Daycare chicks

Here are some other baby chicks that I take care of. This isn't everybody but it's who was here today, except for the sleeping one year old baby boy. I've had a home daycare for the last two years, but I'm closing in June and preparing to go back into teaching public school. I'll miss these kiddos but it will be nice to de-clutter my house. I've got baby stuff and toys everywhere!

Coop is coming along slowly but surely

Here's a photo of Mike working on installing the posts that will support our fenced in area of the chicken run. The run will be about 12 x 24 feet when done. We have 6 foot tall chicken wire for the surround and also 24 inch chicken wire to bury at the bottom to discourage digging predators. Eventually the run will also have a chicken wire or hardware cloth "ceiling" so owls and hawks won't visit. The girls are huge and are already crowded in the large dog crate. They tip over their water often and I have to clean out the cage EVERYDAY because the manure is in such a concentrated place. Needless to say we're all anxious for the coop to be done! If the weather had been nicer in May, we would have been able to get this project done a bit faster.

Also above, there is an up to date picture of one of the barred rock girls. See the comb developing? (Sorry for the picture quality. I just got a new phone with a camera so I'm experimenting.) The blurry movement in one picture is probably the naughty girl pecking me. They've got a little attitude once in a while.

Wow I'm bad at this!

My babies are almost a month old and have already outgrown their baby brooder rabbit cage. Now they are in my garage in a big wire dog crate. It got really cold last night so they have a space heater and a heat lamp and the crate is draped with blankets and rugs. They all snuggled down and kept each other warm. The have shed most of their fluffy down (all over the basement!) and have more real feathers now. Their combs are starting to develop.

Remember the mean one? She's my favorite and I named her Winnie! See picture of me holding her off to the side? She isn't mean just confident...runs up to the door and lets me pet her everytime. The rest are more skiddish.

The coop is mostly done but I forgot to get a picture. It's an 8x8 shed that we bought as a kit. Now I just have to make the adjustments to turn into a chicken dwelling. I'll add a shelf for nesting boxes and a 1x4 for roosting at night. And we need to fence in the outside run and cut a hole in the wall so they can get outside. That's on the agenda for this week. Fun!