chick antics

I had heard that chicks were fun to watch, but I had no idea.  They remind me of babies - constantly doing something funny, and always amazed at themselves and others.  Today we tried to give them yogurt, highly recommended on a chicken forum.  (I am now reading a chicken forum religiously - like I read adoption forums when we were going through the adoption of our daughter - and posted a query at the slightest indication of a perceived problem - and my behavior has not changed).

We put the yogurt in a half an egg carton - seemed fitting that they should get use to the shape, and placed it in the brooder.  Some came up to it and stared at the foreign object, some squawked and headed to the opposite side of the brooder.  The Barred Plymouth Rocks, or BPR, as they are called on the forums, were the first to investigate.  But no pecks.  My daughter put some on her finger, and a chick pecked at it, but shook her beak and backed off.  We sprinkled some chicken feed (gotta love that expression - especially organic chicken feed, which is no chicken feed!)  But still they did not bite.  They walked around the carton lid, some pecked at the carton but not the yogurt.  

The chick toward the back of the picture is Ruthie.  She remained intrigued by the container but never tried the yogurt.

Ruthie is one of our favorites.  She may be a non bearded white crested black polish chick.  But don't put that in a search engine - god knows what you'll get.  
You can tell by Ruthie's look that she is very curious.  She usually greets my hand when I stick it in the brooder to remove the feeder or water.  

  And then there are the sleeping chicks.  Anyone who has owned chicks will tell you that a sleeping chick resembles a dead chick.  I have to wait a minute to see the breast heaving in order to assure myself that the chick is really alive.  And here I will admit that my daughter was almost 8 before I stopped peaking in her room after she was asleep to make sure she was still breathing.  


Here is the sleeping chick - the pictures are hard to see because they are taken while a red heat lamp shines down on them. They usually sleep in the warm corner.  Sometimes they are power naps, other times, they splay their wings and legs out looking like road kill.

 She is up because I made a noise when I lifted the screen, then seconds later, down again.

And speaking of the screen, the reason we have the top covered is to keep the Barred Plymouth Rocks from hopping out! In just a short week of their lives, they want to explore outside the brooder!  They can almost reach the top, and I have visions of them soaring out and onto the floor.  I am not ready for their freedom yet.

Anne at Echo Mountain View Road chickens