The Broody Bunch

I didn’t sleep well last night.  I was more worried than I thought about the chickens’ first night in their coop.  I kept waking up and looking out the window to see if their light was still on and if there were any predators lurking in the shadows.  I wondered if they were warm enough or if I should have put their light closer to the ground.

I was in the coop first thing this morning!  The chicks had all gotten back into their brooder under the light to stay warm for the night.  They didn’t seem distressed at all.  I checked the food and water.  All was well!  And there wasn’t one mosquito left in the place!

Maybe I’ll sleep better tonight.

On a side note, GH shot a rabbit that was in the yard today.  It sounds sad but he may have just saved my garden!

I didn’t really want to do it, but it was time!  We moved the chicks outside to their coop today.  The reason?  Two words.

Chicken poop.

I mentioned before that the chicks had started roosting on the edge of their brooder at night.  It was okay as long as their backside was hanging over the inside of the box but most often they would face the inside.  So, in the morning there would be a ring of chicken poop on the floor around the brooder.

You know, I could handle that to a point.  At least all of the droppings were localized in one area, but then the chicks started taking over!  They wouldn’t stay in the box during the day anymore.  At any given time we had one to three chicks wondering around the kitchen.  Then I was cleaning up the floor every five minutes!  I was getting pretty fed up with it and GH put his foot down!  (Not in chicken poop, thankfully.)

We spent a good part of this evening chicken proofing the coop.  We secured the run and tightened up the coop some.  I put shavings on the floor.  Then we moved the chicks out, brooder and all.  We put their light back up to keep them warm during the night.  I gave them fresh water and filled their feeders.  (I got an extra one from Willhi.)

It didn’t take long for the chicks to warm up to their new space.  The mosquitoes made it all worthwhile for them!  The chicks were running, jumping, and fluttering all over to catch them.  Then the chicks started picking all the spiders and bugs off the walls and out of the webs.  When we left them for the night, they were all busy and happy!

I was finally able to clean up the floor and rid the kitchen of most of the chicken dust.  It’s nice to have my kitchen back, but it sure is quiet in here now!

Dolly has become quite a dominant personality in our house lately.  Being that she is the largest and the most developed of the chicks, she figured out what her wings are for first.  Initially, she was the first to get out of the brooder.  Then she decided that since she could, she would start roosting on the edge of the box when it was nap time. 

Dolly has also taken a keen liking to Young Master.  She was the first to eat out of his hand.  She hops up on the edge of the box to be close to him when he stops by the brooder. 

But today beat all!

I have my computer set up in the kitchen and Young Master, being a product of GH, is a computer geek.  He enjoys playing computer games whenever he gets the chance.  As he was playing his game this afternoon, Dolly fluttered up onto the edge of the box to be close to him.  Then she took courage and flew onto his shoulder!  It shocked Young Master, who called for me to come rescue him from his attack chicken.  Instead, I grabbed the camera!

After taking several photos of Young Master with is chicken/parrot, I placed Dolly back in the brooder.  She promptly jumped up and flew to his shoulder again.  I, again, placed her back in the brooder.  Then I got my camera ready and was able to catch her in flight the next time!

It was shocking the first time, funny the second, and even funny the third and fourth.  Now it’s just annoying.  Dolly will fly onto anyone who’s sitting at the computer now.  She’s flown onto my shoulder three times now since I’ve started this post.  She’s asleep in my lap now.  If it wasn’t for the chicken droppings, I’m sure she’d sleep in my bed!

We named the chickens today!  I’ve actually had names picked out since before we brought the chicks home.  I have some apprehensions about naming the chickens though.  It has nothing to do with sentiments; I’m already attached.  My biggest dilemma with naming the chicks is being able to tell them apart!

Right now the only way that we can tell the chicks apart is by markings and how developed they are.  Some have longer tail feathers than others and some have stripes or spots that will disappear when all of their feathers have come in.  Regardless, the kids were bugging me to name them, so here they are…

Dolly – She is the largest and most developed of the White Leghorns.  She also seems to be the most dominant.

Patsy – She is the second largest White Leghorn and has slightly shorter tail feathers than Dolly.

LeAnn – She is next in line.  Nothing really note-worthy to mention.

Faith – She is the smallest of the Leghorns and of all the chickens.

The Rhode Island Reds are distinguished more by their markings.

Wynona – She has four black stripes going down her back and also has a trade mark chirp-chirp when you pick her up.

Shania – She has white-ish tips on her wings.

Reba – She is very uniformly red and black striped on her feathers.

Martina – She is the smallest of the RI Reds and doesn’t have any black markings on her head.

So, they are all named.  Soon the white ones will all look the same and the red ones’ feathers will change color.  I think I’m going to have to invest in some leg bands.

Chicken dust.  I don’t think it’s related in any way to fairy dust.  Except that it seems to show up over night.  I’m sure that anyone else who has had chickens knows what I’m talking about.  But probably normal chicken keepers don’t keep them in the kitchen!  Every morning I have to wipe down all the counters and appliances.  If it was fairy dust, I would have flown around the galaxy several times already!

The chickens like the dust.  I’ve seen Willhi’s chickens take dust baths.  Yesterday one of the RI Reds scratched out a hole in the shavings and then started kicking and fluffing herself.  She’d bury her head under the shavings and give a contented twitter.  The other chicks came over and walked over her and pecked at the shavings on her back but she seemed in such ecstasy that she didn’t even move.I’m sure sure that chick really enjoyed her dust bath.  All of the chicks are looking very uncomfortable.  They’ve got feathers sticking out everywhere.  They kind of look like a cross between a powder puff and a pin cushion!

