The babies are growing up SO fast. Here's a few zooms on Lemon (and one on Raven flying).
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| When one chicken hears a noise that might mean danger, he makes a distinctive trill-like "chirp" that starts what we call "freeze frame". The chickens FREEZE, absolutely still and quiet, up to a minute, until someone sounds the "all clear". Mark and I are trying hard to learn "chicken". |
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| A beautiful backlit photo of Lemon, Nugget, and Angel |
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| Angel |
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| Angel |
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| Angel |
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| Raven captured in a rare "in flight" view |
The Chicks Are Still Small and Wonderful
We had bonding time with the chicks yesterday, DAY 11. Mark holds them while Mary snapped the photos. The pictures speak for themselves.
Little Chickens That Never Get Big
It is almost hard to believe the babies have been here for 10 days. There have been so many surprises raising these Bantam chickens. One of the best surprises is how little they are, and supposedly, they will stay fairly small when compared to "standard" chickens.
Little Guys, Starting Their Third Week of Life
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| Tree fragment perches are still very popular |
Last night the clocks got reset, someone forgot to give the babies the memo. They were already awake and peeping by the time I got to the kitchen. We hastily set up their brooder home. As usual they bolted out and headed directly for the water dish. A night under the heater makes them very thirsty.
Happy Two Week Birthday Baby Birds
Around February 28, 2021, somewhere down in Texas amid one of the worst winter storms ever, a big bunch of baby bantam chickens were cracking their way out of eggs, ready to meet the world. Out of that massive hatching came our eight little charges. With attitudes and personality equally as big, as they are physically small, these little guys are beautiful beyond belief.
Mark had a great bonding afternoon visit with the babies... he is holding each one for five minutes. They love him :D He's top rooster.
Skunk has a tail.... no really, a REAL tail! With his sleek long wings and very tail-like tail, he's starting to look like a sparrow. We'll get tail pictures tomorrow.
BONDING TIME
To help adjust the babies to US, we are spending time with them every afternoon. This means holding each little bird individually, petting them, talking to them softly and feeling their magical energy. After all the holding and touching we spent time feeding them their favorite treat, mealworms.
BEDTIME
Putting the kids to bed at night is a favorite time for Mark, he gets to tough their ultra soft little bodies as he pushes then towards Mama Hen. They do protest loudly, for about a minute, then they cooperate and very quickly all the complaint peeps die away in the night, giving way to glorious rest. It goes like this: protest, protest, protest, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. They are adorable.
The Babies Survived Another Night
Let's drink, baby birds are thirsty after a night under the brooder heater
Mary shot video of the morning wakeup. It was already after 7 AM and the tiny birds were ready to come out and greet the world.
Baby Birds Can't Wait to Play
By the time I got up at 7:15am Mary had the brooder open and was already playing with baby chickens. Their little peeps cut through the morning air in a gentle and peaceful way. Meanwhile, baby chicks love sitting on "Tree" the broken limb fragments I gave them yesterday.
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| Crew of eight baby chicks greet the morning with joy and gusto |
12th day out of the egg! Little Birds Learning to Fly,
The gang raced out from under the brooder heater to greet the morning and nom, nom, nom, nom.
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| That is Nugget top right, smiling, sitting on thermometer face. Lemmon up on center of feeder. |
We love our chickens.
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| The group emerged for breakfast as soon as the sun (aka heat lamp) came out |
WELCOME TO CHICKENS AT P2, 2021
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| Baby chicks, homeward bound from Tractor Supply Company |
