Transitions

Today will be the third day since six of my chicks 'graduated' from the brooder box, and out to the coop and yard. These six were the biggest and most energetic of the twelve little ones I am currently caring for.

They like the yard a lot. And anything one of them decides to do, they all decide to do, whether it is sleep, or stroll around in the sun, or peck at the grass and spring sprouts, or chow down at the feeder.















I replaced the garbage can lid beneath the feeder with an old ranch-house skillet of a smaller diameter. This creates a smaller tray that makes it more difficult for the chickens to walk around in - and poop in - their food. The tangled wad of rusty chicken wire held down atop the feeder with a brick is my very make-shift attempt to convince the chickens they should not perch on top of the feeder. So far, it works, although it is not an aesthetically pleasing solution!



I placed a bench out behind the coop yard. This makes it easy to sit with a cup of coffee and observe teen-age chicken behavior.



Meanwhile in the brooder box in the house remain six young chicks, not quite ready for prime time in the coop. It is difficult to show you much here since it is only lit with a red heat lamp, and also, I have to stick my hand with camera under the netting atop the box in order to try to get a shot. This makes the little ones run about nervously, making it even harder to get a picture.


The black and white pullet in the picture above is an Australorp. An Australian breed that matures mostly black with streaks of green iridescence in her feathers.


Next week I hope to graduate these littlest chicks out to the big world of the coop and yard.