Peep Races

Doc and I have been taking Buffy and the chicks out of the brooder and placing them in a tractor we moved inside the pen. This gives everybody a chance to stretch out.

Oreo demonstrates flexibility

I use this time to clean the brooder cage. The sand is great at drying out the poo. All I have to do is sift it with a wire sieve. Doc changes their feed and water.

De and the other watch these proceedings with great interest. Especially since they can score some chick crumbles every so often.

Passing through the yard, I maimed a big grasshopper. I raced to the tractor and handed it to Buffy.

She made sure the grasshopper was sufficiently dead and dropped it among the chicks. Oh the chickeny joy! One took off with the bug peeping furiously, followed by the other six. A chick managed to pick off a morsel and took off in another direction. She consumed it under Buffy's watchful gaze while the rest ran around.

The chick with the bug wore out the others and hid in a corner trying to figure out how to eat it. She eventually picked it apart. Buffy supervised and clucked her approval.

Doc and I rounded up Buffy and the chicks, placing them in the brooder cage. Well, mostly. One independent chick made a run for it. She ran out through the 2x4 farm fence into the yard, then perplexed, circled back and returned to the pen. She ran between my legs and bypassed Doc. The chick triumphantly raced up the chicken ladder and hopped into the coop through the pop door.

Nine days old! Can you imagine what they will be like next week?

Quick Chick