New Chicks in the Flock (pic heavy!)

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

The babies are experiencing their first power outage.

This really big, really rumbly, really rainy storm blew through. It's so dark and, besides the sound of thunder, very quiet in my room. I had to turn the flash on on my camera to see the babies. Apparently, they just sat where they were to wait out the storm.

Everyone should be just fine, assuming we get power back at some point today. The room is still quite warm and they have each other to huddle with if they need more warmth. That doesn't make it any less scary, though!

 

[mountainchick24]

Awwwww!

I love Speckled Sussex chicks(and chickens for that matter). They always have the cutest butter bellies! (by butter I mean color)

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

We've had no power for about 3 hours. The sky has cleared and my room is lit by the sun now.


The chicks appear to be coping with the lack of their brooder lamp, and they're doing alright without its heat.

They've found their food and their water:

We're all hoping to have power before it's dark out, but judging by the wait thus far, we may not. Here's hoping the room doesn't cool off much more. I don't want my chicks to get chilled!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

We were without power for 5 hours and 15 minutes or so. The lights finally came back on at around 8:15 pm, about an hour before it would get dark out. Thank goodness!

We were happy to have our brooder light again. We celebrated by (what else?) flying around!

(I love this one-- you can see Sassy Marans under Little Miss Lungs' right wing in this pic.)

 

[Fluffballs]

Haha! Silly chickies! They're getting so big!!!!

 

[shelbear81]

YAY!! Glad you all made it through ok!!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It has been a long and tired day, so I don't have many pictures to share. Why was I so tired? Well...

Sassy Marans took it upon herself to start peeping at the top of her lungs at about 1 am this morning. She then continued to peep at the top of her lungs on and off until about 3 am. I got up several times and I checked everything. They always have food and water, and there hasn't been a power outage since that last one so there should be plenty of heat. My door is always closed, so no cats or dogs could be getting in and terrorizing her. She doesn't appear to have any wounds on her. The bedding is due for its weekly cleaning on Monday, but it isn't that dirty as is. There was simply nothing that could be upsetting her that much.

I picked her up and held her in my arms for a while between 1 and 3 am, trying to calm her down, but she was screaming at that point (most likely because she did not want to be picked up). After I convinced her to calm down and sit in my arms, I realized the one and only thing happening that could have been disturbing her--it was storming again. Could Sassy Marans be afraid of storms after her first experience with one? Has anyone else experienced such a phobia in their chickens? (Honestly, I thought it quite endearing if it really was a fear of the storm. I, myself, am afraid of storms, so I could relate to her.)



The only picture I have is of SWSSU, who does this totally adorable thing whenever she's about to fly around the brooder. She stands with her head low to the ground and looks around, as if looking for a clearing to fly for it.

I thought that was absolutely adorable.

 

[flewdacoop]

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

The power's out again!

Everything's okay here. There's some thunder, but not much visible lightning. The wind is gusting pretty hard. I'm assuming the repairs to the power lines that were made on Friday were damaged again today as it isn't nearly as bad as it was.

The babies are peeping and moving around, so I think they're fine without the brooder lamp today.

I'll keep y'all posted!


EDIT: We're back on again already. The wind's died down and it's cooled off nicely. I'll see about getting some chicky pics before the end of the day.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

As promised, pictures!



The camera's flash still catches us off guard sometimes.

We have so many feathers coming in, and they need a lot of work to stay in tip-top shape!

Sassy Marans has become a professional preener.

(I love that little splotch on her beak!)

Iddy Biddy's still trying to catch up in feather growth. (You can see how curled her toe has become at the bottom of this pic.)

It's just too tiring to be a chick sometimes. Little Miss Lungs finds the best rest is sitting in someone's hand.

If she can't sit in the hand, resting her chin on it is close enough.

We turn 3 weeks old tomorrow! Can't wait to see what treats we'll get for that milestone!