Happy Chick
by Ashley Weeks Cart
Sunny’s feeling pretty dang happy that she’s made so many other people happy with all these ridiculous chick pix.
Last night, we transitioned the flock up to the barn. They’re still living in an oversized dog crate with a brooding lamp inside the chick coop – but they are too big and smelly and flighty to be dwelling inside our home any further. We’ve been letting them spend their days frolicking in the Peck and Play, which simultaneously helps us prep our raised beds for planting (they scratch and poop and generally help get the soil better fertilized and primed for epic vegetable growth). And now, they’ll hang up in the barn with the full sized hens by night. It’s a good stepping stone to get the hens acclimated to the new flock. We won’t integrate them until the chicks are larger and better able to defend themselves (as the larger hens may not be so thrilled with their new coop-mates), but all of us (save Sunny) were ready to get the birds out of the house and up to the coop where they are better suited for the longterm.
They are in the supremely awkward adolescent phase – half fluff/half feathers. Some of the breeds are flightier and less friendly than others. These four Blue Cochins are still delightfully mellow and easy to handle, so they are Sunny’s current favorites. The Rhode Island Reds are proving quite mischievous. We wasted a solid twenty minutes chasing one around the vegetable garden when she decided to fly up and out of the Peck and Play before we’d secured the top. Never a dull moment here at Cartwheel Farm.
Sunny’s wearing this dress (though her particular pattern is no longer in stock) by Tea Collection, courtesy of her Fairy Godparents. We let her open their birthday gift Monday morning, knowing it was new clothing that she could proudly wear during her birthday week. Dellie and Jeremy, she’s now worn this outfit two days in a row. And she’s using the silver and gold shoe laces as a belt. She’s one very happy kid, indeed. THANK YOU!