Frizzle!?!

The little chicks are 3 weeks old now, and we have made an adorable discovery!

Angel-

our little white Bantam Cochin has curly feathers!!!

here she is at 1 day old:

and at 2 weeks:

It is one of the cutest things I have ever seen!

She is sooooo soft and her feathers are all curly!

I started reading about it online because I have never seen 

or heard of anything like this. 

Here is what I found:

Frizzle (chicken) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Frizzle is a type of chicken with feathers that curl outwards, 

rather than laying flat as in most chickens. 

While many consider the Frizzle to be an entirely separate breed, chickens from all breeds may have a frizzled appearance.

How cool is that?!?!

Egg Dyeing

It is Easter weekend, and the kids are excited to dye Easter Eggs

What is different this year?

ALL the eggs are fresh from our farm hens!!!

I absolutely love that!!

Here are some pics of the kids having fun creating:

Great job kids! The eggs are beautiful!!

(and great job "girls" on laying wonderful eggs for us!)

Toddler Independence

We have been working the last couple days on the new
"Chick Nursery" outside in the little barn (The Barny). 

25 Chicks in the indoor brooder just isn't working anymore... 

they are crowded and need more room to grow.

Soooo with a little bit of anxiety, we made the big transition from the dining room to the outside coop!!

Once again Matt worked his construction magic and built them the perfect nursery, 

complete with 2 heat lamps since it is still cold here.

We also got them a "big chick" feeder and waterer since they are eating and drinking a lot more. 

Hoping they like their new home!!! 

They Flew The Coop!

The Guineas finally left the coop and now they are on the run...

They spent their first night of freedom in a tree,

and woke us up bright and early the next morning barking underneath our bedroom window.

We are going to have to figure something out- they are loud and annoying!

They better start eating the ticks to earn their keep...

Sad News

Sad news today...

Baby Leia died. 

She was acting kindof droopy last night before bed 

and I was wondering if maybe something was wrong with her.

Unfortunately I was right.

When we got up this morning she was gone. 

I am sad to lose a chick- especially such a cutie!

But I am glad that if any of them were going to die, 

that she died quickly before we spent weeks or months falling in love with her.

Chicken Math

Today I made the (intentional) mistake of going to Tractor Supply 

when I knew they had a new shipment of baby chicks....

After pleading with Matt and lots of hugs and kisses...

I came home with 9 new babies!!

(3 pullets: 2 Rhode Island Reds & 1 White Leghorn

6 assorted bantams: 1 Red, 1 White & 3 Barred Cochins; 1 unknown bantam breed)

Baby Leia (the tiniest chick)

Maya

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Lucy Goosey

(Simon's chick- still un-named)

Freckles

Angel

not pictured: Penny

I admit, I was caught up in the moment.... 

I already have 25 chicks at home in the brooder,
but they were soooooooo adorable and tiny! 

I couldn't resist grabbing a few more**

_________________________________________________

**Chicken Math- 

The original chicken math started like this:
Amongst the old time poultry breeders the rule of thumb was that you set five eggs for every pullet you wanted to lay.  An 80% hatch rate was considered acceptable so take one egg away from the five.  Now you're gonna get half roosters on average in every hatch so take away two more eggs.  Now you're left with just two eggs to produce your pullets from.  But it takes at least twenty weeks to get a pullet to point of lay and one may die somewhere along the way so now you're down to just that one egg.

If you want twenty hens in your flock you have to set at least 100 eggs!

Over the decades things have gone sort of haywire from there, but that's chicken math for you.

Borrowed from the Backyard Chickens website

They're Growing!

They are growing like weeds!

The chicks are 2 & 3 weeks old and they are getting feathers & eating treats.

I read on the Backyard Chickens  forum that mashed up
hard boiled eggs & yogurt are good treats to start with for chicks.
THEY LOVE IT!
They go crazy whenever I put a plate or bowl in the brooder!

AND! Best news of all-- none have died!
I am thrilled and hoping that they will ALL make it :))))