Chick talk

A lot of you know, from Facebook, that we have four new baby chicks. We lost one of the silver Wyandottes the first week but the others are doing really well.
They were so tiny and cute when we brought them home. Now they are "teenagers" and they are still cute, but a little ragged. All legs and pin feathers.

We let them out of there little cage, yesterday, to roam around the chicken house and see a bit of the bigger world around them. They were all looking outside at the big hens and being very curious about what was going on.

"Do you suppose that we will be out there, someday?"

 

"It looks awfully scary and unprotected." said one of them.

 "Do you think that we will be as big as them?"

"I don't know. Hey, what was that noise?"

The Plymouth Rock, outside, came up and poked at the chicken wire door, then walked away.

Miss Poloma (on the right) told them all not to be afraid. "We have to listen to Squeeky. She says that two of us will be as big as the hens out there and two of us will be like Squeeky. I think that I'm one of the big hens. I'm taller than all of you all ready."

"So, what I'm I going to be?" asked the beautiful little hen with the Cleopatra eyes, "I need to know, so I can practice my behavior. I want to be big and beautiful."

"Look at me. I've got the best feathers all ready. I've got the prettiest eyes."  said Cleo.

"Yeah.. will I bet you can't do this."

 Poloma reached back and pecked her side with her beak... "My neck is long enough to clean my feathers with my beak."
Then she looked Cleo right in the eye.  "It can only be one of us that is regular size because I heard Farmlady say that the Silver Wyandotte is one of the big hens. That means two of us are going to be big and two of us are going to be little. Guess we just have to wait and see."
Cleo walked away saying, "I heard her say that she doesn't want a rooster. I sure hope I'm not a rooster... because then she will have to change my name."

The discussion was over and their attention went back to a wood bee that had flown in through the chicken wire and was buzzing around above their heads.
That night when we put them back into their little cage and we picked up the eggs for the day, we found a  little egg in a nesting box. A Squeeky egg. These chicks have inspired her. She is ten years old and she has laid her third egg in two weeks. What a girl my little bantam is. She thinks that these chicks are hers and I think if we had brought home fertile eggs she would have sat on them until they hatched.

I love you little bird. You can be their "mommy" and maybe they will protect you from those old grouchy hens. You are my little survivor and you can be anything you want. Bantams rule!

Squeaky's Opinion on the New Chicks.

We have new blood in the chicken house.

They are in confinement until they are a little bigger. The baby Roadie is larger because he is older than the others.

 There was another one just like him but we let them out into the general population and one of the big hens killed his mate. The Feed and Supply said that they were really to mingle with the big chickens, but obviously not. So we put him back in with the little ones for a while longer,poor thing.
I want you to see the chick in the top middle of the photo below. Isn't she beautiful?

You can see her in every picture. This is a stand out chick. She's an Araucana. I'm going to call her Cleopatra because of her dark eyeliner. Even when we first got her she stood out.

Oh what a sweet beautiful chick she is.

There are two more Araucanas, a Silver laced Wyandotte and the Roadie.

 The Wyandotte seems more on top of things and very confident. Maybe he's a rooster. We'll see.
We have a symphony of chirping chicks to greet us morning and night. It's lovely!

Squeaky is not impressed.

She is being annoyingly broody right now, sitting on everyone else's eggs.I think she is doing this to get some negative attention. She is really upset that there is something littler and cuter in the chicken house.

"Squeaky! I looked up your breed today and they call you a Mille Fleur Bantam. This is a very special and  beautiful name. It means thousand flowers. Squeak'?, look at me. It will be alright. I won't give them your special pile of lettuce. Now, let me have the egg that you're sitting on..... Please."

She never looked at me and she wouldn't move. even when I reached down under her and took the big, brown egg. She just pecked me.
Tonight she laid an egg of her own... and left it for us.
I can't figure chickens out, but I'm working on it.
"Thanks Squeak'."