A New Temporary Home

Yesterday my wonderful husband converted our old dog house into a bigger brooder box for my little darlings. (He'd have built me a chicken coop if I could make up my mind about a design.)

He had some help --lucky man!

Last night after dinner we moved all the chicks to their new home. They have so much more room now. They are so amazing to me. They already know who they are and what they are supposed to do. As they ran around their new home, they would find little specks of sawdust stuck to the walls. These specs were so small that we did not notice them until the chicks pointed them out. As soon as they'd find one, they'd go after it attacking it and pecking at it as if it were some bug. No one had to teach them that they eat bugs, they just knew it. It made me contemplative. I wondered if when children are born, do they know who they are and do we as adults, for whom often the question has become clouded, teach them that they are someone less than who they know themselves to be? Hmmm. . . . .

One of the things that I was most excited about the new brooder box is that it we were able to elevate their waterer. Hopefully there will be no more wood chips in the waterer! Ammon is most excited to see them learn to use the roosting bar. He thinks they need to be shown how to roost. They had already been trying to roost in the old, too-small brooder box. They would fly up to the one open edge of the box and have to be shooed back into it.

Here they are all loving the new, elevated waterer.

And here they are just before we tucked them in for the night. Aren't they just adorable?

First thing this morning (ok actually not until about 6:30) I went out to make sure they survived the night in their new home and, of course, they did. They did! They stayed warm enough (my biggest worry) and they were happily peeping, eating, drinking, and playing little chicken games. (BIG BONUS! There are no wood chips in the waterer!!!)