10 July 2011

The chicks are alright


These charming creatures are the latest additions to our tiny flock of chickens. They are 12 days old and just on the verge of dinosaur-ness. By next week, we'll have a bunch of pterodactyls in the coop, but for now they're still pretty darn cute. We ordered them from Frey's through the feed store again and they are a mix of hybrid dual-purpose brown egg layers plus one Barred Plymouth Rock.


They are living in a corner of the winter coop for now, while the big chickens spend the summer camping in their chicken tractor. The tractor isn't big enough for 9 chickens, so the plan is to turn the winter coop into full-time housing for the birds come winter. Which gives me 4 months or so to blend the flocks. The plan, so far, is once the little birds are a little bigger, to give them access to the outdoors in a pen while allowing the big birds to free range as usual. If all goes well, I will allow the little ones to free range once they are a bit bigger yet. My hope is that everyone will get along outdoors before they need to be confined together. I may be crazy or just plain dumb, especially after the chicken adventures I had this winter. I suppose I have a few options if things don't work out, one of which is finding a freezer retirement home for the older birds. 


Madeleine has named the new chicks after some of her favourite Star Trek/ Dr. Who/ Big Bang Theory characters. I'm not quite sure who is who yet, but they are: Luxana, Uhura, Dax, Martha and Penny.

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