Our not-so-baby
chicks are finally old enough to move outdoors to the chicken coop, so today was moving day. The boys helped me catch them up out of their pen in the laundry room and they carried them out to the coop while I carted out their food and water. They commented several times on how much they'd grown since we got them as tiny little fluff balls, especially on how HEAVY they'd gotten, and that they looked like little chickens now instead of chicks. Although they are only about a quarter of the size they'll be as adult hens, they've got their full compliment of feathers now. But they still "talk" like chicks -- peep peep, as opposed to cluck, cluck. It will be another month or so before they start sounding like chickens.
Our "starter coop" is behind our main chicken coop, and was serving as a duck house this past winter. Now that the nicer weather is here, the ducks don't want anything to do with being indoors at night, so the coop is available to move our chicks into. We had a surprise waiting for our six Rhode Island Red chicks, though:
Even more chicks! The boys and I had gone out and bought nine White Leghorn chicks, the same age as our chicks, this morning. Our egg business is booming and we've got more customers than we've got eggs available, so we decided to go ahead and expand our flock a bit, although these guys won't start laying until September. But a fresh batch of young birds means that there'll be enough eggs for all of us through the winter.
After the chicks get situated their new home, J latches the coop to make sure they stay indoors. Even though they have all of their feathers now, it's important they don't get chilled. In another several weeks, they'll be able to come out into their yard during the day, but right now we just want them to get adjusted to being in the coop. The temperatures will vary much more in the coop than they did in the house, getting warmer during the day and cooler at night.
Zoo Boy takes a peek in the window to make sure everyone is settling in alright and getting along together. So far so good!
Our not-so-baby chicks are finally old enough to move outdoors to the chicken coop, so today was moving day. The boys helped me catch them up out of their pen in the laundry room and they carried them out to the coop while I carted out their food and water. They commented several times on how much they'd grown since we got them as tiny little fluff balls, especially on how HEAVY they'd gotten, and that they looked like little chickens now instead of chicks. Although they are only about a quarter of the size they'll be as adult hens, they've got their full compliment of feathers now. But they still "talk" like chicks -- peep peep, as opposed to cluck, cluck. It will be another month or so before they start sounding like chickens.
Our "starter coop" is behind our main chicken coop, and was serving as a duck house this past winter. Now that the nicer weather is here, the ducks don't want anything to do with being indoors at night, so the coop is available to move our chicks into. We had a surprise waiting for our six Rhode Island Red chicks, though:
Even more chicks! The boys and I had gone out and bought nine White Leghorn chicks, the same age as our chicks, this morning. Our egg business is booming and we've got more customers than we've got eggs available, so we decided to go ahead and expand our flock a bit, although these guys won't start laying until September. But a fresh batch of young birds means that there'll be enough eggs for all of us through the winter.
After the chicks get situated their new home, J latches the coop to make sure they stay indoors. Even though they have all of their feathers now, it's important they don't get chilled. In another several weeks, they'll be able to come out into their yard during the day, but right now we just want them to get adjusted to being in the coop. The temperatures will vary much more in the coop than they did in the house, getting warmer during the day and cooler at night.
Zoo Boy takes a peek in the window to make sure everyone is settling in alright and getting along together. So far so good!
1 comment:
yipee!!! more eggs!
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