Los Pollitos

We've had the chickens for several weeks now and they look completely different!  They've grown so quickly that it seems like every time I see them I can tell that they're bigger and their feathers have changed.  It's been fun to see them reach various milestones and even go through awkward-teenage-like phases such as when the bulk of their baby feathers were falling out and getting replaced by youth feathers.  And one of them - Bandit - appears to be developing more along the lines of a rooster than a hen so there have been lots of discussions about that in our house.  Are you ready to meet the girls (and maybe one boy)?  These are side-by-side pics of the day we got them (they were probably a few days old at that point) and 4 weeks later.

Name: Buttercup
Breed: Olive Egger

Name: Hei Hei
Breed: Ameraucana

Name: Ms. Felix
Breed: Rhode Island Red

Name: Dixie
Breed: Barred Rock

Name: Bandit
Breed: Welsummer

The kids each have a chick and chose a name for his/her chick, and definitely prefer their own chick, but all of the chicks are taken care of as a group.  We got a 5th chick as an insurance policy because there's a small chance of each chick turning out to be a rooster.  Ironically, that 5th one is the one we suspect is a rooster.  That's the way that goes.

The chicks have been held, petted, chased, shepherded, dropped, thrown (taught to fly), fed, and snuggled.  They are well-loved!  (And probably quite tough after what the kids have put them through.)

6:43am on Day 10 (5.11.20)

I often found Jack like this.  He loved hanging out with the chicks,
holding them or playing with them or just watching them.

5.12.20

5.17.20

5.19.20
We'd only had them for about 2 weeks when they started to fly high enough
to roost on the edges of their tote.  Dixie was the one who did it most frequently.

5.19.20
I think Buttercup was anxious for the coop to get built.

5.19.20
The kids spent some time outside with them
every day so they weren't in their tote all the time.
I'd find myself telling the kids to "go play with the chickens."

5.27.20
They're getting too big for the tote but aren't quite old enough to move into the coop.

5.30.20

6.1.20

6.2.20
I think they enjoyed thwarting our attempts to keep them in the tote.
Dixie was usually the ringleader.

6.2.20

After we'd had the chicks for about a month, the coop was ready and the girls (and boy) were big enough to move out of the garage - a proud moment in any chick-parent's life.  Good thing, too, because they kept flying up to the edges of the tote every chance they got and I did not enjoy finding chicken poop on the garage floor.

6.4.20

6.4.20

6.4.20

6.4.20

Adoption Day 5.2.20 & Move-In Day 6.4.20

They weren't interested in using the roosting bars in the coop at first, but they figured that out pretty quickly.  They also didn't use the walkway to get themselves in and out at first, but they figured that out soon enough as well.  And within a couple of weeks they were even putting themselves to bed, so that when we checked on them at night they were already in the coop and we just closed their little door.

Everyone likes hanging out with the chicks, but they seem to like being handled less than they did when they were little.  Jack still spends more time with them than anyone else, going out in the morning to let them out and telling me periodically that he's going to "check on the chicks."

6.6.20

6.7.20

6.13.20

6.13.20

6.16.20
Here Cat was helping Ben build a run for the chicks.
They also have an enclosed yard.

6.17.20

6.18.20
They're almost always together.
It's pretty cute to see how they huddle up like this.


And as if all of that information the 3 thousand photos weren't enough, now I'll share videos.