Days 4 & 5

Everything is still going well. The chicks are getting bigger every day [sometimes it seems they're visibly growing by the hour!], and they're doing wonderfully. I'm really starting to get used to the whole process, while still not being too attached to the birds themselves.

I finished reading "Keep Chickens! Tending Small Flocks in Cities, Suburbs, and Other Small Spaces" by Barbara Kilarski. Overall, not a bad book, and I did learn a few things; however, this book is more geared towards people who want to keep chickens as pets (outdoor ones, but still pets). I get the impression that this woman sees her chickens as companions; the eggs are just a perk. So, not quite the situation I'm in; we do intend to eat even the hens, eventually. But worth a read. I might have to go check a couple other area libraries, since this appears to be the only non-fiction book about chickens in our local library. Oh, and the used bookstores; I must visit those soon, too.

A few of the chicks are getting their feathers already; they all have at least a few wing-feathers (some have more feathers than down left on their wings). At least two of them are already getting tail-feathers. Also, we may have determined which of the yellow chicks is the pullet. The two brown ones are definitely pullets; until now, the other four all looked identical. But three of the yellow chicks have white wing feathers; the fourth has white feathers with black splotches on them. It has also started getting feathers on its lower legs, while the other three have completely bare legs. I'm not positive yet, but we'll see.

Beautiful wing feathers!

All sources indicate that their bedding should be changed daily; however, so far, I'm only changing it every other day. It seems to be almost entirely clean after only a day, and I hate to disturb them every single morning needlessly. I'm sure it'll become more necessary to change it daily once they get bigger (and produce more poop!), but for now, every other day will work fine.

I'll have to start looking for a bigger box for them soon. They're already starting to jump high enough to 'peek' out of the box, so I'm thinking they only have another day or two in that one. We originally discussed putting the hutch in the basement, as they have a couple of months before they're okay outside. But I realized this evening that there's more than one argument against that. For one, the hutch is light-weight, and it will be simple to move; however, our basement stairwell is narrow, and it would be a pain to haul it down there, only to bring it back up a few weeks later. The second reason, and the more important one: if they're down in the basement, they'll hardly ever get any attention. The basement has a horribly low ceiling, so none of us really like going down there unless we have to; therefore, the chicks would NOT be as 'humanized' as they should be.

A few of the chicks also seem to be maturing very quickly. According to the research I've done, chicks shouldn't be able to balance enough to 'roost' on perches until they're around 3 weeks old. However, at least 3 of our chicks have already started to roost on the dowel I put in the box. They also seem to like clinging to a single finger when we hold them, almost like a parakeet or other pet bird.

I finally accepted today that I will not be able to buy chicken legbands locally. As all the internet sources I've found only seem to sell them in large quantities, I've elected for a secondary option. I bought a package of hair rubber bands (sturdy ones, not the flimsy, cheap ones!), in assorted colors, and will simply 'band' them that way. I would still like to try tracking their growth, so if I can make this rubber-band idea work, I'll start in the morning.

David made a very interesting point yesterday: Currently, we're using an oven rack to protect the chickens. Later, we'll be using one to prepare them!

Tomorrow, more photos, and hopefully more real information.