Chickens 9 weeks old

Feisty. She has a dark brown beak. She doesn't stand still so Craig has to hold on to her to get a snap shot.

Sickie. She still has some little down feather on her neck. Lately she has been gaping and when she does that, her throat shiver as well. We went to get some poulty dust and poulty dewormer from the pet store for them. Not sure if their head shaking is caused by mites and lice but it is a suspected cause.

 Timid. She is the smallest among the three of them. And she doesn't have a brown beak or down feathers on her neck, so that is how we identify her. Timid, as her name says is always the following the crowd and whenever there's treat, like bread given to them, she will have her food snatched from her beak. Poor girl bullied by her sisters.

We are almost done with the chook pen. I have painted the exterior of the pen and Craig had finish one side of the pen's door. It will be hinged on the top and it will be a "lift-out" door. The section further away in the picture will be the chicks roaming area and on the rear end will be their nesting area. Spot the little square door which acts as the opening way.

Trust me, it's very hard work builting your own chook pen but its very satisifying as well. We are left with the one door to built, put in the wheels for mobility and stick in the perch, close it up with wire and we are all done (I think!). Hopefully you will get to see the end result in next week's post.

Chickens - 8 weeks and 2nd Big Day Out (plus Videos!)

Today we have capture the chickens roaming and post it online. You will be able to see it shortly below. It seems like the chickens are having better poo shape and color (hard and dark) after a run outside their palace. Craig is also busy with the chook pen. It's starting to take some shape but there's more work to be done.

The chickens are getting fatter as well. Right now I can identify them and hence they are called Timid, Sickie and Feisty!!

Chickens Big Day Out!

Today the chicks are 7 weeks old and we decide to let them have some fun in the garden. So we cut their wings to stop them from flying over the fences and release them into the garden. At first they seems confused with the open and stood there motionless for a couple of minutes. One decide to move and explore and the rest followed along. Soon they were enjoying themselves and happily roaming around the entire garden. The chicks get a taste of "wild food" such as leaves and millipedes.

The chicks are getting big for their palace and Craig is working hard to build them a BIGGER palace!!

Unfortunately my camera is not working well so I couldn't capture the chicks big day out in videos. But here are some pictures taken with my SLR.

Craig trying to lure the chicks with a catapilla

chicks bums!

Chicks - 6 weeks old!

Hmm, I wonder if we should stop calling them chicks now that they are more like a "teenager". The chicks are losing most of their down feathers and the box seems rather small for them now. They are eating much more and their poo is longer !!

One of the chick seems to be sick, she keeps shaking her head still and starting gapping. We have started to clean up their home every night to keep it cleaner. For some reason, they seem to like eating their own poo.

Went to city farmers tonight to get them some sulfadimidine. Hopefully this will help them to recover from the suspected pneumonia.

Chicks - 5 weeks and still growing!

The chicks are growing bigger and bigger each day. They are not scared of us anymore, in fact, each time I put my hand into the box, they are ready to aim and attack my hand, thinking its food.

We've added a new "toy" for the chicks. It's a carrot hanging from the top, let's see what happen in a few days time. I've also introduce kiwi fruit to them. They seem to like it so far.

Over the weekend, we went down to Busselton and got them a new feeder, for when they are in the garden and also some new "adult" food. Prices are definately cheaper.

see how big it grew!

chooks getting braver and curious too! Flew out of the box to have a look.

she's thinking "What are you looking at??"

Chicks - 4 Weeks old

My goodness!!! What a big difference from 3 weeks to 4 weeks. These hot chicks are getting bigger, fatter and smellier. They are flying around in their palace and having bigger poos!! Their diet has increase a lot too.

This week Craig feed them apple. They don't seem to like it at the beginning but if you stick their chick start on the apple, they will attack it as if they had starved for days. Weird brains.....

The chicks are also starting to get their brownish feathers, right now they look like they are having a bad hair day every single day!

I noticed one of them is shaking her head very vigorously all the time, especially when she is trying to sleep. A search on Google says she could have caught a cold or its just a normal thing. After observing a few days, it does seem like she's fine. Still pretty active and noisy.

What can I say.... my babies are turning into teens now... :)

and a couple days ago I found a poo right outside the palace!!! how on earth did it get out of the box?? did the chick aim its bottom at the hole and shit????

Chicks -New "Palace"

Craig had decided to build the chicks a new "house"....a palace where they are fly about, see the outside world and have a perch to stand on. Didn't take long to do it and the end result is stunning. Now the chicks can see us and we can see them easily. Hopefully it will increase our bonds....

cutting a hole for the lamp

chicks have move into their new home

and they are happy!