....Then They Were 8 Weeks....

The girls finally look like little chickens now, completely feathered, loving there coop, no more sleepless nights for me.  They have experienced temperatures in the low 30s, highs in the 80s, rain, lightning, thunder, hail, you name it they have experienced it in the last 7 days.  Welcome to Utah Springs!!  I kept the girls locked in the coop for about 5 days without letting them into the run, so they could learn where home was (suggestions found on backyardchickens.com).  Well they must have learned home, because every night, when they are in their run, about 7:45 they wander into the coop and find a 12" spot on the roost where they all snuggle together.  They sure do not like us to hold them anymore and they definitely do not come and jump onto our hands.  They will eat from our hands and let us pet them....sometimes.

The first 4 pictures are the girls at closer to 7 weeks and the last few pictures are the 8 week pictures.

 Charli and Dotti mooning me and Iris and Bessie wondering how they can get their wings on one of them there iPhones.

 Buffi has turned into a little socialite, she is one of the first to run over and see what is going on.

 A picture closer to the ground to show the full run.  Look closely and I am sure you will find many poos.

 Cassi and Buffi checking things out again.

 First time out of the run in the grass.

 Can you tell which one is Bo Roo?

 Dotti doing a little pose.

Gathered around the feeder and waterer.

6 1/2 Weeks Old and in the Coop

Well, I knew this day would come when I would have to let the girls be on their own and head to the coop.  I put them outside in the coop on April 11th, with lows in the low 40s and highs in the low 60s.  I have read a lot of forums about putting heat lamps in the coop or what have you; some have said absolutely and others have said don't bother.  Call me rude, but I opted to just let the girls outside and have at it.  I figured the coop was insulated, had plenty of ventilation, and the girls had been in the garage with no problems, so what the heck.  Needless to say, the first few nights I could hardly sleep and I would wake up earlier than normal just to go peek in on them. :)  I wanted to share the 'Tour de Coop' with you, so you can see the what the girls are moving into.  This is like a mansion compared to the Rubbermaid tote they have been in.

 This is the north side of the coop with the pop door and an adjustable floor vent I put in for added ventilation.  Also the 6x6 run with hardware cloth around the edges buried 6" and then bent out 6" to prevent digging predators.

 This is the east side of the coop with the external nest box.  The box will open from the back, so the kids can get the eggs in a few months.

 The south side with the window, also you can see the west side's door that opens for easier cleaning.

 The inside of the coop from the west side.  I blocked off the nest boxes for now, so they will learn to sleep on the roost instead of inside the boxes.  The 2x4 is painted with an external urethane, something or other, and the dropping board has the self-adhesive cabinet coat applied, so the poo will just slide right off.

 Close up of the window, roost, and dropping board.

 The west side door shut.

 Bo Roo claiming his spot on the roost.

 The jimmy rigged food container, until I get a hook to hang it on.

Once again Bo and Bessie checking out their new quarters.

Wow 6 weeks already!!

Well, this past week was full of some changes.  We finally moved them into the garage from the house (Cam was complaining of the smell) :)  So they have been acclimating pretty well to their new environment.  I also finished the coop and the run today( I will post the tour d' coop on Wednesday).  It has been a long time coming, but I think it looks pretty darn good.  We will be putting the girls in the coop either Wednesday or Saturday this week.  And finally......the girls finished their first bag of chick feed and are now moving on to the teenage grower feed.   I am just going to post the pictures with no commentary as it is getting late and my allergies are going crazy, so if I have any misspellings or something doesn't make sense, we will blame it on the Benadryl I took 30 minutes ago.

5 Weeks Old!!!

The girls are starting to look like mini-chickens.  They are mostly feathered now and we will be moving them outside into their coop in the next week.  They are still lots of fun and we enjoy watching them interact with us, each other, and their outside environment.

 Bessie has started to warm up to us a little more, especially when we are offering treats.:)

 To bad he-she is a rooster, he is a very pretty bird and very docile.

 Cassi took for ever to get on the pedestal, she wanted to stay on my hand.

 Charli is the silent but deadly.  She sits back, but will be the first to peck the other birds.

 We should have named her Ditto. So Ditto to Cassi

 Iris is still my wife's favorite.  Need I say more.

Showing off her height.  The picture is blurry because she would not hold still!

Girls Lined Up on Their Brooder

These were fun pictures to take.  I was standing in the kitchen cleaning out their waterer and feeder, when Iris flew up on the edge of the brooder.  Bessie and Charli followed immediately after.  I thought this would be a fun picture, so I put the rest of the girls on the edge too.  When I was about to take the picture, Buffi flew from the brooder onto my arm.  Honestly, it kind of startled me.

28-days-old photo shoot

We have used the same cake pedestal for all of the pictures, so hopefully it gives a reference for how big the girls are getting.

 Bessie is still shy around us, but when we do grab her and let her roost on our arms, she loves it.

 Notice the name change to Bo Roo.  You can see his comb and waddle pretty good here.

 We decided to get the buff girls leg bands, as they are getting harder to tell apart.

 Cassi is sweet and loves to climb on us and roost high.

 Anytime the cover of the brooder is off, Charli will jump/fly up to the edge of the rubbermaid tote.

 Dotti and Cassi are twinners.  They are always by each other.  Cassi loves to roost on us and therefore, Dotti gives into the peer pressure.

Iris is still the sweetest, she wastes no time jumping up on the waterer/feeder so she can look out of the brooder and see what is happening.  This position also gives her first dibs on jumping onto one of us. :)

Decided we better pick up the pace with the coop.

We had a guy that built our shed last year build us a coop kit.  This included the 4 walls and roof.  He was way cheap and the coop is awesome.  Here is his website if you are interested: http://www.topshedkits.com.  I told him what I wanted and what I envisioned and he made it happen, all for about $50 more than it would have cost me to build it.

 This is the 2 foot high platform that the coop will sit on.

 Here is the north side of the coop with the pop door.  You can also see the hardware cloth that is buried about 8 inches then bent outward about 6 inches.  I plan on putting a vent on the bottom left and a gable vent up high.

 This is the wet side door.  The entire side opens and should make coop cleaning easier.

 This is the south side.  The window will hopefully provide enough ventilation.  Again I will put a gable vent up high.  The east side of the coop is barely visible.  It is framed for an external nest box.

Here is the finished outside coop with shingles.  (still have to paint inside, install roosts, etc.)

The portable chicken run

Here is the PVC chicken run.  I know that I broke every rule by using chicken wire, but this will only be used when we are home and supervising the girls.  My son and I spent about 2 hours putting this together.  The girls seem to really love being outside, especially now that the weather is getting warmer.

Side-by-side. 21 day and 7 day old comparisons

Here are some of the comparisons that my wife did.  It is hard to believe how much they have grown!!