The Broody Bunch

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. 

I stopped into the LFS this afternoon with the rest of the family.  The kids always like to go there because there are always animals; chicks, goats, and the jumbo rabbit that lives there.  Honestly, the bunny is almost as big as Little Maiden.  The LFS had some more chicks in and some really cute ducklings.  When I asked, my chicks still weren’t in yet.  But the Post Office was still open so there was a chance that they’d be in later in the day.  They assured me that I’d get a phone call as soon as the chicks arrived.  We went back home and were getting ready for special services at church.  The LFS called just before we needed to leave for church.  So Little Maiden and I jumped into the car and sped to town. 

The LFS put all 8 chicks in a tiny box to carry them home in.  I picked up some pine shavings at the same time.  When we returned home, GH helped set up the box and drop light in the kitchen.  We lined it with newspaper for the time being.  I put some mash in a pie plate and some water in two small glass bowls.  Then we gated the dog in another room and ran out the door to church.  The chicks were all still alive when we got home.  That’s a good sign!

I’m already anticipating eggs for Easter next year!  I wonder if people with Ameraucana chickens sell more eggs around Easter because Ameraucanas lay blue or green eggs?  I think I’d like to have some just for that reason.  No dyeing necessary!

The winds are blowing pretty hard today.  Hopefully I can get out and do some yard work when things dry out and warm up a bit.

I took my dog for a walk for the first time today.  Dapper is a Doodle.  GH won’t admit that Dapper is a doodle.  He says that the dog is a dachshund/poodle cross.  Well, he is, but I like the word Doodle.  Anyway, Dapper is a small dog and get’s plenty of exercise by running around the yard with the kids, so walking him isn’t necessary.  But I’ve decided that walking is necessary for me.  I’ve been trying to get up before the kids to get in a little exercise before the day begins.  It feels great, invigorating even.  And now that the sun gets up before 7 AM, it’s a whole lot easier to get myself up before 7 AM.  So when I got up this morning and decided to go for a walk, I thought Dapper might enjoy walking too.  I got out his leash (which is only used on road trips) and hooked him up.  He was really excited!  We started off down the road but I realized quickly that I’ve never really taught Dapper how to walk on a leash.  It took a few minutes for him to figure out that I wanted him to walk beside me on my left side so he wouldn’t be in the road.

Well, it turns out that Dapper is scared of sassy chipmunks, mailboxes, and trash cans.  He nearly jumped out of his skin when the chipmunk started yapping.  He tucked his tail and skittered in front of me, nearly tripping me in the process.  He’d duck behind me when we passed a mailbox with the door open and I nearly had to carry him passed the garbage can that was tipped over.  I had to keep telling him what a "big dog" he was so he’d be brave enough to keep going.  But Dapper isn’t scared of one thing… cars.  He wasn’t really interested in chasing them, but every time we heard a vehicle coming he’d run in front of me into the road.  I kept him on a short leash so he didn’t get more than his front feet into the road before I pulled him back.  I don’t know what the deal was.  I guess the car seems safer than the chipmunk.

Yup, I think Doodle is the right word.  A sissy name for a sissy dog.

I wonder if Dapper will be scared of chickens…

So you know what they say about Maine?  We only have two seasons… winter and mud.  Well, mud has hit full force.  We’ve got probably 4 inches of rain in the last week.  The ground is saturated and we’ve got standing pools on the lawn.  The good news is that all the snow is finally gone!  That doesn’t mean we won’t get more snow… in fact, it flurried yesterday.  But hopefully I can put my snow shovel away and trade it in for a rake and a hoe!  I’ve got the springtime itch.  I just want to get outside and start on the yard work!  My gardens are under a layer of fallen leaves.  The compost and the gardens need to be turned over.  I need to clear out around the border of the herb garden.  But right now, I sink up to my ankles in mud when a step onto the lawn.  I kind of like having grass on the lawn so I’m waiting for it to dry out a bit.

In the meantime, I’ve priced out fencing for the coop at The Home Depot.  Fifty feet of 5′ fence costs about $35.  100 feet of 5′ fence is about $70.  I think a 7×8′ area should be plenty for 8 chickens.  I may increase it to 10×10′ later on if I decide to get more chickens.  Which, right now, I’m planning on it.  I think I’d like to add some Ameraucanas to the mix.