Week 5; Day 5

Whoops, guess it's been a bit longer than I thought. I had to pull up my calendar to calculate which week & day we're on. I haven't had much motivation at all in the past few weeks, though, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

The chickens are doing wonderfully! The first three photos are from April 11th. They're absolutely enormous, and getting noticeably larger every single day. They've also seemed to become very well adapted to being handled. Originally, picking them up entailed reaching in and chasing one around the hutch till we could corner it. Now, all I need to do is slowly put my hand into the hutch, and they (usually) will just sit there and wait for me to pick them up. The Cornish Rocks still HATE being picked up, but they don't mind being petted; considering how large they are, I'm sure it's a little disturbing to be held. The only safe way I've found to actually pick them up is to place both hands around their bodies, so that their wings are pinned to their sides. Otherwise, they flutter their wings and claw until we put them down.


Shelly and Isa [pronounced ee-sa] are still absolutely fascinated with fluttering up to the edges of the hutch. I'm not as nervous about it as I was originally. They seem to have realized that getting out might not be the best idea, and seem perfectly content with roosting up there for awhile, then hopping back in. They have become obsessed with dive-bombing the others when they jump back in, though. They seem to take great pleasure in choosing a 'target', and jumping onto its back to make them all run around and shriek for a moment.

Mama and one of the Cornish Rocks

At some point last week, I realized that we may have another problem. I was originally convinced that the Brahma was a pullet, since she was chosen from the bin of 'sexed' pullets. However, I realized that we have no reason to believe that. Brahmas were NOT part of the intended selection in that bin; therefore, it could've been one that was 'sexed', is a pullet, and was accidentally placed into the wrong bin... or it could've been a 'straight-run' chick that was accidentally placed there, and could be either a pullet or a cockerel. Adding in the fact that the Brahma seemed to have no real interest in the roost, and I realized that 'she' could very well be a 'he'. The last couple of days have mostly alleviated that concern; in fact, she has spent the last half hour on the roost, preening and napping. It is still a very real possibility; however, until I confirm otherwise, she will still be considered a 'she'.

Last week, I had to 'upgrade' their feeder and waterer. I simply could not keep up with how quickly they were emptying the smaller ones; also, the low edge of the waterer encouraged them to sit on the edge, invariably leading to droppings IN the water, which meant cleaning out the waterer at least 10 - 15 times a day. The new one has a much higher lip around the edge, which discourages roosting on it. The chickens' shenanigans also guaranteed that a large portion of their bedding would get thrown into the water, which also necessitated cleaning it out.


Unfortunately, the new waterer didn't help much on that aspect; however, I placed a couple of short lengths of 2x4 into the hutch as a base for the waterer, which has helped immensely! The new feeder has a sturdy wire 'handle' which can double as a hanger; a dowel run through the bars of the hutch, across one of the corners, has worked out wonderfully as a support for it. I would like to come up with a design to hang the waterer, but I'm not sure if/how that might work.


With the addition of the hanging feeder, the chickens have taken to sleeping under it. This is not an issue, but occasionally, it leads to a slight panic during my random head-counts. "Oh, no, there are only five -- where's the other ISA???"

I can't change their bedding with them in the hutch anymore; they're simply too curious and hyper for me to work around them. If it's a warm, sunny day, I'll transfer them to their playpen outside for awhile; if not, I have to move them to a laundry basket. As you can see by these photos, from April 20th, in another week (at most), they'll be too large to all fit into one basket. I also have to divide my attention between changing their bedding, and watching to make sure the cats and dogs stay away from the basket!

No matter where they are, as you can see, Isa and Shelly adore roosting wherever they can. I realize now that I have a lot less time to get their coop set up than I thought. They've shed almost all of their down already, and I don't know how much longer they'll all be able to handle being in the hutch all day. So, I guess the next project is getting that room in the garage cleaned out, and getting it set up as their new home.

It rained all morning, but the sun came out a couple of hours ago, so I'm hoping that the grass will dry enough to take them outside for awhile. And, that being said, I think I've run out of things to say. So, I'll leave you with more photos, and a reminder to leave a comment if you have any questions, suggestions, or anything of the sort. :)

The 'big boy' -- the largest of the Cornish Rocks.

Isa going for a stroll around the top of the hutch.