Hello everyone! I just realized how long it's been since I posted anything about my buddy Daryl.
So here's what's been going on....
Daryl and his little chicken friends outgrew the baby pool brooder I made pretty quick. So I had to make another one. Luckily I work in a restaurant and large boxes are aplenty.
4 of the six chicks that were keeping Daryl company were sent to live in the baby chicken coop while the two smallest ones stay with Daryl. I would also like to add that Daryl and the chicks now spend the day outside and only come in when it's night. Well, two chicks come in with Daryl at night. It has to be two chicks. I tried just one but Daryl cried and cried so it has to be two.
Daryl and my boxer dog Riddick are best friends. Daryl follows him around the yard when Riddick is outside. They run and play together. Riddick is very gentle with Daryl. He pushes him with his nose but that's as rough as he gets.
Daryl doesn't really like to be touched. He'll let us stroke his neck, head and belly for a few seconds but that's all. He runs if we touch his back and freaks out then we pick him up. We definitely try not to pick him up and prefer to just herd him where we need him to go but he can be stubborn. The safest way to pick him up for both him and us seems to be to hold him with two hands, on under his belly and one under his chest with his legs dangling. His kicks but can't really get any leverage that way.
I don't know how much he weighs but at almost 5 weeks old he's very big. I'll post some pictures in my next post.
Daryl's favorite food is anything green. Kale, spinach, spring mix, beet greens, etc. He devours them. I chop up a paper plate full of greens twice per day for him. I try to leave them as whole as I can do he gets exercise ripping them apart. He also loves fruit of any kind as long as it's not too soft. Daryl will spit out a mushy blueberry or peach like it's poison. Not sure why. For this reason I can't get him to eat boiled eggs. I try to make the majority of his diet greens and fruit. I usually provide a small portion of protein such as meat (pork, Beef, chicken, just boiled with no additives). He really likes dried soldier fly larvae and worms. I have a worm farm of red wigglers and he'll just eat them until they run out. I also supplement with ratite pellets and whole grain chicken feed. He likes the whole grains occasionally and I catch him eating his ratite pellets when he thinks I'm not looking.
