New Homeowners

The girls are quickly outgrowing their transport box. Today we had an abbreviated Chicken Exercise Hour because it's been chilly with high winds, which is a great way to overchill your chicks. They may look like little chickens but they are still young enough to get too cold.

The reason for this Chicken Exercise Hour was to try out their new digs, the just-enclosed Chicken Yard. The girls seemed to like it, and to feel very safe there. And because the dogs have usually been banned from Chicken Exercise Hour due to bad behaviour (ie, trying to eat the chicks), they got a real treat because they were allowed to be on the other side of the fence, looking in.

These chicks are growing fast. They're definitely starting to look like real chickens. And they're slowly learning how to act like them, with all the scratching, pecking, and hunting of an adult. Joan got a really big spider and it was gone in two gulps.

Debbie's head fluff is considerably lighter than her new feathers coming in. Noel's worried that we won't be able to tell her apart from Liza any more, but Liza is a lighter brown.

Carole has lost the most head fluff.

But all four are very happy with their new yard, and spent a bunch of time exploring. They were particularly interested in the compost bin lid leaned up there, probably because it is usually teaming with spiders. They would have stayed out much longer, but we were cold and tired and brought them in.

And of course, we filmed the first few minutes in the new digs.