The Girls Grow Up

Our baby chicks are almost 3 weeks old and moved out to the big girl coop today albeit in a separate area under the heat lamp. This batch of babies seems much more robust than the ones we got last year. They are eating ridiculous amounts of food and have grown at twice the rate as our last batch. These girls look to be about 2 weeks ahead of their age. They got their pin feathers on the second day but the last babies took a whole week to feather out. They are funny to watch and are already starting to fly and stretch their wings. But they were making a huge mess in the brooder and starting to smell so it was time to move out. Our Silkie Rooster looks at them thru the wire and clucks loudly at them. The other girls seemed unconcerned with the new additions to the coop. They will stay separated for several more weeks but can get used to seeing each other thru the fencing.

A few of the babies. It's so hard to get a good picture of them-they are always moving and I had to shut off the red heat lamp because in all the pictures they look like chicken under rotisserie lights. These girls are just for eggs.

Their feathering is changing daily but this big yellow girl has now been named, "Butter".

This is "Ginger". No idea why Patrick decided to name her Ginger. I think we may need a Maryanne and maybe Mrs. Howell to round it out.

Morgan found some twigs and made the babies a cute little roosting perch.

This is my new food dehydrator. Love it.

I dried sage, mint and basil to add to my herb jars.

I dried some overripe apples too. Not too pretty to look at but the kids devoured them. I dipped them in lemon juice and they naturally sweetened up. I have some pineapple going in next.

Let me just put a plug out there for Stark Brothers. http://www.starkbros.com/

We ordered 3 fruit trees and 4 blueberry bushes from them last year. One apple tree and one blueberry bush didn't make it through the winter. I called them today and they are replacing both-no questions asked and the customer service was friendly and incredible.

Since I wanted to buy some more fruit trees, I was very pleased that they gave me a 25% discount on my next order. I ordered another apple tree and will probably order some grape vines and maybe an asian pear tree. All of it will be able to get the 25% off discount. I love companies that treat their customers with value. Nice to have them.