Thursday, March 29, 2012

Growing Chicks and Ducklings

OH, the transformation from little chick to adult hen pecking around out on a farmyard! I have seen both of those stages prior to our purchasing these little chicks.
Growing Chicks and Ducks - ready for lift off! - 03, All of the chicks have feathers coming in - as opposed to just fluff! They flap their wings a lot and practice a bit of flying now and then. Bud loves to hold them a bit above the floor of the box and let them fly down to the wood shavings. It seems that a few of them have quite a bit of experience in their flying! It flies up to perch on the edge of the feeder. Of course, that means that it also, well, poops in the feed. I leave it to Bud to clean out! He seems to be willing! Before we got the chicks he thought that we should get chicks not just for the eggs that they would lay and we could use or sell, but we could also collect and sell the chicken poop! How exciting! Well, we'll see how it goes with selling chicken poop!
I mean, who HASN'T seen the pictures around Easter of the soft fuzzy little duckling? So cute and soft... And, of course, the mama hen clucking and scratching in the yard. We've all seen them both even in a child's picture story book.
Growing Chicks and Ducks - ready for lift off! - 04, All of the chicks have feathers coming in - as opposed to just fluff! They flap their wings a lot and practice a bit of flying now and then. Bud loves to hold them a bit above the floor of the box and let them fly down to the wood shavings. It seems that a few of them have quite a bit of experience in their flying! It flies up to perch on the edge of the feeder. Of course, that means that it also, well, poops in the feed. I leave it to Bud to clean out! He seems to be willing! Before we got the chicks he thought that we should get chicks not just for the eggs that they would lay and we could use or sell, but we could also collect and sell the chicken poop! How exciting! Well, we'll see how it goes with selling chicken poop!
But, this funny in between, loosing the fluff and growing in the feathers stage is a whole new ball game for me (and the treekids, too!) I just had no idea how the process went!
Growing Chicks and Ducks - ready for lift off! - 05, All of the chicks have feathers coming in - as opposed to just fluff! They flap their wings a lot and practice a bit of flying now and then. Bud loves to hold them a bit above the floor of the box and let them fly down to the wood shavings. It seems that a few of them have quite a bit of experience in their flying! It flies up to perch on the edge of the feeder. Of course, that means that it also, well, poops in the feed. I leave it to Bud to clean out! He seems to be willing! Before we got the chicks he thought that we should get chicks not just for the eggs that they would lay and we could use or sell, but we could also collect and sell the chicken poop! How exciting! Well, we'll see how it goes with selling chicken poop!
It is funny, too, that the ducklings are growing so much faster than the chicks. Which leads to those bigger ducks making a lot bigger mess! Oh, the wet mess they make in all those pine shavings!
Growing Chicks and Ducks - ready for lift off! - 09, All of the chicks have feathers coming in - as opposed to just fluff! They flap their wings a lot and practice a bit of flying now and then. Bud loves to hold them a bit above the floor of the box and let them fly down to the wood shavings. It seems that a few of them have quite a bit of experience in their flying! It flies up to perch on the edge of the feeder. Of course, that means that it also, well, poops in the feed. I leave it to Bud to clean out! He seems to be willing! Before we got the chicks he thought that we should get chicks not just for the eggs that they would lay and we could use or sell, but we could also collect and sell the chicken poop! How exciting! Well, we'll see how it goes with selling chicken poop!
Here, this one with 2/3 fuzz, 1/3 feathers and the little tail feathers emerging!! Oh, how they love to roost, now!
Growing Chicks and Ducks - ready for lift off! - 11, All of the chicks have feathers coming in - as opposed to just fluff! They flap their wings a lot and practice a bit of flying now and then. Bud loves to hold them a bit above the floor of the box and let them fly down to the wood shavings. It seems that a few of them have quite a bit of experience in their flying! It flies up to perch on the edge of the feeder. Of course, that means that it also, well, poops in the feed. I leave it to Bud to clean out! He seems to be willing! Before we got the chicks he thought that we should get chicks not just for the eggs that they would lay and we could use or sell, but we could also collect and sell the chicken poop! How exciting! Well, we'll see how it goes with selling chicken poop!
The need to hop/fly up to sit on the edge is stronger and there are several who get up on the edge of the feeder (and do the fine honor of pooping in the feed - nice).
