It’s been over a month since I have posted photos of the baby chicks we brought home around mid- Februaury so I thought I would give you an update.
My Oh My have they grown!
Big Martha {Barred Plymouth Rock}
2 week assessment: Big Martha is amazingly calm. Nothing seems to bother Big Martha. I think she might be the highest in the pecking order of this bunch. I love her, she’s so friendly and sweet.
7 week assessment: Big Martha loves The Girl Who Thinks She’s A Bird and helps with her homework everyday. She has quickly become our “favorite” bird this spring.
Buffy {Buff Orpington}
2 week assessment: Buffy is a total fruitcake. This one is going to be trouble.
7 week assessment: Ditto
Squeakers {Sex-Link}
2 week assessment: Always wants to be held. Until you hold her. Then she wants to be put down. But as soon as you put her down she comes up to your hand and wants to be picked up. Another fruitcake.
7 week assessment: She pecks at anything and everything. I think she would peck me to death if given the chance.
Peanut {Easter Egger}
2 week assessment: Peanut is a fun bird. Very curious, likes to be held and friendly.
7 week assessment: This is the #2 bird of the bunch. When she is not dive bombing the other chickens she is rolling around in the dirt. Goofy, but loveable.
Here is a picture of our second batch of spring chickens at just 1 week old. They two have grown past the “ugly duckling” stage and are starting to feather out.
Brown Fatty {Partridge Cochin}
2 week assessment: Very shy.
6 week assessment: Still very shy and withdrawn. Until you pick her up, then she wiggles and tries to get away. The jury is still out on this one.
White Fatty {Cochin}
2 week assessment: Very quite and shy. She likes to hide in the corner.
6 week assessment: White Fatty has settled in and now likes to jump around like a crazy and tries to fly. She has a lot of spunk and she’s a little goofy too.
Baby Fat {Australorp}
2 week assessment: Just about the most curious bird on the planet. She is always poking her head out to see what is going on.
6 week assessment: Baby Fat is still rather curious, but unlike Black Fatty {our older Australorp} she doesn’t like to be held.
I was hoping my neighbor Girly Girl would have her new chicken coop built by now and I’d be able to ship off Buff the Wayward Chicken and Peter the escape artist. However she is still waiting for her husband Chino the Handyman to build her a coop.
Let’s hope it’s soon.
I think I’ll wait about another month or so until the baby chicks have grown a bit before I put them in with the Big Girls. Keeping chickens as pets is a blast, they all have such different personalities and are {for the most part} very easy going.
Plus you can steal their eggs.
If you’d like to learn more about keeping chickens as backyard pets, Amazon has The Joy of Keeping Chickens on sale for $10.17.
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Sarah says
Aww! So sweet! Thanks for the update on your girls. How did I not know you had a Buff Orpington named Buffy? We have one as well and she is the calmest of our three chicks. Our Eglu is supposed to arrive tomorrow and I’m chomping at the bit to get them outside but I know they are still too young since we only got them on St Patrick’s Day. Curse the crazy Seattle weather! Just when you think it is warming up, I bet it will go schizophrenic again.
Mavis says
Our chicks are 7 & 6 weeks old and are now outside. I have a warming lam clamped to the outside of the {large} dog crate they are sleeping in at night. During the day they play in the dirt outside. You are going to love the Eglu. It rocks!
Krista says
White Fatty looks like she’s wearing pantaloons! So funny and cute.
Mavis says
She’ so cute.
Tali says
Do you let them in the house? When you say ‘pets’ that confused me. I really want to get chicks this year…the chickens we have were given to us as adults and try to peck at us when we enter the ‘farm’ area plus they have been hiding their eggs from us for over a year (we have 5 acres and they free roam…and do not like thier coop so I want to start from scratch and hubby won’t let me have animals (other than cats and dogs) in the house.
Mavis says
We keep them in the house for a few weeks with a heat lamp until they are ready to go outside. Do we let them wander around? No, LOL that would be crazy. If you raised chickens from chicks they should be much tamer. The chicks are outside now and are doing just fine.
Tali says
So in a box? like card box? I might be able to convince my own HH….my 14 year old just volunteered to baby sit.
Mavis says
I used a stock tank. But a large box would be fine for a few weeks until they are ready to go out side. 🙂
Gwen says
This post made my morning :). I don’t have chickens but LOVE the stories and pictures you share about yours. Made me smile!
Mavis says
Thank you Gwen.
Stacey says
I love your posts! We live in town with an average yard and have a garden so this year we decided to raise chickens. We are so excited to have our four little girlies with us and my husband is building their coop. Ours are about 3 weeks old so they are still inside. I am worried about preditors. What do you do to protect your chickens? Do you have any advice for people who are new to raising backyard chickens?
Mavis says
Rule #1 Lock the coop at night. We have lost a few chickens because someone forgot to lock the coop and Ricky the Raccoon got to them. I think for the most part {unless you have to worry about dogs} they will be fine during the day. It’s only at night you have to worry.
Stacey says
Thank you so much! Our coop now has locks installed. Another question for you… Our neighbors on each side of us have dogs. Our little girlies already fly a bit and I am worried about them getting over the 4ft fence if the kids let them out of the chicken run to play. Have you ever clipped wings? How do you do it? How often? Any pointers or is there a better way to keep them in?
Mavis says
Yes/ But just because you clip their wings does not always mean it will ground them. Here is a great link.
I would suggest placing bird netting over the top of the run. We did it about 6 weeks ago and they have not escaped yet. 🙂