This morning for the first time I sat out with the two-week-old muttly chicks and opened up the pen so they could come out and see the Big Bird run a bit. Of the eight, six boiled right out and started going insane, flapping around, playing, racing in circles and digging in dirt.
The smallest - doing just fine, now that it's back on vitamin water, alert, active, feathering in, but still not growing the way the rest are - had no interest in going out. I'd just put the ice tub in, and she was camped out on top of it soaking up some cool.
Her look-alike, with the tag on her jaw, was racing back and forth at the front. There's about five inches between the bottom of the pen and the bottom of the door that was open, all of it wire so they can see in, and the other birds can see out. About ten minutes, peeping and running back and forth frantically while the rest of the birds climbed in and out with no problem. She... might be a bit slow.
Then she sat up straight to let out a really loud, angry PEEEEP!!! about not being able to get out with the rest... and saw out the open door. Stood there looking at the other birds, squatted back down to look at them through the wire, stood up so she could see out the open door again, and it was like a light switch got flipped on. She realized she could get out the same way they'd been going in and out over the top of her! Guess who was doing the most racing around in circles and bumping chests, once she figured it out... and she's the second-to-smallest.
