The babies are 17 weeks old tomorrow. Woo Hoo. One more week and we can start to co-mingle them with the big girls. They all get along just fine. I keep them separated so that the babies don't eat the big girl food yet. Or at least I try. They still manage to get their heads under the bag I put over the feeder and get in a few bites.
It will be nice for me and for them to have them exist as one big, hopefully happy, flock. It's more work for me to have everything in duplicate, 2 feeders, 2 kinds of feed, 2 waterers, 2 coops to clean out, etc. And it will give the babies more real estate.
I took a bunch of photo of them today in the garden just to show how big they are today.
 |
| Penny seems to think my chicken sculpture is the perfect perch for her. |
 |
| Big Coco is still the Queen of the flock. She'll be 6 years old in October. |
 |
| Penny is turning out to be a beautiful bird. I love the green sheen on her black feathers. I can't wait for her to fully mature so I can see how big and fluffy she ends up being. |
 |
| Bella is another beauty in the garden. I wish you could hear her walk. She sounds like a lady who's wearing her trousers too long as those long feathers on her feet drag on the ground. |
 |
| Peaches has begun her first ever molt. She was fine one day when I left for work. I came home and it looked like a chicken had blown up. |
 |
| Peaches on the right and Pearl on the left. Pearl hasn't started to molt yet and you can see how tight her coat is still. But she should begin molting anytime now. |
 |
| Peaches up close. She has some bald spots. The pin feathers are three days old so you can also see how quickly those new feathers come back in. |
 |
| Peaches has a totally bare bum. She had really soiled most of those feathers any way when she had vent gleet that went untreated for so long so I'm happy that she's going to finally have a fluffy, covered bottom once again. |
 |
| The babies having snacks on the patio. They are so big that sometimes I have to look twice to tell them from the big girls. |
 |
| The babies working their way through my flower pots. |
 |
| And a little sun bathing on the warm patio. |
 |
| Rocks and pieces of broken pottery work great for deterring chickens from beaking out soil from flower pots. |
 |
| Wire rings help protect plants from hungry beaks till they can get established. |
 |
| I planted hens and chicks in my strawberry planter and it's finally all filled in. |
 |
| The babies are losing their juvenile feathers and growing in their adult feathers. |
 |
| And some of Peaches feathers for comparison. Hens typically molt when they are about 18 -24 months old. Peaches is 29 months old. So way over due to replace her worn feathers before winter. |
