What I have learned about chickens thus far

Today our chicks are 12 days old.  They hatched on June 18th, and arrived here on the 19th.

Here's what I have learned so far:

• Chicken TV is the best TV channel you can have.  They're both amusing and adorable, even as they start to feather out.

Sleeping, at 5 days old.

• They grow fast!!
• In growing, they start to sprout feathers too.  First is the wings, and then the tail - they've been running around looking like there are little paintbrushes sprouting out of their butts.

8 days old, and they're sprouting paintbrushes and wing feathers.  They're even more feathered now.

• They move fast too.  And as soon as the feathers started coming, they started to jump. They jump to chase mosquitos, get on to and off of the rocks in the brooder, get into the middle of their huddle in the corner, and get on top of the feeder.  And sometimes, they jump just for fun.
• Yesterday, they started challenging each other.  They stand up as tall as they can, stretch their wings a little bit, and chest-bump each other.  It's like we suddenly have a brood of little gangsters in the barn!  Maybe the challengers are the males...?
• When they catch a bug, if it's too big to gulp down they run around and tell everyone about it.  Which results in a chase, and the bug (now long dead) being picked apart in the melee, so it is in bite-sized pieces.  Clever, chicks!

• Finally, they taught me that I can't just go by what a chicken book says; I have to adapt the environment for this batch of chicks.  For example, the Storey's guide to raising chickens states that brooder temperature for 1-7 day old chicks should be 35ºC.  These chicks have never liked it at 35º, they much prefer it at 28º.  And now that our days are getting warmer, they prefer 23º.  According to the book, they shouldn't be at 23ºC until they're over a month old.  But if I had followed the book, and ignored the chick's wall-crowding, they would have all been roasted waaaay too young.

This is how they spread out when the temperature is ideal.  Here they were 2 days old,  and it was between 38º and 28º, depending on which thermometer you looked at.  They're mostly out in the 25º area.

It's been an exciting week with the chicks.  And we haven't gotten much else done.  With the recent rush of projects we completed, we've both been exhausted.  Regarding projects last weekend, we did: nothing.  And this weekend, I've so far accomplished: nothing.    Of course, we've been getting the usual stuff done: getting groceries, picking up materials for the next project (chicken run and coop-ification of another outbuilding), looking after the chicks, and we've made a concerted effort to keep the house clean.  (With two of us, two cats, and two dogs in such a small house, things tend to get out of hand very quickly.  Especially because I have a subconscious drive to cover every horizontal surface with, well, stuff.  Mostly paperwork and mail, which I then spend 20 minutes searching the house for.)

The highlight of last weekend was the Dog Expo at the local historical attraction.  Zim and I went with Kim and Doodle, and we all had a great time.  Doodle and Kim even participated in the dog parade!  We had fun wandering the site, watching the sheepdog demonstration, and giving the pups a chance to socialize with each other and with other dogs.

Everyone lined up for the dog parade.

The weather has been very nice for the past few days, hitting 25º and 26º and staying that warm until 8 or 9 pm.  This means that the house slowly warms up too.  As soon as I repot my aloe plants and take them back to work, I can hang curtains in the office window again, which will greatly help keep out the sun, as that's our only south-facing window.

And how's about a quick garden update too:
The peas are great, except the ones Diamond dug up.  The corn is looking good too - not any taller, but the leaves are getting broader each day.  We have a few cabbage coming up (of of the 30 we planted), and lots of turnips, but no cucumbers or pumpkins.  I think we have 3 carrots sprouting, out of 900 seeds - I'm very disappointed, but I suppose there's time for that to turn around.  The onions all died, and the lettuce hasn't sprouted.  But the majority of the potatoes are doing great!  I have some kale seeds I've been meaning to plant - maybe I'll get those done today (if the weather ever makes up its mind about whether it's going to rain).  It's a little late to be starting them, but they're hardy enough to withstand a light frost in the fall.  And as for the berry garden: we have strawberries coming, and a few are ready to eat.  The raspberries from Hal have mostly all died, except for three or four canes - this is saddening.  I don't know where I went wrong there.  Our raspberries, however, are getting ready to put out berries - I estimate we'll have some within 2 weeks.  The lemon balm I planted, as well as the chives and rhubarb that were there previously, are all doing great.  And in the greenhouse, the tomatoes are doing fabulous!!!  No flowers or fruit yet, but I have hopes that they'll get there soon.  Everything else is doing good too - the basil wilts often but always comes back, the oregano just loves the greenhouse, and the flowers from Hal and Cathy are doing good too.  I've even managed to save the mock orange - I was overwatering it.  That seems to be a common problem with me....  My aloes are home right now because they need to be repotted after a near-death brush with root rot caused by, you guessed it, too much love and attention.  Their 'leaves' are all pink, deflated and curly.  Oops.  It takes talent to kill an aloe, you know.

That's about all that's new here.  We were hoping for some company next week, but no luck there, as plans have changed.  But we have some more lined up in mid-to-late July, and we're looking forward to it!  Now if only I could hook up the water in the longhouse without burning the darn thing down.....