The baby chicks are growing up quickly - and have officially entered their awkward phase, where they look less like chicks and more like some strange hybrid - the homely, but cute anyway stage. I believe I see at least one, if not two cockerels in the Gang of Four, but they are still too young for me to be able to tell definitively. Three are Black Australorp crosses, and one is a Barred Rock cross. They have done very well growing up in the coop - much better than I expected. They know to stay out of the way of their elders, who are quick to deliver a reprimand when the kids violate the established pecking order; still, none of the older girls have actually harmed them in any way and the roosters have been exemplary. Stonewall has, on occasion, appeared to actually baby-sit the youngsters, and (as he does for the ladies) he will call when he finds food for them.
This is Red Top, our newest resident. She came to us by way of DH's co-worker; she was the last chicken he owned, and, as he and his wife were retiring, they asked if we would take her. She appears to be a cross of some sort; very sweet and docile. She has made a few friends already and is doing very well in her new flock.
We are in the process of constructing a new shelter for the Guineas, who are ready to move out of the brooder and into some bigger digs. I still need three more names beginning with the letter "G." I suppose it isn't a matter of any particular urgency, since I don't expect they'll care one way or the other, but the matter feels incomplete.
That's it for now - I need to get this blog in shape; it's too chaotic even for me. Hopefully I'll have time to do that soon; you know, after I muck stalls, clean out the coop, etc., etc. One thing about this life - the days spin past very quickly.
