A week and a day

We have had the chicks for a week and a day. This means that the chicks are actually one week and two days old. And yes, we probably will be throwing a birthday party on March 14, 2012 for all the ladies! In the past few days we have learned a lot about our girlfriends!

Over the first few days I thought they would grow like mad! Realistically they just grew a little and are just now really to starting growing their feathers. Sunday was the first day they really seemed any bigger than the first day we got them and it's only the Bovan chicks that are noticeably bigger. Still every morning I notice little changes.

So here are couple of things I did not know about chicks until this week. One is that sometimes when they sleep they really, really look like they're dead. This is kind of scary when, say, you've never raised chicks before! It's also hard to get a picture of this because as soon as I try, the small click my camera makes wakes them right up. But trust me the chick in the picture below is very much alive!


And to add to the list of things I'd never heard before moving here, but now have to do on a daily basis, I have to check the chicks behinds for stuck on poo and if it's there I have to clean it off. Yes, this is pretty gross! This is pretty common and is called pasty butt and can kill the chicks. The dried poo blocks their opening and they can't poo any more and they die. Oh, and other chicks will also peck at and eat poo off each other. These are all reasons you have to clean them. And of course somehow Keith is never home when I have to do this!

Besides just being adorable, there is only very, very cute thing they do. They sleep in a massive pile of orange and black fluffiness! Seeing about 10 baby chicks all peacefully sleeping like this, at just about any time of the day, is just about the most precious thing you'll see all day!


BJ has gotten a little more curious about them, but still has absolutely no idea what to do about them. He tried licking one that I was holding, but I don't think he would try to eat it (I may be very naive about this though!)


So here is what they looked like at one week old. Notice the almost there tail feathers on the funny looking one and how freaking massive the orange one is (granted I picked the biggest one for this photo shoot!)

A little coop (coup) update. Hugh has been working on his own and been making some amazing progress. He added some trim, which makes the coop look much classier than I ever pictured!

Here is the big question! What are these ladies going to look like in the next week?? We will be as surprised as you! Keith and I are in Park City, UT (Keith is at a conference and I'm sleeping in later than usual and plan on eating massive amounts of sushi!) for a week and Liz, Nic, Malachi, and Hugh are watching the lovely ladies while we are gone. So a big shout out and a big thank you to them! And the the two residents that are taking care of BJ....they haven't called me yet, so hopefully there have been no problems yet!