Growing Chicks and Ducks - ready for lift off! - 13, All of the chicks have feathers coming in - as opposed to just fluff! They flap their wings a lot and practice a bit of flying now and then. Bud loves to hold them a bit above the floor of the box and let them fly down to the wood shavings. It seems that a few of them have quite a bit of experience in their flying! It flies up to perch on the edge of the feeder. Of course, that means that it also, well, poops in the feed. I leave it to Bud to clean out! He seems to be willing! Before we got the chicks he thought that we should get chicks not just for the eggs that they would lay and we could use or sell, but we could also collect and sell the chicken poop! How exciting! Well, we'll see how it goes with selling chicken poop!
There a few others who move from the feeder to the edge of the box, now. But, since I took these pictures, only a few days ago, they are bigger yet and have so many more feathers!!
Growing Chicks and Ducks - ready for lift off! - 15, All of the chicks have feathers coming in - as opposed to just fluff! They flap their wings a lot and practice a bit of flying now and then. Bud loves to hold them a bit above the floor of the box and let them fly down to the wood shavings. It seems that a few of them have quite a bit of experience in their flying! It flies up to perch on the edge of the feeder. Of course, that means that it also, well, poops in the feed. I leave it to Bud to clean out! He seems to be willing! Before we got the chicks he thought that we should get chicks not just for the eggs that they would lay and we could use or sell, but we could also collect and sell the chicken poop! How exciting! Well, we'll see how it goes with selling chicken poop!
Fowl are turning out to be fairly easy to care for, although there is a bit of caution needed... young children might use those beautiful duck beaks as handles with which to pick up said duckling!
Growing Chicks and Ducks - ready for lift off! - 17, All of the chicks have feathers coming in - as opposed to just fluff! They flap their wings a lot and practice a bit of flying now and then. Bud loves to hold them a bit above the floor of the box and let them fly down to the wood shavings. It seems that a few of them have quite a bit of experience in their flying! It flies up to perch on the edge of the feeder. Of course, that means that it also, well, poops in the feed. I leave it to Bud to clean out! He seems to be willing! Before we got the chicks he thought that we should get chicks not just for the eggs that they would lay and we could use or sell, but we could also collect and sell the chicken poop! How exciting! Well, we'll see how it goes with selling chicken poop!
In order to protect the ducklings and chicks, I put a piece of window screen over the box, yesterday.
Growing Chicks and Ducks - ready for lift off! - 19, All of the chicks have feathers coming in - as opposed to just fluff! They flap their wings a lot and practice a bit of flying now and then. Bud loves to hold them a bit above the floor of the box and let them fly down to the wood shavings. It seems that a few of them have quite a bit of experience in their flying! It flies up to perch on the edge of the feeder. Of course, that means that it also, well, poops in the feed. I leave it to Bud to clean out! He seems to be willing! Before we got the chicks he thought that we should get chicks not just for the eggs that they would lay and we could use or sell, but we could also collect and sell the chicken poop! How exciting! Well, we'll see how it goes with selling chicken poop!
This should help keep the small hands away from the little birdies and preserve their lives! It will also keep the birds IN the box with the water, food and heat - again, preserving their lives!
Growing Chicks and Ducks - ready for lift off! - 20, All of the chicks have feathers coming in - as opposed to just fluff! They flap their wings a lot and practice a bit of flying now and then. Bud loves to hold them a bit above the floor of the box and let them fly down to the wood shavings. It seems that a few of them have quite a bit of experience in their flying! It flies up to perch on the edge of the feeder. Of course, that means that it also, well, poops in the feed. I leave it to Bud to clean out! He seems to be willing! Before we got the chicks he thought that we should get chicks not just for the eggs that they would lay and we could use or sell, but we could also collect and sell the chicken poop! How exciting! Well, we'll see how it goes with selling chicken poop!
We are all looking forward to their move to the chicken coop in the great outdoors! I am hoping that it will be VERY soon! :)
Raking leaves @ 2:45 PM

1 comment:

  1. StephanieMonday, April 2, 2012 at 7:43:00 PM CDT

    Thanks for posting the great pictures of your growing chicks & ducklings! It is so fun to see them as they grow!
    Love,
    Aunt S.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for jumping in and leaving your thoughts!!

I sure like to know who enjoys playing around the treehouse!

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