We've hit the Gawky Teenage Stage now

Even a couple days ago you could still say the girls looked like cute fluffy soft little chicks....

  But ... ahem.... not sure we can say that now!

Are you saying I'm NOT adorable?

What about this side? It's my best!

My Autumn actually FLEW up and sat on the edge of the brooder today when I went for a visit (see her above there). Boy was Summer mad. She kept trying too to fly up and join Autumn, but just couldn't quite make it.  (see her glaring at Autumn on the right!)

The others also seems quite interested in Autumn's new feat.  Autumn is so far the biggest, with her feathers the furthest along.  (she has CHEST and BACK feathers now too!) She also is the most aggressive eater, pushing Little Dinner and Hannah out of the way.  I can see a pecking order is starting to develop.  Autumn and Summer are pack leaders, then Ruth and Easter (Hannah's friend who donated $0.50 called her's Ruth, my parent's called theirs Easter) and then Hannah and Little Dinner.

Reality Check - Opps! I forgot to post this one! It's OLD now!

Just thought this one was funny.


 Hello? Who ARE you?





Believe it or not, they now also have feathers starting to show on their shoulders!









So... we went to check on the chicks before bed, and to change the water and found Dinner huddled behind the water with droopy wings, not moving or really responding.

Of course when I was researching the chicks I saw info on chick diseases, but in my arrogance, I thought, "Naaahh, our are not on a farm, they won't get sick!"

Well, now we have a sick baby who really, did not look like she would make it through the night. We set up a separate brooder for her and tried to share the heat lamp over the 2. We needed to get her isolated in case she had something contagious.

We all went to bed worried and with heavy hearts.

I hope she does get better. I didn't plan on a little one getting seriously ill so quickly!

Poop

Yep... you have to get to this topic eventually with chickens I think...

The chicks are in our garage... that was a GOOD choice.  Not just because of our 2 cats.

Our lovely silly, playful, sentimental, loving Tommy who climbs onto the roof of our gazebo then cries because he wants his belly scratched (I once watched a mouse attack him in our back yard!) 

And Lucy, our elderly grey Tabby who is still a very good hunter! Albeit not cuddly and quite cranky.

Yes the garage was also a good choice due to start of a bit of a smell. 

I did read that they do smell a bit.. but "if you keep the coop clean this will not be a problem".... and they suggest once a week for routine clean. Again my arrogance thought... "OK once a week I can do, they can't smell that much"... can they?

At first they didn't smell at all.  But now that they are getting SO much bigger!  And we change their paper every couple days.... The smell so far for me isn't a <<terrible>> smell... really and it's not strong at all.  It's more of a slight farmish smell... earthy kinda?  But the kids are starting to comment on it.... so I'm really glad they are in the garage.  I wonder how much stronger it will get?

Betcha thought I would show a big photo of "you know what" eh? Not today!

Did you say I smell?

Weeds and manners

weeds...

They are growing like weeds!

Suddenly feathers are starting to appear right before you eyes it seems. I swear!! You go out in the morning and by night the feathers are NOTICEABLY longer!

Shoulder feathers have now started to sprout, tails are getting longer, wings more robust.  They are spending more and more time trying to hop and fly.

The other funny thing... their necks are also getting longer and they are always craning to see over the top of the brooder.  I've even seen them sleep with their necks stretched WAY out.  I tried to take a photo of that cuz it just looked so darn bizarre! But of course they woke up right away.










Manners
The babes are also becoming more and more interested in eating things other than their boring old 100% complete Chick Mash.  Bread Crusts cause quite the ruckus!! They all start running wildly in ALL directions, Peeping like mad chicks!  And even though we put in MORE than enough crusts for each of them, they don't go get their own and start mowing down.  Nope.  They might even have a crust at their feet that they are pecking at! But if they see a sister with a crust in her mouth, then WHAMO they are off like a shot to chase her and STEAL it!  Of course they are ALL stealing eachother's crusts and the floor is littered with crusts and only 1 or 2 are in active play at any time, the ones they are stealing.  I guess with Chickens it really doesn't matter what YOU have, the grass is always greener on the other side.

Happy One Week Birthday

Wow, one week ago alright? So much has changed already! We have WINGS and now tail feathers are starting and feathers on their shoulders too!

We have learned to peck properly, scratch, perch, flap wings and even fly/hop a bit!

We've become insatiably CURIOUS too! And personalities are starting to emerge. As I may have mentioned, Josh's little one Summer is a NOSY PARKER! When someone comes by or the lid comes off, she's the first to come over and look you over.

Here she is tonight, coming over to check out the camera... just making sure.....

 Look at the difference one week makes!  Lookin' like little chickn's now!





Update on Little Dinner

Well it was touch and go yesterday. When I went in the garage in the morning I thought at first she was gone. I ended up feeding her sugar water by hand (dipping her little beak in the water, she involuntarily swallowed) several times a day.

 By the end of the evening she would lift her head more and even try to stand.  However all through the day, she would chirp LOUDLY, especially when the others were peeping and scratching.

Today she was up and even walking around a bit! She also ate a little dry food a bit.  Tonight when we got home from the kid's Tae Kwon Do I gave them all some bread crusts left over from bedtime snacks. Well, they went NUTS over it, except Dinner.  But she got up, poked her little head over the lip and watched the excitement. Tomorrow if she still looks as strong, we will try to reintroduce her back in with her sisters.

Good Night Girls!