Out for a Walk

Off to explore the great big wonderful world.

The little ones are more then a week and a half old now. Two days ago Terry decided that he had enough of chickens in the house, and demanded that the chicks and Monica graduate to the coop with the big hens. Despite my protests, he insisted they would fine.

The amazing thing is, they were fine. Monica got big and puffy like she does when she wants to make an impression, and glared at the four laying hens, as if to say, "You touch my babies and you DIE."(Kind of like this.)

The other chickens just huddled in a corner and didn't come near the babies. I think they got the message. Monica is currently ruling the roost out in the coop.

We did have a loss earlier this week. We still don't know exactly what happened. The chicks were outside in the backyard with their mother. All of a sudden there was a bunch of squawking and Monica was pounding on the back door to be let in. But she only had three chicks with her. A search of the backyard finally revealed the fourth chick, curled up in some tall grass. She wasn't visibly hurt, but it was clear there was something wrong with her. She was like a little wilted flower. I tucked her under her mom, but she died an hour or two later. Just prior to the commotion all four chicks were running around like normal.