Diary of a baby chicken

Last week I moved the chickens out of our bathroom and into the tub of the guest bathroom. I didn't realize how great this would be for Sadie. She was really enjoying the new view.



Yesterday I moved them back into our bathroom because I started back to work on the guest bathroom. If things go according to plan, the space you saw in that video will look quite a bit different next week. If it doesn't, feel free to scold me!

This new move does not sit well with Sadie. The guest bathroom is the only one with a toilet right now, so I obviously go in and out of the room several times a day. Now that the girls are back in the master bathroom, Sadie doesn't get to see them as often. She disappears throughout the day and I always find her patiently sitting outside the door. It is a pocket door that slides open, and although she's learned how to push open a door, thankfully she hasn't learned how to slide one open...

So what does a baby chicken do all day? Well, now that they have a new, higher perch in their box, they mostly just hang out on it.



You'd think they'd be a little disturbed by the large dog towering over them, but Sadie doesn't seem to bother them. Maybe they think she's the chicken mother ship or something.

I can't get over how cute they are when they stretch and scratch their head. They always stretch the back leg and wing on the same side of their body. For some reason I think it's adorable. I had several chickens when I was younger but I don't remember ever seeing one stretch.



The girls are a little stir crazy these days because they haven't been outside since Sunday. Monday was cold, on Tuesday and Wednesday we had 40 mph winds, it snowed yesterday, and today it's snowing again. The weekend is supposed to be nice and a little warmer so I'll hopefully get them outside again. Since they've been cooped up so much (get it? chickens? cooped up?) I've been trying to keep their tiny brains occupied by giving them new fruits and vegetables periodically throughout the day.

I always put their special treats on a small paper plate. Now Sadie goes nuts when she sees me get a paper plate out of the cabinet! Every time I walk into their room I say "Hi baby girls!" and now they start jumping up on the perch when they hear me coming. And when Hazel (the white one) sees me holding the paper plate she jumps onto the top roost (if she isn't already there) so she can get the first shot at it. If it's a familiar food, she'll try to gobble down as much as she can before I can set the plate down. If it's not a familiar food, she waits for Harriet (the black one), who is an adventurous eater, to try it first.

Greta (the favorite) continues to appear to be playing with less than a full deck of cards. She rarely will take food off the plate. Mostly it seems not to occur to her that she can do that; instead she just tries to get the food away from Harriet and Hazel if they drop it. Yesterday they tried some grapes and tomatoes for the first time, and boy do they love tomatoes!

Harriet and Hazel seem to be good buddies, and act like the cool girls. Greta is the outcast and always follows in their footsteps. But she's definitely the prettiest, so at least she's got something going for her.