One of my two speckled sussex chicks seems to be quite the trouble maker. For the first two and a half days, we were using a rubbermaid tote for a brooder, but it seemed so cramped with 9 chicks that I dug around at work until I found a large plastic tub that takes up all but about 10" of my guest room closet and set it up on my lunch break. The only "problem" is that it isn't very tall. I knew it wouldn't contain the chicks for long, but I figured I had at least a few days before they started roaming the guest room. When I got home from work, DH informed me that he had found one of the SS under the bed. Oops! A quick trip down the basement stairs to retrieve the baby gate that had been keeping the dogs out of the cat litterboxes fixed that problem. Hopefully by the time they're big enough to clear the gate the coop will be ready and they'll be feathered in enough to stay outside. Fast forward a week to today. I decided (again, on my lunch hour, since I didn't feel like doing it in the dark at 8:30 tonight) that the brooder really needed to be hosed out and completely cleaned. I loaded the chicks up into their shipping box to take them outside to hang out in the dog crate while I cleaned the brooder. I didn't bother to do a head count, I just figured I had everyone when there were no more chicks in the brooder. When I came back inside and pulled the brooder out of the closet, I just about squealed in surprise. I caught a glimpse of a small brown creature between where the brooder had been and the wall! My first thought for a split second was "rat!" or "mouse!" Then, for about a millisecond, I kind of thought it might be a baby bunny (about the right size and color). I quickly realized that it was, in fact, a chick! And none other than the same SS chick who originally escaped the brooder. I scooped her up and put her in the crate with the rest of the chicks (except they were still hiding in their box and I set her on the ground) then went back in to grab the rubbermaid tote (which I have been using to scoop dirty shavings into each night). When I came back out, there was that same little SS sitting just outside the crate! With a noticeably moist spot on her butt from being nosed/sniffed by the dog (thank GOD he didn't hurt her!)! We're really going to have to watch her. And I've added taking a solid head count to my list of things to do whenever I stick my head into the guest room to "visit" the chickens.
