3 Weeks

Three weeks ago today we picked up the baby chicks at the post office.  Yesterday we brought them out to their chicken house (I just realized I don't have a photo of the house with the door closed -- there's one on my mom's blog, though, as well as the detailed story about it's construction).

 

Eli, our Amish friend finished up with the house on Friday and we prepped it for the birds.  They have grown a lot and were getting crowded in their tub in the basement.

The house has two windows and two doors: a big door for us and a little door for the chickens.  We carried them out to it in two boxes and then sat in the house with them for a long time as they investigated everything.  Eli's wife, when she was over on Friday, said we should have a Grand Opening for the chicken house and in a way we did.  Although we didn't have tea and scones or cake and ice cream, it was so much fun to just sit with the chickens and watch them interact with each other and us where they had plenty of space.  I brought my camera along because I was dying to take some photos of them in natural light.

They have grown so much! And I've become so attached to them.  They are cute and interesting and really tame and friendly.

I always pick up as many of them as I can, just so they become used to me.  This little one, a Barred Rock was perfectly content to sit on my hand and sit on my hand and sit on my hand.  She has the tiniest tail of all of the chicks; most of the others are already growing their tail feathers.  Like this Rhode Island Red:

The feather growth is actually pretty funny looking.  They don't grow all at once so they look patchy and scrappy and not so pretty.  But they will be gorgeous.  The feathers that have already grown are really lovely.

So much variation in coloring.  And the funny little "exotic" chick?

S/he looks like she has an 80s hairdo.  I've been contemplating which 80s musician I should name her/him after.  Even if her/his head looks kind of funny, the other feathers are beautiful.  And s/he has a really spunky personality.

I'll admit it, I'm totally smitten.  With all of them.

And I'm so glad that they seem to be doing so well and they've really gotten used to us.  I can't say the same for our poor little ducks.  They have not gotten used to us at all.  If anything they seem to be even more frightened of us now than they were when we first brought them home.  I really don't know what to do about it.  It makes me very sad.