Together

Soon we combined both groups of chickens, because the chicks' current area was too small. The hens were not too nice to them at first but they adjusted, though they still hung out in separate groups. We tried to let them out as much as possible so that they could have more space. It was very chaotic and though I loved the chicks I knew I liked it better when we had just had five chickens. When we only had five it was peaceful and I could always say hello to each chicken individually. Now all the chickens had to push to get to me and were impatient when I came. But all in all I think the chicks (includes chickens) were happy, and so was I, it was nice having ten chickens. Then we started construction on our house. We decided it would be best if we moved the chickens somewhere else.

This happened many months ago, so it may lack detail.
I will write a new post continuing this one soon.

Chicks Move Outside

I almost forgot about the blog which is why I didn't write for a long time. I had written this by hand a couple months ago, but forgot to post it.

Since we knew we would bring the chicks outside soon we built them a little house of wood with a window in the front. They lived in for about a week. Then because the chicks were almost six weeks old we decided to bring them outside permanently. They had grown a lot of feathers though fluffy (our Barred Rock) was still very fluffy and had fewer feathers than the others. We also built a three foot by four foot portable fence, so that we could enter the chicks four foot by five foot area and then close it so no chickens could get in or chicks could escape. Because the area we closed off for the chicks was in the aviary the chickens were annoyed at losing that space. Their food was where the chicks were now so we moved the too. By the time the chicks reached two months, they wanted more space. So whenever we let the chickens into the yard we would let the chicks into the aviary and close the door. Soon we stopped closing the door when the chickens were out, so that they would mix with the chicks more. Whenever they were inside the aviary, we put scratch next to the fence dividing the chicks from the chickens so they would notice each other more.

Revena Meets Chicks

All five of the chickens were at the compost and the chicks were in the A-frame. Serene seemed to have gotten bored of the compost and wandered towards the chicks. We had put the chicks straight into the yard, and they were adorable in to them the forest of Blue Bells, but they had gone into the A-frame, probably feeling safer in an enclosed area. Anyway, I did not want Serene going in because I did not know how she would interact with the chicks. If she wanted to she could trap them in a corner and peck at them. I would have let her come close if the chicks were in the yard because then they could have run away if they wanted to, but since they were inside I shooed Serene away. A couple minutes later Revena came over. I figured she is a gentle chicken and she never pecks hard so I decided to let her in. Revena explored the place and did not really notice the chicks. Soon she noticed them but just continued to walk around. She got to the food and began to eat, I moved her away from the food but she just came back and continued to eat.As my last choice I gently pushed her out of the A-frame, closed it up and went inside because I had to help my mom. Suddenly, all five chickens became very interested in the chicks and they all gathered around their coop. I wished I could have stayed out and let them in one at a time, but I had to go in. At least Revena had met the chicks!

Blue Bells

The buds are coming up and we don't want the chickens to eat them. We couldn't just not let them out, so I did my best to block of the heavily budded areas with sleds, chairs and blueberry netting. It kind of worked, but the chickens still got to them. In the end we decided to just stay out with them, and make sure they did not eat the buds. As the buds blossomed into flowers and bluebells covered the grass, we noticed that the chickens were not eating the flowers now that they were big. We stopped watching them all the time and they had the yard back.

Outside for an Afternoon

One warm sunny day when the chicks were about 4 and a half weeks old, we brought the chicks outside. We had brought them outside before, but this time we put their house next to the aviary so the chickens could see the chicks. We left them out for the whole afternoon, and hopefully they really noticed each other. Another day we brought them outside and put them in our A-frame coop and let the chickens out into the yard, so they could be close but no bother each other.

Chicks growing up

When the chicks were 3 and a half weeks old we went away for Passover. We were away for a week and when we got back I thought they were huge. My dad built a little coop and put wood shavings in instead of a cardboard box and a towel.

Chicks have a field day

The baby chicks are getting older and even have some real feathers. It was 65+ degrees outside on Friday so we decided to introduce the chicks to the great outdoors.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.r.glasgow/ChicksHaveAFieldDay