You know, I intended to post pictures and stories about the chickens. I'm sure you were super excited for that. I was going to post pictures of them being tiny and cute. I was going to introduce them in their own dedicated posts. But guess what? I didn't. And now they are big, and still in my house.
Mike and I started on the chicken coop last week. I bought hardware, we dug the foundation, leveled the area, placed the cinder blocks and filled everything with gravel. Then some attic dudes came to give us a quote for removing the old nasty mystery insulation and blowing in new, happy insulation. The quote was a good one, and so out went the old insulation!
With no insulation in the attic, and with new fluff coming next week, Mike decided that it was time to install ceiling lights (cutting holes in ceilings is WAY easier work in an empty attic). And so the chicken coop was put on hold and Mike got to work electrifying the casa. Now we're partway through three large projects. Also we extended our taxes. We're "those" people.
Chickens.
The chickens are growing up fast. They're zipping through their nerdy teenage stage and starting to look like real hens! They're starting to sound like real hens, too, which is funny.
Mike installed a couple of roosts for them to perch on and they are perch-tastic. Sky and Harp help me clean the box often, and we take the chicks outside to scratch around every day (except for Duck, who plays prison-break; she won't be allowed outside again until the coop is ready). They are experimenting with their wings and can flutter for a good five feet. Delilah likes to dive-bomb the others. Sigh, those chicks. They're becoming a lovely pile of girly feathers.
On that note, Mike and I have our suspicions that Lacy isn't all she was cracked up to be. Her feathering isn't quite right for a Silver-Laced Wyandotte of approximately...however old she is. Eight weeks? Anyway, her coloring is off and she is a feisty one. Definitely the leader of the pack, Lacy seems to pick on poor Duck the most, even though Duck is twice her size. There are black feathers constantly wafting around the chicks' little world (as Sky calls it). Pecking orders are totally natural, of course.
But when I pick her up, Lacy fights until I put her back down. She is overly aggressive, and even tries to threaten me through the window. The others squawk, but don't flail and give me the evil eye.
I'm quite sure Lacy would give me the finger, if chickens had fingers, and that look in her eyes...chickens shouldn't be able to freak me out with evil looks!
I think Lacy is a he, and this "she" and "her" business is just wishful thinking. We'll find out for sure soon enough. Supposedly, the crowing will tip us off. With this likely turn of events in mind...anyone want a rooster?
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