Adventures in Chicken Rearing - meet the girls!

Our "baby chicks" as Tricia calls them were a day old when they came home on Feb 16th.  It was Tricia's birthday and we were excited to welcome these little balls of fluff to our brood.  The crazy weird shower in our basement made for a perfect brooder and we settled our girls in with a heat lamp, pine shavings and food and water.  I loved dipping their tiny beaks into their water so they would know where to go (this was a researched how to, not my whim as it may seem).  The most challenging part was keeping small hands away from these tiny creatures as they are literally the size of an egg upon hatching... duh. 

Introducing... Lily, Lola, Ede, Charlotte, Aviva and Betty Bird....

I have been cataloguing their growth with photos and wanted to share them.  The girls wont be laying until late June early July but they are so fun already and they love their new home outside which I lovingly refer to as the 'taj-ma-coop'.  Ryan (aka captain thorough) doesn't do anything halfway, not even coop building.

That's Lola in brown

That's Ede, also brown, there are also 3 black and brown and one white and black.

Under construction - the coop will be ready for our growing teenagers.

The most dangerous creature in the yard... chickens beware.

This look says... "Don't mess with me Chickens".  She means it, I have caught her with a wagon full of chickens after strict orders not to pick them up, as well as chasing them with a stick and trying to kick them when they don't love her back..... poor angelic Tricia ;)

Teenager birds start to look cute again, I didn't think they were photo op ready when they had no feathers.

From back to front: Charlotte, Ede adn Lily

Charlotte is gaining confidence and they have such a blast outside.  At this point they were out in the day but slept inside as it was still quite cold.

Birds of a feather really do flock together!

Ede, Lola and Lily find yet another delicious patch of grass!

I LOVE their fluff butts...

Betty Bird is so big now, but this picture shows how her colours were coming in

Miley couldn't care less about the chickens, though she likes to lay near them, perhaps she is guarding them?

Flighty as they are, the birds also seem to like Miley. They don't care unless she tries to play.

Digging themselves cozy beds in the warm dirt, delightful.

The coop with walls

Inside their cozy home, we used dishwasher racks as removable flooring, sooo easy to wash!

Here is a view of their water, food and ramp, we layed 6 inches of gravel for easy cleaning, its surprising how much the girls poop!

More to come, sorry I've been away a while, I will get back in action on this wee blog asap!