My second half of the flock!

[Nats Chickens]

This thread is about my baby chickies, well, they are 15 weeks tomorrow, but still the babies. We have 4 older hens but I am not going to talk about them at the moment. This is a week by week guide to what happened when I raised my chicks. [pics included]

 

[Nats Chickens]

Week 1.
We picked the chicks up on a Thursday morning, the 10th of may this year. We where originally going to get 2 or 3 browns, but ended up with 3 browns and 1 black [oh the cuteness power of chickens!] because, really, 3 browns and one black was more interesting then just 4 browns. [we originally wanted only browns, but thought we'd mix it up a bit] We brought them home and put them in the brooder. We named the browns , Leaf, Sherbet and Nim. And the little black one we called Mini. We did have a broody, and tried to introduce them to her one night, but she wouldn't go for it, so we hand raised them in our kitchen at first, then they moved to the laundry because of the smell. My particular favourite was Sherbet, and she was the only brown who was yellow, with faint brown chipmonk patterns. She used to curl up on my shoulder, snuggle in my hair and go to sleep when I read on the lounge. We only wanted [needed] 2 or 3 more, but I was worried 1 or 2 might die, so we got 4. Here are some pics when they were 3 days old. [Sherbet was only 2 days as she hatched a day after the rest]
Mini, 3 days.

Nim, 3 days.

Leaf, 3 days.

Sherbet, 2 days.

 

[leighks]

That’s cool to show weekly changes, especially for new chicken owners. Wish I took more pics when mine were younger! There’s a similar website called “3 chicks a day” where the guy posted daily pics of his 3 chicks from a few days old until they were 1 year. It’s nice for new owners to see what to expect!

 

[Nats Chickens]

Week 2.
The chicks loved playing outside in the grass, and they dust bathed in a little dog bowl filled with dirt. It was very funny to watch. They would follow me around and sometimes I would let them run all over the kitchen. They where much more fun now because they didn't sleep all the time but where full of energy!

From left to right; Leaf, Nim, Mini and Sherbet.

Nim, 2 weeks.

Mini, 2 weeks.

Leaf, 2 weeks.

Sherbet, 1 week and 6 days.

 

[Nats Chickens]

Yeah, I didn't take enough pictures either, I guess I expected them to be babies forever, even though I knew they would grow up!

 

[Nats Chickens]

Week 3. [sorry, no pics]
They got bigger and used to spend the warmer days [it was winter here] out with our guinea pigs and come inside at night, they love to chase the guinea pigs and they could drink out of the bottle, which came in handy when I had them together later on. [I do have videos of them escaping out of the brooder and running around the kitchen, dust bathing and playing with the guinea pigs but I can't upload them ]

 

[Nats Chickens]

Week 4. [still no pics]
As they got older they loved to run around more and sometimes I let them free range in the front yard while I was out there. The hard part was capturing them and putting them back in their pen! [lol]

 

[Nats Chickens]

Week 5. [no pics again]
I let them free range longer, and when we went out I put them in a play pen, and the y would run around. They liked climbing trees and digging.

 

[Nats Chickens]

Week six.
They free range during the day and come inside into the brooder at night, They explore the front yard but can't go in the back because they are not yet fast enough to outrun our dog and the other chickens. Here are some pics.
Nim.

Sherbet.

Sherbet again.

Mini.

Mini, Sherbet and Leaf.

From right to left; Sherbet, Leaf and Nim.

Leaf.

Mini and Leaf.

Something looks interesting!

 

[Nats Chickens]

Week 7. [no pics again]
They moved permenetly in with the guinea pigs, So they free ranged all day and got locked up with the guinea pigs at night.