! I am thinking of fencing a small area of the big-girl chicken run off for the chicks so that I can begin introducing them into the flock. Wish me luck--with some of the hens in my flock, I'm gonna need it!

(And sorry for the small amount of pictures. I'm running out of room on my camera's memory chip, so I have to be stingy about taking pics until I can get a new chip. :/ )

 

[lovemychicks22]

they are so stinking cute!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

What I woke up to see this morning.

Frou-frou, Biddy, SWSSU, Pip, and Fancy--a whole lotta cute!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

7 weeks old already? Where did the past few days go..?

Anyway, as I have been delving deep into finishing some building projects, I haven't had much time to spend with the babies. Today I made some time, though, for 7 week old pictures!


Frou-frou, darling ball of fluff.

Frou'f always runs over when she sees me, and me in particular. She was standing by my brother as he was talking through the fence at the chicks, but when I crouched down, she moved to stand near me.



Fancy, otherwise known as my little Fancy-pants.

Fancy, instead of just running toward me, does this silly little skip-like maneuver. She also loves to climb up my legs when I sit with the girls. Unfortunately for me, she uses her little razor-talons for traction.



SWSSU, the quiet one.

SWSSU has this little muttering peep that she makes whenever I touch her. While the other girls peep loudly as it gets dark, SWSSU settles in pretty quietly. She keeps her distance mostly, but does come up to me if I'm with the chicks for a while.



Iddy Biddy, who has more recently been referred to as Biddy-Bird.

Biddy is always the first to hop out of the box when I take the babies outside. She has even gotten Pip into the habit of doing so, which can be frustrating when I'm trying to pack them up in the box. Biddy always takes a moment to register her surroundings when we get outside, after which she flies around like a little maniac for a few minutes.

Biddy, as was suggested before by Fluffballs, will be keeping her name. I just don't think I could stand not calling her Biddy-Bird at this point.



Pip, the spotted wonder!

Pip preens a lot. I guess she is still very conscientious about her hygiene. She is my most, well, far-reaching flyer of the bunch. She aims for the perch on the fence around the brooder and ends up across the room by my bed instead.

Pip may have her grown-up name picked out, but I want to run it by my mom first to see what she thinks.



And I have a few extra pictures to share as well.



Frou-frou takes this pose a lot. Look at how floofy she's gotten as of late!

As I said before, Fancy likes to climb up my legs with her little razor-talons. "Who, me?"

SWSSU came right up to look at the camera. "I'm ready for my close-up..."

She then gave me this look, which was just so funny I had to share!

Biddy was in mid-preen when she gave me this stink-eye for disturbing her with pictures. (Look closely at her face--it isn't as clear as in real life because the camera chose to focus on her wing instead of her face, but you can see where her beak tilts very slightly to one side in this picture.)

I just love how pretty the Pipster is getting...

 

[Fluffballs]

My goodness! I didn't realize how gorgeous SWSSU was! I always thought Fancy was the beauty of the family, but seeing those shots of SWSSU, I think she may be passing Fancy up!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Don't say that too loudly!

Actually, while Fancy acts the part of the diva, SWSSU kind of stays mostly out of the limelight. I guess it's kind of nice for her to be noticed, too. Personally, I can't decide who's prettiest of this lot. I just adore them!



Anyways, I spoke to my mom and we've agreed that I've chosen a nice big-girl name for Pip. So it's official: everyone's been named!

(Don't mind the looks of horror--they were asleep and I surprised them with the camera flash. )



First was Frou-frou, who was renamed from Sassy Marans when she was just 3 weeks old.

Next came Fancy, renamed from Little Miss Lungs at 4 weeks old.

It was decided at 5 weeks of age that She Who Sleeps Standing Up would keep her baby name.

Then, at 7 weeks old, I decided Iddy Biddy would keep her name as well (though she is now more frequently called Biddy-Bird).

Now the chicks are 7 weeks and 3 days old. Pip is the last remaining chick without a grown-up name. I came across her name as I searched the net for words ending in -ip, as I so like calling Pip 'the Pipster'. There is a phenomenon called ice fog where, according to my sources, a fog is made up of fine ice crystals that are suspended in the air. Immediately, I thought of the white spots that speckled Sussex have. Another term for ice fog is Pogonip. Therefore, so that I can continue using the nickname 'the Pipster' (or maybe 'the Nipster' ), Pip shall now be renamed Pogonip!

So, finally, meet Pogonip!

In other news, a super-cute thing occurred today. I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but my hens all occasionally make this sound that's like, 'Ba-Doooock-buck-buck', if you can get which sound I'm trying to describe there. Well, as I was rounding up the chicks for the night, I paused to snuggle Fancy when from the few remaining chicks on the ground I heard, 'Peep-Peeeep-peep-peep'. Oh, it was so adorable, I could have melted!

...And that's my crazy chicken lady statement of the day... Good night, folks!

 

[UnderHisWings]

I know those peeps!

We're all crazy chicken people here, you know! I wouldn't have it any other way!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

No pictures tonight! I was much too busy!


We had a DOWNPOUR. While the chookie-pies were out, too! (I, uh... I hesitate to call them chicks anymore. )

Anyway, it was a full on storm. Round about 7 pm, it was as dark as it usually gets by close to 9 pm. I, of course, was silently freaking. I'm afraid of storms, but I didn't want to scar my 3yo niece for life, so I had to contain it. So I spent a long time before it started actually raining trying to decide if it was a good idea to leave the peepers out or not. I finally settled on it being a good idea because they had shelter and I couldn't shield them from the weather for the rest of their lives. I left them out, but I was freaking the whole time, for sure!

As soon as there was a break in the weather, I made a run for it. Nearly ended up on my rear in the mud a couple times, but made it to the little ladies to find that the tarp had blown back from the 'shelter' I thought they had.



Everyone was alright, just a little wet so it must have happened toward the end of the storm. The feed was wet and the cardboard box I'd been carrying them around in was flat-out soaked. Poor Frou-frou's feathered feet had soaked up a lot of mud and she was distraught! As I was rounding the little ones up in the new box I found, she was trying her hardest to preen her legs clean, poor baby!

The hens must have decided that it wasn't worth staying out for the rest of the day. All 29 hens had gone to roost at 8:30, about a half hour earlier than usual! After I got them closed in, I grabbed a towel and dried the youngsters off as best I could (after retrieving Biddy-Bird from behind my harp, quite a ways from where she was supposed to be roosting ). Of course, they complained the whole time, but I think they were happier to go to sleep dry.

Now I'm ready to pass out for the night! Phew!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Despair, for this could be our last night inside!

Okay, so the little ladies don't really know of their most assuredly devastating move from their night-time roost in my room to the one I'm preparing in the big-girl coop, but I sure do. If all goes according to plan, this could be the last night with the babies just across the room from me! ...


This could be the last evening that I come in to find only Frou-frou and She Who perched where they should be.

This could be the last night I find the box flipped over, presumably with two chicks underneath it.

This could be the last time I find Pogonip snuggled up next to said flipped box.

This could be the last time I flip the box over to find that only Fancy was trapped beneath it, and that Biddy is missing.

This could be the last evening that I hear peeping across the room, leading me to Biddy underneath my desk on the sleeping bag I have yet to put away.

Oh, and this could be the last night I change Fancy's leg band in the comfort of my room! (Yes, that's a lamp wearing sunglasses in the background. )

Ah, the (possible) last time I sit on my bed with Fancy on my lap...

Worst of all, though... This could be the last night I fall asleep with my adorable little crew peeping away as they, too, drift off to sleep.

*sigh* ... They grow up too fast...