Not So Fast

Did I say onto other subjects? Well, almost. My recent fascination with all things fowl won't permit

me to exclude the progress (photographically speaking) the Guinea keets have made over the last couple of weeks:

They have been feathering nicely and making quite a mess of their brooder (they are in a giant 50 gallon Rubbermaid container with a chicken wire lid), which means I clean it out daily. These little guys are nothing like chicks, by the way - they are more akin to wild birds and are skittish and nervous, though I handle and play with them frequently. To help DH, who for the life of him still cannot tell our chickens apart except by breed, all our Guineas will have names beginning with the letter "G." So far I have named three of them - Gandalf, Gimli and Galadriel (the whole male/female thing, and how many we have of each is still a mystery). Not that we expect them to come when called - it's just that we have a seemingly irresistible urge to name everything.

So - NOW I can move on. I think. Perhaps. Except that I found the next breed of chicken I MUST have - it's called a Swedish Flower Hen (look it up). Gorgeous bird. (I don't know what it is about birds, but I like having them around.) So...yeah. We'll see.

Growing Up

The baby chicks are feathering out and growing up. Their lives are very different from those of the chicks I raised in a brooder last September; for one thing, the outdoor temperatures fluctuate wildly, the babies are often in the elements (wind and on one or two occasions, rain) - yet they seem to be doing fine, at least so far. Their mothers have taught them to eat their food from the ground, so while they have chick feeders, and age-appropriate food, they also spend a great deal of time scratching and foraging for food that hasn't been manufactured, bagged and sold in a store.

The babies hatched by Belle (the Buff Orpington) are now two weeks and two days old. The chicks belonging to Sarah (the Australorp) will be two weeks old on Sunday. They are all so similar. The black chicks have brown eyes and black legs, the "patchy" chicks have black legs and orange toes! I have never had to wait to find out if I have a cockerel in the bunch, so I'm kind of anxious and trying to guess which one(s), if any, may be baby boy chicks.

Because these little ones haven't been handled much, they are wild, and very quick! It is extremely difficult to even take photos of them now, but I managed to snap a few today.  Belle's babies:

Sarah's two babies, who will be two weeks old this coming Sunday:

We also have six new Guinea keets (Pearl Guineas, and they're a straight run, so I have no idea how many are females and how many are males):

Things are getting lively!