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Our first group of feedstore chicks (including Golden Comets, White Leghorns, and Rhode Island Reds) aren’t chicks anymore–they’re little chickens–and having passed their finals with flying feathers, they graduated to the wide open world yesterday.
The commencement address was delivered by Dookie.
“Keep your expectations low,” the farm shih-tsu advised, “and you won’t be disappointed in life. The Giant Puppy is going to get all the attention anyway.”
No wonder I had to spend 30 minutes chasing the graduating chickens around the pen until I caught them and thrust them out the door one by one. How easy it would have been if they would have just cooperated! I told them they would love it!
C’mon. Line up. Single file. Let’s go. But oh no, I had to chase and catch.
“It’s fabulous out here!” the little chickens said. “Why didn’t anyone tell us?”
(Head bang.)
The ducklings are bigger than the little chickens, but they’re not well-feathered yet and just seem less mature. They’re staying in the chicken yard a bit longer.
Meanwhile, out in the wide open world, the little chickens met the big chickens. Uh, sorta big chickens. See the year-old banty hen on the far right? She’s smaller than the little chickens. (That’s a full-size mature hen on the far left.)
Some of the little chickens, including Refund-the-Rooster, spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to get back in the chicken yard.
Then they found out there was good eating to be had. A feast like they’d never known before. Fresh and all-natural!
And off they went. They don’t need permission slips anymore, either.
(Though we did have to chase them around and around AGAIN late yesterday to show them the way into the chicken house to the new extra roost we set up for them in there. Without access to the chicken yard, they didn’t know where to spend the night. Hopefully with a couple nights’ training, they’ll file into the chicken house to their roost at night just like the big chickens.)
Thank goodness I still have some babies! The little chicks held their own graduation, moving up from the brooder to the chicken yard, but they’re not ready for the wide open world yet. This group of 22 includes Silver-Laced Wyandottes, Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, Americaunas, and a few latecomer Domineckers (Dominiques) we added in.
They’ll be grown up before I know it, too! Sniffle.
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To catch the birds easily, get a fishing net. We use them all the time to catch the chickens, ducks, and geese that we have. The nets are priceless. We’ve gotten ours at garage sales.
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You should get you some guineas Suzanne! I just love mine. They eat ticks and garden pests, pretend to be guard dogs and they are so much fun to watch.
Love all your pics!
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Why didn’t Morgan make little diplomas for them?
And, aren’t you glad you cut down those tree stragglers? Your view is beautiful now.
Have fun!!!
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I really enjoy the pictures you post.
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It took them about an hour to actually step outside the cage for more than two seconds, but they did both eat and drink without heart attacks. And the next day they walked right out, even tho the food was a yard from the door. And they stayed out to enjoy the lovely organic slugs, with periodic hysterical retreats. “oh my god, that leaf blew around and tried to kill us! Help! Help! RUNNNNNNN!”
In a few days the poor dears were hanging out in the furthest corners of the garden for minutes at a time, and only ran back in when I made threatening movements (as in, I walked in their direction). They are much happier ducks now, even tho my sister is convinced they will be eaten by hawks and eagles that will swoop into the tiny garden enclosed in 20 foot fencing with dogs next door, when there are hundreds of wild ducks on the lagoon nearby.
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