Hello! Since this is a garden blog, and not a chicken blog, I thought I would add a separate page for giving updates on my little chickies. They sure are cute!
So far, the time-line of events for the little dudes is thus:
Feb. 25 - bought 4 little chicks
Feb. 26 - realized that one was probably blind and would not make it
Feb. 27 - the little chickie died
Feb. 28 - the other 3 chickies are doing fine and are VERY cute. They have more wing feathers and are starting to get tail feathers.
The chickies find a new friend.
March 1 - The little chickies sleep a LOT! They are like babies; well, I guess they ARE babies! They eat and they play and then they sleep and sleep and sleep. They are very curious about things and seem to like it when we interact with them. They make very sweet little peeping sounds, little chirps, but it is a different sound than it was several days ago. I learned something today: little chicks are not supposed to have greens for about a month. Ooops! I am glad I discovered that before it caused them major problems. I hope I have not harmed them in giving them some greens. They can have bugs to play with, but not greens. When they sleep, they lie almost flat on their bellies with their heads in the pine shavings. It is so cute!
March 2 - The little chickies seem to like to play with us. If one of us puts an arm in their box, they will climb on it, or sit on it, or jump on it and then off again. Julie's arm tends to be the favorite. Or maybe they just like her grey jacket. They are so fun! I can't figure out if they are our toys or we are their toys. Once when I came to say hi to them today, they jumped up toward me like they wanted to come out of their box to see me.
The other little chickie is under the feather duster.
March 4 - I put an "addition" on the little chickies' home. They are definitely growing! They slept a lot today - just like babies as they are growing. Also, maybe the excitement of a new house made them tired, too. :) I also gave them a dish of "gravel and grit" in which to poke around. They like to peck in it when we drag our fingers around in it. They seem to like to interact with us. They are also becoming quite strong jumpers!
Here they are just waking up from a nap. Once they see the camera, they go toward it and it makes it difficult to get a good picture of them.
March 8 - The little dudes got an updated home today. Since they have become such good jumpers, I thought maybe it would be a good idea to put them in a cage so they didn't get hurt. I used a large dog cage that I have and lined the sides with the cardboard from their box so it would help keep them warm and safe. And keep some of the shavings off of my floor!
They have grown quite a lot. There are getting more and more feathers, too. But they still spend much of their time sleeping.
I love their little voices. Their chirping or peeping or whatever you want to call it is so cute!
March 10 - They have discovered that they can peek over the edge when their door is opened.
One adventurous one even jumped up on the edge, but she was very wobbly so I had to rescue her. I will cover the edge with duct tape to be sure they don't cut their feet on the cardboard. My niece was looking on as I held a little chickie. This one actually climbed onto my shoulder and then jumped onto my head!
March 16 - It has been a few days since I have done an update on the little dudes. I think I am going to have to start calling them little chickens because I think they are starting to look - and act - a whole lot more like chickens! They are continuing to get bigger and to grow more feathers.
They move slower now, more similar to the big chickens we already have, but they can be awfully quick when they decide to! I have started giving them clumps of grass, complete with the roots and soil, and they seem to really enjoy that. And they are still fun to "play" with! Look how big they are!
March 17 -
March 19 - "A Grand Day Out" - Last night, Julie and I took turns holding this little chicken. She would snuggle down into our hands and fall asleep. She was warm and soft and cozy. It was so sweet.
And today was their first venture outside. It took them a little while to get acquainted with their "play-pen" and then they had fun figuring out that they could peck and scratch in the leaves and chase acorns Julie dropped in. It was such a beautiful day and I think they really enjoyed playing outside.
March 23 - The little chickies are a month old. I think they look like little chickens now. I need to make them a place to live outside soon.
April 16 -
April 16 -
April 22 -
June 27 -
I think they are SO beautiful! And they love to "talk" to me. They are very sweet.
July 6 - Today my chickens seemed extra "talkative" when I would go out to check to be sure they were o.k. in the heat. And this afternoon, when I opened up their chicken house door, I think I discovered why! One of my chicken girls has laid the first little egg!!! Very exciting. Hhmmm. I wonder if I need to get their nesting box made???
Jan. 14, 2011 - Well, it's been awhile since I have added to this page! Today the chicken girls were so funny! They don't really care for the snow but were checking it out.
Then Tiger (the cat) came along, so they had to see what he was doing.
They watched him as he walked around the side of their yard.
And then they went back to checking out the snow.
Did you know that chickens will eat snow?!? They will!
Have a beautiful day!
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