Summary
The chicks are growing, and they're growing fast!!! It's amazing how much bigger they seem, although they're still little cuties. In addition to growing in size, they seem to become increasingly chickenish in their appearance and behavior each day. Their primaries and tail feathers have started coming in, and they are attempting to use them to make short "flights" (it's unbelievably cute), and their feet have broadened out. With their first feather coming in, it also becomes more apparent which girls are silver-laced, and which ones are gold-laced, and also what the pattern on their feathers is. Today, I also observed some hierarchical behavior among them. They chase each other sometimes, and one tried to push another off a roost (they still don't really have the gist of the roosts yet).
There is one chick that is a bit less sociable than the other four. While she enjoys being with the group, she does not get as distressed when she's set apart from them, and sometimes chooses to withdraw on her own accord. As a result, she is one of the easier girls to handle. The are slowly becoming more accustomed to human touch. Their biggest problem with it is being apart from the rest of the flock. I tend to pick them up in twos or threes because of this. I then put them all on my lap, and they like it once they are all together. It makes them more comfortable with being handled by people. See some exciting photos below!
Pride rock for chicks
As the proverb says, an adorable chick on the shoulder is worth a hundred chicks not on the shoulder (close enough).
Yes, my Tuesday was better than yours.
A fantastic selfie
A little bit of food from Mom. See the wings on the rightmost girl?
A patterned silver wing
The work that delayed me from making this post earlier today was two things--regular brooder upkeep, and a bit of coop work!! Brooder upkeep includes cleaning out the poop, which I do at least every other day (they poop a lot). I bought a pooper scooper with a handle the other day so as to make my job easier. I checked their water levels, which I also do in the morning, replenished their feed, and crushed new grit. I use gravel from my yard, which I crush into slightly smaller pieces using a mortar and pestle.
I haven't been able to get much coop work done since the girls arrived. Due to weather and the chicks, this was the first time this calendar week I was able to get out and work on it! It certainly was muddy today. Ray helped my install hardware cloth beneath the roof. Then, we moved on to create a skirt of chicken wire around the base of the coop, extending 2+ feet on the ground around it. This is to deter any potential digging predators and pests. Our biggest difficulty is getting the chicken wire around the corners of the coop. You have to pleat and bend it a lot, and it gets ugly. But chicken wire is a lot easier to work with than hardware cloth!! We started to bury it with dirt and pea stones, and I will continue that this weekend.
Grinding gravel for grit.
Hardware cloth under the roofing panels. A struggle to install.
Left: covering chicken wire with dirt. Right: chicken wire rounding a corner, held down by a rock
More chicken wire. Right: closeup of a corner. A big mess of it!
Reflection
I learned a lot about animals this week, and how I deal with them. Contrary to what you may believe, the chicks do not come up to you looking for food and love when you first appear. More likely than not, they will run away, even if you've shown them repeatedly that you are no threat. Mine are still mostly scared. The only real way to get them used to you is to handle them. And they won't like that, either. They will not calmly sit in your palm, happy to be there. You must actively hold them, as they will struggle and flap their wings, and will jump out of your hand, even if they are a few feet above the ground (don't worry, they're sturdy little creatures). I must admit, it made me a little unhappy at first that they do not trust me, but if I really wanted constant love, I would have gotten a dog. These are chickens, with a world of their own--one that includes you far less than that of a house pet. They will eventually come to you when you come out the door, or even come when called if you teach them--but this process is not immediate. It is a relationship that must be constructed from scratch, from a terrified, cold chick to a lovely, friendly hen.
On a more concrete level, I've learned that chicks poop a lot. No, really, a lot. I clean their bedding, come back a half hour later... And I feel like I need to clean it again. I try to do it every day. I've only gone two days without cleaning once. They also have been drinking more and more, and eating more as well, although less increasingly than drinking.
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