Life With Chickens

Our six little Buff Orpingtons are growing up so fast!  Not long ago, we had lots of this:

And now, we have this:

We’re getting ready to put the girls outside in their coop full time now that the weather is warming up.  While this isn’t my first time around the block with chickens, it has been a long, long time since I’ve had these experiences, and I’m really learning a lot.  My thoughts on these first five weeks follow.

The most surprising things about raising chicks:

• Like kids, they grow up really, really fast.  The difference between the first photo and the second photo is only about four and a half weeks.  They transform from these little puffballs to chickens right before your eyes.
• They are eating machines.  I cannot believe how much they eat.
• They are hilarious.  One of them loves to jump straight up in the air.  I don’t know if something is startling her or if she’s just bouncy, but every once in a while she just goes STRAIGHT UP for no apparent reason.
• They enjoy our company.  Jack loves to tell them about his trains, and they seem to listen.  They like being talked to and petted.  They are so sweet and so social.

The most annoying thing about raising chicks:

• They just can’t seem to keep their water clean.  Within moments of giving them fresh water, they kick shavings into it.  I think they are testing me.

The strangest thing about raising chicks:

• When they are indoors, we keep them in the same room as our parrot, Wyatt.  I swear the chicks and Wyatt make very similar chirps, and I don’t think I’ve experienced that with chicks before.  Are they learning parrot noises from Wyatt?  How strange would that be!