You know that Billy Joel song, "I'm moving out?" I've been singing it for days now, every time I think of the chickens... "you ought to know by now..." "I'm moving out..." It is stuck in my head.
The time has come for our girls to move out of the house! As much as we have enjoyed their songs, they are getting too big for the box they have lived in the first few weeks of their lives. They are growing so fast and they are well on their way to being fully feathered. A couple more weeks and our girls won't look like babies anymore except in size. We have a large coop they are going to move into once they are full sized, but since they are still so small, we fixed up the old rabbit hutch for them and they love it. Jason put it a couple of roosts in and we built a small fence out of chicken wire for them so they can run around the yard. We are still staying outside with them when they are loose in the yard because the cats are really interested in them right now. Our cats are pretty lazy, so once the birds get a little bigger and there is real work in hunting them, the cats will loose interest, but for now, the chickens are still little and make for easy prey. When we open the door of the hutch, they all come running now because we have been feeding them bugs - they especially seem to love grubs and caterpillars (not good caterpillars - the kind that eat our greens from the garden - another reason we wanted chickens). I need to make a video of the girls with a grub or worm, they run around after one another like they are playing chase or something squeaking the whole time. They are so funny to watch. Or maybe they are just funny to me! Who cares! I'm loving them!
The time has come for our girls to move out of the house! As much as we have enjoyed their songs, they are getting too big for the box they have lived in the first few weeks of their lives. They are growing so fast and they are well on their way to being fully feathered. A couple more weeks and our girls won't look like babies anymore except in size. We have a large coop they are going to move into once they are full sized, but since they are still so small, we fixed up the old rabbit hutch for them and they love it. Jason put it a couple of roosts in and we built a small fence out of chicken wire for them so they can run around the yard. We are still staying outside with them when they are loose in the yard because the cats are really interested in them right now. Our cats are pretty lazy, so once the birds get a little bigger and there is real work in hunting them, the cats will loose interest, but for now, the chickens are still little and make for easy prey. When we open the door of the hutch, they all come running now because we have been feeding them bugs - they especially seem to love grubs and caterpillars (not good caterpillars - the kind that eat our greens from the garden - another reason we wanted chickens). I need to make a video of the girls with a grub or worm, they run around after one another like they are playing chase or something squeaking the whole time. They are so funny to watch. Or maybe they are just funny to me! Who cares! I'm loving them!
This one we call sofia. She's not a very friendly bird (by that I mean she runs when a person comes around and makes a whole lot of noise when you pick her up), but she is interested in what happens beyond the door of the coop.
This one is Hamlet trying to figure out how to get back in!
Now, heading back out with some of her sisters.
We are still bringing them in at night, but they are living on the back porch at night under the heat lamp. We are slowly weaning them from the lamp and as the nights get warmer and they get more feathers they won't need it anymore anyhow.
Lyle walked up behind me when I had this on the screen and said "Klaybub's chickens!"
ReplyDeleteThat last photo almost looks like they are kissing! :) So cute.
We really enjoyed getting to see your chickens, and it will be fun to watch them grow.
Yer, never gunna eat deem chickens are ya?
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