The chicks are growing FAST!

Look what I got for my birthday!! Eggcellent!! (sorry, couldn't help it!)

Well anyway, I haven't posted in a few days... I've been super busy around here... and had some sad things happen... 2 of the tiny silkie babies died over the last week. The little black one and one of the white ones. The bigger white silkie and the tiny splash silkie are doing fine. So is the cochin. I think because they are/were so much younger than the other chicks they needed it warmer. When I saw the older chicks sitting far away from the heat lamp I adjusted it to make it cooler... forgetting that I had those tinies in there. *sigh* I have the last tiny silkie chick in a sort of hospital brooder to keep him quiet (aka not getting stepped on by the bigger chicks!) and warmer. He has Dum-Dum (the Australorp runt) for company...

The chicks are really growing! They are exactly 2 weeks old today! Can you believe the wing and tail feathers?? The first picture is of the same chick I am holding in the first chick pictures post... That was less than 2 weeks ago!! They grow SO FAST!

We call the one with the white eyebrows "Penguin"... she walks VERY upright!

I made a few changes to the brooder this week too... Since I have this hen in the coop and plan on mixing her with the babies in about 2 weeks (when the new babies come) I decided to add a plexiglass window to the brooder. Panya PECKED AND PECKED at those babies when she first saw them... I was alarmed! What if she does that when they're in the same "room"? But, after the first day the novelty must have worm off... Now she is more likely to be sitting next to the window just watching "Chick TV". Hopefully in 2 weeks she'll be completely bored with them. This window also helps them from being as scared of me as they have been. Now they can see my legs approaching and I'm less like a giant hawk swooping down on them.


The babies had been perching on their waterer and trying to get onto the heat lamps so I decided they would like a mini-roost in there... I was right! They LOVE it!


It was really warm out today so I made Panya go outside. (I am still trying to figure out her name!). She ran around, ate grass... and stalked bugs! She had a lot of fun catching those ants!

Watching a tractor drive by

One last note! I finally finished burying the fence! The run is officially done and ready for the little ones to try it out in a few weeks! I also hung a bunch of old CDs from the overhead netting... Other than adding a wonderful disco atmosphere - it's practical! It confuses the hawks... sort of like a modern scarecrow! Oh and of course I had to plant more flowers!