Chicks On Holiday

As we're about to go away for a couple of weeks, our friends Ruth and Martin have kindly offered to look after the chicks - they have around 30 chickens of their own.

So, here they are in their very plush holiday accommodation. Hopefully by the time we get back at Easter it will be warm enough for them to live outside in their own house in the garden at last.

About A Month Old

Here are the chicks last weekend having a bit of playtime in the utility room. Starting to look like proper chickens, no?

Midnight in the Sunshine

It's a really sunny day today - not that warm in the shade, but in the sun it does feel pretty warm, so Ollie and I just took midnight out for her first view of the outside world - in this case the front doorstep.

Initially a bit uncertain, she soon warmed up and started pecking around - a little taster of the outdoor lifestyle she will have before long ...

I Can Fly ...

Here we have all five birds strolling about in the utility room. The way they move is starting to look very authentically "chicken"! They were also
starting to work out that they can fly, and seemed to be genuinely enjoying flapping about and running around. I think daily exercise is in order ...

Approaching Three Weeks

The chicks are definitely getting bigger now, in fact I don't think we'll be calling them chicks for much longer. This is Sunshine this morning - you can see a lot of feathers developing now, and she looks to be developing a classic Light Sussex pattern - white plumage with black flight feathers.

Our friends Ruth and Martin who have many chickens have agreed to keep our lot in their barn when we are on holiday soon - I expect they will change a lot while we are away.

Midnight and Pig

... and here are Midnight and Pig. The latter is so-called as she looks like a pigeon. Now there are five of them they certainly need cleaning out rather more often ...

We Are Family

So, we got 4 new chicks to make friends with Liquorice. Relations were a bit frosty for a few hours, but they have now decided they can get along. The new ones are 99% guaranteed female, although we're not sure what breed - they were described as hybrid.

I wanted to name them Sunshine, Moonlight, Good Time and Boogie, but the kids didn't. Here you can see Caramel on the left and Sunshine on the right ...