April 27,2015 Almost 5 weeks old

Well....what a few weeks makes in the life of a baby chick. They are almost flushed out in their adult feathers and little combs are starting to peek out on the top of their heads.

Yet...they still scratch, eat, poop and nap. The 2 Earhart sisters like to fly up my arm and walk up to my neck. They are the 2 Sicilian Buttercups, Kiwi and Ivy: and just like their grown sister Amelia [Earhart, as she also is a flyer].

Kiwi climbing the arm

I can relate Kiwi and Ivy to a certain sister-in-law who is always busy and she never seems to rest. Neither do these two...busy busy busy ...scratch, flap wings, run around and when I'm at the brooder coop they want to fly up into my hand, walk up my arm and dance around on my shoulders! They are pretty good at flying back down, too.

Jasmine's feet - not tiny by any means

  

Jasmine is a really really big girl! Oh - and the feet just seem to be way bigger than they need to be at her age. Kinda like my sister, who was a pre-teen with large feet and believe me there were no fashionable shoes to be had back in the mid-60's. Now, at a stately 5'11" she is into fashionable high heels! [Making up for those early years. Thanks, Zappos!]
I think that Jasmine will grow into her feet, too! [no high heels allowed in the chicken coop, tho]. She is definitely at least 1/4 larger than her flock-mates and maybe destined to be a leader of the group.

Finally over the last 3 days or so, my sweet little runt, Ivy has grown in size and is now the same size as her sisters and coming out of her earlier behavior of just sleeping under the light by herself. Hosta is likewise shy and runs away from my hand, unless it has chick mash in it. Oh well, I guess they can't all be gregarious can they?

I've been moving the brooder coop out for a little afternoon r & r. They all love taking dust baths in the sun and laying with wings outstretched. Of course, they are supervised - we wouldn't want any opportunistic predator snatching a baby!  

And, they don't really look like chickens right now...maybe some exotic bird? The fact that they are terrestrial seems strange for a bird...like an ostrich or emu....or chicken!  It's weird when you think a bird should fly and these don't so when you see them on the ground, it just seems strange...

I've expanded the coop now 3 times and we are about 1/2 way in length.
As they get bigger, you can just tell they want a little more space to scratch, rock and roll. But, they still like the comfort of napping in a pile under the lamp.

March 25, 2015: A Hatching Birthday to You

 I adopted 5 baby chicks on Saturday, March 28! The flock needs an influx of youngsters. Chickens do slow down in the egg-laying department as they age and since 3 of mine are 4 years old and Amelia is 3, this is definitely happening.

...Oh, by the way, Amelia recovered from the grass episode, but now she has a droopy left wing. I suspect one of the Mean Girls grabbed her at the shoulder blade and might have broken or tweaked something. She can't turk it up and under like normal, but doesn't seem to be in pain or limited mobility, so I am just watching! I could wrap her wing, but that's an invitation for pecking abuse by the others and she really hates moving to a hospital cage for recovery. So, it's live as you can...

Steve built a chick nursery. It's expandable as the chicks grow and need more space! We edged it with cardboard and it has wheels so I can wheel them out for some supervised fresh air.

Portable Chick Nursery

Back to chicks...Well, a local supplier was getting 600 newbies in on Friday so I thought I was sooooo clever and raced down to Napa on Saturday morning at 8:30 only to find that they only had 4 ... YES 4! ... left.  I was about to cry, when she said 2 Buttercups and 2 Silkies....Oh, Someone was watching out for me, because I wanted 2 more Buttercups for Amelia to have breed-friends! YAY, scooped them up, and raced home with the car heater on to 84 to keep them warm. Into the brooder box and then off to Santa Rosa. [this means up the mountain from Napa, stop at the barn and down the mountain to the other side into Santa Rosa]. 

At Western Farm, I was lucky to get 2 of the other breeds I wanted: Ameracauna [lays blue or green eggs] and a Welsummer. I wanted a Black Sex Link, but they had Gold Sex Link instead so I took her. [Sex links mean they are easily 'sexed' at birth by coloration to know males from females which is not so in most of the other breeds.] ...Raced home with them and all 5 happily chirping away under the heat light in the nursery in the barn.

Newbies under the heat lamp, staying warm

My goal is to work my way through the alphabet with naming chickens.
                        This group is H-I-J-K-L.... so we have
                     Hosta .... Ivy.... Jasmine ..... Kiwi ..... Lilly
Notice a trend? Last group was mostly 'attributes' hence Curious, Fearless and Gabby...this group is plants. [Amelia was named for Amelia Earhart, since she is a flyer! But the "A" kept my trend going].


 Here's Hosta, the Ameracauna.....she's not yellow, it's the camera. Right now she is carmel colored and will have a 'ruff' at her cheeks

Jasmine is a Gold Sex Link and a beautiful blonde!

These are the 2 Sicilian buttercups, Ivy and Kiwi. You can see a little difference in the black eyeliner. 



Kiwi is very curious and is showing leadership in the pecking order already! There a battle between her and Hosta, as she is also a strong personality.

And, here is baby Lilly. She is a Welsummer and right now, a runt! Smaller that the other 4, quiet and naps more. She seems to get easily over-run at the feeding trough. I am worried about her size and behaviour, but she is perky, not acting sick...so maybe she will catch up.




Thanks to my sweet friend, Brenna, for holding each one while they had their photo taken! Her favorite? Little Lilly!