I would have thought that it’s a little early for my chickens to be flying out of their confined area if it hadn’t happened today.  The chicks’ wings have been feathering out quite well.  They make a big show of stretching them out one at a time or flapping and stirring up shavings and dust.  Now and then, when a chick can’t get close enough to the food, she’ll flutter in on top of the group and the rest will scatter.

I’d like to know how she got out.  When I got home from work, GH was looking behind the furniture for the escapee.  We could hear peeping coming from behind the bookcase.  GH spotted the Leghorn behind a basket of magazines.  I returned her to the brooder.  I’m sure she had a story to tell the other girls about the great big world beyond the walls!

I’m not sure if I should be worried about it happening again soon or if it was some chance happening.

I wish I’d seen Dapper’s reaction to the run-away chick!  I’m glad he’s not a great hunter.

I’m a little nervous about this weekend.  We’re traveling 150 miles to visit my family in Northern Maine for Memorial Day weekend.  We’re leaving the chicks home by themselves.  I’ve decided that with the self-feeder and waterer that they should be okay for a couple of days.  Willhi has promised to stop in to check on them.  I’m glad because I’m afraid the temperature might fluctuate too much.  The temp outside has been in the 90’s for the last two days.  Very unseasonable for Maine.  (I love global warming!)  Anyway, the house has gotten very warm so I’ve been leaving the chick’s light off so they don’t get too hot.  If it cools down this weekend while I’m away, I don’t want them to get too cold if I leave the light off.  On the flip side, I don’t want to leave their light on and cook them.

It makes me feel better that Willhi will check on the chicks.  I guess it will depend on the temperature in the morning whether I leave the light on.  I’m using a 100watt bulb and the brooder is too small for the chicks to really get out of the heat if they need to.  I’m almost as nervous as I might be if I were leaving my kids alone for a three day weekend.  I hope they’re all still alive when I get back home.  I’m sure they will look different.  The chicks are developing so fast.

Willhi has said she would water my garden while we’re away too.  I’d hate to lose my garden as much as I’d hate to lose my chickens.  I’ve already been contending with some mysterious animal who only comes out at night and likes to dig holes in the gardens and eat up all my lettuce.  I’d hat to lose all of it to a drought.  I’m going to water them thoroughly before we leave in the morning. 

I’m just a bundle of nerves.  Let’s not even mention staying a whole weekend with family…

After a week, I’m definitely becoming attached.  My chicks are starting to grow up.  Several of them are starting to get their tail feathers and their wings are feathering out too.

Young Master was playing with the chicks a couple of evenings ago and managed to get one to eat out of his hand.  Naturally, if one chick is getting something to eat then all the others come running to get their share.  Now they all come running as soon as you put your hand in the box.  It’s a nice feeling that they trust me enough to actually jump into my hand for something to eat.  The Leghorns still aren’t too keen on being held but at least they don’t run away from me anymore.

Dapper is adjusting now.  He still isn’t sure what to do about the chicks.  I think he gets a bit jealous when I give the chicks some attention.  He starts whining and shaking and trying to get into my lap.  I’ve held a chick up for Dapper to inspect.  he sniffs her and laps the air all around her.  The first night we had the chicks Dapper kept trying to get out of bed to go check on them.  He doesn’t do that anymore.  He will jump up to look in the box when we’re patting or feeding the chicks.  It makes me laugh to think of how Dapper will react when there are eight full-grown chickens that are all twice as big as he is!

 

We’ve had a lot of fun so far watching the chicks do their chicken things.  I immediately noticed the difference in temperament between the Leghorns and the RI Reds.  I try to pick up and handle the chicks frequently so they get used to me.  The Reds will just stand there and let me slide my hand under them to pick them up.  The Leghorns run away as fast as they can, peeping all the way.

I also noticed that the Leghorns are more adept to foraging.  As soon as I put the new feeder in the box the Leghorns started scratching in the shavings for any food that had been scattered off the pie plate.  The Reds all walked around the new feeder until one of them dared to put her head in one of the holes.  The other chicks quickly followed.

One time one of the chicks fancied a particular piece of shavings and took off to a corner with it.  As soon as the other chicks saw her running with something they all made chase.  She fought for it but eventually it was dropped into all the other shavings and the game was forgotten.

My favorite part of watching the chicks is when they go to sleep.  The chick will walk over under the drop light.  Then slowly she just sort of deflates.  Her eyes close and then her body slowly drops to the floor.  Then her head droops in the same fluid motion until her beak is on the floor.  If she’s warm enough, her wings will relax away from her body a little.  There is nothing cuter than a sleeping chick.  It’s funny that when the box has sleeping chicks that we find ourselves tip-toeing around the box, whispering and hushing the kids.  It’s just as if we had eight sleeping babies.  It’s fun and I’m loving it!!

It’s been three full days since we brought home the chicks.  I wasn’t sure at first if they would survive Young Master and Little Maiden.  All they wanted to do was hold the chicks.  They still ask now but the novelty has worn off a little.

I had to pick up a waterer and feeder today.  The pie plate was becoming perilous as they would slip and slide in and out to eat their mash.  I put shavings in their box yesterday since they’ve established eating the mash.  I’ve read that chicks might start eating the shavings if they haven’t learned what they’re supposed to eat.  Anyway, since I put shavings in the box, they’ve really enjoyed scratching and filled their water bowls several times with shavings.  It took a little bit of time for the chicks to figure out where their food went but once one found it the others were eager to get their share.